Trivia for
The Big Chill (1983) More at IMDb Pro »

• The main cast members lived together for a few weeks before filming began. The night before filming began they all stayed in character.
  
  
• Flashback scenes with Kevin Costner as Alex were filmed, but cut. He is still visible as the body being dressed at the beginning of the film.
  
  
• As he fights off the bat, Harold hums the theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), a movie also written by Lawrence Kasdan.
  
  

• Director Lawrence Kasdan's wife, Meg Kasdan, plays the airline stewardess flirting with Sam Weber at the beginning of the film. His two sons also have roles: Jon Kasdan plays Harold and Sarah's son in the bathtub, and Jake Kasdan plays the boy seeking Sam's autograph at the wake.
  
  
• The main house in the film is in Beaufort, SC. It is the same house where The Great Santini (1979) was shot. Director Lawrence Kasdan liked "The Great Santini" so much that he decided to shoot his film in the same house.
  
  
• The name of Harold's "Running Dog" shoe-store chain is a play on the Maoist phrase, "the running dogs of capitalism".
  
  
• The characters were based on people Lawrence Kasdan lived with in the Eugene V. Debs co-op in Ann Arbor, MI, while attending the University of Michigan. Co-ops are co-ed housing in which the residents share household duties like cooking. This explains why the characters are so comfortable sharing the house, cooking and are so attached to the Michigan football game.
  
  
• Kevin Kline met future wife Phoebe Cates when she auditioned for the part of Chloe, which eventually went to Meg Tilly.
  
  
• The soundtrack of the movie consisted of many 1960s-era rock songs. Because of the success of the soundtrack, dozens of TV commercials used music from the same period.
  
  

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