Trivia / The Big Chill

• The Cast Showoff: Likely crossed with Actor-Inspired Element. Chloe is shown performing ballet stretches throughout the movie; actress Meg Tilly was a ballet dancer before an injury led to her switch to acting.
• Cast the Runner-Up:
  • Kevin Kline read for three parts: Sam Weber, Michael Gold, and Harold Cooper. He really wanted to play Michael, because it was the funnier part.
  • Lawrence Kasdan wrote the parts of Karen Bowens and Sarah Cooper specifically for JoBeth Williams and Glenn Close respectively. However, both actresses initially wanted to play the role of Meg Jones as they both felt that they better related to that character over the ones chosen by Kasdan.
• Completely Different Title: In Sweden, the film was called "Människor emellan", meaning "Between Humans" (as in "A Conversation [...]").
• Deleted Role: Alex, the friend who committed suicide, putting the entire plot in motion, was originally meant to be played in flashback by Kevin Costner. Lawrence Kasdan eventually decided his character didn't need to be seen, and all of Costner's scenes were edited out. The role isn't 100% deleted, though. The body being dressed at the beginning of the film? We never see the face, but it is Kevin Costner, all right. (One of his first major roles would be in Kasdan's next film, Silverado, and was partially to make up for this.)
• Deleted Scene: The film was originally to include several flashback scenes with Alex, who was played by Kevin Costner. These were omitted from the final cut; one set at a Thanksgiving celebration suggested that Alex had suicidal tendencies even back in the Sixties.
• Method Acting: The night before the start of principal photography all the lead cast stayed in character.
• Real-Life Relative:
  • Lawrence Kasdan's wife and sons appear in the film; his wife Meg is the flight attendant chatting with Sam during the opening credits, his son Jake is the one asking for Sam's autograph during the funeral reception, and his son Jon plays Harold and Sarah's son at the beginning of the film.
  • Michael's girlfriend Annie (seen only during the opening titles) is played by Jeff Goldblum's then-wife Patricia Gaul; she would later have a minor role in Kasdan's Silverado as well.
• Romance on the Set: The role of Alex's girlfriend Chloe came down to two actresses who auditioned on-set: Meg Tilly and Phoebe Cates. Meg Tilly got the part, while Phoebe Cates got to meet and then later marry would-have-been co-star Kevin Kline.
• Those Two Actors: Tom Berenger and JoBeth Williams had both previously appeared in the film version of The Dogs of War.
  • Berenger and Jeff Goldblum also appeared in The Sentinel (1977).
• Throw It In!: When Harold and Michael are walking around in the field, Kevin Kline's line, "You're not afraid of snakes, are you?" was improvised, and Jeff Goldblum's reaction was genuine.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Sean Penn was considered for the role of Alex Marshall, which was greatly reduced. In the end, Kevin Costner was cast in the role, then all of his scenes were deleted.
  • Mickey Rourke was offered the role of Harold, but he passed on it in favour of Rumble Fish.
• Write Who You Know: The characters were based on people Lawrence Kasdan lived with in the Eugene V. Debs co-op in Ann Arbor in Michigan, USA while attending the University of Michigan. "Co-ops" are co-ed housing in which the residents share household duties like cooking. This explains why the characters are so comfortable sharing the house and cooking, and are so attached to the Michigan football game.

---