Big - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

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

[brent]

Debra Winger was originally considered for the Susan Lawrence role but could not take the part because she was pregnant at the time. She recommended Elizabeth Perkins.

[nicholas]

The "Zoltar" machine was a prop developed for the film. It harks back to similar fortune-telling machines from the turn of the 20th century, most of which contained female gypsy characters. The Zoltar name was trademarked and a line of the machines is available. Unlike the machine in the movie, there is not a coin ramp for putting coins in the dummy's mouth, although non-functioning wheels are available as an option. The most expensive line includes audio playback. They also make a cheap foamcore version in which a costumed person can sit and pretend to be a machine.

[marc]

Robin Williams was considered for the role of Josh Baskin.

[mathew]

The script was first developed in 1984.

[wesley]

This is one of two PG-rated movies released in the '80s that had a character say the "f word" and have it be uncensored. The other was National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989).

[wesley]

The tune Josh and MacMillan play on the piano is "Heart and Soul" by Hoagy Carmichael.

[eli]

In Josh's "Cavern of the Evil Wizard" role-play computer game, which he is seen playing at the start of the film, the game lets Josh decide what to melt the wizard with is a strong foreshadowing of the scene which Josh walks out of the meeting at MacMillan's Toys when he and Susan discuss their proposal for a electronic comic book which allows the reader to decide where the story goes when they turn the page and that "The kid makes his own decision" which Josh walks out and leave and goes to the Zoltar machine to make a wish to be a kid again, hence Josh making his decision.

[bernard]

The first film on which Tom Hanks worked with composer Howard Shore. The other films are Philadelphia (1993) and That Thing You Do! (1996) , which was Hanks' directorial debut.

[chad]

Mercedes Ruehl (Mrs. Baskin) is 26 years older than David Moscow (young Josh), so she'd be old enough to play his mother. Ruehl is only eight years older than Tom Hanks (older Josh).

[veronica]

Ranked #10 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Fantasy" in June 2008.

[tammy]

When Josh makes his wish on the "Zoltar Speaks" fortune-teller machine to be big, and when he makes his wish to be a 12-year-old boy again, the wind starts to blow.

[camila]

For the two missing social security numbers on Joshua's employment application, he gives his age (12). Because he stammers, saying "Oh" twice, the interviewer thinks he gave a three-digit response, 0-1-2 (pronounced "oh-one-two"). Combined with the six-digit locker combination Billy gave him, this would appear to be a full social security number.

[lynn]

Elizabeth Perkins saw John Heard's character Paul as an immature child bully.

[ava]

In the party scene, Josh tries caviar, which he hates. He spits it out and wipes his tongue with a napkin. In You've Got Mail (1998), Tom Hanks ironically responds to Meg Ryan's comment "that caviar is a garnish!" by scooping up all the remaining caviar for himself.

[ethel]

Tom Hanks was the first choice to play Josh Baskin, but was unavailable due to scheduling conflicts with Dragnet (1987) and Punchline (1988). Robert De Niro was then offered the lead role, but was rejected because his salary demand ($6 million) was too high. Hanks then became available and accepted it for $2 million. David Moscow was originally cast not as young Josh, but as Billy, since he didn't look like De Niro. When Hanks was given the role, Moscow was recast as young Josh.

[sandra]

Jeff Bridges turned down the role of Josh Baskin. Robert Loggia co-starred with him in Jagged Edge (1985).