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The Pest (1997)

• Director Paul Miller
  • TV Special
  • CMA music awards
  • Several Concerts
• Written by John Leguizamo and David Bar Katz
  • American Gigolo
  • Freak
  • Ray Donovan
• Starring John Leguizamo, Edoardo Ballerni, Freddy Rodriguez, Jeffrey Jones, Tammy Townsend and Ares Spears.
• Budget 8 million box office of 3.6 million.
• Trivia
  • John Leguizamo was actually bitten by the snake during one of the takes where the snake is slithering up his leg. When the snake bit him, it wouldn’t let go, so the trainer had to pry it off of his leg. When it finally got off, John was rushed to the hospital to remove the fangs which were still stuck in his leg.
  • John Leguizamo really wanted to make a movie, so he and his best friend at the time, writer David Bar Katz, came up with the idea for The Pest and wrote a treatment together. Leguizamo bet Katz $1,000 that he couldn’t write the screenplay for it. Then, Katz had it written in three days. It also should be noted that Katz had never written a movie prior to this. Leguizamo wrote a lot of the gags in the film such as the opening shower sequence, the tortures, among others. Leguizamo later admitted that now he “would probably do things a little differently”, like spending a month on the script instead of just three days, and that he “kinda fucked up”.
  • The film was supposed to be distributed by Universal Studios. It was initially brought to producers Sid Sheinberg, Jonathan Sheinberg and Bill Sheinberg of the independent production company The Bubble Factory, who had a first look deal with Universal. John Leguizamo, who co-created the film with writer David Bar Katz, wanted to make the film on an $8 million budget but, at the time, Universal didn’t make films under $10 million. Under the terms of said deal, films budgeted at less than $10 million could be peddled elsewhere if Universal has passed on them first. Universal passed, so Leguizamo and the Sheinbergs then brought the film over to Sony’s TriStar Pictures, where they fully financed the film.
  • The bird in the opening song was John Leguizamo’s actual pet bird and would take it along with him everywhere.
  • This is one of only a few comedy films in which John Leguizamo is playing the lead. After this film, he was set to create and star in another comedy for Paramount Pictures called “The Bastard,” in which he was to play a “half-Puerto Rican, half-Brit” claiming the throne through an illegitimate birth. However, the film never came to happen.

Masters of the Universe (1987)

• Directed Gary Goddard
  • Jurrasic Park The Ride
  • Wrote
    • Tarzan The Ape Man (1981)
    • Captain Power and the Soldiers of Fortune
  • Starring Dolph Lundgren, Frank Langella, Meg Foster, Courtney Cox, and Billy Barty.
  • Budget of 22 million and Box office of 17 million
  • Trivia
    • The commercial failure of Masters of the Universe, among other films such as Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and Lifeforce, contributed to the eventual closure of Cannon Films. Cannon Films had intended to create a Masters of the Universe sequel, indicated by the end credits with a revelation that Skeletor survives his fall. The sequel, titled Masters of the Universe 2: Cyborg, was written; the script followed He-Man, who returned to Earth to battle Skeletor, who had left Earth as a postapocalyptic wasteland; and the film was to feature Trap Jaw and She-Ra. Pro surfer Laird Hamilton was originally to replace Dolph Lundgren as He-Man and the only aspect known about the sequel’s screenplay was that He-Man would have returned to Earth disguised as a professional quarterback. With a low budget of $4.5 million, the sequel was to be directed by Albert Pyun, consecutively with the aborted Spider-Man movie. The project was abandoned when Cannon would not pay Mattel’s fees. The already-made costumes and sets were instead utilized for the low-budget sci-fi film Cyborg.
    • Director Albert Pyun had planned to film a sequel to “Masters of the Universe” (with professional surfer Laird Hamilton replacing Dolph Lundgren as He-Man) at the same time as Spider-Man. Right before filming was to begin, Mattel and Marvel revoked the rights to both properties due to non-payment by Cannon Films. Cannon was going bust as a company, as a result of the 1987 stock market crash on junk bonds (which Cannon had used extensively to finance films) and poor financial management. To recoup some of the money spent on sets, costumes and props for both films, Cannon had Pyun quickly get a script written, Cyborg, for one of Cannon’s promising new action stars, Jean-Claude Van Damme; although Pyun had Cannon regular Chuck Norris in mind to star. There has been some confusion over the years in some television listings for Cyborg (1989), with it being billed as “Masters of the Universe 2: Cyborg”. This led some to speculate that the script for the proposed sequel had been rewritten for Cyborg. In reality, it was because of the connection of both productions during the demise of the Cannon Films studio.
    • Frank Langella went on record in an interview stating that playing Skeletor was one of his favorite roles. His young son was a huge fan and was running around the house shouting “By the power of Grayskull,” so he took the role for him. He wrote some of his own lines, like: “Tell me about the loneliness of good, He-Man. Is it equal to the loneliness of evil?”
    • Many viewers of the film commented on actress Meg Foster’s eerily effective contact lenses which gave her character Evil-Lyn a sinister and unearthly air. Actually she wore no contact lenses. Her eyes naturally have blue/grey irises and tiny pupils, giving her a striking appearance. She has often been cast in sci-fi/fantasy roles because of them and jokes that she appeals to casting directors as she brings her own special effect with her for free.
    • Mattel, the toy company that produced the original He-Man toys, ran a contest where the winner would get a role in the new He-Man movie. The production was under a great deal of pressure to finish in time and under budget, so director Gary Goddard had to squeeze the contest winner into the shoot. The winner, Richard Szponder, is Pigboy, who hands Skeletor his staff when he returns from Earth. He was even listed in the ending credits.
    • Mattel, which owned and produced the “Masters of the Universe” toyline, mandated early in production that He-Man could not kill anyone on screen. That’s why Skeletor’s troops are robots.
    • At the time of filming, Dolph Lundgren had limited acting experience, spoke with a thick Swedish accent, and was not yet fluent in English. Director Gary Goddard had planned to have all of Lundgren’s lines dubbed by another actor. However, Lundgren’s contract stipulated that he would have at least three opportunities to redub his lines in post production. With the film running behind schedule, Goddard decided to use Lundgren’s natural voice instead.
    • A total of three working Cosmic Key props were built for the film, each personally constructed by Richard Edlund. The props were extremely fragile and broke down easily, so a special team of prop technicians had to be on hand at all times to repair damage during filming. As of 2012, they are valued at $6,000 each.
    • In the official “Masters of the Universe” comic book adaptation, an alternate ending is used that was written for the movie but never filmed. In the comic, after the final battle between He-Man and Skeletor, Man-At-Arms comes from the depths of Castle Grayskull carrying a NASA and United States flag. The NASA flag has “Starfinder 5. July 10, 2221” written on it, revealing that the first humans on Eternia were actually from a future American space mission.

Troll 2 (1990)

• Directed Claudio Fragasso aka Drake Floyd
  • Zombi 3
• Starring Michael Paul Stephensen, Darren Ewing, Robert Ormsby, and Margo Prey.
• Budget of 100,000 no known box.
• Trivia
  • The entire cast went to a casting call hoping to be extras, and ended up in lead roles.
  • Director Claudio Fragasso and his wife Rossella Drudi, who only spoke Italian, wrote the screenplay in very poor English. On set, the actors suggested they ad-lib their lines, to make the dialog sound better. Fragasso forbade that, and all of the lines had to be read as written.
  • Once had a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. As of July 2014, it has a 6% rating.
  • Jason Steadman wore a yellow shirt with a logo during the first half of shooting. It got lost at one point, and instead of re-filming all of the scenes with a different shirt, the film crew told Steadman to buy another yellow shirt. The shirt he bought didn’t look like his previous yellow shirt, but he still had to wear it for the rest of production.
  • Morgan, Utah, where the film was shot, held a “Troll 2” festival in 2007. The town was transformed into the fictional town of Nilbog seen in the movie. Screenings of the film were held, and the Mayor of Morgan presented director Claudio Fragasso with the key to the city.
  • Robert Ormsby’s only film performance
  • At 15:30 in the Creative Screenwriting Magazine Filmmaker Q&A (included as an audio extra on the Best Worst Movie (2009), Michael Paul Stephenson says that the infamous “Piss on Hospitality” scene wasn’t written that way. The script called for him to act possessed, jump up on the chair and start screaming. “On the day of the shooting, [Claudio Fragasso] pulls me aside, looks at the script, and says, ‘Ah, possessed, that bull****, boring, you stand up, you piss on the table.’ Being ten years old [I was] thinking, ‘What?’, but Claudio says, ‘You don’t worry, you jump on table, you unzip zipper, we cut, piss on table.'”

AirBorne (1993)

• Directed by Rob Bowman
  • Episodes of XFiles
  • The Xfiles movie
  • Elektra
• Starring Shane McDermott, Seth Green, Brittney Powell, and Jack Black.
• Box Office of 2.9 million on a Budget of 2.6 million.
• Trivia
  • On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 21% approval rating, based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 2.74/10. The website’s consensus reads, “Airborne skates downhill with a threadbare story, flat characters, and wince-inducing dialogue.
  • Filmed when the X-Games (then called X-Games 101) started becoming popular and in-line skating was the craze. Chris Edwards (Walt) was a well known for his X-Games appearances and was one of the members of Team Rollerblade.
  • This is Shane McDermott’s only film appearance.
  • The final race scene actually takes place all over the Cincinnati area. It begins in the west side community of Colerain Township on Springdale Rd. overlooking Interstate 74 and jumps all over town, including central areas; Mt. Auburn near The Christ Hospital at the intersection of Auburn Ave., Sycamore St., and Dorchester Ave.; Mt. Adams on Van Meter St; and ends downtown on Mehring Way between the old Riverfront Stadium and the Ohio River.

The Master of Disguise (2002)

• Directed by Perry Andelin Blake
  • Only Directed movie
  • Production Designer on
    • Hustle
    • Billy Madison
    • Happy Gilmore
  • Starring Dana Carvey, Jennifer Esposito, Harold Gould, James Brolin, and Brent Spiner
  • Budget of 16 million and Box office of 43 million
  • Trivia
    • For years, there has been a rumor that the scene at the Turtle Club happened to be filming on September 11, 2001. When word of the terrorist attacks reached the set, the cast and crew observed a moment of silence (with Dana Carvey already in the turtle costume). This is not entirely correct. What actually happened was that the film didn’t even begin production until September 24, 2001. The “Turtle Club” scene was the first scene they shot. Everyone felt weird to make such a silly movie after such a terrible tragedy. Right before they filmed, director Perry Blake gave a heartfelt speech to the cast and crew, there was a moment of silence (yes, Dana was still in costume) and then Blake called “action”.
    • During rewrites, Dana Carvey made the film to make his two, at the time, preteen sons laugh (because the majority of his projects were not suitable for children). His sons really hated live-action PG movies. They thought they were nerdy and not cool. So Carvey tried to make a movie that seemed PG-13, but was actually PG.
    • Adam Sandler, who executive produced this film, came up with two of the film’s gags…
      • The scene where Abraham Lincoln dances to “I Like To Move It”.
      • In the Turtle Club scene, when Pistachio bites a guy’s nose off and then spits it back on his face.
      • Dana Carvey afterwards said that the film would have gone nowhere without Sandler’s help.
    • In the credits, White Collar Executive (Kevin Nealon) is seen asking Devlin Bowman (Brent Spiner) if Fabbrizio Disguisey (James Brolin) can disguise himself as various female celebrities. The first person he asks about is Barbara Streisand. James Brolin has been married to Barbara Streisand since July 1, 1998
    • Dana Carvey wanted to do the Pacino impression for six more minutes. But, Adam Sandler’s people at Happy Madison stepped in and reined him in.
    • The reason why there are so many farts jokes in the film is because Dana Carvey originally wanted to put sexual innuendoes in the film. But, the studio said, “The only thing you can do is poo jokes. Anything with poo you can do in a PG. But you can’t do anything sexual.” Dana is actually not a fan of bathroom humor, but he went with it anyway.
    • Producers had to pay Madonna $17,000 just for Dana Carvey to say the words “Papa Don’t Preach”.

Daredevil (2003)

• Directed by Mark Steven Johnson
  • Ghost Rider
  • Simon Birch
  • Wrote
    • Grumpy Old Men
    • Christopher Robin
  • Starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Collin Farrell, John Favreau, Joe Pantoliano, and Michael Clarke Duncan.
  • Box office of 179 million and Budget of 78 million
  • Trivia
    • Ben Affleck was virtually blind, as he had to wear heavy-duty contact lenses, which blocked out most of his vision.
    • In their big fight scene, Jennifer Garner accidentally kicked Ben Affleck so hard in the head that he briefly blacked out.
    • This is the first time Colin Farrell ever used his own Irish accent in an American movie.
    • The film was originally envisioned as R-rated, with nudity and hard violence.
    • After negative critical and audience reactions, and Ben Affleck’s refusal to play the character a second time, numerous producers and screenwriters were attached to a potential Daredevil reboot. An initial deadline of October 10, 2012 was set that if the movie didn’t start filming before that date, the rights would go back to “Marvel Studios.” David Slade was originally attached to direct, before dropping out over a scheduling conflict in August 2012. Joe Carnahan pitched a sizzle reel to “20th Century Fox” executives, depicting the character in a hard boiled, 1970s-set thriller in Manhattan. But the studio chose to let the live action film rights lapse, and go back to “Marvel.” “Marvel” chose to do “Daredevil (2015)” as a live action television series for Netflix, with the character fitting within the “Marvel Cinematic Universe.”
    • Michael Clarke Duncan was often put on lifts or boxes, to make him tower over everyone else, particularly in his scenes with Ben Affleck, who is 6’4″. The same thing was done for Duncan in The Green Mile (1999).
    • Stan Lee disliked the film, because he felt the film was “too tragic”.
    • Matt Damon turned down the lead role, as he didn’t have enough faith in the script or director.
    • The film pays homage to numerous “Daredevil” writers and artists:
      • Stan Lee: Daredevil’s original creator makes his cameo as the man who young Matt Murdock stops from crossing the street. Wrote Daredevil (1964-1969).
      • Kirby, the lab assistant played by Kevin Smith (see final item): Comic book artist Jack Kirby (assorted Daredevil covers in 1964-1968).
      • Father Everett: Bill Everett, Daredevil’s original artist (drew first issue of Daredevil in 1964, then assorted covers 1966-1972).
      • Jose Quesada (the rapist): Joe Quesada, Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics, and artist of Daredevil 1998-2000.
      • Colan (a boxer): Gene Colan, another Daredevil artist 1966-1974.
      • John Romita (the boxer, against whom Jack Murdock is supposed to dive): John Romita Sr., Sr. was a Daredevil artist in 1966, and John Romita Jr. was a Daredevil artist 1988-1990.
      • Kane (a thug): Gil Kane, Daredevil cover artist 1971-1978.
      • Miller, Mack, Bendis (other boxers): Frank Miller, writer and artist 1979-1983, David Mack, artist 1999-2001, and Brian Michael Bendis, writer of Daredevil beginning 1999, and was still doing so when the film came out.
      • Kevin Smith, author whose Daredevil work is collected in “Daredevil Visionaries: Kevin Smith”, appears as the lab assistant Kirby, named for another artist mentioned above.
    • Ben Affleck was cast as Daredevil because Kevin Smith (appearing here as Kirby the lab tech) suggested him to writer/director Mark Steven Johnson. Smith, who directed Affleck in four films from the “View Askewniverse” series, and would later reunite in Jersey Girl (2004), also wrote at least one of the comic books on which this movie is based
    • The core storyline was based on Frank Miller’s story arcs. The introduction and flashback was taken from his mini-series “Daredevil: Man Without Fear”, and many of the sequences follow John Romita Jr.’s art work shot-for-shot. The Elektra storyline occurred in Miller’s original run on the comic in the early 1980s.
    • A subplot with a character framed for murder by a corrupt cop and played by rapper Coolio was removed, primarily to make the film shorter, and get it a PG-13 rating. However, Coolio was featured in trailers for the film. The subplot can be seen in the director’s cut of the movie
    • Seth Rogen auditioned to play Foggy Nelson.
    • (at around 1h 30 mins) At the end, when Matt mistakes a woman for Elektra, the actress is played by Jennifer Garner’s stand-in.
    • (at around 1h 17 mins) The lines spoken by Bullseye when he kills Elektra are taken verbatim from the original comic book.

The Room (2003)

• Directed and Written by Tommy Wiseau
• Starring Tommy Wiseau, Juliette Danielle, and Greg Sestero.
• Budget of 6 million initial box office of 1.9k.
• Trivia
  • com described Wiseau’s speaking voice in the film as “Borat trying to do an impression of Christopher Walken playing a mental patient.
  • According to Greg Sestero, Tommy Wiseau submitted the film to Paramount Pictures, hoping to get them on board as distributor. Usually, it takes about two weeks to get a reply from such a studio. This movie, however, was rejected within 24 hours.
  • Towards the end of the Los Angeles portion of the shoot, morale among the crew was so low that Todd Barron’s name was not listed on the clapperboard, take numbers were not being recorded, giggling crew members wandered in and out of shots, and entire scenes were out of focus simply because nobody bothered to check the lens.
  • According to Tommy Wiseau, Denny has some sort of mental disorder, which explains his behavior in the film. He didn’t bother mentioning this to Philip Haldiman during production.
  • Shot simultaneously on 35 mm film and high-definition video. Tommy Wiseau was confused about the differences between the two formats, but he decided use both of them, as he wanted to be the first director to shoot on film and HD simultaneously. In order to do that, he had a custom mount constructed to house both cameras, unaware that he would need a different crew and lighting setup for each. He also purchased the cameras instead of renting them as film productions usually do, with the cost of the HD camera alone being $100,000. Despite this, only the footage shot with the 35 mm film camera was eventually used.
  • n the years since its release, Tommy Wiseau claims the film was always meant to be a comedy full of so-bad-it’s-good elements. The rest of the cast suspects Wiseau is attempting to deflect from the fact that his “epic drama” was not received in the way he intended.
  • The woman in the flower shop was not an actress but the woman who actually worked there. According to Greg Sestero, Tommy Wiseau, upon seeing the dog, asked if it was “the real thing”. Tommy wanted to know if it was a real, living, actual dog.
  • According to “The Disaster Artist,” Tommy Wiseau is fascinated by vampires and enjoys cultivating the impression that he is one. Greg Sestero recounts how, early in production, Wiseau approached cinematographer Raphael Smadja with a new scene: “I want my car to fly off the roof and into the sky. It’s just possible side plot. Maybe Johnny is vampire.” Wiseau eventually dropped the idea after learning that this wasn’t possible on the production’s budget
  • After low ticket sales, the film was almost immediately pulled from cinemas. Tommy Wiseau paid to keep the film playing in one cinema for two weeks so it would be eligible for Oscar nominations. This proved to be a fruitless attempt, as the film didn’t receive any nominations. Ironically, The Disaster Artist (2017), the film based on Greg Sestero’s book, received one Oscar nomination for “Best Adapted Screenplay”
  • Tommy Wiseau, who for years refused to acknowledge his European roots, banned any language other than English from the film. This might explain why everyone says “future wife” and “future husband” instead of “fiancée” and “fiancé”. While shooting the football scene in the park, Greg Sestero said “catch this” in French, as Wiseau kept fumbling the ball. Wiseau lost his cool, yelling “No French! No French words, dammit!” and tackled Sestero. This take was kept in the film; ADR was used to make the tackle seem more playful that it actually was.
  • Most of the crew were convinced the film would never be seen by anyone.
  • According to Tommy Wiseau, Lisa’s mother makes a full recovery from her breast cancer.
  • Tommy Wiseau once yelled at a crew member for farting on set.

Josie and the Pussy Cats (2001)

• Directed by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan
  • Can’t Hardly Wait
  • Leap Year
• Starring Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, Rosario Dawson, Gabriel Mann, and Missi Pyle.
• Budget 39 million Box office of 14 million
• Trivia
  • First panned by critics then as movies sales from VHS then it was reassessed by critics after it reached cult status.
  • To stay with the ‘consumer economy’ tone of the film, from beginning to end there are approximately 73 companies who have product placements shown; from logos to actual items ranging in entertainment, electronics, fashion, food, hygiene, and cars. No money was received from all the product placements in the film.
  • Due to the level of profanity and adult themes, the family friendly Archie comics which published the original Josie and the Pussycats stories, would denounce the film and discouraged people from seeing it. Strangely, many years later, the comics would not only be fine with, but also promote the television series Riverdale (2017) based on their Archie stories (and which features Josie, Melody, and Valerie as secondary characters). Which arguably had much darker adult themes in its storylines than this movie.
  • Rachael Leigh Cook, Rosario Dawson, and Tara Reid had to go to a “Band Camp” for two weeks to learn how to play the instruments their characters used in order look correct on screen. Tara Reid found this funny, because “this one time at band camp” was a running gag in her previous film American Pie (1999). However, they did not become proficient to the level that they could play effectively on the soundtrack. The actual music was supplied by studio musicians.
  • The “Bubbles” in the Mega Records recording studio change from white to yellow during the course of the film. Apparently the techs could not keep the material they were made out of to stay white, so they just went with it.
  • Alan Cumming’s character tells the girls how lucky they are to be able to go back to their 10 year high school reunion as huge successes. Three years earlier in the Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion (1997) his character was the greatest success at the 10 year reunion. Likely this line was an intentional reference.
  • Brandy Norwood and Aaliyah were considered for the role of Valerie Brown.
  • Originally, Fiona was supposed to have been very fat when she was younger, but Parker Posey suggested that instead Fiona have a speech impediment.
  • Alan Cumming played a very similar character the same year in Spy Kids (2001) with many narrative parallels. In both films he plays a flamboyant villain who releases music containing hidden subliminal messaging. Furthermore, it is revealed in both films that he is not the head mastermind, but is answering to another person.
  • During the Total Request Live (1998) scene, the cardboard cut-outs in the “audience” feature Johnny Depp (2), Gwen Stefani (2), Christina Aguilera (2), Britney Spears, and Matt Damon. Melody defends herself with Britney and Christina, but Carson Daly hits the cut-outs with a baseball bat. Melody eventually clubs Carson with the Matt Damon cut-out and knocks him off the bleachers.

Friday The 13^th Part VIII Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)

• Director Rob Hedden
  • Clockstoppers
  • The Condemned
  • Boxboarders
• Starring Jensen Daggett, Kane Hodder, and Todd Caldescott
• Budget 5 million and gross of 14 million
• Trivia
  • Kane Hodder says that one of the most fun parts of his tenure as Jason were the scenes in Times Square. He says that spectators were lined up and down the block watching the filming and he didn’t want to take off the mask to destroy their illusion of Jason. He said that every once in awhile he’d turn his head and look at them and watch them all go crazy.
  • According to an interview in Fangoria Magazine (August 1989), Kane Hodder vomited on cue in the final scene after drinking several pitchers of water. This was not a special effect.
  • Rob Hedden originally wrote more of the movie to be set in New York. He had written scenes at Madison Square Garden, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, and the Empire State Building. But Paramount told him that budget would not allow him to spend that much time in New York so he was forced to rewrite the film and spend more time on the cruise ship. Hedden says he agrees with fans who complain that not enough time is spent in New York, given the title.
  • In the original script, when Jason makes it to the dock, a dog starts barking at him and he kicked it. Kane Hodder, who was playing Jason, felt that kicking the dog was going too far so the scene was dropped.
  • Many fans disliked Jason’s unmasking in this as it was deemed unconvincing and unintimidating.
  • One of only three Friday the 13th movies not to be scored by Harry Manfredini.
  • The Julius Gaw character was a holdover from the original script. Writer/director Rob Hedden originally envisioned the scene taking place in Madison Square Garden, where Julius and Jason would engage in a boxing match before Jason eventually punches his head off. Actor Vincent Craig Dupree was actually really punching Kane Hodder because he was a big, tough guy wearing plenty of padding. So, to make it look real, Hodder just told him to go all out and actually punch him.

Anaconda (1997)

• Luis Llosa
  • Watcher III
  • Crackdown
• Starring Jon Voight, Jennifer Lopez, Eric Stoltz, Ice Cube, Owen Wilson and Jonathan Hyde.
• Budget 45 million and box office of 136
• Trivia
  • During the filming of one scene, the controls for the animatronic anaconda shorted out, causing it to completely lose control. Some of the footage is included in the movie.
  • The CGI for the anacondas cost $100,000 per second.
  • Contrary to popular rumor, the movie was not filmed in the Dominican Republic. Most of the river scenes were filmed on the Rio Negro, near Manaus, Brazil. The rest were filmed at the Los Angeles Arboretum.
  • stationary animatronic of the anaconda featured in the movie was on display at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. It’s tail had the skin taken off, revealing the skeletal structure of the snake and the inner workings of the animatronic.
  • Gillian Anderson and Julianna Margulies turned down the role of Terri Flores. Jennifer Aniston, Kate Beckinsale, Nicole Kidman, Juliette Binoche, Kim Basinger and Sandra Bullock were also considered for the role
  • Gillian Anderson auditioned for the role of Denise Kalberg, but lost out to Kari Wuhrer.
  • Sean Connery, Tommy Lee Jones, and John Malkovich turned down the role of Paul Serone.
  • Blue eyes are very uncommon in Paraguay, the country Jon Voight’s character is meant to be from.
  • In another scene a monkey is seen sitting in a tree. One of the men aims his gun at the trees and supposedly shoots the monkey. After the shot is heard, the monkey supposedly falls into the water. A fake monkey was used for the segment of the monkey falling into the water.
  • The measurements of the 2 anacondas in the movie: The first anaconda is a 7.6 m female while the second is a 12 m male. In real life, the Spanish colonizers who arrived in South America reported that the green anacondas reached 12 meters, however, in reality, the male anacondas are small and the females are the ones that reach large sizes.
  • Jon Voight previously co-starred with Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible (1996). Anaconda screenwriters Jim Cash and Jack Epps, Jr. previously penned the script of Top Gun (1986) which also starred Cruise.
  • The scene where Terri ask Paul to look for Mateo, and Paul reply maybe some other time, it’s a hidden message that Paul did not want to ruin his adventure, because Mateo was the first bait to be attack by the snake.
  • The movements of the animatronic of the green anaconda are really based on the movements that these animals have when hunting or moving. The production wanted the animatronic to go and do the movements as close as possible to the real green anacondas.