 Susan Petrie (qv) was unable to cry, so David Cronenberg (qv)  arranged for her to tear up with the aid of onions. This worked but  the camera was out of focus when the scene was shot and because  Cronenberg was out of onions, Petrie gave her consent to let him to  slap her on the face. He did so until her face was numb from all the  takes. He finally settled for a series of takes he found to be less  than satisfactory.