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This isn’t exactly a Cinderella story and it’s certainly not “outta nowhere,” but it is juicy nonetheless. Sports Illustrated recently published an enticing excerpt from Chris Nashawaty’s upcoming book Caddyshack: The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story. Available April 24th, it’s a deep, behind-the-scenes exploration of the beloved 1980 cult comedy classic. The entire excerpt details some truly fascinating behind the scenes info for comedy fans — including a slew of incredible Rodney Dangerfield anecdotes and how the film helped squash the Bill Murray/Chevy Chase rivalry — but the sample also delves into something Netflix’s A Futile and Stupid Gesture touched on: the bacchanal of cocaine and partying that pervaded the late ’70s comedy scene.
Cocaine on the set of Caddyshack isn’t exactly an earth-shattering revelation, but it’s the amount and frequency of the drug that makes the fact that they even finished the film so impressive (and maybe also explains the gopher).
“Cocaine was ‘driving everyone,'” said Michael O’Keefe, who portrayed the film’s hero Danny Noonan. “It would be lunch and someone would say, ‘Do you want to do a line?’ ‘Yeah, sure!’ It was no big deal. This was the ’70s.”
“I had never seen cocaine before I got to the set of Caddyshack,” said Peter Berkrot, who played caddie Angie D’Annunzio. “But the sight of coke was hard to ignore. And as the shoot went on, recreational use that started by the gram turned into binges indulged by the ounce. It seemed to be the fuel that kept the film running.”
Berkrot also shared a story about late comic Rodney Dangerfield’s involvement in the behind the scenes revelry.
“I had a tray with my weed, and I was walking through the hotel lobby and saw Rodney. He said, ‘I love weed. You know what I love more than weed? Coke.’ I thought he was doing a bit, but we found out he wasn’t.” Berkrot adds, half-jokingly: “The only person who didn’t take drugs on the movie was Ted Knight.”
