Deliverance to play Lewis Medlock. Jack Nicholson was considered for the role of Ed, while both Donald Sutherland and Charlton Heston turned down the role of Lewis. Other actors who were attached to the project included Robert Redford, Henry Fonda, George C. Scott and Warren Beatty. The film is infamous for cutting costs by not insuring the production and having the actors perform their own stunts (most notably, Jon Voight climbed the cliff himself). In one scene, the stunt coordinator decided that a scene showing a canoe with a dummy of Burt Reynolds in it looked phony; he said it looked
Ned Nickerson introduced in the 1932 storyline, Nancy was sixteen, but it could be assumed that Ned was not greatly older, but possibly three to four years). Aside from being a good student, Ned also plays for three of his school's varsity teams - basketball, baseball, and football. In some stories, he pursues outdoor interests including rowing and swimming, as well as scuba diving. His best friends include Buck Rodman (in the earliest, original stories), and, in revised stories and books after 1950, Burt Eddleton and Dave Evans, who are also students at Emerson. Ned frequently sells insurance during the summer, although