Trivia / Inspector Gadget (1999)

• Acting for Two: Matthew Broderick plays both Gadget and Robo-Gadget, Joely Fisher plays Brenda and Robo-Brenda.
• California Doubling: Pittsburgh, PA for Ohio. Still, the use of Pittsburgh is at least justified—PPG Place is Dr. Claw's castle.
• Creator Killer:
  • Despite its financial success, director David Kellogg's second movie ultimately wound up being his last movie.
  • This was also the final film to be made by Caravan Pictures; the firm was absorbed into Spyglass Entertainment shortly afterwards.
  • It may have also contributed to Disney's decision to sell DIC Entertainment the following year. Although the real reason was that the company never wanted the studio to begin with (As it was included within the Capital Cities/ABC purchase in 1996) but it was also deemed to be "Non-Union" due to its status as a Limited Partnership. However, Disney would retain the movie rights, releasing a DTV sequel in 2003, and a reboot is currently in the works at Disney.
• Executive Meddling: The film suffered from it as over thirty minutes were cut from the film before. Many of the cut scenes can be seen in the trailer or as Imagine Spot scenes in the final cut.
• Fake American: Claw's actor, Rupert Everett, is British.
• In Memoriam: The very last credit, right after the "Distributed By Buena Vista Pictures Distribution" credit, but just before the Caravan Logo Joke, has the film dedicated to the memory of production designer Michael A. White, who unexpectedly died months before the film hit theaters.
• Kids' Meal Toy: McDonald's had a highly rare, sought-after Happy Meal toy line that is rumored to be worth $350. There were eight toys, each one a different piece of Gadget's body. Collecting them all would build a figure of Gadget himself.
• Missing Trailer Scene: Several of the scenes cut in the film are shown in the trailers.
• Playing Against Type: Dabney Coleman as a Reasonable Authority Figure, as opposed to his more typical role type as more smarmy, morally bankrupt characters, most notably as Corrupt Corporate Executive Franklin Hart, Jr. in 9 to 5.
  • Coleman also does this to a degree in The Beverly Hillbillies, where he plays Mr. Drysdale. In the film, unlike in the series, it's an employee of Drysdale who's scheming to exploit the Clampetts, and Drysdale actually reacts in horror when he learns that one of his own employees is attempting to embezzle his most recent (and fairly unusual) clients.
• Prop Recycling: The opening scene features one of the teddy bear costumes from The Avengers (1998).
• Technology Marches On: The film showcases late 1990s computers.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The project originated in 1993 at Universal, with Ivan Reitman producing and Jeph Loeb and Matt Weisman as the writers. (One wonders how that version would've turned out.) But this was halted when Capital Cities/ABC, who co-owned DiC at the time, was bought by Disney.
  • The role of Gadget was originally written for Kevin Kline.
  • Steven Spielberg, who was considered for executive producer, wanted either Chevy Chase or Steve Martin to play Gadget, while the Farrelly Brothers wanted Jim Carrey.
  • Brendan Fraser was also considered for the role of Gadget, but turned it down to work on George of the Jungle. Other candidates included Tim Allen, Steve Carell, Kevin Costner, Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks, Michael Keaton, Kevin Kline, Mike Myers, Bill Paxton, Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandler and Robin Williams.
  • Tim Curry, Willem Dafoe, Dennis Hopper, James Earl Jones, Tommy Lee Jones, John Lithgow and Jack Nicholson were considered for the role of Claw.
  • Lindsay Lohan turned down the role of Penny due to working on The Parent Trap.
  • Alex Owens-Sarno (Cora Cartmell in Titanic (1997)) auditioned for Penny. She found the audition dispiriting and disheartening as the casting directors couldn't see her as anything other than "the Titanic girl" (something similar happened 14 years earlier when Fred Gwynne auditioned to play Henry on Punky Brewster: the casting director in that case called him Herman Munster rather than his real name).
  • Cameron Diaz declined the role of Brenda in favor of Any Given Sunday.
  • David Alan Grier, Eddie Murphy and Chris Tucker were considered to voice the Gadgetmobile.
  • Louis C.K. auditioned for a role as a police officer.
  • An animated series to cash in on the film titled GI Gadget was planned with a TV movie and with Arles Animation being hired to animate the series but it was quietly canceled. The show would have followed the titular character joining an elite army commando unit. Instead, DIC teamed up with Saban Entertainment instead, and went on to produce Gadget and the Gadgetinis, with Saban International Paris providing animation instead (later named SIP Animation).

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