Did You Know?

The patients in the doctor's waiting room with Jack are played by Andrea Martin and Joe Flaherty, Martin Short's co-stars from SCTV Channel.

The filmmakers used two different shopping malls for the scene where the doctor injects Tuck into Jack's rear. The opening scenes where the doctor runs in and heads for the elevator were shot in the Northridge Mall in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles (also the epicenter of the '94 quake). The scene where he reaches the top and rams the syringe into Jack was filmed on the top floor of the Sherman Oaks Galleria, another mall several miles away.

After Scrimshaw and Canker are shrunk 50%, there are a few scenes where they are seen with full-size actors. These shots were actually filmed using forced perspective. For the car scene, the rear of the car is actually twice as large as a normal car rear, and was about 20 feet away. During the scene half size hands and double-size heads were used. Using this method, the film-makers didn't have to worry about compositing two separate shots in post production, so the shots could be completed quicker. Even in the final scene with the suitcase, the case was twice as large, but the hand that closes it was real, closer to the camera in sync with the closing. (It took about 20 takes before it was perfect.)

When they are shrinking Tuck Pendleton, the lab's instrumentation shows a reading on the screen that is five interlinked hexagons (two top, three bottom). This is the symbol that the "Combined Minature Deterrent Forces", or CMDF, also used in the movie Fantastic Voyage.

The gas masks worn by Fiona Lewis and her henchmen are US M-17's.

The license plate on Mr. Igoe's car is "SNAPON" this is a reference to Snap-on tools; an automotive mechanic tool that features a snap mechanism for different attachments, similar to his hand.

Amy Irving was married to Steven Spielberg at the time, and when he showed her the script, she desperately wanted to play the role of Lydia Maxwell.

After Gremlins, this movie marked the third collaboration between Joe Dante and Michael Finnell with Steven Spielberg.

Luca Bercovici was the original actor to play Ingoe and his scenes were shot, but was replaced because the producers felt that he was not an intimidating villain as he was about the same height and body size as Martin Short.

The lab in the beginning of the film is the polar opposite of that of Victor Scrimshaw's, Kevin McCarthy's later on in the film. The lab seen when Dennis Quaid is miniaturized is in fact what a real lab would look like which is basically a poor man's miniature home made pod. While the one later on seen during the scene where Ingoe (Vernon Wells) is miniaturized and injected into Martin Short is more high tech with all of the latest industrial tools with proper funding.

All of the cells seen outside the pod were in fact made out of Jello according to Peter Kuran, the special effects supervisor.

The lab workers seen during the scene where Dennis Quaid is about to be miniaturized were in fact real laboratory workers, as actors would not have been suitable to performing what real lab rats do.

When filming the meat truck scene with Scrimshaw and Jack, the director realized only that day that Scrimshaw had no lines prepared; the script only contained Tuck Pendleton's voiceover. They hastily wrote a speech for Kevin McCarthy on a piece of paper, although in the film itself Tuck's voiceover renders the monologue inaudible. In the DVD commentary, Joe Dante says the speech was wonderfully amusing, but the piece of paper was lost before the lines were copied elsewhere.

Chuck Jones:  as a customer in the seen in the supermarket queue eating carrots. He utters the line regarding buying the aspirin, "At eight hundred dollars a bottle, who'd want to?"

Joe Dante:  as the first employee in the Vectorscope Lab attacked by the techno-terrorists.

Joe Dante:  [Regular Cast]  Robert Picardo, John Hora, Kevin McCarthy, Wendy Schaal, William Schallert and Henry Gibson all regular actors who have appeared in Joe Dante's previous and future films. Hora was Dante's regular Director of Photography for most of his films up to Small Soldiers.