Movies | Pop Culture | 80s
10 Things You Didn't Know About 'Adventures In Babysitting' That'll Make You Love It More
If you need a good teen adventure movie, the 80s are really the only decade you need to go to. There are a lot of classics that you can go to like The Breakfast Club, or The Goonies, but you know what, there are even more less popular movies that are just as amazing.
Adventures in Babysitting is an amazing movie that everyone should absolutely see. If you are one of the unlucky people who have never heard of it, here is a basic run down of the plot.
Elisabeth Shue plays Chris, who agrees to babysit some kids because her date gets cancelled, but then her best friend calls the house and says she needs help. Her friend is stranded at the bus station in downtown Chicago so Chris has to go get her with the kids. They end up getting into all kids of crazy situations that is definitely not what parents want their babysitter to be doing.
This movie is one of those classics that you should absolutely revisit even if you've seen it before. To make the experience even more enticing, here are 10 things you didn't know about the movie that make it even more awesome.
1. This movie was the directorial debut of Chris Columbus
That's right, the director of so many of your favorite movies including, Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire and even the first two Harry Potter movies, got his first directing credit thanks to this movie. He was already known for writing The Goonies and Gremlins, but The Adventures in Babysitting launched his career to new heights.
2. Elizabeth Shue had to fight for the role against some A-list stars
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jodie Foster, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Valerie Bertinelli were all in consideration for this role. Eventually it came down to Shue and Bertinelli, but the producers decided that Bertinelli came off "mean and angry".
3. They shot the movie in Toronto but had some problems with cleanliness
The biggest problem was that it was TOO clean. Ever heard of that happening? Well they needed it to look like Chicago but apparently the Toronto city workers kept cleaning up garbage that they had planned to use as backgrounds. This forced the set designers to go dumpster diving to get some more trash for the alleys.
4. The car Bradley Whitford drives in the movie was actually his
The license plate and everything was actually his own. He literally drove around in a Camaro with the license plate SO COOL on it... on purpose. Seriously.
5. The little girl who was obsessed with Thor was supposed to have a different obsession
Columbus decided to go with Thor because he was a bit more mainstream in the comic world. In the original script, the character of Sara was obsessed with He-Man and She-Ra. But the scene where Sara thinks the mechanic is Thor was also supposed to be very different.
6. Chris Columbus has lawn jockeys in three of his films
In Adventures in Babysitting, Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York there are lawn jockeys that get knocked over. It was just a little Easter egg for anyone who are really paying attention to his career.
7. In an early draft the mechanic was supposed to be a woman
They were going to have a gag about not knowing if the mechanic was a man or a woman but they decided to go with Vincent D'Onofrio instead (probably for the best). Sara thinks he is Thor and it's probably one of the cutest things about the movie.
8. They needed to break into the Chicago subway in the middle of the night
It was 3 a.m. and they had to film some pick up shots so the stunt coordinator picked the lock of the Metro platform so they could get into the subway.
9. Shue absolutely loved the "Babysitting Blues" scene
It might be one of those roles or moments that you might think an actor would regret, but Shue absolutely loved filming the Babysitting Blues scene! She told the AV Club that it was "a very special experience for me, because it was the first movie I was kind of the star of ... I just remember there was such an innocence to making that movie, and so many things I got to do, like singing the blues. That was probably the best scene I’ve ever gotten to do."
10. Shue broke Brad's heart
The actor Keith Coogan had quite the crush on Elizabeth Shue both on screen and off. He apparently thought the six year age difference was not a big issue so he asked her out to dinner. Well, Coogan said that she "laughed in my face. And that's exactly the laugh she does in the movie. She totally crushed my heart and I took that with me for the movie. When the frat boy rescued her in the movie, I was very jealous and felt very possessive of her."