Trivia / Moonstruck

• Creator Backlash: Danny Aiello didn't like his role as Johnny, whom he thought was wimpy.
• Creator's Favorite Episode: Norman Jewison considers it his best film.
• Dueling Movies: Of sorts. It was released the same day as Broadcast News.
• Fake Nationality: The Italian-American Castorini family includes Cher (Armenian-American), Olympia Dukakis (Greek-American), and Feodor Chaliapin (Russian by birth, though half-Italian ethnically and spent much of his adult life in Italy).
• Throw It In!: "Your life's going down the toilet!"
• What Could Have Been:
  • Shanley initially wrote the characters as Irish, with Sally Field in mind for the lead, but decided to make them Italian to make it less of an Author Avatar script.
  • Anne Bancroft and Maureen Stapleton were up for the role of Rose Castorini, but their fees were too expensive.
  • Executives wanted to cast Peter Gallagher as Ronny.
  • The original screenplay featured a subplot of Loretta and Cosmo volunteering at a homeless shelter as penance for their sins.
  • The opening title sequence was originally played on the score from "La Bohème", but was changed to Dean Martin "That's Amore" because the preview drew negative test audience reaction, thinking they'd accidentally walked into an arthouse film.

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