DID YOU KNOW?
1. The original poster for the film featured Jason ripping through an 'I Love NY' poster, but it was dropped following a complaint from the New York Tourism Committee. The poster is still out there, and can be picked up on The Lair Store or E-bay.
2. Fred Mollin wrote the original music for this film, as he did for Part 7 and the television series.
3. In the opening credits of the film, if you pause right before the title appears, a poster for the movie 'Batman' (1989) can be seen. However, it doesn't appear after that, because the other shots were filmed before that poster was put up to promote the film.
4. The prologue of the film foreshadows all the places that Jason will chase the teenagers: downtown with the gang members, the diner, the alley with the drug addicts, and the subway.
5. The last third of the movie is set in Manhattan; however, the only scenes that were actually filmed in Manhattan were the scenes in Times Square. It took three days of shooting to film them.
6. In the scene where Jason reaches through the porthole and grabs Rennie, Jensen Daggett was reportedly really terrified. Her face was just inches from a large and very sharp piece of glass that had become stuck in the window frame, and Kane Hodder was (unknowingly) pulling her toward it.
7. In the diner, the man Jason throws into the mirror is Ken Kirzinger, who would go on to play Jason in 'Freddy Vs. Jason'. Kane really kicked his ass!
8. This was the last film in the original 'Friday The 13th' franchise to be produced and distributed by Paramount, due to declining box office returns. Subsequent entries were handled by New Line Cinema, who purchased the rights after this movie. They later re-combined efforts in the release of the remake in 2009.
9. The deckhand who's warning everybody that they're "doomed" is based on Crazy Ralph.
10. In the original script, when Jason makes it to the dock, a dog starts barking at him and he kicks it. Kane Hodder, who was playing Jason, felt that Jason wouldn't kick a dog and the scene was dropped.
11. Kane Hodder says that the scenes in Times Square were among the most fun parts of his tenure as Jason. He says that spectators were lined up and down the block watching the filming, and he didn't want to take off the mask to destroy their illusion of Jason. He said that every once in awhile, he'd turn his head and look at them, and watch them all go crazy.
12. Writer/director Rob Hedden originally wrote more of the movie to be set in New York. He had written scenes at Madison Square Garden, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Empire State Building. However, Paramount told him that the budget would not allow him to spend that much time in New York, so he was forced to rewrite the film and spend more time on the cruise ship. Hedden says he agrees with fans who complain that not enough time is spent in New York, given the title Jason Takes Manhattan.
13. Peggy Hedden, the New York waitress, is the director's sister.
14. In one shot, the subway bears graffiti reading "Quayton Lives". Quayton was part of the name of a high school band that director Rob Hedden was in.
15. V.C. Dupree actually cut his hand in the phone booth when Jason shattered the glass around him.
16. The dog Toby is named after a dog the director once had.
17. The time on the clock in the scene with Jim and Suzi is 11:32.
18. In the very end of the film, Jason seems to be throwing up water. Kane Hodder has always had the special talent of being able to throw up on demand. He drank a lot of water and then really did force himself to throw up.
19. The young actor originally cast as the young Jason did not know how to swim, so he was replaced on the spur of the moment by Tim Mirkovich, son of film editor Steve Mirkovich. He was basically visiting the set on that particular day, and was hired when all the problems happened with the other actor.
20. The writer/director had two ideas, for Jason to be on a boat, or in New York, but Paramount told him he should to do both.
21. Even though the ending of the film takes place in New York, most of it wasn't shot there. Some of it was filmed inside the University of British Columbia's Ocean Research Center (such as the scenes on the ocean) and inside a transit tunnel in downtown Vancouver.
22. The film was originally supposed to be released on Friday, October 13th, 1989, but was bumped up to August, and then again to July.
23. During the teaser trailer of 'Jason Takes Manhattan', Jason is featured standing on New York harbor, looking at the water while a Sinatra tune plays over shots of screaming yuppies and commuters. Well, in a recent interview, Kane Hodder revealed that it wasn't even him in that shot! "We were shooting in Vancouver when they shot it," he said. "I don’t know who it is...he looks kind of small. I don’t know why they didn’t just wait until we got to New York. My Jason wouldn’t turn like that!" Ken Kirzinger, perhaps?
24. VC Dupree, who played Julius in the film, reveals that he really did hurt his hands during the infamous boxing scene with Kane Hodder. He cut up his knuckles after punching the hockey mask so much.
25. Also in that scene, Kane Hodder wore a protective catcher's pad underneath his costume, but still got pretty bruised up.
26. According to Kane Hodder, Julius hit Jason 66 times during the boxing scene. It was also originally planned to take place at Madison Square Garden, but was cut due to budgetary issues.
27. Working scripts were titled 'Ashes To Ashes' and 'Burial At Sea' to keep fans away from the set. VC Dupree didn't even figure out it was a 'Friday The 13th' movie until filming began. It was co-star Kelly Hu that spilled the beans, something he discusses on the Special Edition of the DVD.
28. Other changes made to the working scripts were changing the name of Jason Voorhees to 'Ethan Dearborn' and not even mentioning Crystal Lake. It was all part of Paramount's attempt to fool fans and keep them away from the set.
29. The subway car chase wasn't inside an official NYC subway. Only the exterior shots were real.
30. In the scene in the subway when Jason is chasing Rennie and Sean, Sean pulls the emergency brake to knock Jason back. On the poster to right of Sean, sprawled in graffiti are the words 'Jason Lives'.
31. In the original script, when Jason makes it to the dock, a dog starts barking at him and he kicks it. Kane Hodder, who was playing Jason, felt that kicking the dog was going too far and so the scene was dropped.
32. This film marked the feature film debut of actress Kelly Hu.
33. Other actresses who auditioned for the role of Rennie included Elizabeth Berkley and Dedee Pfeiffer.
34. Despite the nature of the film and adverse filming conditions, Kane Hodder provided several moments of levity which were appreciated by the cast. Following several death scenes, for example, once director Rob Hedden called "cut," Hodder would do a brief disco dance in full makeup, making the cast laugh.
35. Director Rob Hedden actually got naked himself and got into the shower with Tamara, to ease her anxiety about shooting the scene.
36. Kane Hodder appeared in full Jason costume on an episode of the 'Arsenio Hall Show' to promote the film on July 28, 1989. He appeared right before the release and they showed a clip of Jason stalking Rennie and Sean through Times Square. Kane never spoke a word, and Arsenio quipped a few jokes at him during the appearance. Video of this appearance can be found on our YouTube page at www.youtube.com/lairofhorror.
37. Actor Lee Coleman was originally cast as Sean. He even shot the flooding scene with Rennie, but was replaced by Scott Reeves because producers didn't feel he had enough chemistry with Rennie (Jensen Daggett).
38. Kane Hodder said that his toughest kill to film was the strangling death of Eva (Kelly Hu). According to Kane, it took 14 hours to get it right.
39. Sharlene Martin (Tamara)'s first scene was the scene where she was snorting cocaine with Eva (Kelly Hu).
40. Actor Ken Kirzinger doubled for Kane Hodder in both the scene where Jason exits the subway and gets electrocuted, and the scene where Jason is hit by the police car. Kane Hodder did not know this, and was irate that he was not the only one behind the mask for the entire production.
Know any assorted facts that we don't have here? E-mail them to us at: lairofhorror@yahoo.com and you will get credit for them.
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