Trivia / The Hunger

• Box Office Bomb: Budget, Unknown. Box office, $5,979,292.
• California Doubling: Despite being set in New York, the movie was largely filmed in London for budget reasons. There was only one week's shooting in New York and that was for exteriors.
• Completely Different Title:
  • Brazil and Portugal: Hunger to Live
  • France: The Predators
  • Greece: Blood and Passion
  • Italy: Miriam Wakes Up at Midnight
  • Norway: Blood Hunger
  • Poland: The Puzzle of Immortality
  • Slovania: Hunger for Blood
  • Taiwan: After a Thousand Years of Blood
• Enforced Method Acting: In order to make his voice sound hoarse for when he's old, David Bowie stood atop the George Washington Bridge and screamed all the punk songs he knew. He also learned how to play the cello for his music scenes, although his performance in the film is only mimed, albeit convincingly.
• Executive Meddling: The film originally ended with Sarah choosing to die rather than live as a vampire. The studio decided to tack on the additional scene showing vampire!Sarah as a Sequel Hook. See Stillborn Franchise.
• In Memoriam: The film is dedicated to Tony Scott's brother Frank Scott, who passed away of cancer.
• Playing Against Type: Film directing example. Tony Scott would later become known for directing action films such as Top Gun, True Romance, Man on Fire etc. His debut film is a slow, gloomy vampire story.
• Romance on the Set:
  • Susan Sarandon later confessed to having a brief affair with David Bowie while filming.
  • Cameraman Hugh Johnson became involved with Catherine Deneuve while making this film and they lived together for about two years.
• Stillborn Franchise: The ending was tacked on in the hopes of producing sequels and starting a franchise. Disappointing Box Office returns meant that no sequels were made. The book's author, Whitney Strieber, did end up writing more novels featuring Miriam Blaylock.
• Wag the Director: Susan Sarandon disliked how the sex scene was conceived - Miriam drugging Sarah beforehand. She protested against it, saying that no matter what someone's sexuality, they would not need to be drugged into sleeping with Catherine Deneuve. And it is consensual in the final film.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Hans Zimmer was considered to score the film by music director Howard Blake but Tony Scott turned him down. Ironically, Scott would later employ Zimmer for a number of films (and tried to get him for Beverly Hills Cop II but the studio refused).
  • Producer Richard Shepherd's first choice to direct was Alan Parker, but Parker convinced Shepherd to hire Scott after seeing his commercials.
  • Reportedly, Ridley Scott was set to direct the film, but decided to pass when he heard that David Bowie was in on the deal.
  • Sylvia Kristel was considered for the role of Miriam.

---