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 Beatty 1975. Beatty received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor category for the acclaimed film "Network" (1976), portraying a television network's bombastic but shrewd chairman of the board who convinces the mad Howard Beale character (portrayed by Peter Finch) that corporation-led global dehumanization is not only inevitable, but is also a good thing. Neither Beatty nor William Holden, who shared the lead role with Finch, won an Oscar. The other three acting awards besides best supporting actor were swept by "Network" performers: Best Actor for Peter Finch, Best Actress for Faye Dunaway, and Best Supporting Actress for Beatrice