Peter Segal's comedic cult-classic Tommy Boy celebrated the 25th anniversary of its theatrical release this past March. The film stars Chris Farley as the titular man-child who is forced to keep his family business afloat following the sudden death of his father, Big Tommy Callahan (Brian Dennehy). To do so, Tommy must travel the country with his unfriendly sidekick Richard (David Spade) to sell as many auto parts as humanly possible.
Tommy Boy opened on March 31, 1995, grossing more than $32 million worldwide. To honor its 25th birthday, here are 10 behind the scenes facts about the making of Tommy Boy.
10 Original Title
Prior to officially landing the title of Tommy Boy, several working titles were under consideration. For starters, the movie was filmed under the tentative title, Rocky Road.
Additional titles considered included Fat Chance and XL. The title that made the most headway was Billy The Third: A Midwestern. However, since producer Lorne Michaels was already in production on the Adam Sandler comedy Billy Madison, the title was deemed too similar and was changed. Along with Spade, Sandler was one of two SNL cast members up for the role of Richard.
9 Rob Lowe's Uncredited Role
Despite having a major speaking role in the film, Rob Lowe remains uncredited as Tommy's step-brother, Paul Barish, in the film. But, there's a reason why.
While making the film in 1994, Lowe was still contractually obligated to the adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand. Rather than go through the legal hoops of getting out of his contract and being credited in Tommy Boy, Lowe essentially agreed to appear in the film as a favor to his friend, Chris Farley.
8 Matthew McConaughey Audition
As a contingency plan in case that Rob Lowe couldn't complete his part, due to his obligations on The Stand, Peter Segal began auditioning actors to replace him. Auditions took place while filming was already underway.
Among the actors up for the role of Paul Barish was Matthew McConaughey, who was not a well-known name in Hollywood at the time. Fortunately, Rob Lowe's schedule did not force him to drop out and the film was completed as intended.
7 Lover's Spat
According to David Spade, he and longtime pal Chris Farley began a jealous lover's quarrel over how much time Rob Lowe was individually spending with each of them. Lowe recently confirmed this on the Joe Rogan Experience, just as he broke the news that the cow-tipping scene was his idea.
When Spade went out for drinks with Lowe one night, Farley was so enraged that he repeatedly asked Spade, "How's Rob Lowe?" Spade become so annoyed that he spilled a Diet Coke on Farely, prompting Farley to throw Spade into a wall. After the spat, Spade stormed off the set and refused to recommence filming.
6 Fat Guy In A Little Coat
The iconic "Fat Guy in a Little Coat" routine that Tommy performs in the hotel room to cheer Richard up was initially conceived as a skit for Saturday Night Live, of which Spade and Farley were still cast members while filming.
The idea came about when Spade and Farley shared an office writing for SNL. To break the tedium of conjuring new story pitches, Farley would constantly claim to Spade that he had a new idea. Every time, he'd revert back to the same old "Fat Guy in a Little Coat" gag to make Spade laugh. The two ultimately decided it was too funny and put it into the movie.
5 SNL Schedule
As previously mentioned, Spade and Farley were still SNL cast members while making Tommy Boy. Since the film was primarily shot in Toronto, Canada, the two had to fly back and forth between Toronto and New York to film the movie and rehearse and perform the sketch-show on the weekend.
In addition to Toronto and other areas in Ontario, filming took place in Sandusky and Marblehead, Ohio, and El Mirage Dry Lake, California.
4 Roseanne Almost Cast
One of the most memorable scenes in Tommy Boy comes when Tommy uses his slapstick charm to convince a waitress to open the kitchen so he can order chicken wings. That waitress was almost played by a famous sitcom star.
The waitress named Helen (Maria Vacratsis) that Tommy finesses was originally offered to comedienne Roseanne Barr. While she was apparently interested in playing the role, Barr had to decline due to a scheduling snafu that prevented her from appearing in the movie.
3 Car Swap
One of the running-gags in Tommy Boy is the way Richard's pristine car gets slowly destroyed throughout the film. When the car is ripped apart by the deer they assumed was dead, the car model is temporarily changed for one key shot.
Throughout the film, Richard drives a cherry convertible 1967 Plymouth GTX with Cragar SS wheels. Once the deer destroys the car and is seen standing on top of the vehicle, the car is no longer a '67 GTX. Instead, the car is a 1968 Chrysler Newport. In addition to body contours, both vehicles have drastically different tail-light designs.
2 Kevin Farley Cameo
Chris Farley's brother and fellow actor Kevin Farley makes a cameo appearance during the wedding ceremony at the beginning of Tommy Boy.
Kevin Farley can be spotted sitting across the table from Tommy (on his left side) when Big Tommy calls his son up to the stage to sing a duet. Kevin Farley would continue to collaborate with SNL alums on such movies as Joe Dirt, The Waterboy, as well as his brother's films Black Sheep and Beverly Hills Ninja.
1 Random Factoids
More random factoids of interest went down while making Tommy Boy. For instance, Christian Slater was considered for the role of Richard Hayden. Here's another: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles creator Fred Wolf did uncredited work on the screenplay. Also of note, Dan Aykroyd filmed his entire part as Zalinsky in two days.
While Spade and Farely's tiff over Rob Lowe has been documented, the two also began dating Lorri Bagley (Woman at the Pool) while making the film. This created an awkward tension between the two while making Black Sheep the following year.
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