Peter Billingsley who starred in the film A Christmas Story

From the set of “A Christmas Story,” Peter Billingsley spills a little-known secret. The 49-year-old recently spoke about the iconic holiday classic on the IMDb podcast “That Scene With Dan Patrick.” The 1983 film “A Christmas Story” depicts the story of a little boy (Billingsley) who tries to persuade his parents, teacher, and Santa that all he truly wants for the holidays is a Red Ryder BB rifle.

Peter Billingsley who starred in the film A Christmas Story

When Billingsley was cast as Ralphie, he was only 12 years old. The guy daydreams about defending his family with a BB gun while costumed as a sheriff in one notable scene in the film. For the scene, he was given real chewing tobacco, according to the former child star. Billingsley was quoted in People magazine on Wednesday as saying, “Well, they totally fouled up, Dan.” “He’s dressed like a sheriff, according to the scene.” So you put on your outfit. He’s also chewing tobacco, according to a passage in the script. So, sure enough, the prop man, who is in charge of everything the actor touches, comes up to me with this pouch that says Red Man on it, and he flips it open – I swear to God, I have no idea what the difference is – I asked, ‘What do I do with this?’ ‘Here, jam it down in here,’ he says. ‘Don’t swallow, just spit,’ he advises. “So, I do it, we get set to leave, and the world starts tilting around 15 minutes in,” Billingsley continued. “I begin to perspire. My stomach begins to pain, and I begin to vomit.” Director Bob Clark, according to Billingsley, cries, “Cut, cut, cut! What exactly is going on here?” “And the prop man says, ‘Oh, I gave him Red Man,'” Billingsley explained. “‘What are you doing?’ Bob asks. He’s twelve years old!'” “So we shut it down,” he said, “and I go lay on the couch in the set’s living room for about 40 minutes until I can get this s—- out of my system.”

“Then they did what they were supposed to do. Someone had the brilliant notion of squishing a bunch of raisins together and sticking it in my mouth, resulting in brown spit. What do you think? It was a different era back then. He just handed me Red Man, whole-leaf Red Man.” Billingsley, who went on to direct and produce, said he was given permission to keep the BB gun from the incident. But he’s nonetheless surprised that “A Christmas Story” is such a hit with audiences decades later. “There’s obviously a deeper core that it’s touching,” he said of something that stuck back then and continues to do so every decade. Zack Ward, who played bully Scut Farkus in “A Christmas Story,” told Fox News in 2018 that the snow was one of the most unpleasant aspects of production. At the time, the 50-year-old remarked, “A lot of the snow was false.” “Potato flakes and shaving cream were used to make it. Potato flakes, shaving cream, and small plastic pieces The small plastic pieces may appear appealing, but they can cause discomfort if they become lodged in your eye. The shaving cream is also a source of irritation. In addition, the potato flakes were unpleasant to eat.”