Soylent Green is a little too close to home really despite being a far more desperate dystopian society than we have at this moment. The scarcity of supplies in this world is so bad that people riot in the streets when they’re told they can’t rations, and the rich seek to cover up the truth about where foods such as Soylent Green come from. Unfortunately it’s among the only source of food that people can really rely on in a world that’s been stripped just about bare. New York alone is a barren wasteland where people have to scratch and scrape just to survive. But the cost of survival is something that people might not want to contemplate any longer if they knew what they were really eating.
Sadly, some people might not care since it would technically be keeping them alive.
10. One of the actors was almost completely deaf.
He kept missing cues and continuing to act after the director had said ‘cut’. Thankfully he started paying attention and learned his cues quite well after enough practice.
9. Soylent is supposed to represent soy beans and lentils.
Obviously at this point people know better as the end of the film kind of made it clear just what people were eating for so long.
8. There’s an idea that part of this movie inspired the band Green Day.
There was a sign that stated Tuesday is Soylent Green Day, and that’s where people figured that the name for the band came from. It’s a stretch but weirder things have happened.
7. Filming was suspended for a week when the director’s father passed away.
Animator Max Fleischer, passed away during the filming of this movie.
6. The Soylent Green factory was really the Chevron refinery in El Segundo, CA.
Despite being set in New York the story had to pull a few scenes from sunny California to make it all come together.
5. The film is considered to be slightly prophetic.
It’s been found that the population of the ocean, including the phyoplankton that are needed so badly, have been drastically reduced throughout the decades. This is a very serious matter that needs to be addressed.
4. Charlton Heston was really crying during the death of his onscreen friend.
He was so moved by the man’s performance that he couldn’t help himself and began to cry for real.
3. Women are referred to as furniture in this film.
A lot of women that are recruited as prostitutes are considered to be just another decoration in the room and made for comfort just as a couch or chair would be.
2. Mike Henry’s Southern drawl didn’t fit the part he was playing.
He was supposed to be playing a New York cop and his Southern drawl just didn’t work for it. As a result his lines were dubbed.
1. The film features one the first coin-operated video games.
It was created by the same guy that would later found Atari and design Pong.
Some movies are kind of disturbing considering just how close to the truth they seem to come.
