Trivia / A Mighty Wind

• Acting for Two: Alan Barrows and the couple who are making love in the hotel room next to Mitch are all played by Christopher Guest.
• Directed by Cast Member: The film was directed by Christopher Guest, Alan Barrows's actor. Guest also wrote the screenplay along with Eugene Levy.
• Dyeing for Your Art:
  • Although Eugene Levy started his career in musical theatre, he hadn't played guitar since the '60s, so needed to re-learn the instrument.
  • Catherine O'Hara and Parker Posey respectively learned to play the autoharp and mandolin in preparation for their roles.
• Fake American: Canadians Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara play the American Mitch Cohen and Mickey Crabbe, respectively.
• Permanent Placeholder: "Potato's in the Paddywagon" was originally a placeholder title for the song – it didn't have lyrics yet, but that nonsensical phrase happened to fit the chorus melody. It was decided this was a ridiculous enough title to actually use for a folk song parody, so Michael McKean and Annette O'Toole worked backwards from the title to write the rest of the lyrics.
• Trans Character, Cis Actor: Mark Shubb (played by cis actor Harry Shearer) transitioning into living as a woman.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The original ending had Mitch back at the mental institution, but Christopher Guest ultimately decided that scenario was too sad.
  • Christopher Guest's original vision for the New Main Street Singers was to have them all sing in unison, as part of the joke, which would have sounded rather bland; but was so impressed with some song arrangements written by John Michael Higgins, who played band leader Terry Bohner, he decided to let Higgins arrange all their music.

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