Gremlins
Cute. Clever. Mischievous. Intelligent. Dangerous.
Gremlins (1984)
Production
Budget
$11 000 000
Revenue
$165 449 255
Director
Scenario
Composer
Producer
Michael Finnell
Actors
Zach Galligan
Billy
Phoebe Cates
Kate
Hoyt Axton
Rand Peltzer
Frances Lee McCain
Lynn Peltzer
Corey Feldman
Pete
Keye Luke
Grandfather
John Louie
Chinese Boy
Dick Miller
Mr. Futterman
Short description
Inventor Randall Peltzer picks up an unusual creature in a shop and brings it home as a Christmas gift for his son Billy. The animal, called a mogwai and nicknamed Gizmo, comes with three rules: keep it out of bright light, never get it wet, and never feed it after midnight. When the rules are broken one by one, the gentle pet spawns a multiplying swarm of small, clever and destructive creatures that overrun the American small town where the Peltzers live.
Joe Dante directed the film, the fourth of the sixteen features he has made in chronological order, arriving between Twilight Zone: The Movie and Explorers. Chris Columbus wrote the screenplay, Michael Finnell produced, and the cast includes Zach Galligan as Billy, Phoebe Cates as Kate, Hoyt Axton as Randall, Frances Lee McCain as Lynn, Corey Feldman as Pete and Keye Luke as Mr. Wing. Fifty-six performers and sixty-six crew members are credited.
Made for about 11 million dollars, the film took roughly 153 million worldwide, a strong return for a production of that size. Audiences rate it 7.3 out of 10 on IMDb from some 273,000 votes and 7.1 out of 10 on TMDB from about 7,200 votes. A critics' score of 7.7 out of 10 from 91 reviews places it slightly above both audience ratings.
What's left behind the scenes
- The scene of the Gremlin attack with a chainsaw was conceived during filming at the behest of Joe Dante and Zach Galligan, fans of Tobe Hooper’s horror film 'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre'.
- After viewing the still-not-fully-edited footage, the studio executives told director Joe Dante and producer Steven Spielberg that they believed there were too many gremlins in the film. In response, Spielberg suggested removing all the gremlins from the plot altogether and calling the film "People."
- Chris Columbus's script went through several revisions before it was approved. In the original version, the gremlins kill a dog, decapitate a woman, and throw her down the stairs. These episodes weren't even filmed because director Joe Dante and Warner Bros. needed a film geared towards a family audience.
- Gizmo's facial expressions sometimes changed because the puppet was created in several copies with different faces, and the puppets were swapped when necessary. Each puppet had corresponding equipment in its head responsible for the movement of the mouth.
- One of the gremlins watching "Snow White" has round Mickey Mouse ears.
- Howie Mandel, who provided the voice for Gizmo, had previously voiced children in comedic projects. Mandel's voice largely contributed to the authenticity of Gizmo's character. Before filming the singing scene with Gizmo, many professionals were auditioned, including an opera singer. Ultimately, a girl heard by Jerry Goldsmith, who composed the film's music, in her own synagogue sang for Gizmo.
- The gremlin leader hides in a toy store, specifically behind an E.T. alien doll from Steven Spielberg's film of the same name.
- Steven Spielberg broke his leg and ended up playing the episodic role of an inventor in a wheelchair.
- The reason for introducing the rule excluding bright lighting in the film was that it was 1984, and director Joe Dante and Steven Spielberg’s production company, Amblin Entertainment, were unable to convincingly and qualitatively depict the Gremlin puppets, as the level of special effects in cinema at that time left much to be desired. This problem was camouflaged by using dim lighting in the frame. This is a trick frequently used in science fiction films. Three years earlier, Dante had already used it in the horror film 'The Howl' (1980), where the creatures were deliberately shown in darkness, which concealed the shortcomings of the special effects.
- The city sets were the same as those used in Robert Zemeckis's science fiction comedy "Back to the Future" (1985). They were filmed near the "Universal Studios" building.
- Special effects artist Chris Wallace suggested using puppets instead of stop-motion animation. As a compromise, the studio executives proposed filming a monkey in a suitable costume. They decided to test the idea in Joe Dante's office, where the animal "lost it," destroying the room and making a mess. As a result, it was decided to use puppets after all.
- After watching Tim Burton's short films (which he shot early in his career), executive producer Steven Spielberg began to consider making him the director of a film, but ultimately abandoned the idea because Burton had not yet directed a feature-length film at that time.
- Initially, Stripe and Gizmo were the same character, but then producer Steven Spielberg began insisting on making one of the gremlins good, so that the audience could empathize with him.
- The table in the children's room is cluttered with old comics, while the children themselves are watching cheap science fiction from the 50s – director Joe Dante couldn't resist alluding to the main love of his childhood.
- These creatures were conceived by Chris Columbus, a graduate of the New York private film and acting institute who lived in Manhattan at the time. As he later recounted, the area was quite pleasant during the day, but at night hordes of mice and rats would appear.
- The script contained practically no lines for the gremlins or Mogwai. Almost all of their lines consisted of fragments of what they had just heard or were the result of reacting to sudden sounds.
- The teacher, played by Glynn Turman, was originally supposed to die with dozens of syringes stuck in his face. At the request of Steven Spielberg, this scene was reshot and showed the death of this character with only one syringe in the buttock.
- The poster for 'Rockin'' Ricky Rialto', which flashed on the screen before the opening credits, parodies Indiana Jones.
- Zach Galligan (who played Billy) later recounted that computer graphics didn't exist at the time, so all the gremlins were animatronic puppets costing between $30,000 and $40,000. When everyone left for the day, the trunk of the car had to be opened so security could make sure no one was trying to smuggle a puppet off the set.
- It was especially difficult to work with the Gizmo puppets, as they were smaller and broke more often. A scene was specifically added to the script in which the gremlins hang Gizmo on the wall and throw darts at him. This idea was taken from the film’s creative team’s list of “The Most Horrible Things to Do to Gizmo.”
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
