Trivia for
The Stunt Man (1980) More at IMDbPro »

• Director Richard Rush's dream project: took 9 years to get to the screen. Filmed in 1978. Fox would not release it until 1980.
  
  
• The "movie within a movie" being filmed is titled "Devil's Squadron". It can be seen on the production t-shirts being worn by the crew.
  
  
• Peter O'Toole based his portrayal on director David Lean.
  
  
• François Truffaut was an early contender to direct the film version of Paul Brodeur's novel. Truffaut borrowed elements from the story for La nuit américaine (1973) and Arthur Penn did the same for Night Moves (1975).
  
  
• Ryan O'Neal originally was slated to play the lead, but dropped out and was eventually replaced by Steve Railsback.
  
  
• While Eli Cross and others ride in a boom Crane Basket and Eli Cross talks about movie illusion, they entered the basket at the beach in La Jolla CA, and exit the basket 15 miles away at the Hotel del Coronado.
  
  
• The scene where the old car crashes off the bridge ("The Old Fair Oaks Bridge) into the river was filmed on the American River in Rancho Cordova and Fair Oaks, Sacramento County, California. When they first tried this the car actually jumped the track to lead it off the bridge and it continued down the bridge. The driver-less car was on a pulley system with a rail on the bridge road to guide it. The driver-less car chased down a few cameramen and crew and took out a camera before it came to rest.
  
  
• Although actors like Martin Sheen and Jeff Bridges were lobbying hard for the part of Cameron, Steve Railsback clinched the part after director Richard Rush saw his stirring performance as Charles Manson in Helter Skelter (1976) (TV). Once Rush decided on Peter O'Toole and Railsback as his leads, he waited a year and a half to make the picture with them, turning down chances to go forward with O'Toole and Bridges, Sean Connery and Railsback, and George C. Scott and Sheen.
  
  

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