Christine
Short description
Arnie Cunningham is a shy, unpopular high school student whose life changes when he buys a worn-out 1958 Plymouth Fury and sets about restoring it. The car, which he names Christine, develops a hold over him, and as its chrome and paint are brought back to their former shine, Arnie himself grows confident to the point of arrogance. His best friend Dennis and his girlfriend Leigh try to reach him, but the car tolerates no rivals, and a series of deaths follows in its wake.
John Carpenter directed the film, the ninth of the twenty-two features he has directed in chronological order, arriving between The Thing and Starman. Bill Phillips wrote the screenplay, Richard Kobritz produced, and the cast is led by Keith Gordon as Arnie, with John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky, Harry Dean Stanton and Christine Belford among the twenty-four credited performers. Columbia Pictures and Polar Film backed the production on a budget of about 10 million dollars, and it returned roughly 21 million dollars worldwide.
On IMDb the film holds 6.8 out of 10 from about 102,000 votes, and on TMDB it sits at 6.9 from roughly 2,300 votes, placing the two audience measures close together. A critics' rating of 6.4 from 114 reviews is only slightly below those figures, so critical and audience responses to the film are not far apart.
What's left behind the scenes
- Kevin Bacon was offered the lead role in the film, but he turned it down in favor of "Footloose" (1984).
- Detective Jenkins drives a Plymouth Fury (the same make as Christine), but a 1977 model.
- In the book, Roland LeBay's corpse appears before Arnie several times, and LeBay's spirit possesses Arnie, altering his personality. This is later shown when LeBay's spirit takes control of the car to avenge his cruel tormentors. The film, however, abandons the spirit of LeBay and depicts the car itself as evil. John Carpenter notes that this simplifies the plot and that the appearance of the corpse somehow resembles scenes from "An American Werewolf in London," which was released shortly before "Christine."
- The film is based on the novel of the same name by American writer Stephen King.
- One of the Plymouth stunt doubles used in the film—the one that kills Murch—had a non-original front end. The car was assembled from parts from similar cars found in a junkyard. The vehicle is now privately owned.
- On one of the filming days, Alexandra Paul brought her twin sister Caroline to the set, who secretly, as a joke, replaced Alexandra in the scene with the bulldozer.
- Stephen King's popularity was such that the film was released before his book was published.
- To create the effect of the car self-repairing, hydraulic pumps were installed inside certain areas of the Plymouth Fury stunt double. These pumps were attached to the car's body and, when compressed, sucked parts of the body inward. The inward movement of the car was filmed and then played in reverse in the film, creating the impression that the car was spontaneously restoring its shape.
- According to the book, Arnie receives Christine from Roland D. LeBay, who dies two weeks later. In the film, Arnie receives it from his brother – George LeBay.
- The movie being shown at the drive-in theater is "Thank God It's Friday" (1978).
- The book Dennis pulls from the shelf in the library before inviting Lei is "Christine" by Stephen King.
- The role of Christine was played by both a 'Plymouth Fury' and a 'Plymouth Belvedere' from 1958, which were externally almost indistinguishable from each other and were purchased in large quantities for filming.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
