Happy Birthday to Me
Short description
Virginia Wainwright is a student at a private school and a member of its most exclusive group. She is approaching her eighteenth birthday, but she has trouble recalling the previous year, when an accident left her with memory gaps and blackouts. As her birthday nears, the friends around her begin dying violently, one after another. Virginia comes to suspect that the killings are connected to the incident she cannot fully remember.
The Canadian production was directed by J. Lee Thompson, the fourteenth of the twenty-one films he directed in chronological order, following Caboblanco and preceding 10 to Midnight. Timothy Bond, John C.W. Saxton and Peter Jobin wrote the screenplay, and Melissa Sue Anderson plays Virginia, with Glenn Ford as Dr. David Faraday, Lawrence Dane and Sharon Acker as her parents, Frances Hyland as Mrs. Patterson and Tracey E. Bregman as Ann Thomerson. The credited cast numbers fifty and the credited crew 112.
Made for about 4 million US dollars, the film took roughly 11 million US dollars worldwide, a solid return on its budget. On IMDb it holds 6 out of 10 from around 12,000 votes, the same score it has on TMDB from 241 votes. A film critics' rating of 5.3 out of 10 from 14 reviews places it below the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Problems arose during the filming of the car crash scene, so it had to be shot several times using different cars. During the filming of one of the takes, a stuntman suffered injuries to both legs.
- The brain surgery was performed by a real neurosurgeon, although the brain itself was a prop.
- In the original script's finale, it was revealed that the spirit of Virginia's deceased mother would occasionally possess her, and she would commit murders during these moments, with no recollection afterward. The producers decided this ending was unsuitable and changed it during filming.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
