Trivia / Xanadu (1980)

• Breakaway Pop Hit: "Magic", "Suddenly", and the title song. "Magic" was a hit to the point where most people who have heard it have no idea it was originally from a motion picture soundtrack.
• Creator Backlash: Michael Beck (the guy from The Warriors) regretted taking part in the film due to its poor reception damaging his career. As mentioned below in Star-Derailing Role, he has been quoted as saying that The Warriors opened a lot of doors for him, which Xanadu then closed.
• Executive Meddling: Universal Pictures moved the release of the film from Christmas 1980 to summer 1980, which in particular affected the film's special effects.
• Genre-Killer: Granted, live-action movie musicals weren't all that in style in the late 70s/early 80s, and the failures of both this film and fellow disco musical Can't Stop the Music ensured that it remained dead for another couple of decades. And neither helped the already dismal reputation that disco music itself had earned by that point.
• Money, Dear Boy: The reason for Gene Kelly's involvement. That and the job was close to his home. Still, everybody in the film who talked about Kelly said he was a pleasure to work with, and Kelly in turn stated that working with Olivia Newton-John was great.
• Non-Singing Voice: Michael Beck doesn't sing in this movie. He was dubbed by Cliff Richard.
• Release Date Change: Joel Silver, Robert Greenwald, and Victor J. Kemper wanted more elaborate special effects, but that became impossible when Universal Pictures moved the release from Christmas 1980 to summer 1980.
• Romance on the Set: This is where Olivia Newton-John met her first husband, Matt Lattanzi - he played young Danny in the flashback sequence.
• Star-Derailing Role:
  • The film was meant to launch Olivia Newton-John's career as a solo star. Due to its complete failure at the American box office, it became the one and only time she received top billing without a co-star in a theatrical release. (Then she did Two of a Kind and that was the end of her film career.)
  • As Michael Beck put it: "The Warriors opened a lot of doors in film for me, which Xanadu then closed."
• Vindicated by Cable: The movie was trashed by critics but it picked up its core audience on pay cable channels. Especially in the early 80s era, when HBO (which until 1981 didn't even operate on a 24-hour schedule) had a very small library of movies to air.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Olivia Newton-John had to choose between doing this movie or Can't Stop the Music. All things considered, she probably chose wisely.
  • Andy Gibb was originally cast as Sonny. John Travolta was also offered the role, which would have paired him again with Newton-John after Grease.^note They eventually would be paired up again in Two of a Kind.
  • Gene Kelly originally refused to dance when he accepted the role. He only warmed up to the idea after getting to know the choreographers. Even the big number of him with Olivia Newton-John was only added after production had wrapped, and Kelly demanded a closed set with only the minimal essential crew present. Still, everybody in the film talked about how he was a pleasure to work with.
  • For the Broadway version, James Carpinello was originally cast as Sonny. However, he injured his foot while rollerskating in rehearsals and was replaced by Cheyenne Jackson a week before opening night.
• Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: According to Olivia Newton-John (and confirmed by Robert Greenwald), the script was written during filming.

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