Trivia / Shredder Orpheus

• Actor-Inspired Element: According to a Q&A session, Steven Jesse Bernstein, who played Axel, named the Grey Zone, and the character was written for him to take the role.
• Descended Creator: Robert McGinley, the producer, director, and writer of the film, plays Orpheus.
• Development Gag: Orpheus starting his first band in 1986 references the 28-minute pilot of the film, which was filmed in 1986.
• Humble Beginnings: The film started as a short 13-minute movie called Orpheus and Eurydice in 1983, was expanded into a 27-minute film in 1987 under the current title, and finally became a full-length feature in 1989.
• Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition: For the film's 34th anniversary, a limited edition Blu-Ray was released by Vinegar Syndrome and American Genre Film Archive that restored the entire uncut film from the original masters and also included audio commentary, behind-the-scenes photos, the original VHS version, and subtitles.
• Non-Singing Voice: Robert McGinley plays Orpheus normally, while Bill Rieflin does Orpheus's singing vocals.
• Re-Cut: The VHS version of the film is a minute and a half longer than the DVD version, which trimmed some footage for pacing in Axel's introduction to the world of the film, Hades and Persephone's introductory scene, the wedding party, Persephone deciding to call Orpheus back, and Orpheus and Razoreus's conversation before the finale. The Vinegar Syndrome release restored the deleted footage.
• Troubled Production: As detailed on the film's history page, filming didn't always go smoothly, primarily since it was an underground production and most exterior locations were used without permission.
  • Filming a night skating scene at the Port of Seattle was rendered nearly impossible when the costume designer was arrested for unpaid parking tickets on her way to the location and her car was impounded with the costumes in the back of the trunk. The crew managed to release her and had to compress 12 hours' worth of shooting into only 3 hours before the sun rose, managing to get the footage needed.
  • At the climax of the movie where Orpheus confronts Hades and the Furies, smoke machines were used to backlight the latter as they made their entrance. By take 16, so much smoke was pouring out of the train station that it seeped aboveground and the Seattle Fire Department showed up. Robert McGinley, wearing only a loincloth and some body paint in preparation for a dream sequence, managed to talk his way out of trouble.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Robert McGinley considered "real actors" to play Orpheus before being convinced to do the role himself, as he'd done in a short film that acted as a precursor to the finished movie.
  • Originally the dream sequence with Orpheus, Eurydice, and Persephone was done naked, but it attracted a sizable crowd that threatened the shoot. The addition of clothing saved the scene and allowed filming to continue.
  • The third draft script contained many differences from the finished film. Eurydice and Persephone had less to do than in the finished film, Razoreus was narrator of the film instead of Axel, Scratch was written as male, and the Grey Zoners didn't get their own introductions. The EBN scene happened before Orpheus's concert and his band was named Aorta Sandwich, Orpheus himself was Razoreus's cousin, and he had an additional relative named Aunt Elaine. Eurydice's wedding was mostly indoors and her death by snake was retained from the myth, while Hades' house band was originally named the Zombie Gospel Choir and everyone involved was zipped up in body bags after the song. Orpheus originally had a dog after the time skip, and the dance audition and his conversation with the oracle before entering her parlor were both scripted, as were additional scenes where he gets a jaywalking ticket and Razoreus scores the pizza. The draft ended with the explosion of the EBN broadcast tower instead of the skaters remembering Orpheus.
• Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: Robert McGinley made the film without having gone to film school and learned the process of writing, producing, and directing as he went, by his own admission having no idea how hard it was going to be.

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