Trivia / Death Race 2000

• Billing Displacement: Most modern DVD releases put Stallone either in top billing, or sometimes even by himself on the cover. He plays a major character in the movie, but is not the main focus.
• California Doubling: Literally. Highways recognizably constructed in California stand in for other parts of the nation.
• Completely Different Title:
  • Germany: Frankenstein's Death Race
  • Taiwan: Desperado Racing 2000
• Follow the Leader: Made quickly to cash in on the "futuristic blood sport" genre created by Rollerball. Ironically, it seems to be better respected by some critics than the earlier film because of its dark sense of humor.
• Irony as She Is Cast: Mary Woronov, who plays Calamity Jane, did not know how to drive a car, so a stunt driver did all the actual driving for her in the movie. For close-ups, Woronov sat in a car towed behind a truck with a camera crew riding in it.
• Mid-Development Genre Shift: Roger Corman wrote the original treatment of the film, which was serious in tone, but thought it was not right and, in his words, was "kind of vile". (The mind boggles to consider what material is too tasteless for Roger Corman.) He decided the dark material of the story would be better served by making the movie into a comedy and had Robert Thom rewrite the treatment.
• No Stunt Double: Both Sylvester Stallone and David Carradine did much of their own driving. In addition, producer Roger Corman drove in scenes that were shot on public streets, since the custom-built cars used in the movie were not street legal and the film's stunt drivers did not want to be caught driving them by the police.
• Playing Against Type:
  • It was early in his career, so his type wasn't established yet, but still, the film features Sylvester Stallone playing a mouthy Jerkass villain.
  • David Carradine took the role immediately after walking off the set of Kung Fu (1972),^note Actually just before. Filming of the movie was delayed because they had to wait for Carradine to finish shooting for Kung Fu. to avoid being Typecast.
• Technology Marches On: The use of matte paintings to create futuristic settings when integrating them with 1975-era sets is... sometimes less than realistic.
• Wag the Director: David Carradine refused to wear leather, so costume designer Jane Ruhm had to make Carradine's iconic black outfit out of another fabric that looked just like leather.
• What Could Have Been: The role of Frankenstein was originally offered to Peter Fonda, who considered the movie too ridiculous for words.
• Written By Castmember: Sylvester Stallone wrote some of his own dialogue.

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