Little Shop of Horrors - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Little Shop of Horrors or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Little Shop of Horrors

[toni]

The off Broadway show wasn't a nostalgia piece, per se. Although it starts with the introduction of "in a decade not too far from our own", the fashion in the theater show is non descriptive, it does not look like the early 60s, the way the movie does so pointedly.

[aaron]

Mushnik is seen on the phone with one of his biggest clients, Mrs. Shiva, whose family is "dropping off like flies." This is a reference to an elderly shop patron with the same name, and with a similar problem, in the original "The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)." Shiva is a Jewish mourning ritual; it's also the name of the Hindu god of destruction, part of the trinity of gods along with Brahma (the creator) and Vishnu (the maintainer).

[nora]

Jimmy Dean is indirectly referenced, in lyrics of "Feed Me!". Audrey II,"How'd you like to drive a Cadillac car/ How 'bout a guest spot on Jack Paar/ How about a date with Hedy Lamarr? You'll get it!" Seymore,"Gee, I'd really like a Harley machine/ Drivin' round like I was James Dean/ Make all the guys on the corner turn green!" Though James Dean was being sung about; Jimmy Dean and Jack Paar were both a host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) (Though the film's year isn't explicitly stated, Paar hosted from 1957 to 1962.)

[chris]

Levi Stubbs voiced a talking carnivorous plant in an episode of the cartoon "Visonaries: Knights of the Magical Light". "Honor Among Thieves" (#1.11)

[edgar]

Originally included an extended sequence for the song "The Meek Shall Inherit". The extended sequence song is on the soundtrack album though.

[kylie]

In 1998, a special edition DVD was released with the alternate "everybody dies" ending. The DVDs were yanked off the shelves a few days after release, and replaced with DVDs without that ending, because David Geffen wanted to re-release the film in theaters with the gruesome ending. The ending was restored 14 years later, with the release of the Director's Cut Blu-Ray.

[nina]

Bill Murray's scene in the waiting room was filmed as scripted, but there was virtually no written dialogue when his character got into the dentist's chair, except for ecstatic cries of pleasure . Over the course of the two days that he filmed, Murray kept riffing various ad-libs, which presented a challenge for the editor to assemble a coherent version of the scene.

[veronica]

The film was originally intended to be a summer blockbuster, with a release date of July 2, 1986. A pair of disastrous test screenings pushed the release back until December 19, with reshoots taking place in September.

[ray]

"Mean Green Mother From Outer Space" (written for this film) is the first Oscar-nominated song to contain profanity. As a result, the song was edited, replacing the more risqué lyrics with lyrics cut from the final film (though included on the film soundtrack).

[russell]

The original script called for Audrey and Seymour to be eaten by Audrey II. Frank Oz reluctantly had it changed after negative reactions from test audiences. Oz claims that the difference between the success of the scene in the play and the same scene in the film is that there is no curtain call to remind the audience that the actors were okay.

[wesley]

The puppeteers who designed and operated Audrey II were veterans of the Jim Henson company. One of the operators was Brian Henson, Jim's son.

[bessie]

Amazingly, when this came out in 1986, it was the most expensive movie Warner Brothers had ever produced. With a budget of $25 million, it even had a higher budget than Aliens did, which had a budget of $18 million.

[camila]

The young girl leaving the dentist office before Bill Murray's scene is Heather Henson, daughter of Jim Henson.

[phyllis]

Alan Menken's first PG-13 film.

[kristen]

It supposedly took Steve Martin six weeks to film all his scenes. He contributed ideas such as socking the nurse in the face (originally he was to knock her out using his gas mask) and ripping off the doll's head.

[chad]

The "Suppertime" number uses two different sizes of Audrey II. When the plant is singing all alone in the shop, it is actually a smaller size; the same size as when it sang "Feed Me", but now standing on a scaled down set to make it look larger. The full size one that is seen to interact with Seymour and Mushnik was not provided with lip movement, but was built to swallow Mushnik's (mechanical) legs.

[aaron]

The actresses playing Crystal, Ronnette and Chiffon rehearsed a brief dance solo that would have appeared during the song "Dentist!," but it was cut during production to prevent distraction from Steve Martin's performance.

[albert]

Creature designer Lyle Conway modeled the lips of the small version of Audrey II after star Ellen Greene.

[wallace]

Only movie in which comedy legends Steve Martin and Bill Murray appear together.