History Trivia / RealGenius

* NoStuntDouble: According to Mark Kamiyama's son [[https://www.reddit.com/r/OldSchoolCool/comments/m3y637/my_father_as_ick_ikigami_to_the_right_of_val/gqrn5wl/ on Reddit]], production wanted a stunt rider for the scene where Ick gets on a motorcycle, hops a curb, and follows Dr. Hathaway to the military base. However, Mark was an avid motorcycle rider in real life, and insisted on doing those shots himself.

* DawsonCasting: While Gabe Jarret was indeed 15 at the time of filming, Creator/ValKilmer was 26.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: This movie could only have been made in [[TheEighties the 80s]], when the Strategic Defense Initiative was a pressing concern. Not to mention that [[TechnologyMarchesOn computer technology has marched along]] quite significantly since then.

* TheCastShowoff: WordOfGod says that Creator/ValKilmer insisted his trick walking coins along the backs of his knuckles make it into the film at some point. It's shown in the first montage.

* MissingTrailerScene: A scene where Chris floats outside his classroom suspended in a lounge chair attached to several balloons a
appeared in the preview version but not the release version.

* RecycledTheSeries: Attempted in the mid twenty-teens to cash in on the success of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory''. The project never got past the pilot phase; which is probably for the best since it was being made by Adam Sandler's production company...

* About Lazlo's plan to flood the Frito-Lay sweepstakes with entries:
** The Frito-Lay plan was TruthInTelevision - it was based on [[http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/the_caltech_sweepstakes_caper/ an actual pra...er, exploit by playful Caltech students]]. It was done in 1975, when printers (and the hardware/software to make them print 1.2 million entries) were much less common; the prank also led directly to the reworking of the legal boilerplate on future contests to prevent it from happening again.
** The "printer" Lazlo was using was actually mechanically writing the entries in large quantities, making them physically the same as any normal, hand-written entry (possibly to show it as a loophole evading method of the same tactic explained above.)
** Those familiar with Caltech's pranking history will know that, as in the film, the RealLife sweepstakes caper resulted in the students winning significantly fewer of the prizes than mathematically expected.
* BillingDisplacement: Val Kilmer had top billing, though Gabriel Jarret played the main character and had more screen time.
* TheCastShowoff: WordOfGod says that Val Kilmer insisted his trick walking coins along the backs of his knuckles make it into the film at some point. It's shown in the first montage.
* DawsonCasting: While Gabe Jarret was indeed 15 at the time of filming, Val Kilmer was 26.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: This movie could only have been made in [[TheEighties the 80s]], when the Strategic Defense Initiative was a pressing concern. Not to mention that [[TechnologyMarchesOn computer technology has marched along]] quite significantly since then.

* HeyItsThatGuy:
** Mitch Taylor later shows up in Mission Control in ''Film/{{Apollo13}}''.
** Jordan is Judy (girlfriend of the Anthony Edwards character Gilbert) from ''RevengeOfTheNerds''.
** Professor Hathaway is one in a long line of JerkAss characters portrayed by character actor Creator/WilliamAtherton. He is probably best known for playing EPA agent Walter Peck in the original ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' and obnoxious reporter Richard Thornburg in the first two ''Film/DieHard'' movies. Atherton, however, has been showing up in scores of movies and TV shows for over 40 years now and is active to this day (see ''Series/{{Castle}}'', ''Series/TheGlades'', ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', and [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0040472/ many, many others]])
** Lazlo Hollyfeld is Uncle Rico from ''Film/NapoleonDynamite'' and Roger Linus from ''Series/{{Lost}}''. [[Film/TheMonsterSquad He's also got nards!]]
** Sherry Nugil later became Amber Twine on ''{{Wiseguy}}'', Selena Davis on ''GuidingLight'', Lorraine Calluzzo on Season 5 of ''Series/TheSopranos'', Rose Boscorelli on ''ThirdWatch'', and Ellie on ''RescueMe''. She's also had steady work in other films and TV shows [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001091/ going back to 1968]].
** CIA project director David Decker is played by character actor [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0491590/ Ed Lauter]], who has over 50 film and TV credits since the year 2000 alone... and got steady work up until his death in 2013.
** Kent played Tom Hank's rival Cole Whittier in ''BachelorParty''.
** Dean Devlin is really seen only at the Tanning Invitational wearing a red t-shirt with a calculus equation on it. Devlin would later go on to produce the movies ''Film/{{Stargate}}'', ''Film/IndependenceDay'', ''Film/{{Godzilla 1998}}'', ''Film/ThePatriot'', and the TV series ''Series/{{Leverage}}''.
** Dr. Meredith is one of a number of doctors and professors (human and otherwise) that actor Severn Darden portrayed in the 60's, 70's, and '80s. He shows up as similar characters in episodes of ''TheMonkees'',''Series/KolchakTheNightStalker'', ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan'', the original version of ''Series/TheBionicWoman'', ''Series/{{Cheers}}'', and ''The Paper Chase''. He also shows up in some of the ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes'' movies from the early '70's, ''Film/{{Hopscotch}}'', and the Rodney Dangerfield comedy ''BackToSchool''.
** Dr. Meredith's wife (Mrs. Meredith in the credits, played by actress Sandy Martin) shows up in many small roles going back to the '70s, but more recently has had recurring roles as Mac's mom on ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' and as Selma Green on ''Series/BigLove''.
** The girl Chris hooks up with at the Tanning Invitational is Lynda Wiesmeier, Playboy's Playmate of the Month for July 1982.
** One of the students was played by Yuji "[[Main/KarateKid Chozen]]" Okumoto. He's appeared in ''Film/TheGame'', ''{{Film/Inception}}'', ''Series/LoisAndClark'', ''{{Series/JAG}}'', and ''Film/TheTrumanShow'', among others.
** The "Hacking Consultant" mentioned in the credit is RobertWoodhead; which explains why the credits also thank Sir-Tech for making {{VideoGame/Wizardry}}.

* BillingDisplacement: ValKilmer had top billing, though Gabriel Jarret played the main character and had more screen time.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: This movie could only have been made in [[TheEighties the 80s]], when the Strategic Defense Initiative was a pressing concern. Not to mention that [[TechnologyMarchesOn computer technology has marched along]] quite significantly since then.

** Professor Hathaway is one in a long line of JerkAss characters portrayed by character actor Creator/WilliamAtherton. He is probably best known for playing EPA agent Walter Peck in the original ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' and obnoxious reporter Richard Thornburg in the first two ''Film/DieHard'' movies. Atherton, however, has been showing up in scores of movies and TV shows for over 40 years now and is active to this day (see ''Series/{{Castle}}'', ''TheGlades'', ''[[LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit Law & Order: Special Victims Unit]]'', and [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0040472/ many, many others]])