1 Back to the Future
During the filming of Back to the Future, Universal Studios honcho Sid Sheinberg fired off a memo to all involved in the production stating that no movie with the word “future” in the title had ever succeeded at the box office. He suggested that the name of this project be changed to Spaceman from Pluto. According to writer/producer Bob Gale, Steven Spielberg “earned his executive producer fee” by stepping in and sending back a note that thanked the studio head for his joke memo.
Sound designer Ben Burtt created R2D2’s voice by whistling and making fart noises into an old tape recorder.
2 Pretty Woman
Pretty Woman was based on a script written by J. F. Lawton called 3000 (the amount of money paid for a week’s worth of the hooker’s “company”). In the original story, Julia Roberts’ character was not only a prostitute, she was also a crack addict. When Disney bought the script, they lightened up the script and decided that 3000 didn’t work. They picked a new title that luckily allowed the producers to use Roy Orbison’s signature tune to accompany the obligatory Julia Roberts-trying-on-clothes montage.
3 Tootsie
Would I Lie to You? went through at least a half-dozen rewrites by as many writers before it finally hit the big screen in 1982 as Tootsie. Star Dustin Hoffman suggested the new title, which was also the name of his mother’s dog.
4 Boys Don’t Cry
Hilary Swank nearly won an Academy Award for Take It Like a Man. Eventually the intense flick took its title from a signature song of one of the darkest bands in rock, The Cure.
5 Help!
The Beatles called their second feature film Help during the first few weeks of production, but things got sticky when director Richard Lester learned that another flick had already registered that title. The Fab Four’s movie then became known as Eight Arms to Hold You. No one cared for that name, but luckily Lester found out that by adding an exclamation point to the word “Help” he could skirt the copyright laws.
6 Annie Hall
Anhedonia is the scientific term for the inability to experience pleasure, and up until the opening credits were finally filmed, it was the name Woody Allen had in mind for his 1977 “serious comedy.” United Artists insisted that such an unmarketable title would doom the film at the box office, and Allen relented by changing the title to Annie Hall.
7 Blazing Saddles
Script writer Andrew Bergman originally called his 1974 Western spoof (and the lead character) Tex X, as a sly nod to Muslim leader Malcolm X. Director Mel Brooks was never enamored with that title, though. One morning when Brooks was taking a shower, the words “blazing saddles” popped into his head. Considering the classic bean scene, the new title seemed apropos.
The first person to use the word “period” in a U.S. TV commercial was future Friends star Courteney Cox, in a 1985 Tampax ad.