Trivia / Reality Bites

• Actor-Inspired Element:
  • The Michael character was first conceived as a mid-30s advertising executive trying to market Japanese candy bars in America. Ben Stiller eventually suggested he play the role, and he was changed to a twentysomething television executive.
  • Winona Ryder had it written into her contract that she would only do the film if Ethan Hawke were cast alongside her.
  • Ethan Hawke, a good friend of Lisa Loeb, recommended her song "Stay" for the soundtrack.
• Awesome, Dear Boy: Well more like Mundane Made Awesome, but Winona Ryder had been doing a lot of period pieces at the time, such as Bram Stoker's Dracula and Little Women, and jumped at the chance to do something more contemporary.
• California Doubling: With some locations in Houston, the majority of indoor filming was done in Los Angeles, because it was cheaper.
• Creator Backlash: Janeane Garofalo disliked the film and couldn't understand its appeal among young adults; joking that she'd already aged out of the target demographic.
• Deleted Role: Original drafts of the script included a subplot involving Lelaina's alcoholic sister Patty, who was in rehab. A couple of those scenes were actually filmed but ended up getting cut. Patty was played by screenwriter Helen Childress' real-life sister, Patricia Childress.
• Directed by Cast Member: Ben Stiller directs the film as well as playing Michael, the third piece of Lelaina's Love Triangle.
• Irony as She Is Cast: Vickie is promiscuous, while Janeane Garofalo is asexual.
• Production Posse: A Ben Stiller film, so his parents and then-girlfriend Janeane Garofalo make appearances.
• Real-Life Relative: Ben Stiller's mother is the woman who asks Lelaina to define irony and his sister Amy is the psychic friend who Lelaina calls.
• Studio Hop: The film was originally going to be made by TriStar Pictures, but they put the film in turnaround.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Anne Heche, Parker Posey and Gwyneth Paltrow, virtual unknowns at the time, all auditioned for the role of Vickie Miner.
  • Ben Stiller was initially just approached to direct and not star. It was only after months of working with Helen Childress on the script that he suggested he play the Michael role.
  • Janeane Garofalo was actually fired before production even started when she clashed with Ben Stiller over their differing work ethics (she admitted she didn't like rehearsing). Winona Ryder appealed on her behalf and she returned to the film.
  • KISS's "Beth" was meant to be playing in the scene where Michael and Lelaina discuss the Big Gulp, but they couldn't obtain the rights to it.
  • Earlier drafts fleshed out Vickie, Sammy and Troy more, but Ben Stiller felt he couldn't tell those stories fully and opted to focus on the love triangle between the main characters.
• Working Title: The Real World. It was nixed when MTV's The Real World debuted.

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