Did You Know?

By his own admission, director Paul Schrader says that one day he got so stoned on set that he refused to come out of his trailer. A whole day's filming was lost.

On Oliver's nightstand there's a copy of the book "Mishima: A Biography." Director Paul Schrader would a few years later go on to direct qv_ Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)_ based in part on that biography.

The species of big cats in this movie were black panthers, actually leopards. The term panther is a generic term for any large cat. The panthers in this movie are leopards, their distinctive black color being derived from a genetic recessive trait known as melanism.

The Big Cats section of the New Orleans Zoo depicted in this movie was actually a set constructed for this picture on the Universal Studios back-lot.

This movie is a loose adaptation remake of the original Cat People.

Nastassja Kinski was about twenty years old during filming when she played the central character Irina in this movie.

Apparently, director Paul Schrader regretted using the 'Cat People' title after negative reaction to this movie occurred comparing it with the original Cat People.

Second Hollywood movie and fourth picture filmed in the English language for Nastassja Kinski.

The Oliver character in this movie that is played by John Heard was played by Kent Smith in the original Cat People and its sequel The Curse of the Cat People. Both characters' have the same first name, but in the original movie and its sequel, the character was called Oliver Reed. This represents an instance where a character name was the same name as a real famous person, in this case, actor Oliver Reed. But this is retrospective as actor Reed was only a boy when the original film and its sequel were released. However, because of this similarity with the famous actor, the Oliver character was called Oliver Yates for this remake. In The Curse of the Cat People, the character was credited as Oliver 'Ollie' Reed.

Production designer Ferdinando Scarfiotti was credited as a Visual Consultant because he was not a member of the relevant union at the time.

Reportedly, director Paul Schrader and lead actress Nastassja Kinski had a relationship during the production of this movie.

This remake of Cat People was made and released around the same time as The Thing from Another World was being remade as The Thing. Both originals were horror movie classics from the RKO Studio.

The film's "cat people" title refers to the characters in this movie played by Nastassja Kinski and Malcolm McDowell who are the descendants of ancient matings between women and big black cat panther leopards. When these "cat people" make love, they revert to their cat form and must kill in order to return to being human. As such, it is only "safe" to procreate with relatives.

This remake had been touted for a number of years going back to 1978 before it was eventually made and released.

This film's director, Paul Schrader', said of this movie: "Previously, I've made films about daydreams - this is my first film about nightmares . . . It's about what goes on when the lights go out - the unconscious world inhabited by erotic fantasies, and what Cocteau Jean Cocteau calls the 'sacred monsters' . . . When you're dealing with the fantastic, you need a place where people would accept it (the myth) . . . New Orleans [where this film is set] is one of those towns where you think almost anything can happen - and probably has!" Schrader has also said that this movie "contains more skin than blood". He has said that it is a mythical film rather than a realistic one and has likened the relationship in the movie between Olive and Irina to that like Dante and Beatrice.

This movie is considered a sexed-up remake of the original Cat People. In that movie, Irina's belief was that she would turn into a cat if she had sex.

Bo Derek was originally scheduled to play the lead role that eventually went to Nastassja Kinski.