Trivia / Desperately Seeking Susan

• Award Category Fraud: Rosanna Arquette won a Best Supporting Actress BAFTA for playing Roberta, even though she's clearly playing the central character and has more dialogue (including the very first line) and more screen time than Madonna.
  • Billing Displacement: After the fact. In the movie proper Rosanna Arquette gets top billing and while Madonna has second billing and a "And Starring" credit at the beginning. However, most people refer to it as a Madonna film to the point that Arquette won a Supporting Actress BAFTA for the lead role of Roberta.
• Breakaway Pop Hit: "Into the Groove", though not in the US, where it was not released as a single. It hit #1 on many worldwide charts, including in the UK and Australia, and has appeared on the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. Critics and fans alike generally consider it to be one of her best dance-pop songs during an era when she made a lot of great ones.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Upon reading the script for the first time, Rosanna Arquette expressed her desire to play the part of Susan. She was surprised to discover the producers actually wanted her to play the lead part of Roberta.
• Cut Song: Madonna recorded a song called "Desperately Seeking Susan" for the film. It ended up not being used in the film, and a demo she just finished called "Into the Groove" was used instead.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Madonna was trying to lose weight, or rather not to gain any. So when the script called for her to be eating, she'd spit out the food at the end of the take!
• Executive Meddling: The movie was filmed during the late summer and early fall 1984, early in Madonna's rise to popularity, and was intended to be an R-rated feature. After the success of her 1984–85 hits "Like a Virgin" and "Material Girl" from her Like a Virgin album, the film was trimmed in content by Orion Pictures to get a PG-13 rating in order to also market the film to Madonna's teenage fan base.
• Real-Life Relative: Separated-at-birth triplets Robert Shafran, Eddy Galland and David Kellman have a cameo role, reportedly at Madonna's personal invitation.
• Referenced by...: Love Anthony: Beth finds piles of cheap jewelry that she put away after moving from New York City to Nantucket, which she describes as "very Madonna circa Desperately Seeking Susan."
• Those Two Actors: Rosanna Arquette, Victor Argo and Will Patton also appeared that year in After Hours.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The movie originally ended with Susan and Roberta invited to Egypt after helping return the stolen earrings. They are next seen riding camels next to the Egyptian pyramids in the Sahara.
  • Diane Keaton was briefly considered for Roberta, while Goldie Hawn was considered for Susan. A combination of Orion Pictures wanting to keep the budget under $5 million and director Susan Seidelman wanting to work with newcomers ultimately led to the casting of Rosanna Arquette and Madonna.
  • Bruce Willis auditioned for Jim.
  • Ellen Barkin, Melanie Griffith and Jennifer Jason Leigh were considered for Susan. Suzanne Vega auditioned for the role.
  • The producers couldn't get Kevin Costner or Dennis Quaid to read for Dez, because with two female leads, some actors didn't want to be third fiddle.

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