Trivia for
Purple Rain (1984) More at IMDbPro »

• An early, simpler, version of the unpronounceable symbol that Prince changed his name to during his dispute with Warner Bros. Records is painted on the side Prince's motorcycle's gas tank.
  
  
• The film almost got an "X" rating because of the sex scene with Prince and Apollonia. However, after several seconds were cut out of it, the film came out with an "R" rating.
  
  
• Albert Magnoli filmed a second love scene that was not included in the final cut of the film. This scene has special meaning because it contains the actual illusion of the purple rain. A snippet of this scene is included in the theatrical trailer for the film as well as the When Doves Cry montage. This scene, as well as the other deleted footage that led up to it, is also outlined in the film's screenplay found on various websites. It is rumored that this second love scene almost earned the film an X-rating although it's unclear as to whether this scene was actually included in early edits of the film or actually submitted to the MPAA. This legendary piece of footage has never been released commercially in its entirety.
  
  
• The film's original screenplay, found on various websites, contained an extremely sexually explicit scene between Vanity and The Kid during the "ride of rage" sequence. It's unknown if the scene was actually filmed when Apollonia replaced Vanity as the leading lady. This adds to the mystery of a long rumored early edit of Purple Rain that was given an X-rating by the MPAA.
  
  
• Most of the songs were recorded live.
  
  
• James Foley was offered the job of director by Prince's management after seeing a rough cut of "Reckless". He said he was too busy and declined, but recommended his editor Albert Magnoli.
  
  
• William Blinn's first draft of the script was titled "Dreams". Prince didn't like the story and wanted the word "purple" in the title.
  
  
• Although Albert Magnoli and William Blinn shared the writing credits, it is not known how much of Blinn's material was used. Albert Magnoli estimates that only two or three of Blinn's scenes are in the final cut of the film.
  
  
• The success of this project benefitted just about every division of Warner Bros., the box office grosses helped the film division, the soundtrack sales helped the record division, the home video release helped that division, the promotional videos aired on MTV constantly helping the music video division... and so on.
  
  
• Clarence Williams III and Olga Kartalos were the only two professional actors in the entire cast.
  
  
• Prince's protégée, Vanity, was originally slated to be cast as the Kid's love interest. However she left the film, prior to shooting. Therefore, the girl group "Vanity 6" became "Apollonia 6".
  
  
• Scenes of Wendy and Lisa kissing, suggesting a relationship were deleted from the final version.
  
  
• Probably due to pacing reasons, when The Revolution is performing 'Darling Nicky', the third verse is omitted from the final film. It can still be heard on the movie's soundtrack Album.
  
  
• According to the director's commentary, three versions of the love scene were filmed with three different ratings. A "G" rated version, "PG" rated version, and "R" rated version which is what was used in the film.
  
  
• Originally the Kid's father was to die of his self inflicted gun shot wound to the head. At the last minute, the director and the producers decided to let the father live.
  
  
• Two takes of "The matter with this house..." sequence were filmed. According to the director's commentary, the film lab lost the camera negative for the scenes and had to use footage from a work print to include in the film. This explains the loss of picture quality during the scene.
  
  
• 'Purple Rain' was shopped around to numerous production companies including Indigo Films; which was owned by _Jim Brown (I)_ and Richard Pryor. Brown himself expressed his disappointment about not acquiring the project in the Spike Lee documentary Jim Brown: All American (2002) (TV).
  
  

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