Trivia / The Ninth Configuration

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• Cast the Runner-Up: Michael Moriarty was set to play Captain Billy Cutshaw but dropped out of the production and was replaced by Scott Wilson, who was originally cast in a different role.
• The Danza: Joe Spinell as Spinell as he wasn't based on any character in the novel or early drafts of the script.
• Executive Meddling: In the film's original ending (and the story on which it was based), Kane palmed the knife and committed suicide, but the studio insisted at the last minute on changing a line of dialogue to imply that he was actually stabbed in the chaos. This actually improves the film in some ways; for one, Kane dying in the act of saving Cutshaw's life provides a stronger case for his belief in the possibility of selfless acts for another.
• Harpo Does Something Funny: Nearly all of Joe Spinell's dialogue was ad-libbed, as his character didn't exist originally.
• In Memoriam: When the film was remastered, an “In Loving Memory” dedication to Peter Vincent Galahad Blatty (the late son of the film's writer-director William Peter Blatty) appears after the ending credits.
• The Other Marty: Stacy Keach and Scott Wilson were last-minute replacements for Nicol Williamson and Michael Moriarty, who were originally slated to play the roles of Colonel Kane and Captain Cutshaw. Wilson is also an Other Darrin for Dick Callinan, who played the astronaut later confirmed to be Cutshaw in The Exorcist.
  • According to Stacy Keach, he got the role of Col. Kane because one of Nicol Williamson's temper tantrums basically resulted in him being kicked off the set.
• Self-Adaptation: Was written, directed and produced by William Peter Blatty who wrote the original book.
• Troubled Production: In the beginning. Blatty had trouble getting studio backing for a film adaptation and William Friedkin, who had directed The Exorcist, was unable to join the production. Blatty's white knight came in the form of PepsiCo, which supported half the film's budget with money from block funds in Hungary, where the film was shot. The rest of the money came from Blatty, who took up the task of directing the film himself.
• What Could Have Been: According to his diaries, Charlton Heston was interested in playing Killer Kane in the early seventies.

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