Trivia / Being There

• Banned in China: Because it was potentially offensive to Christians, the original South African cut dropped the final scene.
• California Doubling: While the film is set in Washington, DC and there are outdoor scenes filmed on location there, the interior scenes for the Old Man's house were shot in Pasadena, while the Rand mansion is played by the massive Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.
• Completely Different Title:
  • Because the title doesn't translate well, non-English-speaking territories changed it, usually into a Protagonist Title. Chance the Gardener was probably the most popular of these, but there were others: Bienvenue Mister Chance (French) and Chance (Japanese; also a Double-Meaning Title); In The Garden was utilized in some South American countries. Italy used Oltre il giardino, or "Beyond the Garden".
  • On the other hand Poland's translators have opted for what roughly translates to It's Enough To Be, Czechoslovakia has gone with I Was There, and Russia decided to go with literal translation of title, so in Slavic territories it was partially averted.
• Corpsing: The outtakes in the closing credits include several attempts to film the X-ray scene with Peter Sellers unable to speak his lines without bursting out laughing, made worse by the fact that the absurd questions had to be given with a deadpan, flat delivery by the character
• Creative Differences: Even though he's credited as the sole screenwriter, Jerzy Kosinski had almost no involvement with the film, since he and Hal Ashby had a different vision for the story, and Kosinski was busy with other work. Kosinski submitted a screenplay draft, but it wound up being largely rewritten by Ashby associate Robert C. Jones. The shooting script credited Kosinski and Jones, but Kosinski appealed to the Writers Guild for a full credit on the finished film and got it.
• Creator's Favorite: Peter Sellers went on record multiple times before his death declaring Chance the Gardener as his favorite role.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Played with. Peter Sellers let his gray hair show, unlike in most of his later films, but he did have it cut. Peter Sellers also gained weight to play Chance despite chronic and worsening heart problems — and he hated how he looked this way — solely because he thought Chance would be overweight given his sedentary lifestyle. He lost the weight as fast as he could after filming, which may or may not have been a contributing factor to his death.
• Fake American: Peter Sellers, a Brit, as Chance. In the film, Chance lives in Washington, D.C., but Sellers intentionally plays him without any kind of specific regional dialect/accent as per a description in the book. To pull this off, Sellers took (British) Stan Laurel's voice and gave it a generic "American" accent. Sellers was a huge fan of Laurel and Hardy and openly admitted to using Laurel's screen persona to inform his performance as Chance, which makes this a big Shout-Out of sorts.
• Fake Russian: Richard Basehart, an American, as the Russian ambassador.
• Method Acting: According to Shirley MacLaine, "(Peter) believed he was Chauncey. He never had lunch with me... He was Chauncey Gardiner the whole shoot, but believing he was having a love affair with me."
• Playing Against Type: Peter Sellers had such range that saying he had one type isn't accurate, but audiences knew him best as Large Ham Funny Foreigner Inspector Jacques Clouseau by 1979 due to the role dominating his career comeback. This much more serene character and story certainly was a change of pace.
• Reality Subtext: Peter Sellers never hid his motivations for wanting to play Chance. He even had business cards made up with Chance's name in place of his own, and was known to occasionally confuse people by suddenly assuming Chance's persona — and this was before the film was greenlit.
• Saved from Development Hell: It took a long time getting the rights from Kosinski (he wanted to make a film version on his own; he did co-write the film that was made), as well as getting financial backing.
• Technology Marches On: That complex speech-to-text computer that Ben Rand uses to dictate his will. It was still a highly experimental technology in 1979, and only an extremely wealthy man like Ben would've been able to afford it for his private use. Now anyone can use it on a phone.
• What Could Have Been
  • Solely because of the "I like to watch" scene, Laurence Olivier turned down the role of Ben Rand, the role which Melvyn Douglas won a Supporting Actor Oscar for. Burt Lancaster was also considered for the part.
  • At one point in the mid-'70s, it was announced that Gore Vidal was going to write the screenplay.
  • The filming script's ending was significantly different than what was ultimately conceived and used. Eve follows Chance after he wanders away and they head back together. He leaves his umbrella behind to shield a small tree — that would have been the highly symbolic final shot. This ending was shot, and a publicity still from the press kit was drawn from it, but the actual scene didn't surface until the 2009 Blu-Ray disc.
• Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: The ending came about because of a comment that Hal Ashby made to a friend about how impressive Peter Sellers was in his performance and his willingness to try new things: "I could have this guy walking on water at the end of the film!"

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