Xanadu/Trivia

• Actor Allusion: Danny's "oh, I've been known to twinkle a toe or two."
  • Also, Danny has the same name and much of the same backstory as the character Gene Kelly played in the 1944 film Cover Girl.
• Breakaway Pop Hit: The title song, as well as "Magic", "All Over the World", "Alive", and "Suddenly".
• Cult Soundtrack
• Executive Meddling
• Money, Dear Boy: The reason for Gene Kelly's involvement. That and the job was close to his home. Still, Gene Kelly stated that working with Olivia Newton-John was great. He also actively mentored director Robert Greenwald, advising him on how to direct a musical, and eventually gifting Greenwald with the watch that Kelly used to time musical numbers in his own films.
• Old Shame: For Electric Light Orchestra, who wrote and performed several of the songs. Jeff Lynne eventually came to terms with it, though, and released an album with rerecorded Xanadu tracks.
  • Also director Robert Greenwald, who's more recently made a name for himself as a left-wing muckraking documentary director (Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price).
    • Also for Michael Beck (the guy from The Warriors).

Michael Beck: The Warriors opened a lot of doors in film for me, which Xanadu then closed.

• Sure, Why Not?: Kelly's role originally was to have no dancing or singing, but he asked the director if he could do a number with Olivia Newton-John, resulting in the "Whenever You're Away From Me" sequence (and making this the last film in which he danced and sung).
• Unintentional Period Piece: A veritable time capsule of late 70s-early 80s fads, fashion, and music styles.
• What Could Have Been: Olivia Newton-John had to choose between doing this movie or Can't Stop the Music. All things considered, she probably chose wisely.