Trivia / Zack and Miri Make a Porno

• Actor-Inspired Element: Seth Rogen made frequent revisions to the script built around his observations as to how porn companies market their films.
• Ascended Fanon: Possibly the inspiration for the entire film. Once while on his college tours, Kevin Smith met a gay fan who had a crush on Jason Mewes and begged him to do a movie in which Jason makes a porno. Several years later, Zack and Miri Make a Porno comes out, complete with a full-frontal nudity shot of Mewes, probably just for that one fan.
• Breakaway Pop Hit: In a way. "Hold Me Up" by Live was later included on the band's 25th anniversary edition of Throwing Copper, and ended up peaking at a dismal #35 on the Mainstream Rock charts.
• Cast the Expert: Real-life porn stars Katie Morgan and Traci Lords play porn actresses Stacey and Bubbles.
• Creator Backlash: While he doesn't dislike the film, Kevin Smith was disappointed with its lackluster box office draw and felt that it was a poor last-ditch effort to appeal to the mainstream. He's warmed to the film in recent years, however.
• Creator Killer: The film's failure marked the beginning of the end of Kevin Smith's mainstream career.
  • He took the negative reviews — many of which compared him disparagingly to Judd Apatow — hard, sending him into depression and reportedly almost breaking up his marriage. His next film, Cop Out, the first (and to date only) of which he directed without having written, proved to him once and for all that he didn't belong in the mainstream and has since remained strictly indie.
  • On a more personal level, it was also the catalyst for his crumbling relationship with the Weinstein brothers, with whom this was his last collaboration. Smith was already getting the impression that Harvey Weinstein wasn't appreciative of all of the work Smith had done for him in the past and didn't see himself as the mentor figure that Smith likened him to. After Weinstein turned down Red State, then behaved extremely disruptively during the premiere, Smith refused to speak to him ever again, only getting a call from him a week before the incriminating article about Weinstein's history of sexual abuse broke as a Secret Test of Character.
• Creator's Favorite Episode: Elizabeth Banks has cited Miri as one of her favorite roles.
• The Danza: Inverted; Brandon Routh and Justin Long play gay couple Bobby Long and Brandon, respectively.
• Defictionalization: Yes, there is now a Star Whores. Apparently, someone thought it was Crazy Enough to Work.
• Deleted Scene: 43 of them on the DVD.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Jason Mewes shaved his pubic into the shape of a heart.
• Follow the Leader: Kevin Smith himself admitted that this film was a cash-in on Judd Apatow's schtick.
• Harpo Does Something Funny: One of Kevin Smith's only films to allow extensive improvisation, as all the performers were famous for their lengthy ad-libbed scenes from Judd Apatow films.
• Invisible Advertising: Though marketing had always been The Weinstein Company's greatest weakness, they had a couple of alibis here: for one thing, it had the word "porno" in the title, meaning most advertisements had to truncate it as simply Zack and Miri so as not to offend moral guardians; for another, any clips which gave the movie any sort of context were borderline pornographic themselves (resulting in the notorious "stick figure" poster), so even after omitting the offending word, it was impossible for ads to say what the movie was even about. Eventually, the studio just gave up and dumped the film out in August, resulting in it's dismal box office returns.
• Playing Against Type: Of a sort; Jason Mewes gained fame by playing the foul-mouthed, aggressive and abrasive Jay (of and Silent Bob fame) in The View Askewniverse. In this movie, his character is still a complete doofus, but he's a lot more pleasant, calm and good-natured.
• Production Posse: Two separate production posse's here, both Kevin Smith's (Jason Mewes, Jeff Anderson, producer Scott Mosier, DP Dave Klein) and Judd Apatow's (Elizabeth Banks, Craig Robinson, Gerry Bednob).
• Reality Subtext: The production of the titular (hehe) porno reads a lot like the production of Clerks: filming in the workplace after hours, using a hockey stick as a makeshift boom mic pole, etc. The only difference is Clerks was made with the knowledge and permission of Smith's then-employer.
• The Red Stapler: The Monroeville Zombies hockey jerseys.
• Throw It In!:
  • When Zack is helping Miri rinse her hair, the shower curtain breaking, and Miri falling, was a complete accident.
  • Jason Mewes personally requested that the camera be angled in a way during his nude scene when he bends over in front of the open refrigerator, allowing for the light to properly silhouette his testicles.
• Wag the Director: Traci Lords talked Smith out of performing topless for one of her scenes.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Kevin Smith specifically wrote the role of Miri for Rosario Dawson, but scheduling conflicts with Eagle Eye prevented her from taking the part.
  • Kelly LeBrock was considered for Bubbles.
  • Early drafts for the film go as far back as the late 90s as a Spiritual Successor to Chasing Amy and would have starred Ben Affleck and Joey Lauren Adams as the titular characters.
  • George Carlin was to play the owner of the building where the gang first attempt to shoot Star Whores, but was on tour during shooting. He had his fatal heart attack a few weeks before the film was released.
• Write What You Know: The film was based on Kevin Smith's experiences shooting Clerks - a very low budget, working only with friends, using a hockey stick as a boom microphone pole, and shooting the movie at his place of employment. Like Zack, Smith had to shoot at night after his work day was over, because the store had to stay open for business during the day. Also, Delaney later uses money from his disability suit to finance movies; Smith partially financed Clerks with money from an insurance settlement over his car that had been destroyed in a flood.

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