The Goonies Fratelli brothers stars spill backstage secrets of iconic eighties film

Hollywood hit The Goonies is one of the most iconic films of the eighties – but did you know how much of the cult classic was actually improvised?

The 1985 film delivered quotable lines from “Do the Truffle Shuffle,” to “Hey you guys,” – and two of it stars have since revealed which moments were not originally in the script.

Speaking at Comic Con Liverpool on November 19, 2022, Robert Davi and Joe Pantoliano who played villainous brothers Jake and Francis Fratelli revealed a number of behind the scenes secrets about the film.

READ MORE: The Goonies cast reunites 35 years later as Josh Gad sets up lockdown video call

From improvised scenes, to inspiration from other Stephen Spielberg epics and their idea for a Goonies sequel, Daily Star takes a closer look at some of the secrets they revealed about the original film.

The opera singing was improvised

Fans will remember that Jake Fratelli could often be heard singing opera throughout the film – but did you know that was not originally a part of the script?

Actor Robert Davi, who has trained as a professional opera singer since he was a child, improvised two memorable scenes in the film by incorporating his real life musical talents into his character.

He said: “No, that was not in the script. It was the scene between me and Sloth, that I go to the basement and I have to feed him.

“The script said I put down his food, and Sloth goes to get it with his chained hand, and I then get my foot and move it away.”

However, the star did not feel that his character would taunt Sloth in such a way, and instead, Sloth would be his audience for his opera singing.

“I said to Dick [director Richard Donner], I have an idea.

“How about Mama doesn’t talk to me, Francis doesn’t listen to me, the only captive audience I have is Sloth in the basement. He has to listen to me sing, to get his supper. This is how I came upon this.”

Producer Stephen Spielberg liked it so much that the opera singing was incorporated into other scenes in the film, including the kidnapping of Goonies member Chunk.

“I tried it on Stephen Spielberg and they loved it,” said Jake.

“Later on Stephen put it into the scene with Chunk, where Francis viscously throws Chunk into the back of the car.

“So that was not in the script and improvised by me initially.”

Data’s boxing gloves were a last minute addition

There didn’t seem to be a gadget that Data did not have in possession, and it’s safe to say that the Goonies may have been in even more trouble without them.

However, one gadget was not included in the script – the boxing gloves.

Fans will remember that Data used the gloves to defend himself from the Fratelli brothers, after they were chasing him up the rocks inside the caves.

It was during filming that Jake Fratelli actor Robert realised that the villainous duo would easily catch Data during the scene, so he suggested that a gadget was needed to stop him and Francis in their tracks.

Both Joey and Robert explained that Richard Donner and Stephen Spielberg were both open to ideas, and let the cast inspire many moments of the film – including the scene with data.

Robert said: “A director has to be open. There were two moments, aside from the singing, other moments that reflected his style of film making and the openness of his film making.

“You know the scene where I’m climbing up the rocks to get to Data? We’re doing that scene and I said to Stephen, ‘there’s no way that this kid is getting away. I’m gonna grab him in two seconds.’

“We took a second and I said, ‘he’s Data, he’s got these things. What if he presses a button and a glove comes out and punches me? That takes me by surprise?’

“Stephen loved that idea and we came back three days later so they could rig that.”

Joey also added that Stephen Spielberg is “the most magical storyteller I’ve ever worked with,” saying: “Ask an idea, he encourages us to come up with stuff. He was like that on Empire Of The Sun also.

“The kind of movies he has made, the volume of his successes compared to the history of filmmaking, stands on its own.”

The weather caused a scene to be re-worked

Fans will be familiar with the opening sequence of The Goonies, where Jake Fratelli breaks out of prison with a little help from brother Francis and Mama.

However, one of the scenes had to be re-worked as it kept going wrong on set.

During a sequence where Joey places gasoline around the car, the flames were supposed to be ignited with dollar bills to link to their counterfeiting crimes – but the wind kept putting out the flames.

“At the beginning of the film where I escape from prison and we shot that outside sequence,” said Robert.

“When Joey puts the gasoline around the car. The idea is that we’re counterfeiters, so he’s supposed to take dollar bills and throw them on the gasoline. It wasn’t going down. The wind was blowing it away.”

Robert suddenly got a burst of inspiration from one of producer Stephen Spielberg’s other famous films – Indiana Jones – and the scene was reshot to include a gun igniting the flames instead.

“So I said to Stephen – ‘Raiders’. He goes, ‘what? Raiders?” continued Robert.

Sat on the Q&A panel in the auditorium, Robert then made a gun noise, in reference to the moment where a bullet from a gun lights up a fire in Raiders Of The Lost Arc – with the scene directly inspiring the similar moment in the opening sequence of The Goonies.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk