Trivia / Hardcore

• Beam Me Up, Scotty!: Wording which appeared to be a quote by George C. Scott from the film was boldly publicized in a massive font size as the film's main Tagline on movie posters. It said: "Oh my God, that's my daughter!". However, Scott doesn't actually ever say this in the movie.
• Completely Different Title: The movie was retitled The Hardcore Life for its British theatrical release . On the Australian 1980s home-video release this phrase ran as a kind of subtitle under the movie's Hardcore title logo.
• Creator Backlash: John Milius, who produced the film, said that it was "a wonderful script that turned out to be a lousy movie. I blame Paul's direction for that."
• Executive Meddling: Paul Schrader's first choice to play Niki was real-life adult actress Marilyn Chambers, who had begun dabbling in mainstream acting starting with Rabid. He was vetoed by the producers who, ironically, thought she didn't look enough like a porn actress.
• Hostility on the Set: George C. Scott and Paul Schrader did not get along, so much that at one point Scott refused to come out of his trailer and threatened to quit the film. Scott only agreed to come out after forcing Schrader to promise that he would never direct again (obviously, Schrader went back on his promise).
• Irony as She Is Cast: Despite him playing a devout Calvinist in the movie, George C. Scott was an atheist in real life.
• Production Posse: A number of the cast and crew on this picture had previously worked on Taxi Driver, which dealt with some similar themes and settings. These included screenwriter Paul Schrader, actor Peter Boyle, editor Tom Rolf, music editor Shinichi Yamazaki, and cinematographer Michael Chapman.
• Recycled Script: Once again, Schrader recycles the script to The Searchers.
• Spared by the Cut: Paul Schrader originally had Jake discover that his daughter has been killed in a totally unrelated car crash, at which point he simply goes back home.
• What Could Have Been: Warren Beatty wanted to play the lead role, but he wanted Paul Schrader to rewrite the script so he would be either the girl's brother or boyfriend and would be searching instead for either his sister or his girlfriend and not his daughter. Steve McQueen (actor) also turned it down.
• Working Title: The Pilgrim

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