In the late seventies, the popular college magazine National Lampoon decided to break into
the movie business. However, after Animal House, their first theatrical film, set such a high bar,
National Lampoon couldn't seem to find any additional success. National Lampoon's Movie
Madness was such a disaster that test audiences tore up their seats, its release was delayed for
years, and it currently maintains a rare zero rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Their next effort,
written by one of the Lampoon's staple writers, was National Lampoon's Class Reunion, a slasher
parody that didn't do much better. Desperate, they turned to one of that same writers'
stories--"Vacation '58," published by the magazine in 1979--and made National Lampoon's Vacation,
which though not quite as ultra-successful as Animal House, was nonetheless a smash hit, helping
launch the movie career of its writer, the future king of the eighties teen dramedy: John Hughes.
[♪ Weird Science ♪]
Gary and Wyatt are losers. Bullied, isolated, and frustrated by their lack of female companionship,
they decide to create their own girl, a perfect woman who can put an end to their
adolescent troubles. However, this woman, Lisa, who lives to satisfy her creators' every whim,
seems to be more than they can handle, as she brings equal parts fame and chaos into their
homes. Can Gary and Wyatt take control of their own destinies, or will Lisa be their downfall?
Before we go any further, if you could please hit that like button, you will help make this
channel grow even larger. If you really do like this video, make sure to subscribe to see more.
Thank you in advance. With that out of the way, let's get back to the subject at hand.
When the notoriously eccentric John Hughes tried to make it in Hollywood as a director,
things didn't go according to plan. His directorial debut was supposed
to be the high school detention drama The Breakfast Club in 1982,
but the production got trapped in limbo. After the success of Mr. Mom, which was written by Hughes,
Universal agreed to let Hughes make The Breakfast Club as long as he signed a three year, thirty
million dollar contract that stipulated he direct one of his other scripts, Sixteen Candles, first.
Sixteen Candles was subsequently a decent hit, and Hughes' directorial career was off and running.
Meanwhile, the up-and-coming film producer Joel Silver acquired the movie rights to the ill-fated
EC Comics franchise Weird Science, a comic magazine that ran for just twenty-two issues.
Freshly delivered boxes of the comic were sitting in Silver's office,
when John Hughes walked in and noticed them. As Hughes flipped through the comics--possibly
seeing the story "Made [of] the Future"--he remarked that it would be fun if two kids figured out how
to make a gorgeous woman like the one they had seen in the commissary earlier that day.
"You know, it's not a bad idea."
"What?"
"Making a girl."
Hughes wrote a screenplay for Weird Science in just two days, and Universal was eager for him
to work on it, even though he was already busy working on The Breakfast Club, which started
filming before Sixteen Candles had even hit theaters. With the script in hand, preproduction
on Weird Science went into full swing while The Breakfast Club was still in principal photography.
The hardest casting decision involved the female lead, named Lisa after the Apple Lisa.
Many auditioned for the part, including Demi Moore and Robin Wright, and it was offered to
Kelly LeBrock, who turned it down because she was enjoying her downtime in France.
The role was ultimately given to the model Kelly Emberg, known for gracing the pages of
multiple Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues and for dating Rod Stewart at the time.
Next came the two lead actors for the parts of the geeks Wyatt and Gary. The
ballet-dancer-turned-actor Ilan Mitchell-Smith was cast as Wyatt on the heels of his starring
role in The Wild Life, but he is overshadowed by Anthony Michael Hall as Gary. Hall worked with
Hughes on Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club, and he was eager to sign on to Weird Science,
even though it conflicted with his ability to return as Rusty Griswald in the National Lampoon's
Vacation sequel. Reportedly, Hall was given twice the salary of his fellow lead as compensation.
The film would prove to be a high point for Ilan Mitchell-Smith, who left acting in the
early nineties to become an English professor and a Medieval Studies expert, but it was the
start of a gradual decline for Anthony Michael Hall, who turned down a pair of roles in future
John Hughes films Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Pretty in Pink to avoid getting typecast.
Hall has had numerous ups and downs throughout his career, but he is still acting today,
set to appear in the forthcoming Halloween Kills if it ever gets released.
For Max and Ian, the two bullies who constantly torment the heroes, Hughes cast Robert Rusler,
who would immediately transition from Weird Science to the second A Nightmare on Elm Street,
and Robert Downey Jr., who'd only been in a handful of films up to that point.
Rusler and Downey were pranksters on set as well as in the film,
and there is one rather notorious incident that involved Downey defecating in one of
his costars' trailers. In the script, Max and Ian are transformed by Lisa after fleeing the party,
but the scene--which was filmed--was ultimately cut at the behest of Joel Silver.
For Wyatt's abusive older brother, Chet, Hughes cast a young Bill Paxton, whose only notable
screen credit at the time was as a street punk in The Terminator. Paxton took a gamble on his first
day on set, telling the makeup artist to give him a ridiculous buzz cut before consulting Hughes.
It paid off, though, because Hughes loved it and opted to keep it in the film. [Goofy laugh]
When it came to Chet's transformation near the end of the movie, which wasn't cut,
Paxton became claustrophobic in the suit and had to be replaced by a pair of little actors.
Other actors worth noting are Vernon Wells, who is essentially reprising his role from The Road
Warrior, Michael Berryman, who also appears in the same year's similar-themed teen film My Science
Project, Playboy centerfold Kym Malin, who did her own very complicated stunts and later appears in
Die Hard, and Wallace Langham in his feature film debut as one of the Weenies, a group of nerds that
play a significant part in the script but were all but deleted from the final cut of the film.
They do pop up in this scene that can only be found in the made-for-TV version of the movie.
Principal photography began in October of 1984 at the Northbrook Court Shopping Mall.
However, just two days into filming, quote-unquote creative differences
lead to Kelly Emberg walking off the film. Kelly LeBrock, who had previously turned down the role,
was coaxed back at the last minute to fill the vacancy. She does such an amazing job that,
in retrospect, it's simply impossible to imagine anybody but Kelly LeBrock as Lisa.
"So, what would you little maniacs like to do first?"
Production continued unabated by the setback, with more location shooting
done in the Chicago suburbs and the closed Niles East High School in Skokie, Illinois,
the same school used for Sixteen Candles. In both movies, it's renamed Shermer High School, which is
a recurring fictional setting for other films like The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off,
which are all roughly tied together in their own John Hughes cinematic universe.
After three weeks of location shooting, the production went back to Los
Angeles to be completed on sound stages and the Universal backlots.
After LeBrock came aboard, the shoot went relatively smoothly,
but I would be remiss if I didn't mention the hundred thousand dollar flatulence.
This sequence involving a nuclear missile emerging into Wyatt's bedroom was tricky
to set up and had to be accomplished in one shot. However, in the middle of that one shot,
Anthony Michael Hall farted, and the cast and crew started laughing,
ruining the take and setting back the production by--you guessed it--a hundred thousand dollars.
They had to reshoot the sequence in reverse and do some post-production magic to make it work.
The music was arranged by Ira Newborn, who had not only worked on Sixteen Candles but,
more importantly, had composed the B.B. King classic "My Lucille." Newborn didn't compose
the film's theme song, however, as Hughes called Danny Elfman and asked him and his
surrealist new wave band, Oingo Boingo, to make it. The titular song, "Weird Science,"
which Elfman claims to have composed entirely in his head during a single car trip, became Oingo
Boingo's most successful and well-known song, much to Elfman's own embarrassment and annoyance.
"Look, we can deal with shame, okay? Death is a much deeper issue."
Weird Science released in August of 1985 and earned a respectable thirty eight point nine
million dollars in its initial worldwide run, against a budget of seven and a half million
dollars. Despite this, it wasn't successful with critics or audiences at the time, who tended to
compare it unfavorably to Hughes' first two films and complain that it isn't grounded
enough to be taken seriously. One exception was Roger Ebert, who gave it a glowing review in
defiance of Gene Siskel, who called it a "vulgar, midless, special-effects-cluttered wasteland."
"You're gone way overboard on this one, Gene. This is a funny movie,
and it is an entertaining movie. I don't know where you get this about toilet humor."
To be fair, as a child of the eighties, I didn't watch Weird Science nearly as much as I did The
Breakfast Club or Ferris Bueller, and it's never been at the top of my list of John Hughes films.
It is a choppy, disjointed film that reflects the fact that few people actually believed in it.
Hughes was exhausted while making it and has admitted that most of
his heart and energy went into The Breakfast Club.
Even Joel Silver and the executives at Universal were unsure about the film's prospects,
and most of the actors involved were at the primordial early days of their respective careers.
However, Weird Science does have a pretty rabid fan following and is well-loved today,
as evidenced by the fact that it beat out other cult sci-fi classics Dark Star and
The Rocky Horror Picture Show in a poll on my Facebook page. Incidentally, did you
know I have a Facebook page? When my Patrons can't make up their minds what videos I should cover,
sometimes I put it up to Facebook, so go check it out.
"You know, there's going to be sex, drugs, rock and roll. Chips, dips, chains, whips."
Weird Science still shows up on television fairly often, and it got its own show in the
nineties that ran for four years. There has been persistent talk of a remake for several years now,
with names like Channing Tatum attached, but not much has been heard about it since 2017.
Personally, I think it's a terrible idea.
The original Weird Science is a fun and entertaining movie
full of memorable moments and great one-liners--
"I like your panties."
--and it is probably unfair to compare it to John Hughes' more sober teen dramas of the time.
At its heart, this is still a coming-of-age tale that plays to Hughes' strengths,
but it takes a different, less realistic approach than Sixteen Candles or The Breakfast Club.
Like Revenge of the Nerds, it relishes in the early days of a cultural shift that is still
around today, namely the ascendency of the geek. It shouldn't have to apologize for its crude,
adolescent nature, because this is a movie all about the geeks rising up against their
alpha male bullies, not by playing their game, but by learning to be confident in themselves.
Sure, they get help from a Frankenstein monster that looks like a supermodel
and behaves in ways designed to fulfill the adolescent male's shallowest dreams,
but it doesn't take our heroes long to say goodbye to Lisa and face a more mature future.
In its own way, it's touching and sweet, even if it's chaotic, fanciful, and maybe a little stupid.
Therefore, as I pride myself on being an unapologetic geek,
I can't possibly argue that Weird Science is anything other than a sci-fi classic.
And that's all for today, my fellow Earthlings. What's your favorite John Hughes movie? Let me
know in the comments, and while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe if you haven't
already. If you'd like to support what I do even more, check out my Patreon to get bonus videos,
your name right here, and more. My Patrons get to vote on one movie I cover every single month.
You can also visit my website, at emagill.com, where you'll find written reviews of plenty more
sci-fi classics in both film and literature. Until next time, though, when we'll get a
taste of a vintage serial and I don't mean Corn Flakes, this is The Unapologetic Geek,
telling you to never be ashamed of what you love, as long as you're not hurting anybody.
"Tell me something. What's a beautiful broad like you doing with a malaca like this, huh?"
"It's purely sexual."