RV (2006)
Trivia
A life-long fan of camping, Jeff Daniels has owned an RV for years. According to a Detroit radio interview, his RV driving lessons for the movie were quickly canceled when he arrived on location in his personal recreational vehicle.
Jeff Daniels composed "Recreational Vehicle" song for his charity album "Jeff Daniels Live and Unplugged." The song was about his personal RV misadventures.
The salesman, Irv, (pictured on the right side of the RV) is, in fact, director Barry Sonnenfeld.
Jeff Daniels did all the banjo playing in all of the music scenes.
The Munro RV is a Forest River, Georgetown 359 TS. Five of them were purchased, plus a sixth which was ordered in pieces and assembled in a way that allowed hydraulic rams to raise and lower it out of the lake. Two were fitted with special suspension hydraulics to handle some of the extreme driving moments. Two of them are the ones that the Munros are seen living and driving in. The 5th was dubbed "Wild Thing" and was fully functional.
The script originally called for a 1990s recreational vehicle, but Barry Sonnenfeld wanted something more classic. His search yielded two 1948 "Flexible Clippers," which were used in the '40s and '50s by such companies as Greyhound and Trailways. Both were in reasonably good shape when the production acquired them. The seats were stripped away, the bodies restored and painted an eye-catching red and cream (they were originally blue and white) and outfitted like vintage motor homes. Other exterior appointments included "eyelid" shades over the headlights, a chrome ladder up the back and a wooden roof rack to complete its distinctive classic look. The second bus was completely rebuilt, including engine and drive train, with only about 60 percent of the interior restored. It was used mainly for stunt work and second unit exterior shots.
The letters OPE and POE from Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) can be seen on the wall of the RV park washroom. This is actually a tribute within a tribute as in the film Raising Arizona (1987), the same initials OPE and POE are displayed in a restroom as well.
All of the Gornicke children are named after former NFL players from the Houston Oilers: Earl (Earl Campbell); Moon (Warren Moon) and Billy (Billy Johnson).
The "Happy Max" horn on the Gornickes' RV plays a portion of the theme from Star Trek: The Original Series (1966).
Throughout the film, a man's humming is used in the score. According to Barry Sonnenfeld, it is actually supposed to be the voice of God. The humming would appear when something disastrous in the movie would happen.
In the opening sequence, Cheryl Hines is holding her real-life daughter, Catherine Rose Young, playing Carl as a baby, who is actually a boy.
The scene where Jamie, Cassie and Carl are listening to music on the headphones and singing to different songs all at once, driving Bob mad, was actually based on a real life incident to happened to Barry Sonnenfeld. Barry and a film crew were filming a documentary in Japan and during a bus ride, Barry and the crew wore headphones, each of them listening to different song and singing the different songs out loud.
Boulder, Colorado is Robin Williams destination the family's destination. Boulder, Colorado was also the setting for Williams' early TV series Mork & Mindy (1978).
Travis mentions Ernest Goes to Jail (1990), which stars Jim Varney, a friend of Robin Williams, which also rules.
Bill Murray, Michael Keaton, John Travolta, Jim Carrey and John Goodman were considered for the role of Bob Munro.
When Bob says ''Cadillac of RVs'', that's a reference to Get Shorty (1995), also directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. When Chili Palmer asks for an Cadillac to a Rental Car Attendant, and he is given an Oldsmobile Silhouette, the Rental Car Attendant calls it the "Cadillac of minivans''.
Not so PG reference: Bob says "whenever I see a big white man with a banjo, my cheeks tighten". This is a reference to Deliverance (1972).
Carly Schroeder was originally cast as Cassie Munro but had to drop out of the film due to scheduling conflicts with Firewall (2006). The role then went to JoJo.
Daveigh Chase auditioned for the role of Cassie.
Robin Williams starred in Jumanji (1995) and Josh Hutcherson starred in a movie similar called Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005).
This is the first collaboration between Cheryl Hines and Jeff Daniels. Two years later, they starred in Space Chimps (2008).
Matthew Gray Gubler plays a dummy in this movie, which is complete opposite to his role in Criminal Minds (2005) where he plays a genius.
