Trivia / The Toy

• Completely Different Title: The Hungarian release loosely translates to The Little Terrorist and The Toy.
• Corpsing: The Fraulein is clearly trying to keep from cracking up during the scene where Jack is "unboxed", sneaking around behind Jackie Gleason to keep her smile from being too obvious on camera.
• Dawson Casting: Eric, who's 10, was played by then-14 year old Scott Schwartz.
• Hostility on the Set: Scott Schwartz said that working with Jackie Gleason was a nightmare early on, as Jackie would throw many improvised lines that Scott wouldn't be prepared for, as well as yelling at him at certain times. Thankfully, they patched things up by the end of shooting and became good friends afterwards.
• What Could Have Been: Michael Jackson attempted to create a soundtrack for the film, but couldn't complete it due to his commitments working on Thriller. The unreleased theme song he recorded was gradually reworked over the years into the song "Best of Joy", which was released posthumously on the album Michael in 2010. The original 1981 recording eventually surfaced on a 40th anniversary reissue of Thriller in 2022.

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