Trivia / Wild at Heart

• Actor-Inspired Element:
  • The snakeskin jacket Sailor wears in the film was actually Nicolas Cage's own. Cage asked David Lynch if he could wear the jacket in the film, as a tribute to Marlon Brando's role in The Fugitive Kind.
  • Laura Dern revealed in an interview that it was Diane Ladd's idea to offer her character a lollipop during the abortion scene after director David Lynch said they needed to add "something different" to the scene.
  • Before filming started, Laura Dern and Nic Cage went on a road trip to Las Vegas. This was done in order to bond and get a handle on their characters. It was Dern’s idea, with her later saying “We agreed Sailor and Lula had to be one person, one character, and we would share it.”
• Awesome, Dear Boy: Crispin Glover was delighted to work with David Lynch, given he had seen Eraserhead lots of times in its midnight screening run.
• The Cast Showoff: Nicolas Cage does a pretty impressive job with his authentic-sounding covers of Elvis Presley songs.
• Completely Different Title: Known in French as Sailor et Lula (Sailor and Lula).
• Contractual Purity: Laura Dern broke her "no nudity" clause for the film, stating that she felt comfortable with Lynch and that the love story warranted it.
• Creator-Chosen Casting: When David Lynch read the novel, he immediately had Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern in mind for the leads.
• Deleted Scene: Originally after Johnnie is killed by Juanna and her henchman, there was a sex scene involving Juanna and Reggie. Test audiences found the scene to be too disturbing and 50% of the audience walked out.
• Real-Life Relative: Diane Ladd and Laura Dern are mother and daughter in Real Life.
• Shout-Out: Cage's snakeskin look inspired the visual design of Goro Majima of the Yakuza / Like A Dragon series.
• What Could Have Been:
  • David Lynch was originally attached only as a producer, but after reading the novel he decided to write and direct it himself, not liking the book's ending and wanting to improve it.
  • The premiere cut of the film received an NC-17 rating from the MPAA. Since Lynch was contractually obligated to deliver an R-rated film, he re-cut the shotgun sequence to add a gun smoke effect to obscure the character's head exploding.

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