As the hosts tell it, Michaels originally envisioned Farley with Lowe as the foil in the Richard part, which fell through because Lowe had other commitments. — Bill Simmons
The hosts say Farley pushed for Spade or Sandler; Sandler was already shooting Billy Madison, so Spade was the third choice, called the right one. — Bill Simmons
The hosts say scheduling conflicts nearly forced Lowe out, and quick auditions included Matthew McConaughey, which would have been fun between Dazed and Confused and A Time to Kill. — Bill Simmons
Helen the waitress was reportedly meant for Roseanne Barr, who was busy with her show; called a good miss. — Bill Simmons
The Sandusky, Ohio setting is a tough beat that jumps off the screen; the sign and a few spoken mentions could have been changed, as films have done with the Twin Towers. — Bill Simmons
Bo Derek's stunt casting was a big deal in 1995, when she had been like Marilyn Monroe for two years; the equivalent now would be a long-absent Britney Spears, and it no longer translates. — Bill Simmons
Jokes about Flashdance have become progressively less funny; producer Craig is joked not to know what Flashdance is. — Bill Simmons
Sneaking onto a plane as flight attendants is impossible post-9/11; where they were flying from and to is unclear. — Bill Simmons
Too few cameos from the SNL universe is raised, but rebutted: not overloading it makes a better, weirdly sincere movie, and Aykroyd's part drives the story. — Sean Fennessey
Unsure about Aykroyd's character, with a Coneheads voice and a Mel Kuyper Jr. look, the country-club lunch invite at the end, and the finale where a presumed robber with flares gets to a camera crew. — Cousin Sal
Everyone watching local news during a workday and a fake bomb being shrugged off are nitpicked, but it's a comedy.
After the whole road trip to sell brake pads, the reversal back in Sandusky happens too quickly to process. — Sean Fennessey
A reply adds that drunk Lowe presses two buttons on a computer and everything goes to hell immediately. — Bill Simmons
Opening credits; 'Luke, I'm your father' fan gag; Callahan family portraits; Rob Lowe's performance; the board-meeting old lady; Tommy and Richard singing; the bees gimmick; Spade's hair jokes; the lost-virginity speech; Brian Dennehy
The opening credits, the 'Luke, I'm your father' bit with the fan, and the Callahan family portraits with Farley in drag hold up as subtle comedy. — Bill Simmons
Rob Lowe's performance has aged best; he was good in anything SNL adjacent, a comedy side unpredictable in the 1980s. — Bill Simmons
Also listed: the old lady in the board meeting, Tommy and Richard singing, the bees gimmick, the jokes acknowledging Spade's weird hair, and the speech line about losing his virginity to R.T.'s daughter. — Bill Simmons
Bo Derek seemed past her prime then though she was only 39, with Lowe, Farley and Spade 31; pairing her with Dennehy, 57, was accepted but kissing Lowe as a supposed son was strange; the casting is still called nailed.
Her haircut is flagged as aged the worst for making her look older, like Alice from The Brady Bunch. — Cousin Sal
Dennehy is incredible and overqualified, a stage legend whose Death of a Salesman history makes him a callback great salesman; serious actors going toe to toe with the bits add credibility, and he is a dead ringer for Farley. — Sean Fennessey
An anecdote: interviewing Dennehy in Winnipeg in 2001 in brutal cold for an ESPN Bobby Knight TV movie, he got choked up about Farley; his IMDb has a lot of wins though he never became famous-famous. — Bill Simmons
Kate Winslet had to do a screen test, watchable online, opposite Jeremy Sisto, Elton from Clueless, who auditioned but probably was not in contention; the major name in contention for Jack Dawson was Matthew McConaughey.
Stephen Dorff is the verified one: a New York Daily News piece headlined 'actor is thankful he didn't get Titanic role' has the Blade co-star saying he wanted a career like Johnny Depp, Sean Penn and Jack Nicholson and an Oscar, which Titanic would have made impossible, and that Leo will always be the guy on the boat.
One host disagrees that Leo is the guy on the boat, since he has been in so many hits and everyone has a favorite Leo, whereas Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are more locked into their 90s work; Sofia Coppola is said to have made Somewhere with Dorff because he never blew up, and Titanic will be in the first line of DiCaprio's obituary, and of Billy Zane's.
Billy Zane has not done much anyone has heard of since, though he has been in three times as many films as Kate Winslet.
Chris O'Donnell, named on Wikipedia for Jack, would have been a great and adorable Jack given his Batman movies and a season-two television arc, but could not have taken the film past a billion dollars; Leo is singular and the chemistry is enduring, though he seems strikingly innocent and little in it.
Rob Lowe was in the mix for Cal and is a great asshole, as in St. Elmo's Fire; pre-West Wing he might not have pulled viewers out of the film, though one host says he would have a little, and the leads mostly had blank or clean reputations at the time, which the hosts think mattered.
With only two choices, Keanu Reeves or Patrick Swayze, the answer is Bodhi, repeated several times because he put his fingerprints on everybody and Utah lets him go; after clarifying the question is about the actor, the answer stays Swayze. The repeated affirmations cannot be shown to come from different hosts, so only one ballot is counted.
Utah let him go at the end despite responsibility for 12 deaths, or 20 deaths and billions in damage.
A host adds that Swayze won the movie and was putting up wins year after year, winning Roadhouse, Ghost going away, Dirty Dancing and Young Blood with Rob Lowe; The Outsiders is the one he did not win, Matt Dillon did.
