Trivia for
8MM (1999) More at IMDbPro »

• David Fincher was the first choice to direct this film.
  
  
• The plot is extremely similar to that of Hardcore (1979) in which a man (George C. Scott) hires a private detective to track down his daughter after she runs away and he sees her in a 8MM porno movie. The plot is also very similar to a book called "The Cutting Room" by Louise Welsh in which an estate auctioneer finds disturbing photos among a client's porno collection and endeavors to find out if the girl in the pictures was actually killed.
  
  
• The actress (Jenny Powell) playing the character of Mary Ann Mathews was originally a stripper hired in to act as a stand-in. Joel Schumacher gave her the part of the victim on the 8mm film as she had a suitably "haunted" look about her.
  
  
• The enema porno film seen at the porn swap meet is a genuine S&M film that was heavily edited for inclusion in the main movie.
  
  
• The graffiti-covered buildings shown in the film are all that is left of some radar buildings built by Howard Hughes.
  
  
• Don Creech ("Mr. Anderson") is the keeper of the Muppets for the Jim Henson company. He takes care of and repairs the thousands of Muppets created over the years.
  
  
• The actual script by Andrew Kevin Walker was reworked by Joel Schumacher and Nicholas Kazan after Walker left the project in disagreement with the director.
  
  
• The film's production encountered concerns regarding the dark subject matter, and the studio asked Andrew Kevin Walker to lighten the film's tone. With Joel Schumacher as director, Walker felt a rewrite would no longer be needed. But as it turned out, Schumacher supported the studio and made changes of his own, leading to a much-publicized fallout between the two, with Walker virtually disowning the film and walking away from the set. He refused to even watch the film.
  
  
• The Aphex Twin song, "Come to Daddy", is played twice in 8MM. The first time it is played as the theme song to a hardcore porn flick, and the second time it is actually played as the background music to 8MM, upon Nicolas Cage's entering of the "bad guy's" house. Also, the music video for "Come to Daddy" is being played on a small TV in Dino Velvet's office.
  
  
• Mark Wahlberg turned down the role of Max California.
  
  
• Nicolas Cage's Oscar award (for Leaving Las Vegas (1995)) makes a cameo in the film. Look for it, wrapped up in black string/laces on Eddie Poole's desk when Cage breaks in to tap Poole's phone.
  
  
• The car belonging to Eddie Poole is a Stutz Blackhawk, a very rare high-status car of the 70's and 80's, owned by such luminaries as Elvis (he had five) and the Rat Pack.
  
  

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