>>27418
Filmed over three years to give BDH time to gain the weight necessary to accurately portray Big Bertha's growth through the years and her famous weigh-in against a baby circus elephant, the Hollywood press was shocked to see Ms. Howard show up to the premier seemingly even larger than the historical Big Bertha. The tabloid rumors were confirmed later that week during a visit on The Tonight Show, where the host surprised BDH by rolling out an industrial scale on stage and challenging her to step on the scale. An embarrassed BDH reluctantly did so after some prodding, and the scale's reading of 718 pounds easily surpassed the real Big Bertha's high of 679. "Well, uh, as you can see, in having a bit more trouble dropping this weight than I have for other roles..." Seeing a marketing opportunity, BDH's agent scheduled a visit to the Los Angeles zoo, for a recreation of the famous scale battle with the baby elephant. Unlike in the version portrayed in the film, there was no suspense and a shocked BDH immediately descended and lifted the baby elephant on the other half of the comically oversized scale. The stunt of course drove a record increase in second weekend ticket sales, and talk of a sequel, only somewhat tempered by the fact that the historical Bertha suffered a career ending cardiac injury shortly after the events of the film.