Trivia / Drive Me Crazy

• Creator's Favorite: Melissa Joan Hart has called Adrian Grenier her best on-screen kiss.
• Dawson Casting:
  • Melissa Joan Hart and Adrian Grenier were already 23 playing high school seniors.
  • Susan May Pratt was 25.
  • Ali Larter was 22.
• Disowned Adaptation: Todd Strasser has not been quiet about how much he disliked the film adaptation.
• Playing Against Type: Mildly for Melissa Joan Hart, who was best known for playing roles in family friendly sitcoms. Here, she plays a popular girl in a more sexual role.
• Real-Life Relative: Nicole's parents are played by Faye Grant and Stephen Collins, who were married in real life at the time.
• Romance on the Set: Melissa Joan Hart confessed to having a fling with Gabriel Carpenter during filming, and Adrian Grenier dated Ali Larter.
• Star-Derailing Role: Melissa Joan Hart and Adrian Grenier's film careers floundered after headlining this project. Luckily, their television careers remained prosperous. Hart, who previously played the title role in Clarissa Explains It All and was on Sabrina the Teenage Witch around the time this film was released, promptly returned to the latter. Following her stint on Dancing with the Stars in 2009, she appeared on Melissa & Joey alongside Joey Lawrence. Grenier, meanwhile, got his breakout role as Vincent Chase on Entourage in 2004, remaining onboard until its conclusion in 2011. Efforts to rebound on the big screen were unsuccessful, though. Hart's output there primarily was Made-for-TV Movie fare besides a role in God's Not Dead 2, a film liked by its target faith-based demographic but otherwise ripped to shreds. Grenier had a supporting part in The Devil Wears Prada as the protagonist's boyfriend, but his character and performance was one of the most hated. An attempt at transferring his Entourage success to film with the movie continuation failed when it became a negatively reviewed Box Office Bomb.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The film was titled 'Next to You', but was retitled after "Crazy" by Britney Spears was added to the soundtrack. Melissa Joan Hart tried to talk the studio out of the name change, fearing Britney's career wouldn't take off, and it would date the movie.
  • Elijah Wood was in the running for Chase, but was reportedly deemed too young looking next to Melissa Joan Hart. Other reports say he turned it down for The Lord of the Rings.