Five facts about The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974).
1. It was not based on a true story, but rather it was inspired by the infamous Ed Gein murders.
2. Director Tobe Hooper wanted the film to earn a PG rating and shot it with that in mind.
3. The title for the screenplay was originally “Head Cheese”, based on the opening conversation with the Hitchhiker. It was later shot under the title “Leatherface”, but it was Warren Skaaren with the Texas Film Commission who suggested its now legendary title to Hooper.
4. The infamous dinner scene was all shot over a grueling 27 hour period because actor John Dugan, who played Grandpa, refused to endure the 10 hour process of getting his make up applied a second time.
5. Leatherface was based on a conversation Tobe Hooper had with a doctor, who told him when he was a pre-med student he once skinned a cadaver in the morgue and made a mask of it for Halloween.
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