BSP 2014 Advent Calendar: Day 19

Welcome to Day 19 of Bam Smack Pow’s 2014 Advent Calendar! Only six more days left until Christmas, and that means six more superhero films will be mined for trivia. For Day 19, we give you …

Howard the Duck (1986)

I didn’t lie when I told you that this list was going to be obscure. Probably one of the worst comic book / superhero film adaptations, Howard the Duck still has a niche cult following — kind of in the style of Ed Wood movies. It’s hard to imagine that George Lucas, coming off of his Star Wars franchise success, could make such a bomb, but nonetheless, you still have to give him credit for taking a huge risk on such an unknown character. Even the charms of Lea Thompson couldn’t save this movie. Where was James Gunn when you needed him? Oh wait, he probably didn’t even have his driver’s license yet.

The film was panned by critics and audiences and took home multiple Golden Raspberry Awards — Worst Screenplay, Worst New Star for the six guys and gals who donned the duck suit, Worst Visual Effects, and Worst Picture. At the box office, it received a paltry domestic total of a little over $16 million and a worldwide total of just under $38 million.

Howard the Duck was directed by Willard Huyck, written by Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck, and starred Chip Zien as the Voice of Howard the Duck, Lea Thompson as Beverly Switzler, Tim Robbins as Phil Blumburtt, Jeffrey Jones as Dr. Walter Jenning, David Palmer as Larry, Paul Guilfoyle as Lieutenant Welker, Liz Sagal as Ronette, Dominique Davalos as Cal, Holly Robinson as K.C., Tommy Swerdlow as Ginger Moss, Richard Edson as Ritchie, Miles Chapin as Carter, and Paul Comi as Dr. Chapin.

Trivia

Lea Thompson and the actresses that made up the fictional music group Cherry Bomb all did their own singing.
Lea Thompson shopped at second hand shops and thrift stores to complete her look as rocker Beverly Switzler. Thompson wanted her character to look like a cross between Madonna and Cyndi Lauper.
Lea Thompson still owns the Les Paul guitar that her character Beverly Switzler used in the movie.
Lea Thompson originally rejected having to wear a wig. She regretted that decision after hairstylists had to spend two hours on her hair before each shoot.
Phoebe Cates, Paula Abdul, Kim Basinger, Jodi Benson, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Lori Singer were all considered for the role of Beverly Switzler. Lea Thompson won the role due to her fame from Back to the Future (1985), a recent hit at the time.
Belinda Carlisle, the lead singer for the Go-Go’s, auditioned for the role of Beverly Switzler.
Singer Tori Amos, unknown to mass audiences at the time, auditioned for the role of Beverly Switzler. This isn’t the only tie Amos has had with comic books. She’s also good friends with Sandman creator Neil Gaiman. The two have inspired each other artistically throughout the years. Initially, Gaiman became a fan of Amos’s after she referred to him in her song Tear in Your Hand and also in her interviews. The character known as Delirium in the Sandman comics was inspired by Amos, as the character also has Amos’s signature striking red locks. Amos would later write the forward to Gaiman’s Sandman spin-off mini-series Death: The High Cost of Living. Gaiman returned the favor by writing the forward to Amos’s book Comic Book Tattoo Tales Inspired by Tori Amos. Gaiman later became godfather to Amos’s daughter and wrote a poem about her birth titled Blueberry Girl, which is also published in his book of the same name.
Jay Leno was considered for the role of Phil Blumburtt which eventually went to Tim Robbins.
John Cusack and Martin Short were originally considered for the voice of Howard the Duck.
Howard the Duck is included in the rankings of The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made.
When the film was still being produced, George Lucas promised his crew that in twenty years time, Howard the Duck would be seen as a masterpiece.
After building Skywalker Ranch for $50 million, George Lucas was heavily in debt. He was hoping that Howard the Duck would get him out of it. When the movie failed at the box office, Lucas had to sell off assets in order to stay afloat. The CEO of Apple Computer, Steve Jobs, offered to buy Lucasfilm’s new CGI animation division for a price that was above its valuation. Lucas agreed to the purchase. The division later became Pixar Studios.
Howard the Duck’s arrival on Earth was dated September 8, which is the same date in 1966 that the original Star Trek television series premiered.
The character called the Evil Overlord is based on the Marvel supervillain who brought Howard the Duck to Earth. The full name of the character in the comics is “Thog the Nether-Spawn, Overmaster of Sominus.”
George Lucas spent $2 million on the Howard the Duck suit. It took eight people to operate it. Lucas initially intended to have a child be the main actor who wore and operated the suit, but it didn’t work out. Lucas later hired Ed Gale for this job. Gale is credited at the beginning of the film.
This was the first Marvel property to be made into a feature film. Previous movies were television-based.
The famed Wilhelm Scream can be heard in the following scenes:
- When Dr. Walter Jenning sends a man through a window.
- When Howard the Duck knocks a duck hunter out of his boat.
Howard the Duck would later make his cameo in the post-credits scene of Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), exactly 28 years and 1 day after Howard the Duck opened in 1986.

Make sure to come back each day because we still have six more days worth of superhero film trivia for you!

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A special thanks to Eric Dufresne for his amazing geometric superhero art that’s being used as the background for the advent calendar.

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