Huzzah to the college movies and the art of having fun. Ever since the first batch of them came out it’s been a tradition to have at least one college move a generation that redefines the experience and reminds people how to just cut loose and have a good time during the best years of your life, so to speak. PCU is another film in a long line of those that have come along attempting to show people just what it’s like to learn, party, and find a happy medium between the two, whenever possible.
How much did you know about the film though?
10. Nirvana was the first band selected to be at the party.
Unfortunately they were too expensive to hire on, as were the Goo Goo Dolls. Eventually the movie found George Clinton and the Parliament-Funkadelic.
9. Jeremy Piven was smoking cigarettes with ground up fruit inside them.
Piven isn’t a smoker and didn’t want to damage his lungs for the film so he took to smoking specially made cigarettes with ground fruit inside.
8. There wasn’t much room for improvisation.
The director didn’t want people improvising unless they’d discussed it with the writers and then him and agreed on what they would do. It’s safe to assume that he might not know what improvisation really is.
7. Jeremy Piven contracted malaria during the shooting of the film.
He lost eight pounds overnight and passed out during filming one day. The production had to wait until he was able to be back on his feet to continue.
6. PCU wasn’t released until a year after filming.
There’s not a lot of reason given for this other than the fact that it likely wouldn’t have been as well received in the theater as it was on DVD.
5. Blue law is all about selling anything that’s not food sundries after eight pm.
The law is still very much in effect in the New England region and is a holdover from the Puritanical times.
4. The movie was filmed in Toronto, Canada.
If you look around you can take note of several different aspects that are distinctly related to the city.
3. The shirt that Deege is wearing is from an actual place called House of Guitars.
Even in low budget productions product placement for the sponsors is important.
2. The director has cameo in the film.
While seated on a bus behind the character of Tom you can see the director for just a few seconds if you really look.
1. Steve Zahn and Ashley Judd were almost in the film.
Obvious casting choices were made based on what the director wanted and who he thought would fill the role with the greatest accuracy.
You could compare this film with such college favorites as Animal House and several others but the truth is that PCU does stand on its own when it comes to originality. There’s no real need to compare PCU with other films largely because it has its own energy and its own plot line that is different enough from other films that it shouldn’t be judged based on their success.
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