Trivia / Adventures in Babysitting

• Breakthrough Hit: For Chris Columbus as director.
• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: The writers are somehow under the impression that there's something special about Thor's helmet. As in Marvel Comics Thor. In the comics themselves, the only thing special about Thor's helmet is...he wears it.
  • Since Sara is 9, believing that the helmet will somehow help Dawson could be chalked up to her using child logic not necessarily her knowledge of comic books.
• Dawson Casting: For a good reason. If Elisabeth Shue actually was 17 when this was made, the whole "looking-like-the-Playboy-centerfold" thing would have crossed the line.
  • Also, Bradley Whitford was 27 when he played Chris's boyfriend in this film.
• Real-Life Relative: Elisabeth Shue's brother, Andrew Shue, has a role as an extra at the frat party. He is at the bar laughing at Daryl.
• Recycled: The Series: A sitcom pilot for a TV version aired on CBS but did not go to series. The most notable actors to appear in the pilot were Joey Lawrence and Brian Austin Green as Brad and Daryl. The premise centered on Chris, Brenda, and the kids getting held up at a store, locked in a storage room, and then trying to escape through the sewers where they come face-to-face with an alligator.
• Star-Making Role: While Elisabeth Shue had been the leading lady in The Karate Kid (1984), she was not the star of that film (Ralph Macchio was). Adventures in Babysitting was her first leading role in a film.
• Throw It In!: During the scene where Brenda tries to buy a hot dog, the vendor improvised the line "Then I don't have a fucking weiner!" The director thought it was hilarious, but the executives told him to take it out of the theatrical release to keep it PG-13.
  • They got their revenge for that bit of Executive Meddling by getting some truly EPIC revised lines:
  Vendor: Look, you slip me the cash, and I'll slip you the wiener.
  Brenda: But I don't have any cash!
  Vendor: Then I don't have a wiener!
  • Also the song they improvise to get off the stage.
• Technology Marches On: Within a few years of this film's release, Brenda could have stocked up on cash from the bus station ATM rather than needing a ride, and Chris could've called a tow truck and cab from her cell immediately after getting a flat.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Julia Louis-Dreyfus auditioned for the lead role, but withdrew in favor of Jodie Foster, who also withdrew. Other candidates included Bridget Fonda, Melanie Griffith, Andie MacDowell, Tatum O'Neal, Michelle Pfeiffer, Brooke Shields, Sharon Stone and Kathleen Turner.
  • Steven Spielberg considered being the executive producer of this film and have the film released under the Amblin banner, to help his friend Chris Columbus get the directing job. However Columbus had the directing job secured.
  • Sara's obsession towards Thor was the result of various changes from a News Junkie to various characters (from He-Man to Spider-Man, which the latter was rejected by Marvel) before setting on Thor, according to this article.

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