Trivia / Glitter

• Actor-Shared Background: Mariah Carey, like her character Billie, is half-African-American and half-Caucasian.
• Box Office Bomb: Its $5 million turn against a $22 million budget, along with the similar flop of the accompanying soundtrack album, sent Mariah Carey's career into recession for several years. The significant losses caused by Glitter's failure is also thought to have played a role in Virgin Records losing not only Carey, but also David Bowie, whose album Toy was shelved by the label for not being the post-Glitter financial safety net they were hoping for (along with possible copyright issues regarding the songs included). Being released the weekend right after 9/11 (in what was already a traditionally poor month) couldn't have helped Glitter either.
• California Doubling: All the scenes set in New York were really filmed in Toronto, which makes the establishing shots all the funnier as you can recognize a lot of Toronto landmarks as they pan across the city.
• Creator Backlash: In an interview with Watch What Happens Live, Mariah Carey admits to regretting making this film, describing it as a "kitsch moment" in her career and that she and those close to her refer to it as "The G Word" if it ever comes up. Carey did emphasise that she was proud of the film's soundtrack, though, and was glad her fans had a new appreciation for the songs.
• Creator Killer: Director Vondie Curtis-Hall had a well-received debut with Gridlock'd, but this film put the skids on his directing career. Afterwards he mostly went back to acting, with the occasional TV directing credit.
• Cut Song: The original version of "Loverboy" used a sample of Yellow Magic Orchestra's cover of the 1959 Martin Denny song "Firecracker". An acrimonious divorce from Sony Music executive Tony Mottola resulted in the latter giving the sample rights to Jennifer Lopez for her own single "I'm Real", forcing Carey (who made a Channel Hop away from Sony) to replace it with one from "Candy" by Cameo. A snippet of the "Firecracker" version of "Loverboy" can be heard in the trailer for Glitter, and the full version was eventually included on the 2020 compilation The Rarities, by which point Carey was back on a Sony-owned label.
• Star-Derailing Role:
  • This film, along with its accompanying soundtrack, put a damper on Mariah Carey's career for a few years until she made a comeback musically with The Emancipation of Mimi and on screen with a supporting role in the critically acclaimed Precious.
  • Possibly the most hurt by the film was Max Beesley—already a virtual unknown to American audiences—who turned down a main role in the Sleeper Hit Bend It Like Beckham to do this film, which launched the career of the man who took the role instead, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, effectively killing Beesley's career in the States before it began.

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