The studio had encouraged Francis Ford Coppola to use a fake horse head, but he didn't like the mock-up. His scouts found a horse ready for slaughter at a dog-food plant in New Jersey.

"The art director picked one that looked like the horse in the film and said, 'When that one is slaughtered, send us the head.' Coppola later remembered, 'One day, a crate with dry ice came with ...