Trivia: John Cusack's real-life sister, Joan Cusack, is wearing a neck brace on the bus at the beginning of the film.
Trivia: This was Johnny Depp's first movie.
Trivia: Michael Biehn gets bitten by Sarah Connor in Terminator, by the child in Aliens, and again in the Abyss. All three films were written and directed by James Cameron.
Trivia: Director Ivan Reitman performed the demonic voice of Dana/Zuul in the bedroom scene with Peter Venkman.
Trivia: Most of Prince's dance moves are his own personal tribute to the "Godfather Of Soul" James Brown.
Trivia: The film's soundtrack album knocked Michael Jackson's "Thriller" off the top of the U.S. album charts, where it had ranked for more than a year.
Trivia: When Judie Aronson, who plays Samantha, was filming the scene in the raft where she gets killed, they were doing so many takes. She was wet and cold and wanted to warm up. The director refused until he got the shot he wanted which made Judie cry and freak out. Ted White, who played Jason, was so upset about this that he demanded they get her a blanket and let her get warmed up or he would walk off the set and not come back. Needless to say, Judie got warmed up very quickly.
Trivia: Just in case some people don't know, most of the "German" in this movie is total gibberish. Some sentences are perfectly correct and properly spoken, as with the welcoming speech, the German soldiers and platform announces at the station, the "Ich liebe dich, mein Schatz", etc. But the learning tape, the conversations at the Culture Hall during dinner and the East Germany Anthem are just a bunch of "German-dutch sounding noises." Of course, it's even funnier to know that there are subtitles for all these with content that has nothing to do with it.
Trivia: David Lynch was disgusted with the elongated cut of the film which includes paintings of the 'robot revolt' back story to the original film, a sub-plot he deliberately omitted. He demanded his name be removed from the credits of the film and replaced with the Director's Guild nom de plume, 'Alan Smithee'. This was done so sloppily, by superimposing Smithee's name over Lynch's, that the credit reads "A ALAN SMITHEE FILM".
Trivia: The producers purposely went with relatively unknown actors for the film, because they thought they'd be more believable than stars who people already identified in different roles.
Trivia: When Billy's mom takes the picture of Gizmo at the beginning, Gizmo becomes frightened and runs over to Mr. Peltzer. When the scene is slowed, you can see the puppeteer's hand underneath while operating the Gizmo doll. Not a mistake as needs slo-mo, but worth a look. (00:19:10)
Trivia: The film was written by Diane Thomas. Thomas was a struggling waitress and actress, and had been working odd jobs to make ends meet when she wrote the script. While there is some dispute over how it happened, eventually the script made its way to actor Michael Douglas, who championed Thomas and helped get the movie made. The script was so well-liked, she ended up getting numerous offers, and at one point was even attached to help write one of the "Indiana Jones" sequels. Sadly, she was killed in a car accident only a year after this movie's release, and it remains the only film she was credited for writing.
Trivia: Originally, Rob Reiner was going to be in the band, but decided on just directing the film after the comment, "he didn't look good in spandex," was made by Harry Shearer.
Trivia: In the first scene of Burt and Vicky in the car there is a copy of Stephen King's 'Night Shift' on the dashboard of the passenger side. A little homage to King in that the short story 'Children of the Corn' is in this book.