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Stephen King suffered a near fatal car collision in 1999. In an example of life imitating art, King hoped to bash the van with a baseball bat or a pickax once he healed. Unfortunately, his lawyer had bought the van and sent it to be demolished before he got the chance to do this.
15% of the budget was just on the cars. By the end of filming, all but 2 were destroyed.
Stephen King's popularity was very high at the time that the film went into production before the book was even published.
Portions of the film, particularly Arnie's neighborhood, were shot in the same South Pasadena neighborhood that director John Carpenter used in Halloween (1978).
Screenwriter Bill Phillips thought it was a joke when he was asked to adapt a book about a killer car. Halfway through reading Stephen King's novel, Phillips realized it was really good and signed on.
Stephen King chose a '58 Plymouth Fury for Christine because it was a "forgotten car." "I didn't want a car that already had a legend attached to it like the '50s Thunderbird."