Trivia / Real Genius

• Billing Displacement: Val Kilmer had top billing, though Gabriel Jarret played the main character and had more screen time.
• The Cast Showoff: Word of God says that Val Kilmer insisted his trick walking coins along the backs of his knuckles make it into the film at some point. It's shown in the first montage, and again the second time that "Jesus" talks to Kent.
• Dawson Casting: While Gabe Jarret was indeed 15 at the time of filming, Val Kilmer was 25.
• He Also Did: The original story was co-written by Pat Proft, who also had a career working with the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker trio, and who co-wrote The Star Wars Holiday Special.
• Missing Trailer Scene: A scene where Chris floats outside his classroom suspended in a lounge chair attached to several balloons appeared in the preview version but not the release version.
• No Stunt Double: According to Mark Kamiyama's son on Reddit, production wanted a stunt rider for the scene where Ick gets on a motorcycle, hops a curb, and follows Dr. Hathaway to the military base. However, Mark was an avid motorcycle rider in real life, and insisted on doing those stunts himself.
• Orphaned Reference: In earlier versions of the script the Potassium-Cyanide laser, not the Bromide-Argon laser, used frozen fuel. This is why Chris tells the laser to "stay cool" before he goes off to take Hathaway's exam.
  • During Chris's first scene, he asks Dr. Dodd if the Telecom Satellite is the one that is raining debris all over Europe. In the final movie Dr. Dodd ignores the question, but in the script he says "That was a launch problem, not a design problem." Chris still references this when his gyroscopic flying machine crashes through the windows and heads towards the gas tanks.
• Recycled: The Series: Attempted in the mid twenty-teens to cash in on the success of The Big Bang Theory. The project never got past the pilot phase; which is probably for the best since it was being made by Happy Madison Productions...
• Science Marches On: The plot would be rather different if the attempt to hack the laser's targeting computer didn't require Chris and Mitch to actually go to the site and switch out its (very large) chips. Also, Lazlo's elaborate setup so he can fill out contest entry cards looks a bit silly now that you can go down and buy a fast, cheap printer at almost any store.
  • This is why many such contests don't allow "mechanically produced" entries.
• Technology Marches On:
  • When this film was made, a weapon that could precisely pinpoint an enemy's vehicle or residence by remote control still seemed like Science Fiction. Today its experimental space-to-ground laser, although still very advanced, would be an over-built boondoggle in comparison to drones, which can do the same job far more cheaply.
  • The ice-in-the-vending-machine trick would never work today, as modern vending machines in the U.S. check incoming coins' magnetic signature to ensure they're not slugs or Canadian currency.
• Those Two Actors: Deborah Foreman and Michelle Meyrink had previously appeared as friends in Valley Girl.

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