“He performed with a good-size rock of cocaine stuck in his nostril,” Band drummer/vocalist Levon Helm recalled once. “Neil’s manager saw this and said no way is Neil gonna be in a film like this.” Apparently, when it was time to step up to the mic, ol’ Neil had indulged in some powdery fun beforehand. Perhaps out of haste to get to the stage, or maybe just as a result of mere negligence, he failed to adequately clean himself up before stepping in front of the cameras and the audience, and his dirty little secret was written all over his nose (via CBR).
Whereas these days, most special effects artists could probably remove a white speck from somebody’s nose while blindfolded (how many times have you heard someone say, “Can’t we fix it in post?”), but movie technology wasn’t really at that stage yet. According to CBC Music, it took more than a little bit of elbow grease to erase the unsavory little detail in post-production.
