Trivia / The Belko Experiment

• Based on a Dream: The film's premise (employees enclosed in an office building via metal walls and hearing a voice telling them to kill each other) reportedly came to James Gunn in a dream.
• Cast the Runner-Up: A cross-film example. John Gallagher Jr. gave what James Gunn called "the best audition (he) had ever seen" for Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy, but was too young for the role. When Gunn was given creative control of ''Belko," Gallagher was the first person cast.
• Production Posse: Several of James Gunn's regular actors appear here: Michael Rooker, Sean Gunn, Gregg Henry, Stephen Blackehart, and Mikaela Hoover.
• Saved from Development Hell: Gunn actually wrote the film in 2007, but stepped down from the project (see reasoning in What Could Have Been below). He then moved onto other projects, including Super, and had "kind of forgotten about it" until he got a call from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer producer Jon Glickman asking if he was still interested in making the film. When Gunn said yes, Glickman offered to do the film provided Gunn could make it for a certain price. As Gunn was too busy working on Guardians of the Galaxy to direct, he signed on as a producer but asked Glickman if he could have full creative control on the film, being able to hire the director and actors he wanted and work with little to no interference, which Glickman agreed to.
• What Could Have Been: An example responsible for the film's Development Hell. After James Gunn wrote the film's screenplay, he distanced himself from the project as it, at the time, would've entailed him also directing the film, owing to his divorce from Jenna Fischer making the harsh content too upsetting for him.
  James Gunn: I just wanted to be around my friends and family. I didn't want to go shoot this thing that was about people who loved and cared about each other being forced into killing each other. It just didn't seem to be the way I wanted to spend the next few months of my life. So I backed out of it.

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