Trivia
The idea for these creatures was born in a loft in Manhattan's garment district that was home to NYU Film School graduate screenwriter Chris Columbus. "By day, it was pleasant enough, but at night, what sounded like a platoon of mice would come out and to hear them skittering around in the blackness was really creepy." Columbus recalls.
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Unbeknownst to Joe Dante and Michael Finnell, Steven Spielberg was a big fan of The Howling. After he came across Chris Columbus' writing sample, he fell in love with it and bought it. Then he decided that Dante was the guy to make it into a movie, took the project to Warner Bros. and also produced it with his own company, Amblin Entertainment.
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Originally planned and scheduled for a Christmas release, the film was rushed into production shortly after Warner Bros. found out that it had no major competition against Paramount's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom or Columbia's Ghostbusters for the summer movie season.
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Generally credited (along with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) to influence the MPAA to create the PG-13 rating, as many felt the scenes of violence in both movies were too much for a PG rating, but not enough for an R rating.
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Billy says he bought a comic at Dr. Fantasy's. Dr. Fantasy is a nickname for executive producer Frank Marshall.
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Mrs. Deagle, the richest lady in town, has named her cats after different kinds of currency (including Kopeck, Drachma and Dollar Bill).
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In Cantonese Chinese, mogwai means devil, demon or gremlin. The Mandarin pronunciation is mogui.
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While watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on the local cinema, one of the gremlins wears some Mickey Mouse's ears.
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Hoyt Axton was always the foremost choice for Rand Peltzer. Pat Harrington Jr. was also considered. Pat Hingle was said to have delivered the best screen test, but was passed on because it was feared Rand's character would take over the picture as a result of Hingle's excellent performance.
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Although it is not clearly visible, "Four Magic Moves to Winning Golf", by Joe Dante (senior) is on Billy's nightstand. Joe Dante Junior said his father criticized him for not making the title more visible.
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In Mrs. Deagle's house, Edward Arnold is shown in a few photographs as Donald Deagle. The permission for their use was granted by his estate.
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The set for Kingston Falls is the same one used for Back to the Future. Both movies were filmed in the Universal Studios backlot.
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In addition to restoring the classic Warner Brothers logo to the opening of the movie, it was hoped to release the film along with the classic Looney Tunes short, Falling Hare, where Bugs Bunny is harassed by a plane gremlin during WW II. This fell through, but, highlights from the short do appear as part of the Behind the Scenes featurette, that has also been included on the Special Edition DVD.
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Little to no actual dialogue for the Gremlins and Mogwai exists in the script in itself. In addition to several instances of on stage rewrites changing or adding to much of the script, the voiceovers were all mostly ad libs, repeating snippets of just performed dialogue or in reaction to other sound effects or environment. To this end, Howie Mandel recorded Gizmo's lines phonetically for foreign dubs of the movie, where localized dialogue and in jokes helped make the picture successful with audiences world wide.
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Though he followed the basic outline of the script, Hoyt Axton is said to have improvised nearly all his lines.
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At least one of Phoebe Cates's screams in the scene at Dorry's Tavern is genuine. An enormous cockroach crawled out in front of her during one take.
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During one night shoot, problems with the Gremlin puppets were so severe that the entire cast fell asleep on the set during the delay.
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The footage of Santa on the roof that Mr. Futterman is watching in his home is of Red Skelton in a Christmas skit from one of his shows.
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After watching his earlier short films, Steven Spielberg considered Tim Burton to direct the film. But decided against it because at the time Burton had never directed a full feature length film.
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The theater that blows up was subsequently involved in another accident when Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) in Back to the Future, smashes into the front entrance at the end of the film. The theater then burned down with the rest of the buildings in the fire that happened right after the filming of Back to the Future Part II.
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Kenneth Tobey and Belinda Balaski also appeared in Gremlins 2: The New Batch, both playing a different character.
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According to Joe Dante and Michael Finnell, the original rough cut of the film ran 2 hours and 40 minutes.
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The scene in the department store where Stripe attacks Billy with a chainsaw was not in the script. It was added by Joe Dante and Zach Galligan as a homage to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
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Edward Andrews, Judge Reinhold and William Schallert received roles that were reduced after the film was edited.
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Within the story, Gizmo was capable of singing or humming. Jerry Goldsmith wrote Gizmo's song as well, but Howie Mandel never sang it. A girl member of Goldsmith's congregation was hired to sing Gizmo's song, although she had never worked in films before.
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After Twilight Zone: The Movie, this movie marked the second collaboration between Joe Dante and Michael Finnell with Steven Spielberg.
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The time machine prop from The Time Machine can be seen behind Rand Peltzer when he's on the phone with his wife, while attending the convention. A moment later, the machine has disappeared (into the future or the past) to the astonishment of several onlookers. Also attending the convention are Steven Spielberg, Jerry Goldsmith and Robby the Robot
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When Billy leads Pete up to his room to show him the Mogwai, a rolled up movie poster for "Twilight Zone: The Movie" can be seen standing on end against a wall. Director Joe Dante directed one of the "episodes" for that film a year earlier.
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Near the very beginning of the film, as Mr. Peltzer makes his way to the curio shop in Chinatown, a wrecked car is seen with the hood up and smoke coming out of it. That car is an AMC Gremlin.
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Cameo
Chuck Jones:
The Warner Bros. animation legend makes a brief on-screen cameo in the scene with Billy and Gerald trading insults.
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Spoilers
Chris Columbus' script went through a few drafts before a shooting script was finalized. His original version had the creatures killing the dog and cutting off the mom's head and tossing it down the stairs. These elements were never shot due to the fact that both, Joe Dante and Warner Bros. wanted the movie to be more family oriented.
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In the original draft of the script, instead of Stripe being a Mogwai who becomes a Gremlin, there was no Stripe the Mogwai and Gizmo was supposed to turn into Stripe the Gremlin. Steven Spielberg overruled this plot element because he felt Gizmo was cute and audiences would want him to be present at all stages of the film. This became stressful for Chris Walas who had designed the Gizmo puppet only for the actions that happened in the first half of the movie.
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Mr. Hanson, the science teacher, originally died with dozens of hypodermic needles stuck in his face. But, by request from Steven Spielberg, this scene was re-shot it with just a single needle in the buttocks.
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In the script, Murray Futterman was killed during his encounter with the Gremlins but it was changed because the filmmakers found this a little harsh. So, during the news report at the end of the movie (if you listen closely the voice over) you can hear Lew Landers say that he is going to talk with Mr. Futterman at the hospital. In the novelization of the film by George Gipe, this change was not included.
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At the end, Gizmo pulls a window blind which exposes Stripe to the sunlight. But, originally, there are two window blinds and Gizmo pull the first one and then Billy pulls the second one. This scene was edited because Steven Spielberg believed that Gizmo was the hero of the movie and not Billy and therefore Gizmo would be the one responsible for the demise of Stripe.
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