Trivia / Fear (1996)

• Breakaway Pop Hit: The songs "Comedown" and "Machinehead" by Bush are featured in the film — the former already a rock radio hit before this movie, and the latter becoming yet another hit for the band.
• Cast the Runner-Up: A weird case. Mark Wahlberg had been recommended for David, but James Foley didn't think he was good for the role and had him audition for one of the criminal friends. On seeing the audition, he immediately changed his mind and declared he wouldn't direct the film unless he was cast as David immediately.
• Creator's Favorite Episode: Alyssa Milano stated in a Reddit AMA that this was her favourite movie to work on.
• Follow the Leader: The producer admitted that it was the teenage version of Fatal Attraction, and there were many other such thrillers in the 90s with erotic themes like Basic Instinct, Single White Female, Disclosure and Poison Ivy (which was also greenlit in the hopes of being the teenage Fatal Attraction).
• Friendship on the Set: Reese Witherspoon and Alyssa Milano became good friends and remained so for twenty years after.
• Playing Against Type: At the time, this was one of many darker roles that Alyssa Milano took to distance herself from her wholesome child star image from Who's the Boss?.
• Reality Subtext: Mark Wahlberg did a really good job playing David, a dangerous criminal, and stalker. In real life, Wahlberg himself does have a criminal record with assault on the list, which is probably why his performance as David excelled.
• Throw It In!: Mark Walhberg improvised screaming "let me in the fucking house!", which was left out of the final cut until producer Brian Glazer saw it in an outtake and insisted it be added back in.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Liv Tyler was offered the role of Nicole, but turned it down.
  • The film was shot in the fall of 1994 but was released in April 1996.
  • The original script made it clear that Gary was gay, making David's outburst seem especially bizarre.
  • Another draft contained a different backstory for David, where his mother would have been date raped by a frat boy and then disowned by her family for getting pregnant. The frat boy would be Steve, and thus Nicole is his half-sister in this draft; so David is using her as a change to get revenge on his father.
  • Leonardo DiCaprio turned down the role of David and subsequently recommended Mark Wahlberg.
• Working Title: The original script was titled No Fear — the clothing line No Fear was popular around the time the movie was set to be released, which might have been why the title changed slightly.

---