Trivia / Something Wicked This Way Comes

• Ability over Appearance: The Dust Witch was implied to be white and a hideous old crone in the book. She becomes a glamorous Hot Witch, as well as African-American, because the filmmakers wanted Pam Grier in the film.
• Box Office Bomb: Budget, $19 million (estimated). Box office, $8.4 million.
• Cast the Runner-Up:
  • Jason Robards was originally considered for Mr. Dark.
  • Shawn Carson had been reading for Will, and Vidal Peterson had been reading for Jim. Ray Bradbury however thought they'd be better suited for the opposite parts and so they swapped.
• Creator Backlash: The original filmmakers weren't pleased with the changes Disney forced through (see below).
• Creator Killer: This ultimately became the final straw for newly-installed Disney CEO Ron Miller. He released Splash the next year under the new Touchstone label, but was dethroned by Paramount president Michael Eisner anyway.
• Darkhorse Casting: Jonathan Pryce was cast as Mr Dark because Disney wanted an unknown actor to keep the budget down.
• Deleted Scene: A special-effects sequence that took place at the beginning of the film was cut shortly before the movie hit theaters. In this sequence, the carnival materializes from the smoke of the train, the smoke from the engine "becomes ropes and canvas tents. Tree limbs grow together to form a ferris wheel and a spider web mutates into a wheel of fortune." This sequence was the first time that computer animation was used to animate organic material, and it was combined with traditional animation. The scene was deemed not convincing enough, by Disney executives, and was cut from the film at the very last minute.
• Disowned Adaptation: Downplayed. Due to all the studio meddling, Ray Bradbury referred to the final cut as "not a great film no, but a decidedly nice one."
• Dyeing for Your Art: Vidal Peterson had to have his dark hair lightened to blond to play Will, while Shawn Carson had to have his hair dyed black to play Jim.
• Executive Meddling: Disney made many changes to the film which Ray Bradbury and director Jack Clayton did not intend. Many extra special effects scenes were shot by a second unit director after original production wrapped, and other changes were made before its release - most obviously the spider sequence and mirror maze climax. According to the laserdisc commentary by Bradbury, much of his original intentions for the movie were destroyed. Jack Clayton was forced by the studio to hire John Mortimer to do an uncredited rewrite of the script.
• Follow the Leader: Stephen King did his own take on the premise with Needful Things.
• Playing Against Type: Pam Grier of course got fame in the 70s and 80s for playing heroic Action Girls in Blaxploitation films. Here, she has a creepier and more mysterious role as the vampy Dust Witch.
• Referenced by...: The Heavy Metal band Lock Up titled their only album, released in 1989, Something Bitchin' This Way Comes.
• Scully Box: Jonathan Pryce is an impressive 6 foot 1 inch tall, but during the Parade scene you can clearly see he is wearing two inch heel shoes. This was done to make him appear extra tall & menacing. Much taller than the surrounding cast.
• Star-Making Role: Jonathan Pryce's turn as Mr. Dark was eye-opening.
• Uncredited Role: John Mortimer did an uncredited contribution to the screenplay.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The story began its life as a screenplay in 1958, inspired by Singin' in the Rain. Gene Kelly was ecstatic to do it and shopped it around as his next film. After he was unable to fund it, Ray Bradbury instead wrote it as a novel. There's a dedication to Gene Kelly.
  • Ralph Bakshi was tapped to direct the film. Like Blade Runner, he passed on it.
  • Rutger Hauer, Christopher Lee and Peter O'Toole were considered for the part of Mr. Dark. Edward James Olmos was offered the role, but turned it down.
  • Kirk Douglas bought the rights and originally intended to produce as well as play the role of the father. His son Peter Douglas remained on the project as producer.
  • Disney regulars Darren McGavin, Dick Van Dyke, and Dean Jones were the first considerations for Charles Halloway. Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, James Garner, and Hal Holbrook were also considered.
  • Ray Bradbury asked both David Lean and Steven Spielberg if they were interested in directing the film.
  • Sam Peckinpah briefly flirted with the idea of filming the story, but was unable to raise the necessary financing.
  • Stephen King wrote a rejected adaptation.
  • Before production on the movie began, Don Coscarelli had hoped to adapt the book himself. Unfortunately for him, the rights had already been sold by that point. He ended up making Phantasm, which he has said took some inspiration from Something Wicked This Way Comes.

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