Trivia / The Witches of Eastwick

• Cast the Runner-Up: Cher was offered the role of Jane, but preferred the part of Alexandra, the role that Susan Sarandon had been hired to play. Sarandon did not discover that she would be playing Jane until she showed up on location.
• Creator Backlash: George Miller took umbrage with his first exposure to Hollywood. He claims that his suggestions to downsize his personal needs, such as his own trailer, informed studio heads that he was a pushover and would kowtow to their more outlandish demands. The process therefore became much less enjoyable because it meant he had to "get mean" to get what he wanted.
• Executive Meddling
  • According to George Miller, producer Jon Peters suddenly decided he wanted aliens to appear in the movie, even though it didn't make sense with the story. Miller thinks that Peters was influenced by the box office success of Aliens. He even showed up one day on set with a stunt man dressed as an alien and told Miller to put him on a scene, any scene. Miller and Jack Nicholson then left the set until Peters gave up on his fixation.
  • George Miller sacrificing his personal trailer also gave the signal to executives that they could half-ass if they wanted to (a dozen extras when he asked for fifty, one camera when he asked for two) under the impression that he was a pushover. Miller was nearly fired for refusing to work if the studio wouldn't cooperate with him until Jack Nicholson threatened to quit.
• Hostility on the Set: George Miller didn't want Cher in the movie, and Warner Brothers forced her in because she was a hot commodity at that point. According to her autobiography, he wouldn't keep quiet about how he didn't want her to ruin the movie.
• Looping Lines: John Williams' own whistling was dubbed in over Jack Nicholson's for the scene at the ice cream counter.
• Reality Subtext: Jane's character believes she can't have children of her own until Daryl gets her pregnant. Susan Sarandon also thought she couldn't have children, until becoming pregnant with director Franco Amurri's child Eva Amurri Martino who was born in 1985.
• Recycled: The Series: Eastwick.
• Throw It In!: When the women rush into Daryl's office after hearing his car approach the house, Jane knocks a lamp over. This was a genuine accident by Susan Sarandon, but George Miller left it in because of the genuine display of panic it added.
• Wag the Director:
  • Cher had Alexandra's line "Big deal, it's not like it's gonna get us on Johnny Carson" changed to David Letterman, because she disliked Johnny Carson.
  • According to Susan Sarandon, Cher also asked to be written out of scenes where she didn't have many lines; apparently saying "I have a hard time being in scenes that aren't about me". Cher denied this however.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The role of Daryl Van Horne was originally meant for Bill Murray.
  • Anjelica Huston auditioned for Alex. She described her audition as "terrible".
  • Pam Grier was considered for one of the roles.
  • Daryl Hannah turned down the role of Sukie in the film for "ethical" reasons.
  • Kathleen Turner was considered for Jane.
  • Kim Cattrall auditioned for the role of Sukie.
  • A life-size animatronic puppet was made of Veronica Cartwright for the cherry pit vomiting scene. It was quite a technical achievement, with how it could realistically thrash around and spew large amounts of vomit at once. But most shots involving it had to be cut because test audiences found it too disgusting.

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