Entertainment Weekly - October 20, 2017

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The filmmakers and starELLEN GREENE explain why New York was spared Audrey II’s wrath.By Joey Nolfi

When Howard Ash-

man’s 1982 playLittle Shop of

Horrors blossomed too big

for its Off Broadway pot, he

teamed with Jim Henson

puppeteer Frank Oz in

search of greener Hollywood

pastures. Together, they

planted an unforgettable

seed of terror with their

campy monster musical

about a man-eating plant

with sights set on planetary

domination. Though

nebbish floral attendant

Seymour (Rick Moranis)

ultimately vanquishes the

bloodthirsty bloom and

settles in the suburbs with

Audrey (Ellen Greene), the

film’s hero wasn’t always

meant to live happily ever

after. Three decades later,

the minds behind the

cult classic reflect on the

ending that could’ve been.

Ashman, Oz, and composer

Alan Menken pushed for a

pricey, apocalyptic closing

sequence—mostly shot using

miniature cityscapes—that

mirrored the play’s, in which

Audrey II embarks on a global

rampage after devouring the

film’s heroes.

ALAN MENKEN(composer)

[The 1986 film was] talking

about the environment,

nuclear war, anything that’s

hurtling us toward our own

destruction. That’s where

this [ending] came from.

Little Shop is a happy little

wink at the end of the world.

[We’re] saying: Look at these

self-destructive humans

who are going to blow up our

world with their greed.

FRANK OZ(director)We

[screened] the film the way

Howard and I wanted it. The

audience was clapping after

every number. Then, when

Seymour and Audrey died,

they turned like an icebox.

The reaction was so bad,

Warner Bros. wasn’t going to

release it. When one dies in

the theater, one dies and

comes back for a curtain call,

but in the movie you don’t

come back for a curtain call.

The audience was very angry.

England’s 007 Stage hosted two

weeks of reshoots in September

1985, and the expensive models

gave way to Oz’s new ending,

where Audrey and Seymour live

happily ever after.

OZ I had to call [model

designer Richard Conway]

and tell him that after

almost a year of work, we

couldn’t use his ending. He

didn’t scream at me; I just

felt horrible.... I have to take

the blame [because] my job

is to make something work

for a lot of people. It wasn’t

confrontational, it was like,

“Oh, sorry, I screwed up.”

While the new ending received

higher audience scores, its mak-

ers still champion the merits of

its predecessor.

ELLEN GREENE(Audrey) The

moral is: If you do the deed,

you pay the piper, and Sey-

mour fed [people to] the

plant. I accepted the new

ending because I believe at

the time they wanted to make

a sequel, and this was the

only way they could. [But]

the problem with the hap-

pier ending is it goes against

the moral of the story. It’s not

the way it’s supposed to end.

You have to learn a lesson in

a fable.... You can’t build up

to a point and then say,

“Nah, I change my mind.”

LOST ENDING

Illustration byFrancesco Francavilla 1986

Zombies come alive—or

as alive as zombies can—

due to acid rainfall.

RAINSTORM

The Return of the

Living Dead 1985

03 Burned retinas are the least of

Skid Row’s problems after an

eclipse rouses a demonic plant.

SOLAR ECLIPSE

Little Shop of

Horrors 1986

04

CUTTER: ULF ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES;

LITTLE SHOP OF

HORRORS

: WARNER BROS./EVERETT COLLECTION