Trivia / The Blob (1988)

• Approval of God: Reportedly, the producer for the original film, Jack H. Harris, was so enthusiastic over the initial script that he gave the film rights over for free and really enjoyed the final product.
• Box Office Bomb: It earned $8.2 million on a roughly $10 million budget.
• California Doubling: The movie is implied to be set in California, with the Sheriff mentioning shipping the remains of a Blob victim to Sacramento for testing, but was filmed in Abbeville, Louisiana.
• Dawson Casting: Brian is implied to be turning 18 soon, but Kevin Dillon was 23.
• Disabled Character, Disabled Actor: The melted but still alive soldier was performed by stuntman Noble Craig, who was badly injured while serving in the The Vietnam War and became a triple amputee.
• Enforced Method Acting: The iconic shot of Meg's first view of Paul being eaten by the Blob was made with actor Donovan Leitch Jr. having a clear wet surface pulled over his face. However, Chuck Russell did not tell Shawnee Smith it was really him underneath the Blob for the first part of the scene. She believed it was going to be the puppet (which they did use in the later shots where he's dissolving). This was so he could get more of a shock out of her. That is the take that is now seen in the movie when Meg screams out Paul's name upon discovering him.
• Irony as She Is Cast: Shawnee Smith is known as a Scream Queen, but has said in interviews that she hates being scared and thus refuses to watch scary movies. Here, she stars in one, and this role, and that of Amanda Young in the Saw franchise are among the roles she's most remembered for.
• Real Life Writes the Hairstyle: Kevin Dillon and Shawnee Smith both wore hair extensions at Chuck Russell's insistence.
• Screwed by the Network: As the movie was in post-production, TriStar Pictures was changing management and the new executive team had little interest in in-progress films made prior to the change, leading to the film's Invisible Advertising.
• Troubled Production: While most of the production went along smoothly, the effects were originally going to be split between Lyle Conway (of Little Shop of Horrors) for the blob effects and Tony Gardner for the kills. Conway's use of full-sized puppets caused issues with him and director Chuck Russell, resulting in Conway leaving production. Gardner, joined by Eric Allard during post-production, would take over the effects entirely.
• What Could Have Been:
  • A young Teri Hatcher was considered for the role of Meg.
  • It was briefly considered making the Blob green instead of red/pink, but they decided to keep it the same colour as the original.
  • They planned on filming a scene after Brian's snow-making truck flipped over in the climax where he could see all the half-digested bodies of the Blob's many victims (including Meddows) inside its body through the window of the truck as it was creeping over. However, the tank they were filming the effect with leaked out all the Blob fluid, and there wasn't enough time after cleanup to redo it. All that remains of that deleted scene is this picture of Dr. Meddows's half-digested puppet.
• Write Who You Know: Chuck Russell based Brian and Scott on kids he knew in high school.
• Write What You Know: The ribbed story was based on something that happened to a high school friend of Chuck Russell's.

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