The thermal coffee‑mug/bong Marty carries was fully functional. The prototype cost $5000 to build.
Fran Kranz (Marty) was in such good shape that the writers joked he was “ripped like muscular Jesus.” To preserve the stoner archetype, he wore baggy clothes and avoided the lake scene.
Anna Hutchison (Jules) plays a character who has just dyed her hair blonde. In reality, she’s a natural blonde and usually dyes it for roles.
Fran Kranz had never smoked weed before filming and received extensive training on joint‑rolling and bong‑lighting to portray Marty convincingly.
The actors auditioned with scenes not from the movie and didn’t know the real plot until they signed on.
Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard wrote the script in three days.
Much of Goddard’s inspiration came from growing up in Los Alamos, surrounded by people doing world‑ending work while living ordinary lives.
The film was released on Friday the 13th.
MGM saw early footage of Chris Hemsworth and immediately cast him in Red Dawn. Two days later, he was chosen for Thor and is one of the longest cast members in the beloved Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Wendy Lin’s death by tentacled monster mirrors Amy Acker’s previous roles: attacked by a similar creature in Angel‘s Supersymmetry, and her character Illyria’s true form is also a tentacled Ancient One.
Sigourney Weaver agreed to her cameo largely because she wanted to be in a scene with a werewolf.
The whiteboard includes a monster simply named “Kevin.” He was intended as a reference to We Need to Talk About Kevin — a normal‑looking human who is, in fact, the most horrifying creature of all.
The DVD extras reveal many monsters barely visible in the film, including: an axe‑wielding lawn gnome; a floating genie head; a cow‑skull creature from Time Bandits; a Blob Monster; a giant; and members of the KKK.
Bruce Campbell was the original choice for The Director, which would have tied neatly into the cabin/zombie/eldritch‑tome aesthetic. When he wasn’t available, Sigourney Weaver was cast.
The final symbol on the floor in the final scene bears more than a passing resemblance to the symbol used by the Circle of the Black Thorn in Angel Season 5. They themselves were representatives of the Old Ones and Senior Partners on Earth.
In the novelization, Kevin appears during the Purge as a normal man who calmly exsanguinates a wounded victim asking for help.
Marty’s film strip in the cellar would have summoned Kevin in the original script.
The Watcher's Guide 