Trailer
Plot summary
John Canyon works as one of the few remaining independent space haulers. Hard times push him to haul a suspicious cargo to Earth without asking what it holds. He is joined by Cindy, a waitress who has agreed to marry him if he takes her to Earth to see her mother, and Mike, a trucker from a company. At a space station, John delivers a load of square pigs.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Space Truckers (1996)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Stuart Gordon's crew reached Ireland to find that the local producer who had promised 7 million pounds had raised only 2 million. Gordon credits producers Peter Newman and Greg Johnson with saving the film by finding more backers, helped by the Irish government under Section 35 of the Finance Act of 1987, which required Irish labor and resources in return.
- Ireland had no special effects facilities, so the production took over a disused builders' merchant on the Sandyford industrial estate outside Dublin and converted it into an effects plant under supervisors Brian Johnson and Paul Gentry, who hired scores of model makers, plasterers, carpenters and motion-control camera operators.
- Ron Houser was first cast as the pirate captain Macanudo, but Stuart Gordon thought the performance too broad and went looking again. He happened to be staying in the same London hotel as Charles Dance, mentioned the film in the lobby, and a week after reading the script Dance called to take the part for the sheer fun of it.
- The film became a bargaining chip in a defamation suit between Dennis Hopper and Rip Torn, brought after Hopper said publicly that Torn had pulled a knife on him on the set of Easy Rider. Hopper's representatives tried to settle by offering Torn a supporting part in Space Truckers, and Torn's side refused.
