Trivia / The Lost Boys

• Ability over Appearance: Joel Schumacher envisioned Star as being a waifish blonde, similar to Meg Ryan, but he was convinced by Jason Patric to consider Jami Gertz, who had just worked with Patric in Solarbabies.
• Actor-Shared Background: Billy Wirth, who plays Dwayne, is part Native American, and the script for the cancelled prequel film about the formation of the Lost Boys by Joel Schumacher (the same producer) confirms that Dwayne is supposed to be of Native American background, described as having a Mohawk and tribal scars on his face, although he no longer has them in the present day. (Technically, it says "Paul", but it's clear that their names were switched around.)
• Awesome, Dear Boy:
  • Kiefer Sutherland was originally reluctant to star in the film until he heard that Joel Schumacher had lined up INXS and Jimmy Barnes to sing some songs on the soundtrack. Kiefer had spent a summer in Australia when he was a child and became fans of their music then. Sutherland ended up very happy with the final film and thinks of it as a career highlight
  • Edward Herrmann took the role of Max because it was a change from historical dramas. Plus, he got to play the villain in a horror movie.
• The Cast Showoff: Kiefer Sutherland already knew how to ride a motorcycle, so he didn't need to be trained.
• Completely Different Title:
  • Argentina: Don't Let Mom Find Out
  • Greece: The Children of the Night
  • Portugal: The Boys of the Night
  • Taiwan: Rough Juveniles
• Costume Backlash: Kiefer Sutherland came to regret going with the haircut he fashioned as David, thinking he popularized the mullet.
• Creator-Chosen Casting:
  • Joel Schumacher saw several young actors for Michael, but he only had Jason Patric in mind, mostly because he had the Jim Morrison look.
  • Schumacher cast Corey Haim after seeing him in Lucas.
  • Richard Donner suggested Corey Feldman for Edgar Frog, having directed him in The Goonies.
• Dawson Casting: Ah, the antics those mid-twenties teenage vampires get up to. The Frog brothers are also three years younger than their actors.
• Deleted Role: Kelly Jo Minter as Max's clerk Maria was largely cut from the film. The only true appearance she makes is over Lucy's shoulder in the video store being flirted with by the Lost Boys as they come in, yet she still received billing in the film's opening credits.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Joel Schumacher wanted all the vampires to have long hair, but Kiefer Sutherland didn't like the way it looked on him, so, inspired by Billy Idol, he had his hair cut short.
• Friendship on the Set: Corey Haim and Corey Feldman met and became best friends during production. Precluded from the nightly parties held by the older actors, they stayed in the hotel watching movies and visited the local arcade together.
• Those Two Actors: This was Corey Haim and Corey Feldman's first film together, which marked the start of the '80s trend "The Two Coreys" in which they starred together in a number of teenage films.
• Throw It In!: In the scene where Sam and the Frog brothers stake Marko while he sleeps, they are pursued by the rest of the vampire gang as they try to escape back into the daylight. David grabs Sam's leg, but Sam manages to drag David's hand into the sunlight, where it catches fire. A tear then slides down David's face as he clutches his hand in agony. The tear running down his face was actually caused by Kiefer Sutherland's contact lenses, which were stinging terribly, but they decided to keep it in, as it looked really good and made sense in context.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Believe it or not, according to the director's commentary in the DVD Bonus Content, the original script for the first movie was written to be a G-rated film, with most of the main characters being children Laddie's age. The Frog brothers were going to be somewhat chubby Boy Scouts, and Michael was apparently going to be about thirteen years old. Basically, it would've been a Grimmified Peter Pan, right down to David and Star's characters being named Peter and Wendy. Joel Schumacher described it as Cub Scouts turned vampire. This is also the origin of the whole "boys need a mother"-bit at the end, which in the released film just comes off as Max being insane.
  • The movie didn't originally end on a joke. After the scene with Grampa at the refrigerator, it was supposed to cut to the surviving Lost Boys regrouping in the sunken hotel. The last shot was of a mural on the wall, made in the early 1900s, with Max in it — looking exactly the same as he does in the present. All of this appeared in an early draft of the script, but ultimately was never filmed.
  • Executive producer Richard Donner originally intended to direct the movie himself, but as production languished, he moved onto Lethal Weapon (1987) and eventually hired Joel Schumacher for the job.
  • Keenan Wynn and John Carradine (a veteran of vampire films) were both original choices for Grandpa. However, Wynn died right before filming, and Carradine was too ill.
  • Jim Carrey was considered for David.
  • Ben Stiller auditioned for a part.
  • The reason David's skeleton doesn't turn to dust at the end of the original film after being impaled on a pair of antlers is because he doesn't die. This would have been picked up in a sequel, called The Lost Girls. Scripts for the film circulated in the early '90s, but the film was never made. However, the plot point would eventually turn up in the comic book Lost Boys: The Reign of Frogs.
    • Many viewers have assumed the horns are carved from wood, which makes them elaborate "stakes".
  • The two alternate endings to Lost Boys: The Tribe featured Sam Emerson arriving in Lunar Bay and warning Edgar that a head vampire was heading to Lunar Bay to settle an old score with him, before offering to help Edgar, since once Edgar died, he would be next. The vampire was revealed to be Alan, Edgar's brother. The two endings are largely the same, except for that in one ending, Sam is far more serious than in the other, since he'd already been bitten.
  • Corey Haim stated, after production started on Lost Boys: The Thirst, that he wasn't going to be involved in the film, but that he would return to the series in the fourth film. This was later confirmed by Feldman and Newlander. Unfortunately, Haim died in March 2010.

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