Last Action Hero/Trivia

• Actor Allusion: The Stallone-Schwarzenegger jabs continue. In Slater's world, Stallone is The Terminator. Danny cannot believe it. More directly, the fact that F. Murray Abraham played Salieri in Amadeus is mentioned, then it becomes a plot point.
• Box Office Bomb: Budget, $85 million. Box office, $50,016,394 (domestic), $137,298,489 (worldwide). Had the misfortune of being released the weekend after Jurassic Park.
• Breakaway Pop Hit:
  • Upon the film's release, "What the Hell Have I", a new Alice in Chains song recorded for the film's soundtrack, was better received than the movie.
  • As well as "Angry Again" by Megadeth.
  • Same goes for "Real World" by Queensrÿche.
  • Hell, even Def Leppard's "Two Steps Behind" got better exposure.
  • Even today, "Big Gun" by AC/DC gets airtime on classic rock stations.
• Christmas Rushed: It was rushed to open for the 1993 big summer movie season, to the point that post-production on the film was only finished a few weeks before its initial release.
• Contractual Immortality: Lampshaded. Danny tries to invoke this this with Benedict by playing Chicken with him while Danny is on a girl's bike, and Benedict is in a limo. Danny keep saying that because he's the hero, it has to work, but backs off at the last second after realizing he's just the Sidekick, and this trope does not apply to him.
  • Danny also tries to remind Jack of this when he tries to play Chicken in the real world.
  • Also Lampshaded when Danny tells Jack he can't die until the box office grosses wane.
  • This becomes a plot point towards the end of the film, where Danny has to get Slater back into the movie where his sucking chest wound will become little more than a scratch due to this trope.
• Deleted Role: Tori Spelling had a cameo as herself, but it was eventually left on the cutting room floor.
• Fake Nationality: Mexican Anthony Quinn plays an Italian Mob Boss.
• Hey, It's That Guy!:
  • Gandalf is the Grim Reaper.
  • Jack's daughter is played by Veronica Vaughn/Sonya Blade.
  • Sardo Numspa is Benedict.
  • The Ripper is the original Francis Dollarhyde/Cain.
  • Danny even lampshades it twice, both in the police station. The first is when Robert Patrick walks out of a police station in his Terminator police uniform; the second is when F. Murray Abraham turns up as Jack's Remember the New Guy? old cop buddy: Danny warns Jack not to trust him because "he killed Mozart", because he knows that Murray is always typecast in villainous roles and he's right; he was The Mole. But he doesn't remember killing "Moe Tsart".
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Danny DeVito is the voice of Whiskers.
• Missing Trailer Scene: Some trailers shows few deleted and alternate scenes, like extended Hamlet action scene where Arnie is in some water shooting at someone, Danny being blown away into the movie after dynamite pops out of screen, alternate take and angle for Slater's "I hate when that happens" line after he gets out of the tar pit. Couple other deleted scenes from original 140 minutes long rough cut include dialogue scene between Danny and Jack in which Danny says how his father died from cancer and scene where group of kids see Jack while he is walking across the streets in the rain with Danny looking for Benedict and they think he is Schwarzenegger so they ask him for his autograph which he signs.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Benedict was originally intended to be Alan Rickman: a line in the shooting script has Danny warn Jack that he almost beat both Bruce Willis and Kevin Costner. Charles Dance said in interviews that, after being told that he had won a part turned down by Rickman because of the salary, he wore a t-shirt on set which read; "I'm Cheaper Than Alan Rickman!".
  • Timothy Dalton was also considered for Benedict. He has a cameo at the Jack Slater IV premier.
  • Steven Spielberg was offered the chance to direct this film, but he turned it down to go make Schindler's List instead.
• Robert Zemeckis was in contention to direct at one point.
  • The original script was much darker-the theater owner was supposed to be the main villain, Danny was going to turn to the dark side and start killing lots of people, with Slater trying to stop him (including preventing him from killing the guy who robbed him).
  • The original script contained a scene where dozens of iconic movie villains invade the real world, something Benedict merely teases at.
• Working Title: Extremely Violent.