The Friday the 13th franchise is fraught with lots of trouble and changes behind the scenes, from heavy Executive Meddling thanks to the MPAA (such heavily censored kills or kills that were cut out entirely), rewrites and other behind the scenes drama.
Works with their own pages:
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In general:
In general
- Jason's name was supposed to be Josh. Finding that to be "too nice", Victor Miller renamed him after a school bully he'd known.
- After the first film, the series' producers by then had plans for Alice to become a recurring protagonist who had to fight Jason off in every film. Adrienne King's sudden retirement from acting due to being stalked by an obsessive fan led to Alice being killed off in Part 2.
- During the development of Part 2, it was meant that, much like the original plans for the Halloween series before the backlash against Season of the Witch, each film would have its own story, and wouldn't have continuity with each other.
- Producer Sean S. Cunningham planned to make a television series called Crystal Lake Chronicles, which would have followed the everyday life of Crystal Lake, with Jason as a recurring background character.
- Jason Blum wanted to produce a Friday the 13th movie when Paramount got the rights to the series back, to no avail.
- An unmade novel would've had Jason's spirit possess a scarecrow.
- Back in the 80s, Jason Lives director Tom McLoughlin pitched a comedy crossover film where Jason would meet with Cheech & Chong as Paramount had the film rights to both franchises. The idea being the two would be camp counselors during a night Jason appears. Frank Mancuso Jr., who headed Paramount then, gave the idea a flat "No".
Movies:
Friday the 13th (1980)
- The jumpscare at the end of the film wasn't there originally. It was suggested by Tom Savini, who had just seen Carrie (1976) by then.
- An early draft of the script had Ned being a polio sufferer, with deformed legs and a muscular torso.
- Marcie was supposed to be killed by getting an arrow shot into her chest while in the archery area. Contrary to popular belief, this was never filmed.
- In the original first draft of the script, Pamela was supposed to lose one of her pinky fingers while attempting to kill Barry.
- Sally Field auditioned for the role of Alice.
- Estelle Parsons and Shelley Winters were considered for Pamela.
Friday the 13th Part 2
- Sanda's nude scenes had to be cut down when it was discovered that her actress Marta Kober was actually underage at the time.
- In a cut ending, Pamela's head was supposed to open its eyes before the credits start to roll. It was scrapped because the producers felt the effect would be too cheesy (since it was done with an actress in makeup taking the usual prop's place).
Friday the 13th: Part III
- The original plot for a third movie was to involve Ginny, the Final Girl of Part 2, be hospitalized while Jason actively tracks her down. When Ginny's actress Amy Steel chose not to reprise her role for another film, they canned the idea altogether in favor of this film.
- The original script had Jason obtain an umpire's mask from Shelly rather than the iconic hockey mask.
- Two alternate endings were planned
before the final, more controversial one was chosen:- The first ending has Ali survive. Chris opens the door to find Jason, but is scared by Ali with the both of them getting away. Soon after, the paramedics arrive, only to never find Jason's body. While this ending was scrapped in favor of the other ending below, this one was retained in the novelization.
- The second ending, actually filmed, would have Chris die at the end when a now-unmasked Jason suddenly sits up after she puts the axe in his head, before ambushing her and slicing her head off. This would be revealed to be a dream sequence, with Chris then shown screaming maniacally in the back of an ambulance.
- Part III was at one time planned to be the last in the franchise. To celebrate the conclusion of filming the movie and the supposed end of the series, the cast and crew threw a party and signed Rest in Peace messages to Jason's memory.
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
- Larry Zerner tried to convince the director to have the Ship Tease between Shelly and Vera bear fruit, and almost got what he wanted, but was ultimately told "the audience's suspension of disbelief could be maintained with the mystical serial killer, but it be broken if the chubby nerd got the girl in the end".
- The original script called for Tommy to cut Jason's head off to kill him, but this was changed in case they wanted Jason to return.
- Rather than making masks, Tommy was originally going to have been an inventor. One of his projects was a device made from a microwave oven, which would have been what he used to kill Jason. Some of this is seen in the final product, such as a scene where he helps repair a car.
- Camilla More said in the "Crystal Lake Memories" book that she originally read for the role of Samantha, who ended up being played by Judie Aronson.
Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning
- The opening dream originally had Tommy fighting his way through a hospital to reach Jason's corpse in the morgue. When he reaches him, Jason rises from the autopsy table and Tommy would've woken up.
- Violet's death was originally supposed to have Roy stab her in her vagina, but it got changed to her stomach as the staff (or the MPAA) felt it was in poor taste.
- According to IMDB, Billy Wilder almost came out of retirement to direct, but ended up passing when Paramount wouldn't let him have dibs on the final cut.
- Mark Venturini was considered for the role of Tommy.
- Sherilyn Fenn was considered for the role of Violet, but turned it down to do Just One of the Guys.
- Reportedly, Darcy DeMoss was originally hired for the role of Tina, but she was fired after refusing to perform Tina's nude scenes. According to DeMoss in an interview, she backed out of the project when the director, Danny Steinmann, asked her to take off her shirt and show her breasts during her audition. DeMoss would appear in Jason Lives, where she also refused to appear topless even though she had said she had no issue with nudity.
- Speaking of Tina's role, Gina Gershon was also among various actresses considered to play Tina. Both Gershon and DeMoss read their parts with producer Frank Mancuso Jr. and Eddie's actor John Robert Dixon.
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
- Jason's father: Elias Voorhees was meant to appear in a planned ending where he visited the graves of Jason and Pamela. Though the scene made it to the film's novelization.
- The storyboards would also reveal that Martin would have survived Jason's rampage due to Elias approaching the old gravekeeper.
- Reggie and Pam from the previous movie were supposed to return. However, Shavar Ross backed down after finding out that Reggie was going to be Killed Off for Real.
- John Shepherd, Tommy's previous actor, was offered to reprise his role as well, but chose not to as he had become a born-again Christian and opted to pursue being a pastor.
- In the original script, Garris was slightly more despicable than in the actual film, and would have nearly become an Abusive Dad towards Megan when he almost strikes her before controlling himself at the heat of the moment. It was omitted in the actual film to ensure Garris gets some sympathy and actually being a Jerk with a Heart of Gold deep down despite being an annoying blowhard Rabid Cop, not to mention Garris' and Megan's actors amusing father-and-daughter Ham-to-Ham Combat/Snark-to-Snark Combat love-hate dynamic and natural and endearing chemistry between their characters, which they pushed for as stemming from their real-life acting class Cool Teacher-student relationship.
- In the original script, before Garris got folded in half, Jason would have first ripped out his arms out of his sockets first. This may have been omitted due to the impossibility of creating such a make-up effect without Special Effects Failure, like David Kagan hiding his attached arms while his fake ones are ripped out.
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood
- The film was supposed to be much, much gorier.
- Due to the fact that the film was cast under the Working Title Birthday Bash, it almost ran into a rather funny case of You Look Familiar. Kerry Noonan, who played Paula in Jason Lives, auditioned for Tina only to realize when she got to the audition that it was actually another Friday the 13th film. When she told the casting director that she had previously played Paula, the response was, "I knew you looked familiar."
- Had Kane Hodder not taken the role of Jason, it's possible CJ Graham could have reprised the role as he was open to the idea.
- The original subtitle for the film was intended to be Jason's Destroyer in reference to the battle between Tina and Jason, and possibly a subtle reference to the idea that this has now become the Jason series (the previous film & the next four films all have Jason’s name in the title). Why it was changed to The New Blood instead (especially since it doesn’t make sense within the context of the movie), not even the director knew.
- John Carl Buechler originally wanted Paula Irvine to play the role of Tina Shepherd because she was 19 years old at the time and had the perfect teenage look and the personality he was looking for. Unfortunately, Paula already made commitments to star as Liz in Phantasm II so John was unable to cast her for the role.
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
- Before settling with the script used for the final film, there were at least three different treatments from some of the crew of The New Blood, all of which were rejected by associate producer Barbara Sachs. These script ideas included:
- Tina being sent to a mental institution and Jason coming back to life and stalking her (by director John Carl Buechler).
- Tina becoming a consultant for teens also suffering from the same telekinetic powers she has, which leads to Jason stalking them (by Tina's actress Lar Park Lincoln and her husband).
- And finally, the weirdest one of all, the events of The New Blood were all a dream and and Nick kills Tina (by Nick's actor Kevin Spirtas).
- An early version of the script called for the climactic battle to take place in the Statue of Liberty.
- The producers originally wanted Ken Kirzinger to play Jason, as they didn't want to bother with the trouble of getting Kane Hodder a Canadian work permit (most of the film was shot in Vancouver). However, director Rob Hedden dug his heels in and demanded that they bring Hodder back. Kirzinger therefore got the consolation prize of getting to play the chef who Jason throws into a mirror in NYC, and a much bigger prize years later in Freddy vs. Jason.
- Tamara's death scene was originally supposed to be a homage to Psycho, with Jason repeatedly stabbing her in the shower with a piece of broken mirror. This was changed due after the film-makers became worried that the MPAA would force the scene to be deleted, with Jason instead shoving her into the mirror and then stabbing her off-screen.
- Likewise, she had several more scenes and was portrayed in a bit more sympathetic light with it being implied that her actions are a result of her father barely noticing her.
- Miles was supposed to have had a background as a champion high-diver, making his death a rather poetic one.
- Jason was supposed to dissolve and die after falling into the toxic waste rather than turn back into a little boy.
- Jason's memetic scene where he kicks the boombox while in New York was originally scripted to have him literally Kick the Dog. Hodder refused and it was changed to the boombox.
- Elizabeth Berkley and Dedee Pfeiffer auditioned for Rennie.
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
- The original idea for a ninth Friday the 13th film, pitched by Dean Lorey under the title of "Jason Takes L.A.", was about Jason going to Los Angeles and being an Outside-Genre Foe for two rival street gangs, who unite their forces to stop him alongside a pair of female detectives. The director Adam Marcus hated the pitch because he considered that it involved many of the same things audiences had already seen in the previous movies. Thus, he opted for the concept of the final product instead.
- The pitch was also briefly discussed for a tenth film before production of Jason X began.
- Speaking of the tenth film, another idea considered for was a spin-off starring Creighton Duke, which would reveal that he actually survived his encounter with Jason.
- The character of Elias Voorhees was supposed to appear, either as Jason's father or brother.
- There was going to be a disturbing flashback revealing that Jason and his mother had an incestuous relationship.
- John McTiernan and Tobe Hooper were considered to direct the film.
- Richard Gant originally read for the role of Creighton Duke before being cast as Phil the Coroner instead.
- Tony Todd auditioned for the role of Creighton Duke, but lost out to Steven Williams.
- Originally, the roles eventually played by Leslie Jordan and Rusty Schwimmer were reversed. In the script, Shelby was a woman, while Joey B. was a man, as evidenced by the characters' names. However, once Jordan and Schwimmer had read for the roles separately and then as a duo, the producers decided to switch the characters' genders, therefore Jordan's character was originally the wife, while Schwimmer's was initially the husband.
- Laurie Holden was director Adam Marcus' and writer Dean Lorey's choice for the role of Jessica Kimble, but Sean Cunningham overruled them and pushed for Kari Keegan instead.
Jason X
- One intended plot for the film was for Jason to return to Camp Crystal Lake during the winter, wherein he would stalk and kill teens in the snow. The idea was dropped as many of the crew, including producer Sean S. Cunningham, felt it wouldn't have worked.
- The original version of the virtual reality sequence called for a scene where Jason would have attacked a virtual version of Pamela to prove how evil he had become since his transformation into Uber Jason. Betsy Palmer was contacted about doing the scene; when she declined, the filmmakers dropped the scene.
Friday the 13th (2009)
- The film was initially planned to be a prequel rather than a reboot.
- Writers Damian Shannon & Mark Swift toyed with re-introducing Tommy Jarvis.
- Jenna's death was originally much later in the film. She would successfully escape with Clay and Whitney to a bus, whereupon she the group would be intercepted by Jason, who would bash Jenna's head in with a fire extinguisher.
- Jason originally acquired his hockey mask from Donnie, who find it alongside a stack of old porno magazines. While he's masturbating, Jason sneaks up on him and decapitates him, carrying his head and the mask away with him.
- The initial idea for Chelsea's death was that seeing Jason on the shore would terrify her into staying in the water, where she would tire and drown. The producers requested a more visceral death for the character.
- Adrienne King, star of the original 1980 film, was approached by producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller to do a cameo appearance during preproduction. A few days later, the producers called her back and told her they didn't want anyone from the original film to appear in the remake.
- Scout Taylor-Compton auditioned for the role of 'Jenna' which eventually went to Danielle Panabaker. Had she gotten the role, this film would've been the second remake of a classic horror film for Compton, after Halloween.
- Jennifer Sciole auditioned for a lead role.
- Israeli actress Moran Atias was originally cast but had to be replaced early into filming when she was asked to do things that were not in the script.
- Samuel Bayer turned down the offer to direct.
- John Moore was considered for the directing job at early stages of production.
Never Hike Alone
- According to the behind the scenes video, director Vincente DiSanti was initially going to make a different Friday the 13th fan film before Never Hike Alone, as B-Roll footage and behind the scenes photos showcase different designs for both Kyle and Jason, the latter of whom was much closer to his appearance in Part III. It eventually died out before being revived as the final film seen today.
