Say Anything... (1989) on Netflix
PG-1319891h 40mComedyDramaRomance
Lloyd Dobler, a kickboxer with no career plans, wants to date Diane Court, the valedictorian of their class. He asks her to the graduation party, and she surprises everyone by accepting.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb7.3/10104,020 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes98%
Trailer
Plot summary
Diane Court and Lloyd Dobler have finished high school in Seattle. Diane graduated at the top of her class, and a fellowship to study in England awaits her at the end of the summer. She works at the retirement home her father Jim owns. Lloyd's parents are stationed in Germany with the Army, so he lives in his sister Constance's house; she is raising a child on her own. He kickboxes, has no career plans and wants to do something great with his life. What he wants most is to date Diane, the valedictorian, who is widely thought to be out of his league. She accepts his invitation to the graduation party, which surprises their classmates.
Cast
- Amy Brooksas D.C.
- Patrick O'Neillas Denny
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Say Anything... (1989)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- John Cusack initially refused to film the boombox scene, feeling Dobler would not do something so theatrical and performative; to get the shot he wanted, Cameron Crowe tricked him by running the camera without film in it for a prior take, letting Cusack play the scene once more while venting real frustration.
- The Smithereens originally wrote "A Girl Like You" for the film, but the producers cut it believing it revealed too much of the plot and used Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" instead; the song came out later that year on the album 11 and became a US top 40 entry.
- Peter Gabriel initially turned Crowe down because he confused the film with another in production at the time, a John Belushi biography titled Wired.
- The boombox scene was first scored with Fishbone's "Question of Life", but after viewing it Crowe opted to replace the track with Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" to better fit the mood he wished to convey.
- In October 2012, as Gabriel played the first few bars of the song at the Hollywood Bowl, Cusack walked onto the stage, handed him a boombox and took a bow before quickly walking off again.
- Robert Downey Jr. was offered the role of Lloyd Dobler but turned it down, and Christian Slater and Kirk Cameron were also considered for the part.
- A television series based on the film was planned by NBC and 20th Century Fox, but producers Aaron Kaplan and Justin Adler did not know that Crowe had not approved the project; when they found out his views, the show was dropped.
- Jennifer Connelly and Ione Skye both vied for the role of Diane Court, and Skye was cast in the end.
