Trivia / Hardware (1990)

• Actor-Inspired Element: Dylan McDermott came up with the idea to have Moses Baxter read the Bible. He also specifically suggested tying in the Biblical verse Mark 13:20 to the movie due to that being the droid's model number.
• Denied Parody: Richard Stanley denied that Lincoln Wineberg, Jr. was based on Harvey Weinstein, as the script was written before the film got picked up by Miramax.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Stacey Travis dyed her hair red to play Jill.
• Executive Meddling: The film was originally more specifically British, but Miramax insisted on American leads.
• No Stunt Double: Stacey Travis did most of her own stunts.
• Stillborn Franchise: Richard Stanley wrote a script for a sequel entitled Hardware II: Ground Zero, but it never materialized due to rights disputes. The plot would've centered on the US government mass-producing Mark-13s to patrol the US-Mexican border and deal with illegal aliens and Shades and his new-found companion: battle-scared vet Lyle Maddox set to a hippie colony in Splendora, Texas to find Jill whom has joined the 'destructuralists' living at the colony and are unaware something lies beneath the colony that's big enough to attract the Mark-13 droids and a Mexican guerrilla leader.
• Stunt Casting: Lemmy as a taxi driver, Iggy Pop as a D.J. and Carl McCoy from Fields of the Nephilim as the wanderer.
• Throw It In!: William Hootkins improvised most of his lines.
• What Could Have Been:
  • An early draft saw Mo unemployed and dying of cancer.
  • Richard Stanley originally wanted to cast Bill Paxton as Mo and Jeffrey Combs as Shades. Despite enthusiasm for the script, Paxton was busy filming Navy Seals (1990), and Combs couldn't be cast due to British union rules requiring a certain number of UK-based cast members.
  • John Lydon originally voiced Angry Bob, but was replaced by Iggy Pop due to production company Virgin Records preferring to use "in-house" artists. This was the same reason Fields Of T He Nephilim didn't provide any music to the soundtrack, despite the presence of frontman Carl McCoy and Stanley's long-time working relationship with the band.
  • Sinéad O'Connor was originally supposed to play the riverboat cab driver.
  • Stanley wanted to use stop-motion animation for M.A.R.K. 13, but it would've been too costly.
  • The Nomad was originally going to appear in Jill's mid-film dream sequence, but the sequence was never shot due to Stacy Travis' taking ill.
  • Vernon originally had a far gorier death; first being shot in the crotch before being dismembered with a chainsaw. The scene was never shot because it would've taken too long.
  • Alvy was scripted to have a more graphic death; the M.A.R.K. 13's claw was to leap out of a furnace Alvy throws it in and grab his face, causing him to catch fire and stumble into an industrial shredder. Due to budgetary reasons it was charged to him dying off screen.
  • A rough cut was rated 'X' by the MPAA due to graphic violence. The editor cut around two minutes of offending material to achieve an 'R'.
• Word of God: According to Richard Stanley, Shades wears sunglasses throughout the movie to shield his eyes from the sun because he had spent most of his time in space repairing satellites and has returned to Earth and is struggling to adjust.

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