FILMFACTS
PRODUCTION
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Hell Hath No Fury...Like Christine
Production
Go behind the scenes on the 1983 Horror / Occult movie starring Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky
Harry Dean Stanton, Christine Belford, Roberts Blossom, William Ostrander, David Spielberg, Malcolm Danare, Steven Tash, Stuart Charno, Kelly Preston, Marc Poppel, Robert Darnell, Richard Collier, Bruce French, Douglas Warhit, Keri Montgomery, Jan Burrell, Charles Steak Update Cast
We believe the following info is all legit. If it's bogus or you have additional info, please update us.
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As a joke, Alexandra Paul's twin sister Caroline stood in for her during some scenes, most notably the ride on the bulldozer.Rewind Archive
According to Keith Gordon on the DVD Commentary, he kept having trouble with Christine's ignition. The 1958 Plymouth Fury has a "push button" starter meaning you turn the key and push a button to get the car to start (The button can be seen in some shots located near the steering column but is never seen being pushed in the film). He says that it would routinely take several tries to get the engine to turn over. In a few instances, filming would be delayed so that a technician could repair the starter and even then he'd still have trouble with it.Thanks to Steve
There were 24 cars purchased for the movie ranging from 1956 to 1958, some were Plymouth Belvederes and Furys and Savoys. Actually the "Fury" was a two door high performance trim package version of the Belvedere. All were hard tops painted buckskin beige, with gold trim. The big "V" on the grille meant it had a high performance V-8. There were only two engines available, a 318 dual quad (290hp.) and the new "B" engine the 350 dual quad (305hp.) Dodge used the same engine, but only in a single four barrel. At the auto factory Christine has a 350 dual quad, notice the front distributor as the hood slams shut on the guys hand, and later when it gets vandalized at Darnell's. They used various engines for the stunt cars like 383's, and 440's. Christine had a Torqueflight automatic with the push button controls, but some demo cars had three on the tree. Only two cars remained intact and were sold! They still exist today. The windows on demo's were painted black to conceal the driver and to add mystery of who's driving, if there was a driver.... King chose the Fury for the book because it was an oddball muscle car, that had a cool, but evil look.Thanks to Steph
Kevin Bacon turned down the leading role of the film for a screen test of "Footloose".Thanks to Steven Murray
According to Bill Phillips in the DVD Documentary, Robert Prosky, who plays garage owner Will Darnell, asked Phillips to give him more dialog to make his character more interesting. Prosky recalled moments in the book featuring Darnell and asked that the scene where Darnell offers Arnie a job to be expanded to include the lines in the book where Darnell says "You can pick up around the place. Do a few lubes. And put the toilet paper on the spools...". So Phillips did add them to the script.Thanks to Steve
All of Christine's engine sounds in the movies were actually dubbed in; the recording was taken from a 1970 Mustang 428 SCJ owned by the actor who played "Buddy Repperton."Thanks to Steven Murray
The opening scene in the movie which shows Christine being "born" in Detroit was added in for the movie, it's not in the Stephen King novel.Thanks to Steven Murray
According to Bill Phillips, the movie technically didn't have enough violence to justify an "R" rating. But they were afraid that if the movie went out with a PG rating, then nobody would go to see the movie. So he purposely inserted the word "f*ck" and all its derivatives in order to get the "R" rating. He then commented that they were criticized at the time for their over use of the word in the film.Thanks to Steven Murray
Scott Baio was considered to play Arnie Cunningham and Brooke Shields was considered for Leigh Cabot. But the film makers all felt the movie would be better served by casting "unknowns."Thanks to Steven Murray
Screenwriter Bill Phillips and rocker George Thorogood filmed a cameo appearance as the junkyard workers who compress Christine and dropped the cube at the end, but the sequence was cut because neither one could act very well (as Phillips stated on the DVD). It was Phillips who also suggested that they use Thorogood's "Bad To The Bone" as the movie's theme song.Thanks to Steven Murray
Stephen King's popularity was such at the time that the film went into production before the book was even published.Thanks to Steven Murray
One of the stunt Furys used in the film - the one that runs over and kills Moochie - had a rubber front end. The car was destined for the salvage yard and has been restored using parts from the other "stunt" vehicles. The vehicle was sold privately.Thanks to Steven Murray
After reading over the book, actor Keith Gordon (Arnie) and the costume designer came up with a visual way to show Arnie being possessed by Christine. As the movie progresses, Arnie begins to wear clothes that reflect the era of Christine's make. At various points, especially when Arnie is yelling at Leigh on the phone, Arnie is seen wearing button up shirts open with black t-shirts, black pants, and boots like a 1950's "greaser". When he's talking to Junkins (both times), he's wearing a leather vest over a button up shirt (a nod to western TV shows which were popular in the 50's), and he even starts to wear a red suede jacket like James Dean in 'Rebel Without A Cause' (1955).Thanks to Steven Murray
Bill Phillips says that he cut out the novel's plot line of the dead owner's spirit possessing Arnie and actually causing Christine to kill, not only to save time and compress the story, but also because he didn't want it to look like they were copying "An American Werewolf In London", where Jack does the same thing to David.Thanks to Steven Murray
To create the coming-back-to-life effect, hydraulic pumps were placed in the car to pull the body panels inwards, denting and destroying the car. Then, to make it look like Christine was rebuilding herself, John Carpenter simply ran the film in reverse.Thanks to ChristineCarClub
I spoke to William Ostrander (Buddy Repperton) this October (2008) and he said that they did not use his car for the Christine engine sounds in the movie.Next Section: Deleted Scenes
Deleted Scenes
There are often scenes cut from the final version of a movie. Sometimes these will have been seen by preview audiences, or be included in Blu-ray or DVD extras etc.
The following missing scenes from Christine are believed legit. If you disagree or have additional info, please update us.Thanks to John
At the end, diring the credits, it says something about exerpts from a Dick Clark's happy new year courtesy CBS. So if that is there I am guessing there must have been something of a new years show -maybe after Dennis and Arnie got to his house.Next Section: Alternate Versions
Alternate Versions
Sometimes, there will be several versions of a movie floating about on cable, tv or video etc. Other times, a Director may release a special cut of the movie on Blu-ray or DVD.
Aw, man.. We don't know of any alternate versions of "Christine". If you know better, please add one for others to enjoy. It's quick & easy
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1983 Columbia Pictures
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