Welcome back to Behind The Scenes Saturday!!! Today, I chose one of my favorite Stephen King adaptations, Cujo! I chose it now because it perfectly symbolizes today’s world: where both heat and danger are rising as each day passes. So, don’t shout at bats sleeping in caves, make sure your car is ALWAYS in working condition, and enjoy these fun pictures and bits of trivia!!

(Trivia provided by IMDb.com)

(Pictures provided by google.com and IMDb.com)

(SPOILER ALERT!!!)

• In order to get the St. Bernards to attack the car, the animal trainers put their favorite toys inside of the car and the dogs would jump on it to try and get them.
• The dogs had to have their tails tied down to their legs during filming because they’d be enjoying themselves so much that they would constantly wag their tails. This tactic was missed once when one shot shows Cujo from behind, growling and ready to attack, but wagging his tail energetically. In another part, after Cujo finished his first kill, the dog’s tail broke out and you can see it wagging unusually low, yet happily.
• For the part of Cujo, five St. Bernards were used, as well as a mechanical head and a man in a dog costume.

• The foam around Cujo’s mouth was made of a mixture of egg whites and sugar. The dogs caused a lot of difficulty on set by constantly licking off the tasty mixture.
• During his seizure scenes, Danny Pintauro (Tad) actually bit Dee Wallace’s (Donna) fingers. Her reactions to being bit in the scenes were genuine.
• Stephen King admitted several times that he was so deep in his alcohol addiction at the time, that he doesn’t even remember writing the book.

• After filming, Dee Wallace went on record saying that she hoped she never see another Pinto in her life.
• Stephen King got inspiration for the story after meeting his mechanic’s intimidating dog while getting his motorcycle repaired one day.
• Because a St. Bernard didn’t look mean enough for certain scenes, a Rottweiler was brought in for them instead.

• Stephen King contributed a great deal to the film’s script, but he eventually declined Writer’s Guild credit.
• At the time of filming, Danny Pintauro was six years old and he hadn’t learned how to read yet. He would often have to memorize his lines from the script with the help of his mother, who was always close by on location.
• One of the film’s stunt doubles, Jean Coulter was in the car and she had one of the dogs’ toys to use as a lure. The window was partially down and the dog jumped up and pushed the window all the way down with his paws. Coulter instinctively lowered the toy and the dog accidentally bit her on the nose instead of his toy.

• John Carpenter was originally considered to direct the film. However, he didn’t find the story particularly appealing, so he turned it down. He instead chose to direct another Stephen King adaptation, Christine, which was released the same year as this film.
• Dee Wallace and Christopher Stone (Steve), who played lovers in this film, were actually married in real life. They were married until 1995 when Stone passed away from a heart attack.
• The original novel was a sort of sequel to The Dead Zone. After Frank Dodd was killed, he kind of became the Boogeyman of Castle Rock and supposedly haunted Tad. It’s hinted that Dodd actually possessed Cujo. Sheriff George Bannerman (Sandy Ward) also makes specific references to Johnny Smith. Both this film and the The Dead Zone adaptation were developed at the same time. Since they were both being released by different studios and this film was released two months before the other one, all the references of The Dead Zone were removed here.

• Dee Wallace admitted that she has often been praised by parents for the scene where a hysterical Donna screams at Tad in a moment of frustrated terror. She said it’s a scene in which only a parent could identify.
• To achieve the fake blood effect for the film, Karo syrup dyed red was used.
• There was a rumor that the name Cujo was an ancient Native word that meant “unstoppable force.” Truthfully, Stephen King named the dog after the code name of one of the founders of the Symbionese Liberation Army, William Lawton Wolf. Wolf’s code name was actually Kahjoh, however, the media misreported it as Cujo.

• If you look closely in Tad’s bedroom, you might notice that he had a stuffed St. Bernard, a stuffed animal he most likely threw out after a St. Bernard almost killed him.
• A number of cars were used for filming. Each one was disassembled for specific camera shots.
• After seeing Lewis Teague’s previous film, Alligator, Stephen King recommended him to direct this film.

• This is the first film to take place in Stephen King’s fictional town, Castle Rock, which would go on to feature in The Dead Zone, Stand By Me, The Dark Half, and Needful Things. Rob Reiner, who directed Stand By Me and produced Needful Things, also named his production company Castle Rock.
• After Vic (Daniel Hugh Kelly) fails to fix the car, Donna takes Tad into the house for his nap. The camera moves to a view of the woodlands and ocean in front of the house. The wooded area was previously used in another Dee Wallace horror classic, The Howling.
• All of the dogs who played Cujo were all really friendly and they were nothing like their character.

• Dee Wallace later stated that this film was the hardest thing she’d ever done, and it’s the film she’s most proud of. For three weeks after filming wrapped, she had to be treated for exhaustion.
• The exterior of the Trenton house was merely a facade.
• The film’s original director and cinematographer, Peter Medak and Anthony B. Richmond quit two days into production for unknown reasons.

• Some of Cujo’s vicious growls and barks in the film were actually recorded by veteran voice actor, Frank Welker.
• Stephen King admitted that if he could go back in time and change anything from one of his books, it would be letting Tad live. Tad died in the book due to dehydration. King was of course able to successfully change Tad’s fate in this film.
• Stephen King credits this film as having the most effective scare of any of his adaptations. He was referring to the jolting scare where Cujo first leaps at the passenger window of the car.

• The outcome of Vic’s efforts to save the Sharp account aren’t mentioned in the film, but the book confirmed that he saved it.
• The scenes where Donna and Tad are in the car appear to be sweltering hot in the film. In reality, the conditions were quite cold during filming. At one point, it got so cold inside of the car, heaters had to be placed inside to keep Dee Wallace and Danny Pintauro warm. They of course had to be turned off when the cameras were rolling to prevent their sound from interfering.
• For the foggy scene where Brett (Billy Jayne) encounters a sick Cujo, a naval fog machine was used for the atmosphere. The smoke brought out the local fire department who feared that the woods were burning.