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
Jon Voight In the early 1960s, Voight found work in television, appearing in several episodes of "Gunsmoke", between 1963 and 1968, as well as guest spots on "Naked City", and "The Defenders", both in 1963, and "Twelve O'Clock High", in 1966. His theatre career took off in January 1965, playing Rodolfo in Arthur Miller's "A View from the Bridge" in an Off-Broadway revival. Voight's film debut did not come until 1967, when he took a part in Phillip Kaufman's crimefighter spoof, "Fearless Frank". Voight also took a small role in 1967's western, "Hour of the Gun", directed by veteran helmer John Sturges.