Trivia / Dangerous Minds

• Amateur Cast: A lot of the students were not actors, and cast off the street.
• Breakaway Pop Hit: "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio. While the film is by no means forgotten, the song has had a healthy enough shelf life that most people forget that it was even for a movie. Especially pronounced for viewers outside of North America, as the film was produced in the time period where international releases of films could often take place the better part of a year after their North American release (before the advent of online piracy caused studios to go with largely simultaneous releases worldwide), meaning that viewers in those countries got the song many months before they got the film.
• Completely Different Title: In Poland the movie is named "Młodzi Gniewni", which translates to "Young Wrathful", and the term has become a way of describing angry youth in Poland.
• Creator Backlash: Even during filming Ebony Jerido asked the real Lou Anne why the movie was focusing so much on a white saviour.
• Creative Differences: Michelle Pfeiffer was the only one on the production who actually read Lou Anne Johnson's book and kept urging everyone else to. They insisted they didn't have time.
• Deleted Role: Andy García filmed scenes as Lou Anne's ex-husband, but was eventually cut before it was even released.
• Disowned Adaptation:
  • A mixed bag. Lou Anne Johnson slammed the movie for its inaccuracies, and perpetuating the Mighty Whitey trope. She does however appreciate that the movie inspired many people, and admits that she sometimes cries watching it.
  "I can whine about the changes, but overall it had a good effect. Some young people got to become actors who might not have had a chance.”
  • Her real-life students, whose real names were used in the film, were very hurt by how their behaviour was portrayed. The real Raul was annoyed that the movie didn't show him paying Lou Anne back the $100, which he did in reality.
• Friendship on the Set: Although their characters were rivals, Renoly Santiago and Wade Domínguez were very close on set.
• Hide Your Pregnancy: Michelle Pfeiffer was pregnant during filming. As a result, there are several scenes where she's wearing long skirts and bulky sweaters, or else carrying large objects to hide the bump.
• Hostility on the Set: Lou Anne Johnson frequently clashed with the filmmakers over the repeated attempts to fictionalise her story, and got branded "difficult to work with", and restricted from interacting with the cast and crew. It took Michelle Pfeiffer's efforts to arrange a screening of the movie for her.
• Hypothetical Casting: When asked who she thought should play her in the film, Lou Anne Johnson suggested Bette Midler.
• Method Acting: Michelle Pfeiffer shadowed Lou Anne Johnson in her classroom to prepare for the role, going without makeup and wearing a leather jacket at the back of the room. It didn't work, and some of her students asked "is that Catwoman?" When the teacher responded yes, the students asked "what happened? She doesn't look as good".
• One-Take Wonder: Wade Domínguez would reportedly do most things perfect on the first take.
• The Red Stapler: The movie reportedly inspired lots of people to become teachers.
• Screwed by the Lawyers: Lou Anne Johnson signed a contract that said she would get a percentage of the movie's gross. Being unfamiliar with the film business, and her agent not knowing any better, she signed for two percent of the net profits. So she ended up getting nothing, because "there's never any net profits", when she should have negotiated for the gross.
• What Could Have Been:
  • In the Cracked interview with her, Johnson tells how the writers wanted Johnson’s character to have an affair with one of her students. Naturally, she protested vehemently and threatened to sue if they did that.
  • The actual screenwriter called her up to ask about the fictional sexual harassment scene. She countered with the actual incident - a student threw a dictionary at her and she confronted him. The writer admitted it was better than what was in the script but said he didn't have time to read the book - because "I have to write the movie".
• Writer on Board: Director John N Smith pushed for the fabricated scenes of Lou Anne encountering hostility from the students' parents because he felt the movie needed a "more political point of view".
  "I had done a feature on Black kids in Montreal, and I felt it needed that kind of edge.

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