scheduled to begin in October 1988, but was delayed eight months to June 1989. After shooting exteriors in New York City for three weeks, the production moved to Toronto, Canada, for the remainder of the 11-week shoot. Though referred to in the film as a "Komodo Dragon", the lizards supplied for filming were actually Asian water monitors, a slightly smaller relative. A tame specimen was used for scenes requiring the actors to interact with it, while the chase sequences used more aggressive lizards. The Komodo dragon species is endangered, though not as severely as is described in the film. Marlon Brando publicly condemned The Freshman and claimed it would be the "biggest turkey of all time". This was because Brando asked for an additional $1 million to compensate him for when filming was extended an extra week. The producers initially refused Brando's request and he threatened to badmouth the film in the press. The producers continued to refuse and Brando followed through with his threat. A day later, the producers acquiesced and agreed to pay him the $1 million; Brando began to publicly praise the film. Reception On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 94% based on 50 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Buoyed by the charm of Matthew Broderick in the title role and Marlon Brando as a caricature of his Godfather persona, The Freshman benefits from solid casting, a clever premise, and sweet humor." Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 78 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. Janet Maslin of The New York Times described the film as "witty and enchanted". In his review, Roger Ebert wrote, "There have been a lot of movies where stars have repeated the triumphs of their parts—but has any star ever done it more triumphantly than Marlon Brando does in The Freshman?" References External links 1990 films 1990s crime comedy films American crime comedy films 1990s English-language films Films directed by Andrew Bergman Films set in New York City Films shot in Toronto Films shot in New York City Mafia comedy films TriStar Pictures films American satirical films Parody films based on The Godfather Films scored by David Newman 1990 comedy films Films with screenplays by