Splash is a 1984 fantasy romantic comedy film directed by Ron Howard and written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The original music score was composed by Lee Holdridge. It was the very first film released by Disney’s Touchstone Films (now known as Touchstone Pictures).
Trivia:
- The first film released under Disney’s Touchstone Pictures label, which was created so the studio could release more adult-oriented fare.
- Daryl Hannah a vegetarian, refused to eat real lobster for the restaurant scene. The crew scooped out the insides of real, cooked lobsters and filled them with a thick, tofu-like paste. In an interview for ‘Biography (1990)’, Director Ron Howard said Hannah cried after each take over the deaths of the lobsters for their shells.
- Before Tom Hanks accepted the role of Allen Bauer, it had already been turned down by John Travolta and Michael Keaton.
- At the time of filming, Daryl Hannah was extremely shy about her body. According to director Ron Howard, she wore both band-aids and makeup over her nipples to conceal them.
- David Morse was considered for the lead role.
- Credited with introducing the girl’s name Madison, which has since become one of the most popular names for newborn girls in the early 21st century.
- When Madison watches television at the department store, the little boy in the toothpaste commercial is Emmanuel Lewis.
- The fountain from the movie is now on display at Disney’s MGM Studios at Walt Disney World. The mermaid fin Daryl Hannah wore is behind the bar at Planet Hollywood in Downtown Disney.
- The mold used to make the mermaid fountain had also been used to make the ice sculpture in Herbie Goes Bananas (1980).
- The scene at the racquetball court, where John Candy serves and the ball hits him in the head, was done in one take.
- The map from the shipwreck that Madison uses to find Allen’s home is an old map of the Province of New York. It bears the name ‘His Excellency William Tryon Esq.’ Tyron was the colonial governor of the Province of New York from 1771 to 1780.
- The “Crazy Eddie” commercial that surprises Madison was for a real electronics store. Eddie and Sam M. Antar opened Crazy Eddie in Brooklyn, NY in 1971. Their spokesman was WPIX-FM disc jockey Jerry “Dr. Jerry” Carroll, whose frenetic nonstop sales pitch was based on used car salesman Earl “Madman” Muntz. The pitch always ended with “Crazy Eddie, his prices are IN-SA-A-A-A-A-A-ANE!” The chain grew to 43 stores in 4 states. It closed in 1989 after charges of fraud and security violations.
- Jodie Foster auditioned for the role of Madison, but turned it down in order to play a character in The Hotel New Hampshire (1984).
- Rosanna Arquette auditioned for the role of Madison, but had to back out.
- Brooke Shields reportedly turned down an offer to play Madison so she could study French Literature at Princeton.
- Before Daryl Hannah accepted the role of Madison, it had already been turned down by Tatum O’Neal, Michelle Pfeiffer, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Melanie Griffith,, Diane Lane, Kathleen Turner and Sharon Stone.
- Debra Winger reportedly wanted the role of Madison, but Ron Howard turned her down.
- While Allen is offering girls names to the mermaid before she settled on Madison, the last two he suggests are Elizabeth and Samantha. Elizabeth Hanks is Tom Hanks’s daughter and Samantha Lewes was his then-wife.
- According to Biography Channel, Bill Murray and P.J. Soles were considered for the roles of Allen and Madison, but Murray turned it down.
Carradine’s first notable film appearance was in director Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller in 1971. He also portrayed the character Kwai Chang Caine as a teenager in the 1972 television series Kung Fu (the adult Caine was portrayed by his half brother, David). He went on to play one of the principal characters, a callow, womanizing folk singer, in Altman’s critically acclaimed 1975 movie Nashville and his song from that movie, “I’m Easy”, was a popular music hit in 1976. Carradine won an Oscar for Best Original Song for writing the tune.
His recording of “I’m Easy” reached #17 on the US charts in August, 1976.