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Trivia / Purple Rain

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  • Amateur Cast: Clarence Williams III, Olga Karlatos, and Apollonia Kotero were the only professional actors in the entire cast.
  • Breakaway Pop Hit: "When Doves Cry" and the title track "Purple Rain" have remained two of Prince's most emblematic songs long after the film's Narm Charm was set in stone.
  • The Cast Showoff: Prince did most of his own bike riding next to a camera truck.
  • The Danza: Everyone except The Kid and his mother and father.
  • Dawson Casting: Appolina's application form gives her age as 19. She was 25 at the time.
  • Deleted Scene:
    • Albert Magnoli filmed a second love scene that wasn't included in the final cut of the film. It contains the illusion of purple rain. A snippet of this scene is included in the theatrical trailer and the "When Doves Cry" montage. This scene, and other deleted footage, are outlined in the film's screenplay found on various websites.
    • Scenes of Wendy and Lisa kissing, suggesting a same-sex relationship, were deleted from the final version. They had a lesbian relationship in real life.
  • Hostility on the Set: Morris Day was partying very hard in his spare time and often just wouldn't show up because he was either passed out or hungover, to Prince's fury. More than once, the assistant directors had to be sent to track Morris down, physically drag him to the set, and get him cleaned up enough to say his lines.
  • The Other Marty: Prince intended to cast Vanity, leader of the girl group Vanity 6, but she left the group before filming began.
  • Reality Subtext: The Kid's treatment of Wendy & Lisa in the film is pretty much how Prince treated them in real life.
  • Throw It In!: Legend has it that Morris Day was so drunk or drugged during filming that his wild on-screen persona wasn't even acted, and often had to be dragged on set.
  • What Could Have Been:
    • Director Albert Magnoli told Rolling Stone that when the concept was first brought to Warner Bros., they suggested John Travolta should play The Kid.
    • Jennifer Beals was offered Apollonia's role but turned it down to go to college.
    • Originally, The Kid's father was to die of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. At the last minute, the director and the producers decided to let the father live.
    • After the character change from Vanity to Apollonia, the script was drastically revised, and many dark scenes were cut. Some of these scenes include Prince and Apollonia having sex in a barn (a concept which was the story behind the 1985 song "Raspberry Beret"); Prince going to Apollonia 6's rehearsal and engaging in a physical fight with the members of The Time; and a scene which featured Prince's mother talking to him about her shaky relationship with his father. In addition, many scenes such as the "Lake Minnetonka" scene, Apollonia first meeting Morris, and the railyard scene were cut down because of time constraints.
    • According to the DVD Commentary, three versions of the love scene were filmed: a "G" rated version, a "PG" rated version, and an "R" rated version, which was used in the film.
  • Working Title: Dreams.

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