Line #15 Trivia/Rent


1	* BoxOfficeBomb: The 2005 film opened opposite ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'' (ironically, a series started by [[Creator/ChrisColumbus its director]]) and had bad reviews, so it only made $31 million worldwide on $40 million budget.
2	* CastTheExpert: Roger is usually played by a guitarist.
3	* {{Corpsing}}: In the 10th anniversary performance (which featured the original main cast), there were a few instances where the cast members briefly broke character due to some sort of slip-up. Both Adam Pascal and Creator/IdinaMenzel occasionally forgot their lines or lyrics (but laughed it off and continued), and there's a rather hilarious instance during "I'll Cover You" where Creator/JesseLMartin was caught off-guard by how fast an incoming dance move was. His reaction? "'''OH SHIT!!!''' I forgot how fast you[[note]]Wilson Jermaine Heredia[[/note]] were!"
4	* CutSong:
5	** The stage show is nearly entirely sung-through; the movie converts several songs into dialogue or nixes them completely. Notable cuts include the various "Tune-Up" and "Voicemail" sequences, "We're Okay", "Christmas Bells", "Happy New Year" and "Contact". Furthermore, "Halloween" and the full "Goodbye Love" were recorded and filmed, but cut from the theatrical release. This is a big point of contention for the movie's detractors, because removing these two songs means Mark's and Benny's HiddenDepths are never explored.
6	** Not to mention all the songs that got cut from the stage version. Some are rather bad ("[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1gJDuWrfs You'll Get Over It]]"--a duet between Mark and Maureen about her leaving him for a woman, made Maureen sound dismissive about breaking his heart while ''he'' was dismissive of her bisexuality). Others, like "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWwviipzgY0 Real Estate]]" (a trio between Benny, Mark, and Alison where she and Benny try to convince Mark to give up filmmaking and go into the real estate business with Benny instead) were cut for length. Some would keep their melody with their lyrics being almost entirely rewritten, like "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiH29pTi5nA Right Brain]]" would become "One Song Glory".
7	** The high school edition of RENT cuts ''Contact'' on account of the onstage orgy.
8	* DawsonCasting:
9	** Mimi "You look like you're sixteen." "I'm ''nineteen'', but I'm old for my age!" Marquez, originally played by the ''27-year-old'' Daphne Rubin-Vega (though, since many of the other characters are only mid-twenties, the potential exists for them as well).
10	** The age of the cast in the film seems to add to this as well -- most of the actors were in their thirties at the time, and while their ages weren't set in stone in the play or film, they certainly felt more like twenty-something "starving artists".
11	** The 20th anniversary tour in the UK removed the line about her age entirely due to Mimi being played by the gorgeous but in no way teenager like 32 year old Kerry Ellis.
12	* DeletedScene: The movie has several and they can all be found on the DVD
13	** "Halloween", which although filmed was never meant to be in the film.
14	** "Goodbye Love" was filmed in its entirely, but the second half after Angel's funeral was cut because Chris Columbus thought it was an emotional overload. Considering that a major criticism of the film was being too "soap opera" like, it was probably for the best.
15	** The scene with Benny reconciling after Angel's funeral including the bit where he always hated his wife's dog.
16	** Originally, "Finale B", would've had the gang going to back to the theatre where they sang "Seasons of Love" in the opening, and Angel would've joined them. But test audiences were confused as to why Angel was back, so for the theatrical cut the finale was kept in Mark's apartment.
17	* DiedDuringProduction: Jonathan Larson, the author of both the book and the music, died on the night of the final dress rehearsal. It's a tragically appropriate illustration of the show's message that you never know when your life will be over, so you should do as much as you can all the time. Contrary to popular belief, he died from an acute aortic aneurism, and ''not'' AIDS.
18	* FilmedStageProduction:
19	** Sony Pictures filmed and released the final Broadway performance[[note]]though some footage is from another performance a few weeks prior[[/note]] of in 2008, even giving the recording a limited theatrical release -- one of the first Broadway shows to do so in North America. The DVD includes bonus features exploring the closing night celebration and the show's legacy.
20	** Creator/{{Fox}} presented a "live" version of the musical in 2019, with Creator/JordanFisher as Mark and Creator/BrenninHunt as Roger. However, Hunt suffered a last-minute injury that bound him to a wheelchair, so the production was a mix of dress rehearsal footage and live footage with limited staging to accommodate Hunt. Several lyrics were also censored to comply with network standards.
21	* IronyAsSheIsCast
22	** In a CastFullOfGay, the only actor in the original cast who was actually gay was Creator/AnthonyRapp as Mark, a straight man (Rapp initially identified as gay but later came out as queer).
23	** Wilson Jermaine Heredia, who plays a character dying of AIDS, studied medicine before getting into acting.
24	* FocusGroupEnding: The film adaptation cut its original ending, in which the metaphor of the characters singing their lives together onstage was revisited. Focus groups shot that one down, as the reappearance of a certain beloved dead character apparently gave the impression that the whole movie had been a dream. Instead we're treated to a rousing climax of the entire cast sitting on a sofa trying not to cry.
25	* TheOtherDarrin: Most of the original main cast [[RoleReprise reprised their roles]] for the 2005 movie, with only Mimi and Joanne being recast, because Daphne Rubin-Vega was pregnant at the time and obviously gained too much weight to play a junkie dancer with AIDS, and Fredi Walker felt she was too old to portray a recent law school graduate. Her one request was [[OriginalCastPrecedent to keep Joanne black]], which the film did, casting Tracie Thoms in the role.
26	* PromotedFangirl: Tracie Thoms was a fan of the musical, having watched RENT on Broadway multiple times before being cast as Joanne for the film and the final Broadway performance.
27	* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Inverted -- Jonathan Larson wrote this in memorial to his friends who had died of [=AIDS=], but it's almost as if he wrote his own memorial. See the book "Without You" by Anthony Rapp for details.
28	* ReferencedBy: See [[ReferencedBy.{{Rent}} here]].
29	* RomanceOnTheSet
30	** Creator/TayeDiggs and Creator/IdinaMenzel met during the original production and were then married for ten years, afterwards becoming AmicableExes.
31	** Wilson Heredia and his makeup artist from the movie.
32	** In the 2007 Australian production, Anthony Callea (Mark) and Tim Campbell (Roger), perhaps ironically.
33	** Mimi and Roger's original actors (Daphne Rubin Vega and Adam Pascal) had a fling during the show's initial Broadway run.
34	* StarMakingRole: Idina Menzel quickly became a Broadway sensation after playing Maureen. Taye Diggs and Jesse L. Martin went on to have careers onscreen.
35	* TechnologyMarchesOn: Benny's big plan is to open a cyber cafe at the site of the homeless camp. However, cyber cafes became obsolete in the United States by the late 2000's due to innovations like wi-fi, smartphones, and computers coming ''way'' down in price. Benny would've had until 2012 at the absolute latest before his beloved Cyberland went belly-up.
36	* ThoseTwoActors: Movie version - Tracie Thoms and Rosario Dawson also starred together in ''Film/DeathProof''.
37	* ThrowItIn:
38	** In the movie version of "The Tango Maureen" the eyebrow lift and jacket toss were added in for fun during rehearsals, and the director kept it in.
39	** In the movie's "Today 4 U" Tom making the 'whipped' gesture and sound effect, and Angel popping out of the frame were ad-libs the actors after the director called "cut".
40	* WhatCouldHaveBeen
41	** In the first drafts of the show, Mark and Maureen ultimately got back together, like Marcello and Musetta in ''Theatre/LaBoheme'', and Joanne was a weaker character who was effectively just a "slave" to Maureen, more like Alcindoro. But when LGBT friends of Jonathan Larson's pointed out the unfortunate implications in all of this, he rewrote it.
42	** Creator/MissCocoPeru, was Larson's original choice to play Angel, she did the first reading and he asked her to audition for it but she turned it down as she realised it was more suitable for a person of color.
43	** One pass of the script began at Angel's funeral, with Mark flashing back to HowWeGotHere.
44	** Creator/{{NBC}} reportedly considered televising a live production in December 2017, until they instead decided to air ''Theatre/ByeByeBirdie'' in that timeslot.[[note]]However, it would eventually get cancelled.[[/note]] Creator/{{FOX}} ended up obtaining rights to ''RENT''.
45	** Creator/JenniferHudson auditioned for the role of Joanne in the film version. ''Series/AmericanIdol'' contestant Frenchie Davis was also considered.
46	** There was a shot of [[spoiler: April lying dead in the bathtub]] but they couldn't decide where to put it in, and left it out of the final film.
47	** An early idea for the film adaptation was to have it all revealed to be a FilmWithinAFilm.
48	** The producers wanted an ending where [[spoiler: Mimi stayed dead]]. Larson was adamant on ending on an uplifting note.

Context Trivia / Rent