History Trivia / TheLastUnicorn

* HeReallyCanAct: Peter S Beagle viewed Tammy Grimes[[note]]Molly Grue[[/note]] as the darkhorse of the film's cast.
--> "Tammy Grimes brought such vocal life to the character that she covered things I didn't do. I've always been grateful."

* WagTheDirector: A positive example. When Creator/ChristopherLee came in to work, he brought his own copy of the novel wherein he took note of lines that he believed should not be omitted.

* TheWikiRule: [[http://thelastunicorn.wikia.com/wiki/The_Last_Unicorn_Wiki The Last Unicorn Wiki]].

** Creator/HarrisonFord, Creator/MarkHamill and Creator/DustinHoffman were considered voices for Schmendrick.
** Creator/JohnCarradine, Creator/JamesEarlJones and Creator/JohnVernon were considered voices for King Haggard.
** Creator/MichaelCrawford, Creator/RichardHarris and Creator/KurtRussell were considered voices for Prince Lír.
** Creator/ElizabethHartman and Creator/JanetLeigh were considered voices for the Unicorn/Amalthea.

* ShrugOfGod: The unnamed magician in Peter Beagle's other novel ''The Innkeeper's Song'' matches Schmendrick's physical description and both mention their teacher's name was Nikos. Beagle has suggested they're the same person without outright confirming it.

* ShrugOfGod: The unnamed magician in Peter Beagle's other novel ''Literature/TheInnkeepersSong'' matches Schmendrick's physical description and both mention their teacher's name was Nikos. Beagle has suggested they're the same person without outright confirming it.

* DoingItForTheArt: Creator/JeffBridges apparently volunteered to do the voice of Lír for free.

** The UK group Renaissance was considered to create the soundtrack before America came on board.

* ImageSource:
** {{Unicorn}}

** In the dub from Latin America, Jorge Roig voices the Butterfly, Mabruk and the skull. And the late voice acotr Jesus Brock voices both Schmendrick and the cat.

* AuthorAvatar: Beagle has stated that the Butterfly is a playful parody of himself, complete with his tendency to remember two lines from every song or poem he's ever heard. The film portrays the Butterfly as a bearded beatnik who resembles a young Beagle as he was around the time he wrote the story.
** FridgeLogic: If the Butterfly is the AuthorAvatar, that explains how he knows all about the Red Bull, Haggard, and what became of the other unicorns--he knows the whole story already!

* PromotedFanboy: Christopher Lee was a huge fan of the book, to the point of bringing his own copy of the book to his recording and pointing out some lines that he felt had to stay in the story. He also provides the voice in the German dub of the movie.

** Besides voicing Captain Cully, Creator/KeenanWynn also appears as Celaeno the harpy.

* ChannelHop: Thanks to the constant levels of being ScrewedByTheNetwork (see below), the film suffered from a lot of this before it ''even got released''. Nowadays, Creator/{{ITV}} Studios owns the film (corporate predecessor Carlton having bought the ITC backlog in 1999) and has sub-licensed it to other distributors, specifically Creator/{{Lionsgate}} and Creator/ShoutFactory.

* PromotedFanboy: Christopher Lee was a huge fan of the book, to the point of bringing his own copy of the book to his recording and pointing out lines that he felt had to stay in the story. He also provides the voice in the German dub of the movie.

** "Have a taco" came about when Beagle was writing very late at night, when you start writing all sorts of strange things. However, he loved the line so much he had to leave it in, AnachronismStew be damned.

** Creator/JohnCarradine and Creator/JamesEarlJones were considered voices for King Haggard.

* AuthorAvatar: Beagle has stated frequently in interviews that the butterfly who constantly quotes song lyrics is supposed to be him. In a meta-sense, he explains that he, the author, needed a reason for the Unicorn to start her quest, therefore he inserted himself in the form of the butterfly to tell the story of the Red Bull that the unicorn could not have otherwise learned. In the film adaptation, it even has a scruffy beard resembling Peter's own at the time he wrote the book.

* TheWikiRule: [[http://thelastunicorn.wikia.com/wiki/The_Last_Unicorn_Wiki The Last Unicorn Wiki]].

** Creator/ElizabethHartman and Creator/JanetLeigh were considered voices for the Unicorn/Amalthea.

* DoingItForTheArt: Creator/JeffBridges apparently volunteered to do the voice of Lir for free.

** Creator/MichaelCrawford, Creator/RichardHarris and Creator/KurtRussell were considered voices for Prince Lir.

* CreatorBacklash: Beagle has been frank that he found the book to be the most difficult to write of any in his career. It's not that he ''dislikes'' the book, but rather that he's intimidated by its success and knows that he'll never get it ''quite'' that right again.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfRoles: Paul Frees voices Haggard's initial court magician, the cat in the castle, the amorous tree and a handful of additional voices.

** A live-action remake has been in DevelopmentHell since 2005. Christopher Lee for a long time had expressed interest in reprising his role as King Haggard. Shortly before his death in 2015, he had given his blessing for them to cast someone else. Creator/AngelaLansbury had also expressed interest in reprising her role as Mommy Fortuna.
** The UK group Renaissance was considered to create the soundtrack before America came on board.