Trivia / Flowers in the Attic (1987)

• Actor-Shared Background: The other way round, sort of. Corinne has a daughter who wishes to become a ballerina. Her actress Victoria Tennant had a mother who was a prima ballerina.
• Billing Displacement: Kristy Swanson (Cathy) is billed below Victoria Tennant (Corrine), although Cathy is the main character and her older self narrates.
• California Doubling: Foxworth Hall, set in Charlottesville, Virginia, was actually filmed at Castle Hill, a Tudor Revival mansion, in Ipswich, Massachusetts. The re-shot ending was filmed in Greystone Mansion in California.
• Creator Backlash: Victoria Tennant disliked the tacked-on ending where Corrine gets hanged on her wedding day and refused to film it, so a body double had to be used. Director Jeffrey Bloom hated it too, as it was filmed by a second unit against his wishes.
• Dawson Casting:
  • Jeb Stuart Adams was 26 playing the 16-year-old Chris. This creates an Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole—as Chris was 14 in the book when he's first locked in the attic but now he's older and perfectly able to physically overpower his grandmother.
  • Kristy Swanson was a little better, as she was 16 when the movie started production and turned 17 during it.
• Deleted Role: Alex Koba claims that most of his dialogue was cut, including him providing a surprise plot twist.
• Deleted Scene: Two that were shown being filmed on a Making Of programme about the movie:
  • Chris and Cathy walking around Corrine's bedroom, wondering why there are no pictures of them or their father in there.
  • A confrontation between Corrine and her mother after Cory's death, where the latter is smiling.
  • An alternate wedding showing Malcolm Foxworth still alive.
  • The 2018 Blu-Ray release contained several alternate scenes, plus the ones mentioned above. One scene shows the children being attacked by the grandmother with a knife, another where they are menaced by the groundskeeper with an electric drill. The original version of the wedding sequence shows Corrine in a different gown that bares her arms, upper chest, and throat, unlike the theatrical release, where the dress has full-length sleeves and a high neck; it's suspected that the more modest gown may have been to conceal the fact that the Corrine in the final scene was a double (as Victoria Tennant refused to film the scene where her character was killed). And a still shot shows Cory lying dead in a swan-shaped boat in the lake.
• Executive Meddling: Allegedly, quite a lot, resulting in significant changes to the source material.
  • Producers insisted on the ending where Corrine dies on her wedding day to Bart, feeling the audience would want to see the children get some revenge on her. Jeffrey Bloom didn't want to film it, so they got a second unit to do so.
  • They removed all hints of Brother–Sister Incest from a work primarily known for Brother–Sister Incest.
• Fake American: Corinne is played by the Russian-British actress Victoria Tennant.
• Fatal Method Acting: A near-miss. Kristy Swanson was standing too close to a propane heater and her skirt caught fire.
• Method Acting: Louise Fletcher got particularly into her role as the Grandmother, remaining in character even when they weren't filming; feeling it was the only way to keep herself from getting distracted.
• Missing Episode: For years, the only thing scene of the original ending were photos. However, in 2018 it was announced that there would be a new blu-ray with the ending as a bonus feature... but only for region two.
• No Budget: According to Jeffrey Bloom, it was a low budget film that meant no big names were considered. Louise Fletcher and Victoria Tennant were respected character actresses, and the children were played by unknowns.
• Real-Life Relative: Editor Thomas Fries' daughter Brooke plays a small role as a flower girl.
• Stillborn Franchise: A script for a sequel (Petals On the Wind) was created for the second novel and Kristy Swanson and Louise Fletcher would have reprised their roles. The sequel would have focused upon Cathy's various affairs with other men, in order to try and escape her fears of falling for her brother and substituted the grandmother in Corrine's role, as far as Corrine seducing her grandmother's new boyfriend as payback for her cruelty towards her grandchildren. Swanson described the script she read as "a real sex-fest", and was alarmed by it and left unsure if she should even do a sequel.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Wes Craven wrote a screenplay that was quite faithful to the original novel. It can be read here. It was rejected by producers though. VC Andrews turned down five other scripts before picking the one by Jeffrey Bloom.
  • Then-unknown Sharon Stone auditioned for Corrine. Jeffrey Bloom liked her for the part, but producers opposed it.
  • Alex Koba, who played John the butler, claims that three different endings were filmed and the studio picked "the worst one". The director's intended ending had the children walking out of their attic prison as Corrine's wedding was going on and escaping then.
  • According to Kristy Swanson, the Brother–Sister Incest was filmed but cut due to negative reactions from test audiences. Some scenes included Chris watching Cathy undressing through the bathroom keyhole. Other bits of nudity were also cut to secure a lower rating.

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