Trivia / The Last Detail

• Ability over Appearance: Originally the role of Meadows was meant to be played by a smaller guy, but instead it would be cast by 6'5 Randy Quaid, whom Hal Ashby thought the idea of the insecurities and vulnerabilities inside a big guy was funny.
• California Doubling: The filmmakers wanted to shoot on-location at the naval base in Norfolk, Virginia and the brig at Portsmouth, New Hampshire but the United States Navy wouldn't give them permission. So instead it was filmed at the Canadian Navy's base in Toronto.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Nancy Allen was originally cast as the prostitute, but she didn't want to appear nude. She was given a much smaller role in the film.
• Dawson Casting: Meadows is 18 and under drinking age. The same couldn't be said for Randy Quaid, who was 23 when the film was released.
• Executive Meddling: When the script was slated to go into production in 1970, Columbia didn't want to do the film, due to the excessive profanity, so it ended up waiting until Jack Nicholson became a box office draw for it to go into production. Even then, they were still reluctant to release the film, and would end up doing show after a successful screening at the Cannes Film Festival.
• Star-Making Role: For Randy Quaid.
• What Could Have Been:
  • John Travolta was in the running to play Meadows and had he been cast, it would have been his feature film debut. Fortunately, it would work out well for him.
  • Early in production, they opted to wait while Jack Nicholson was committed to The King of Marvin Gardens. Columbia suggested if they want to start then they could have brought in Burt Reynolds, Jim Brown and David Cassidy for the main trio.
  • The script was sent to Robert Altman.
  • Robert Englund auditioned for the role of Meadows.
  • For Mulhall, Rupert Crosse was originally cast as he was good friends with Nicholson. But when it started production, he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and ended up dropping out.
  • Bud Cort, who'd worked with Hal Ashby on Harold and Maude, campaigned to play Meadows, but the director felt like he wasn't right for the role.
  • A pilot for a potential TV series adaptation aired on ABC in 1976 but was never picked up for a series.
  • In 2005, the sequel to the book and movie, Last Flag Flying was published. Around this time, there were plans to turn it into a movie which would have Nicholson and Quaid reprise their roles as Buddusky and Meadows respectively, and Morgan Freeman as Mulhall (since Mulhall's original actor, Otis Young, passed away in 2001). Nothing would come of it until 2017, where it would become something of a spiritual successor, with no connections to The Last Detail film itself. The character names would be different and the roles would all be played by Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston, and Laurence Fishburne.

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