3. You may have seen the Casper house again in a different context
The ghostly shenanigans continued for a couple of years after Casper‘s release. The Whipstaff Manor set reappeared on the small screen in a curious fashion when the Backstreet Boys filmed their music video for “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” there. You may recall them asking you if they were sexual. “Yeahhhh,” you answered in your head just now. That’s the power of Whipstaff, baby!
4. Christina Ricci and Devon Sawa were onscreen love interests twice in one year
Devon Sawa appeared only briefly as the human version of Casper at the end of the movie, but he made a lasting impression on audiences. It also wasn’t the only time in 1995 that he’d get to play a love interest for star Christina Ricci. The two would appear together again on the big screen a few months later in the coming-of-age movie Now and Then.
5. It got the ball rolling on movie crossover cameos
Several big names make cameos as themselves in Casper, like Mel Gibson, Clint Eastwood, and Rodney Dangerfield, but Dan Aykroyd pops up in the form of his Ghostbusters character, Ray Stantz. It was one of the first major film crossovers at the time and went some way towards popularizing them. Though most of these crossovers have been welcome in the decades since, some are definitely more on the “can you not?” end of things. Your mileage may vary.
6. J.J. Abrams had a hand in making it
Although it’s hard to imagine the film without Devon Sawa literally embodying Casper, the movie didn’t originally end that way. A fresh-faced J.J. Abrams was brought aboard to rewrite the ending to include that moment. “The ending was approved and a nationwide casting call was launched,” Sawa revealed back in 2018. “I sent a VHS tape down to casting directors and a week later booked the role of Casper. I’ve been working ever since. Thanks JJ.”
7. It almost had the same director as The Crow
The Crow and Dark City director Alex Proyas was originally attached to Casper, but left after realizing it wasn’t for him. “I loved the idea of doing a kid’s fantasy,” he recalled. “One of my favorite films of all time is Wizard of Oz. I would like to do something like that one day. Casper seemed to be an opportunity to do a really great kids’ film with some real solid emotional resonance. Unfortunately, it started to move away from its potential at some point and that’s the reason I politely bowed out.” Welp!
8. A Poltergeist crossover was scrapped
The writers originally wanted Poltergeist’s best house cleaner to make an appearance, with Zelda Rubinstein considered for a brief scene. “We pictured her shooting out the chimney, screaming ‘Go toward the light!”’ screenwriter Deanna Oliver revealed. Sadly, it never happened, but we did get some other fun cameos.
