Born On The Fourth Of July Behind The Scenes

Oliver Stone proposed that Tom Cruise take a drug to temporarily render him paralyzed from the waist down so he could experience the same thing Kovic did (the drug's effects would last about a week). Cruise was all for it... but his agent was not, and he was pushed to not take the experimental drug.

Stone consulted several 60's activists including Jeff Nightbird and legendary hippie co-leader Abbie Hoffman, they were brought in to help everyone understand the feelings and dynamics of the peace movement.

Other possible names for the role of the veteran were Charlie Sheen, Nicholas Cage, Sean Penn and Al Pacino who would finally work with Stone on the American Football epic 'Any Given Sunday'.

Dale Dye was again involved and, as in 'Platoon', was the consultant and mental trainer in molding the US Army experience into Cruise. The director said "It was very important that Tom knew exactly what it was like to be a Marine... In the 60's, for kids like Ron, to be a Marine was to be the best, with Dale, we tried to instill in Tom that essence, which given Tom's nature, wasn't as difficult as it might have been".

Tom Cruise gave Holly a broach on set because she had the flu and she wore it on her leather jacket for years, until it was lost.

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In the parade scene where Kovic is on stage speaking and begins having a flashback, that scene was supposed to end with Kovic vomiting on himself, then being wheeled off the stage. The "vomit scene" was shot many times over the course of an entire day, with Tom Cruise changing into a new dress jacket each time.