Trivia / Beavis and Butt-Head Do America

• Awesome, Dear Boy: Every big name who worked on the film personally requested to be in it because they either loved Beavis and Butt-Head or wanted to be in on a cultural phenomenon. Most of the actors even agreed to work for scale in exchange for a role.
• Completely Different Title: In Turkey, the film was called Beavis and Butt-Head: America's Nightmare.
• Creator's Favorite: Mike Judge has said that this is the only feature film he's directed that he enjoys rewatching.
• Development Hell: Offers to make a Beavis and Butt-Head feature began as early as the show's first season (which should give those not alive at the time an idea of just how popular it was), but Judge and everyone else at MTV wisely decided to wait a couple more years until they were ready.
• Executive Meddling: MTV wanted to intersperse music videos throughout the film just like the TV show did, but Judge didn't think general audiences would take the constant interruptions to the plot too well. The Mushroom Samba sequence featuring White Zombie's music and art was made as a compromise.
• Method Acting: Cloris Leachman created the old woman voice she does by keeping sucking candies in her mouth while she read her lines^note According to the DVD Commentary, most of her chewing noises were edited out, but then had to be re-dubbed by a foley artist when everyone realized that the chewing was part of the performance. Mike Judge called it "one of the most bass-aackwards things ever." Other times, she'd eat a sandwich and let it stick to the roof of her mouth.
• Orphaned Punchline: Ever wonder why the band during the "Love Rollercoaster" scene are pounding out an rippin' Red Hot Chili Peppers song to a bored-looking crowd while dressed in powder-blue suits? That's because Judge originally wanted to do a Creator In-Joke where a then-popular rock band would pretend to be a cheesy lounge act. Of course, when the filmmakers hired the Red Hot Chili Peppers, they got what they paid for and by the time the song was recorded, the scene was already being animated. Judge admitted that he liked this version of the scene better.
• Sleeper Hit: MTV gave exactly one test screening and expected the film to come in behind surefire hits like 101 Dalmatians (1996), Scream and One Fine Day at best (it didn't help that it was released in December, which is usually award season). Instead, it not only debuted at number one, but it was the highest grossing opening weekend for any movie released in December ever, dethroned only a year later by Titanic.
• What Could Have Been
  • Warner Bros. originally wanted to do a live-action movie that would double as a vehicle for David Spade and either Adam Sandler or Chris Farley as the title character (in hindsight, a Beavis and Butt-Head film starring the "Bad Boys of SNL" would have been the single most '90s thing ever). Judge and everyone else at MTV hated the idea and after Viacom's acquisition of Paramount Pictures in July 1994, Warner dropped out. Judge then convinced Paramount that doing the film as animation would be much cheaper and more rewarding for certain scenes.
  • The "virus" plot was originally about a virus that spreads and slowly turns people into Beavis and Butt-Head clones. Judge also pitched a joke concept of Beavis and Butt-Head eating lunch at Burger World for an hour and a half in real time.
  • A deleted scene involving the duo going to the National Archives and Beavis using the Declaration of Independence as toilet paper was cut before release; Judge mentioned on the DVD commentary it didn't test well with audiences. It wasn't included on said DVD, strangely; it was, however, aired after the film when it premiered on MTV in 1999.
  • During production, the 1996 election was going on, and they created an alternate take of the scene where Butt-Head encounters Chelsea Clinton, showing her packing her things to leave the White House; this was never used since Judge eventually realized Bob Dole wouldn't win against Bill Clinton.

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