- Avoid the Dreaded G Rating: Early on, prior to production, Carpenter noticed that the violence was only enough to warrant a PG rating (PG-13 had not yet been introduced), and still wanted to retain a scene of edginess. More swearing was added including a joke the bullies make around Arnie’s last name, Cunningham, to get it up to an “R” rating.
- Dawson Casting: Many viewers describe William Ostrander (Buddy Repperton) as looking 30 or older. In fact, he was in his early/mid 20s, as were all the actors playing teens in the film. FWIW, in the book, most of Buddy's gang have been held back in school and actually are around 20.
- Making Use of the Twin: Alexandra Paul has a twin sister called Caroline. She stood in for her in several scenes just as a joke.
- Method Acting: Keith Gordon pretended that the car was a woman, and whenever he touched the car he imagined what part of the woman it was.
- Playing Against Type: Harry Dean Stanton took the role of Det. Junkins because most of his roles were villains and he found it refreshing to play a good guy.
- Science Marches On: A crucial plot point is Leigh almost dying when she chokes on a hamburger in Christine because Arnie forgot about the Heimlich maneuver's existence and only gave her ineffective back blows, echoing an incident described earlier that involved Rita LeBay choking on a hamburger in Christine and dying when Roland LeBay gave her back blows because the Heimlich maneuver had not been invented yet. She is saved by the hitchhiker they picked up earlier, who gives her the Heimlich maneuver. Modern-day readers who are CPR certified will know that the care prescribed for a conscious choking victim involves a combination of back blows and abdominal thrusts.note
- Shrug of God: One of the film's producers asked Stephen King during production whether Christine was possessed or had always had a mind of her own. King reportedly told him that he wasn't sure himself, and that they could do whatever they wanted.
- What Could Have Been:
- Initially, Columbia Pictures had wanted to cast Brooke Shields in the role of Leigh due to her publicity after the release of The Blue Lagoon, and Scott Baio as Arnie. The filmmakers declined the suggestion, opting to cast young actors who were still fairly unknown.
- Kevin Bacon was offered the role of Arnie, but turned it down to do Footloose. John Cusack also auditioned.
- Richard Kobritz (who had produced the film version of 'Salem's Lot) was given two unpublished manuscripts by Stephen King for their next collaboration. One was Christine and the other was Cujo. He chose Christine, because he thought Cujo was too silly.
- John Carpenter was planning on adapting Firestarter before he was offered this.
- Nicolas Cage auditioned for the role of Buddy.
- George A. Romero, a friend of Stephen King and collaborator on Creepshow, was originally attached to direct the film before Carpenter took over.
- Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: As usual for King, and this caused one of his bigger problems with it when he finished the scene of Dennis having his legs broken, and realized then and there that the story's narrator being confined to a hospital bed would be quite a thorny logistical issue. So the book somewhat awkwardly switches to third person for a while.
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