Blow-Up (1966)

Sometimes, reality is the strangest fantasy of all.

A successful mod photographer in London whose world is bounded by fashion, pop music, marijuana, and easy sex, feels his life is boring and despairing. But in the course of a single day he unknowingly captures a death on film.

Directed by: Michelangelo Antonioni

Written by: Michelangelo Antonioni, Tonino Guerra

Music by: Herbie Hancock

Starring: David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, John Castle, Veruschka von Lehndorff, Jane Birkin, Gillian Hills, Peter Bowles, Julian Chagrin, Claude Chagrin

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Released: 1966-12-18

Runtime: 111 minutes

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Blow-Up (1966): trivia & fun facts

Fun facts

• Film writer Richard Corliss stated in 2007 that the film grossed $20 million (about $147 million in 2025) on a $1.8 million budget and "helped liberate Hollywood from its puritanical prurience" in the process.
• Model Veruschka von Lehndorff is featured as herself, and Jane Birkin makes her first film appearance.
• In the main competition of the 1967 Cannes Film Festival, Blowup won the Palme d'Or, the festival's highest honour.
• The plot of Blowup was inspired by Argentine writer Julio Cortázar's 1959 short story "Las babas del diablo", collected in End of the Game and Other Stories, which in turn was based on a story told to Cortázar by photographer Sergio Larraín.
• Uncredited members of the cast include Ronan O'Casey as Jane’s lover/victim in park, Susan Brodrick as the antiquarian, and Tsai Chin as Thomas's receptionist.
• Real-life photographer Reg Wilkins, who was one of the inspirations for Thomas' character, appears as his assistant.
• The film's opening scene was filmed on the Plaza of The Economist Building in St. James's Street, Westminster, a project by 'New Brutalist' architects Alison and Peter Smithson that was constructed between 1959 and 1964.
• The plot was inspired by Argentine writer Julio Cortázar's 1958 short story "Las babas del diablo", which was later retitled "Blow-Up" to tie in with the film.
• The car was originally painted white, then painted black by the production.
• The film's critical and commercial success played a major role in the abolition of the Production Code and its replacement with the MPAA rating system shortly thereafter.
• The film earned $5.9 million (about $43.4 million in 2025) in the United States and Canada in 1967.
• Two scenes appear to give credence to this: first when Lovell is seen apparently tampering with Thomas' car, and later when he and Jane are seen following Thomas in a Rover 2000.
• Blowup premiered at the Coronet Theater on Third Avenue in New York City on 18 December 1966.
• The film's non-diegetic music was scored by American jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, and the English rock group The Yardbirds are seen performing "Stroll On".
• Jill Kennington, Peggy Moffitt and Donyale Luna appear as Thomas' models.

Source: Wikipedia

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