The Movie Was Filmed Out of Sequence In Case One of The Actors Drowned
Filmmaker John Boorman wanted the cast to do their own canoeing. He believed that the fewer stuntmen he used, the more viewers would appreciate and enjoy the film’s authenticity. He got around the fact that the actors were inexperienced canoers by shooting the movie in sequence.
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“The easy rapids were at the beginning of the film, and the rapids get harder and harder as we go through the film,” actor Ronny Cox recalled. “So, by the time we got to the really hard rapids, we had had canoe practice and had been on the water for five or six weeks. So, by that time, we were all really good canoers.”
Burt Reynolds claimed that the director had a second motive for shooting in sequence – “If one of you drowns,” John Boorman told them, “I can write that into the script.”