Trivia / The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

• Died During Production: Douglas Adams died two years before production on the film began, though after he'd finished his parts of the script.
• God-Created Canon Foreigner: Many of the differences from previous versions were actually Adams creations, from his own pre-death versions of the script, including the POV Ray, the flyswatters, Humma Kavula, and the romantic elements.
• Creator Cameo: The giant nose that sits above the entrance to Humma Kavula's temple is based on a 3D sculpt of Douglas Adams' own nose.
• In Memoriam: "For Douglas."
• Posthumous Credit: Despite dying two years before production officially began on the film, Douglas Adams is credited as the film's executive producer. He is also given co-credit for the screenplay, but given the film was based upon his novels and had been in Development Hell, this is understandable.
• Real-Life Relative: The elderly woman calmly reading the newspaper while everyone else panics about the Vogons' announcement was played by Douglas Adams' mother.
• Saved from Development Hell: Plans for a feature film started as early as the late seventies; ABC (which had a film division) was interested in making a film, but Adams didn't want to sell the rights, out of a fear they'd want to turn it into "Star Wars with jokes".
  • The movie was first optioned in 1982 by producers Ivan Reitman, Joe Medjuck and Michael C. Gross. Adams wrote three drafts for them per his contract. During this time, Medjuck and Gross were considering Bill Murray or Dan Aykroyd to play Ford Prefect, but then Aykroyd sent them his idea for Ghostbusters (1984) and they did that movie instead.
  • Around 1990, Tim Roth was seriously considered to play Arthur Dent.
  • Jay Roach was going to direct in 2001 with Hugh Laurie as Arthur, Jim Carrey as Zaphod and Nigel Hawthorne as Slartibartfast.
• Stillborn Franchise: While it wasn't an outright Box Office Bomb, taking $104 million on a $50 million budget, the film wasn't profitable enough to merit any sequels.
• Throw It In!: Douglas Adams' mother reading the newspaper while everyone else panics wasn't in the script. Nobody told her what they wanted her to do during the scene so she decided to just keep reading. The crew thought it was hilarious for her to be the only one staying calm and decided to use it.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Douglas Adams' first choice for Arthur Dent was Hugh Grant. Jack Davenport was also considered.
  • Johnny Depp, Robert Downey Jr. and Will Ferrell were considered for Zaphod Beeblebrox.
  • The original scripted ending had Zaphod firing the POV gun at Questular.
    Questular: What am I so pissed off about? I'm great! I'm zarking incredible! Everyone loves me! WHOOO HOOO!!!

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