Trivia / The Stepfather

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• Cast the Expert: Of sorts. According to director Joseph Ruben in the DVD commentary, Terry O'Quinn auditioned with the scene where he builds the paper boat. What sold Ruben and the rest on casting O'Quinn was the fact that as he auditioned, he pantomimed making the paper boat during the reading, making him stand out from the rest and making Ruben immediately wish to cast him.
• Completely Different Title: For the original:
  • Argentina: Death Haunts Every Step
  • Germany: Kill, Daddy, Kill
  • Greece: Violence
  • Japan: W
  • Mexico: Bloody Madness
  • Portugal: Premeditated Murders
  • Switzerland: Fatal Encounter
• Dawson Casting: Stephanie is sixteen-years-old, but Jill Schoelen was twenty-three at the time.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes:
  • Unlike the first two films, Stepfather III didn't get a DVD to coincide with the release of the 2009 remake. It's probably safe to assume there won't be one anywhere in the near future.
  • The original was this for a long time in the US, as rights issues prevented a DVD release until 2009.
• No Stunt Double: Jill Schoelen did almost all of her own stunts for the climax of the first film.
• The Other Darrin: Robert Wightman replaced Terry O'Quinn as the stepfather in Stepfather III. It's actually justified by the use of plastic surgery, and the opening scene carefully avoids showing his face until the surgery has actually gone through.
• Star-Making Role: The first movie put Terry O'Quinn on the map.
• Trend Killer: The trend of doing PG-13 remakes of R-rated horror films was killed off by the remakes of Prom Night and this. The former did OK at the box office, but received almost universally negative reviews from critics and horror fans alike, and the latter, in addition to bad reviews, barely made back its budget. Nowadays, attempts at doing the same are met with raised eyebrows.
• What Could Have Been: Director Joseph Ruben originally wanted Jerry Blake to whistle the Barbra Streisand song "The Way We Were," but the rights to the song proved to be too expensive.
  • Originally there were going to be flashback scenes in the first movie showing the Jerry Blake(The Stepfather) as a child with his abusive dad. However Joseph Ruben omitted that from the script when he got the job as he wanted Jerry to have a sense of mystery to him and not have the audience know about his past. However some of this idea did survive as there is a subtle throw away line from Jerry suggesting he had abusive dad in the finished film.
  • In the original script Jim Ogilvie was actually a detective instead of the victim's brother-hence why in the movie Jim seems to do a good job solving the case despite not being a law enforcement officer. They decided to change Jim to be the opening scene victims brother so he could have a more personal connection with The Stepfather.
  • Terry O'Quinn was offered to return for Stepfather III but he turned down the role and subsequently the role was recast with Robert Wightman, who they explained the change of appearance in the movie by the stepfather having plastic surgery in the opening scene.
• Write Who You Know: Screenwriter Donald E. Westlake based the character of Stephanie on his real-life teenage stepdaughter, with whom he was having difficulty getting along.

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