Palm Springs (2020)
Trivia
Seeing dinosaurs in the desert is impossible. The timing of it is intentional, as the pair have concluded neither deserve love and in fact find it impossible for themselves. In interviews, this moment is what Cristin Milioti said fully did her on the script.
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Spoilers (20)
Andy Samberg admitted multiple endings were written and even shot. They held private friends and family screenings of the different versions to get opinions on which ending worked. Samberg jokes, "Alright, it might not be perfect but everyone liked it!"
Sarah contacts a physicist named Clifford Johnson. Johnson is an actual scientist who worked on the movie, helping the filmmakers come up with an original premise for a time-loop story.
Holds the record for the biggest sale of a film at the Sundance Film Festival - at $17,500,000.69, beating the previous record by 69 cents.
Palm Springs broke the record for most viewed Hulu release in its first weekend on the streaming service.
The scene between Nyles and Roy where Nyles compliments Roy's hat and Roy responds "Of course you do" was improvised between Andy Samberg and J.K. Simmons.
In discussing the movie, Andy Samberg has referenced Groundhog Day (1993), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), and Happy Death Day (2017), and acknowledges that they'd never be able to fully differentiate themselves on the time loop front. Instead, they acted knowing that the audiences would already be familiar with the specifics which allowed them to avoid the usual setup time.
They initially shot the scene with Nyles running naked through the desert with Samberg's stunt double and then shot it with Andy Samberg himself just in case it was too obviously not him, "but my butt was funnier."
Nyles is drinking "Akupara" beer. In Sanskrit, Akupara means "unlimited, unbounded" and in Hinduism, it's the name of a tortoise described as "one who is without death." "If you look close on that label, there's a graphic that kind of explains the mythology of the world and the earthquake," Director Max Barbakow said, recommending a google of Akupara that will take you down a "nice little wormhole, that explains some of the metaphysics behind the movie." He credits production designer Jason Kisvarday with creating the look of the beer.
The temperature was in the mid-80s during the filming of the reception, and bugs invaded the scenes. Much of the film's post-production efforts involved digitally removing insects.
In the commentary cut of the movie, Andy Samberg revealed that after doing a test screening of the movie, they had to use color correction to "dull down" the appearance of Tyler Hoechlin's torso and abs in the shower to be less noticeable because it was distracting the viewers and pulling the focus away from the scene.
Cristin Milioti asked to keep both the pirate "hook" and her "dignity" after filming wrapped, but jokes she only got the hook that her character uses while dressed as a pirate in one scene. "No one walks away from an indie shoot with their dignity," added Andy Samberg.
Once Andy Samberg expressed interest in the film, financing quickly fell into place.
Andy Samberg wants it known that Nyles' spread-eagle posture on the bed in the first scene with Misty in their hotel room was in the script and "not an acting choice."
JK Simmons appears as Fletcher from Whiplash (2014) in one scene, wearing a black shirt with a whip in one hand.
In January 2021, Hulu debuted a commentary track for the film, the first time they had ever done this.
Due to Covid-19, the film was released direct to Hulu, with simultaneous release to select drive-ins on the same day.
Despite the title being "Palm Springs" it wasn't actually filmed there. It was filmed mainly in Palmdale and Santa Clarita, California.
It's a fictional beer that Nyles offers Sarah poolside, and Andy Samberg hopes that a real brewer will step forward to manufacture it. "Just know that it's not a super dense IPA, it's gotta be like a really light, watery, summertime beer that you want ice cold."
The music cue after Nyles smells the pillow and has a realization is a favorite of Andy Samberg's despite being made fun of by Akiva Schaffer as being "straight out of The Goonies".
Max Barbakow and fellow screenwriter Andy Siara first conceived of the concept when they were film students at the American Film Institute. They imagined it as a mumblecore version of Leaving Las Vegas (1995).
Palm Springs is, of course, in California, but the team that made the film revealed they couldn't actually afford to shoot in its namesake location. They instead used cheaper areas of California to stand in for the real Palm Springs (most notably the desert the cave is in, which is located in Joshua Tree National Forest).
In discussing the movie, Cristin Milioti has said she sees a time loop as a nightmare, but Andy Samberg would use the time to watch all of M*A*S*H* (1972-1983) and rewatch ALF (1986-1990).
Circles were placed throughout the film to symbolize the time loop. Examples: Nyles's boxers have polka dots on them, Sarah's bra has little circles, they both use water donuts in one scene, and the macrame hanging at the wedding reception is circular.
At the beginning, Nyles gives a wedding speech about being lost and finding light in the darkness. Later, when he realizes he has fallen in love with Sarah, there is "light" between them.
Screenwriter Andy Siara's own wedding was in Palm Springs.
The "dick" design that Nyles tattoos on Sarah foreshadows the similar shape of the "Box of Energy" that Sarah later draws for Nyles.
In the scene where a goat walks into a cave with a pack of dynamite, trainers brought the goat to the set. The trainers placed the goat on a mark near the entrance to the cave. The trainers held the goat with a rope. A trainer stood near the entrance to the cave. On action, the trainer called the goat and the goat walked towards the cave.
Spoilers
Many people have asked about the ending. Andy Samberg has said that while he chooses to believe that Nyles and Sarah get their Happily Ever After, the ending was revised several times to keep it from being too saccharine, and the dinosaurs are there to intentionally leave us wondering.
They never specify exactly how long Nyles has been stuck in this loop, but they suggest the sweet spot is somewhere between forty years and forty million.
Nana Schlieffen's dialogue hints at her being more than a background character: she's seen "more weddings in [her] life than you can imagine" and says to Sarah "I suppose you'll be going soon" on the day that she and Nyles attempt to leave the loop. It suggests that she's also part of the time loop, and has not attempted to leave the loop, instead opting to revisit her family's wedding every day.
In an interview, writer Andy Siara is quoted as saying that Nyles was stuck in the time loop for over 40 years.
Toward the end of the film, before they escape the time loop, Sarah can be seen leaving a voice message. This is the voice message meant to inform Roy on how to escape the loop. She also apologizes to Roy in the message, which we can assume is for hitting him with the police cruiser.
People have asked about the scene where Nana possibly suggests that she's aware of the loop -- or maybe even experiencing her own, but no one seems keen on offering a definitive answer. As with many of the film's questions, "what you think it is, is what it is."
The beat where Nyles is suddenly shot with an arrow pre-coitus was the moment in reading the script where Andy Samberg thought "ooh, I might have to do this."
Having Leonard Cohen's song "The Partisan" playing over the flashback of Nyles' 1,000,000th birthday party was Cristin Milioti's idea.
The scene where it's first revealed that Sarah had sex with Abe was distracting to early test audiences because Tyler Hoechlin's torso was ripped. It was pulling attention away from Sarah's face and drama, so they used color correction to knock its visibility down some.
The family at the end are producer Becky Sloviter, her husband, and their kids. The family drove for some time in order to do just the one shot, for less than a minute of screentime.
The song that plays during the scene where Nyles and Sarah attempt to escape the time loop by blowing up the cave at the moment they travel through it was "Cloudbusting" by Kate Bush. Andy Samberg had it written into the script prior to approval, and personally wrote a letter to Kate Bush to try to secure the rights for its use in the film.
When Darla asks the barman how much Nyles has had to drink, he says he is still on his first - the drink has not yet been touched. In Back to the Future: Part III, another time travel film, the same exchange takes place between Marty, the barman and Doc Brown, until Doc triumphantly knocks it back, just as Nyles does.
Nyles offers up some clues early on that he's stuck in a loop -- his comment in the pool about today being like yesterday, his casual attire at the reception -- but the biggest are present in his speech and dance. That said, the speech as it stands is vastly trimmed down from the original script.
While wearing the same shirt and shorts for most of the entire movie, in the mid credit scenes Nyles is shown in a tux before Roy comes up to talk to him. This indicates that the time loop was broken before he even speaks to Nyles.
Nod to the reality of the time loop - Roy's daughter is riding a hobby horse that is going nowhere and his son is watering something (dog excrement) that will never grow.
When Roy shoots Nyles in the side yard of his house in Irvine, Nyles is standing in a recycling bin - which is appropriate considering he is recycled every day.
Then mid-credit scene reveals that Roy will also take the opportunity to exit the time loop, thanks to Sarah's detailed message on his phone.
Towards the end, before meeting up with Sarah to escape the loop, Nyles is at the bar and he throws his glass on the floor while telling the bartender he's an adult. This a reference to the very popular SNL/Lonely Island skit 'I threw it on the ground' in which Andy Samberg features.
