Trivia / Willy's Wonderland

• Actor-Inspired Element: Nicolas Cage is very fond of reptiles, and thus he is the one who came up with most of the animatronic cast being non-mammals (alligator, turtle, chameleon, etc). The Janitor character was also apparently supposed to have at least one line, but Cage preferred to play him as completely silent.
• Awesome, Dear Boy: Nicolas Cage got involved in the project out of his own volition simply because he found the idea amazing.
• Descended Creator: Soundtrack composer Émoi also provides the voice for the titular antagonist Willy Weasel. Meanwhile, producer Grant Cramer plays Jerry Robert Willis during flashbacks.
• Inspiration for the Work: The director Kevin Lewis in an interview with 3C Films cited B-Movies such as Demonic Toys, Puppet Master, Jack Frost, The Gingerdead Man and Critters as major influences for Willy's Wonderland. It also helps that Grant Cramer was in some B Movies as well — for instance, he's the main protagonist of Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
• Produced by Cast Member: Nicolas Cage, the main star, also acts as a producer and was in fact the key to the film being made according to the director.
• The Red Stapler: The pinball machine the Janitor plays during breaks is a rethemed table by Gottieb called Devil's Dare, and at least one person owns a copy of the table with the theme in. Additionally, a pinball simulation team was able to make a modified version of the table for computers.
• Release Date Change: As mentioned on the film's TV Tropes page, the movie was intended to be released on October 30, 2020, just one day before Halloween but due to the effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the date was changed to February 12, 2021. The movie's poster even lampshades it.
  "2020 Isn't Over Yet Kids".
• Throw It In!: The famous bit of The Janitor busting out some sick moves while playing pinball near the climax was the result of Nicolas Cage improvising on-set.
• Troubled Production: The film was shot on a shoestring budget in a very short period of time (one month) to accomodate Nicolas Cage's busy schedule right before the pandemic hit, and post-production was troubled by the director Kevin Lewis being diagnosed with COVID-19 (he recovered).
• Write What You Know: Screenwriter G.O Parsons claims he was inspired by the Boomtown casino, just outside of Reno, where as a kid his parents would drop him in this place with creepy animatronics while they went to gamble. Émoi grew up just a few miles from the original Chuck E. Cheese, and based a lot of the musical cues on his memories from his childhood.