FILMFACTS

PRODUCTION

Making Big

1988

“

Have you ever had a really big secret?

Zoltar speaks

Production

Go behind the scenes on the 1988 Comedy movie starring Tom Hanks, Jared Rushton, Elizabeth Perkins, John Heard

Mercedes Ruehl, Robert Loggia, David Moscow, Jon Lovitz, Josh Clark, Kimberlee M. Davis, Oliver Block, Erika Katz (II), Allan Wasserman, Mark Ballou, Gary Howard Klar, Alec Von Sommer, Chris Dowden, Rockets Redglare, Jaime Tirelli, Paul Herman Update Cast

We believe the following info is all legit. If it's bogus or you have additional info, please update us.

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Update

The film was written by Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg, sister of one Steven Spielberg. It was originally intended to be directed by Steven, who intended to cast Harrison Ford in the lead role.

However, Ford and Producer James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment, As Good As It Gets) could not decide on a suitable Director after Spielberg passed on the project, leading to Harrison bailing too.

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Update

Warren Beatty was in the running for the part of big Josh, but the Studio would not accommodate his outlandish fee of $7.5 million.

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Update

As performance research into the mannerisms of the other 'Josh', co-star David Moscow, Hanks reviewed videotapes of Moscow's actions and idiosyncrasies and carried these threads of behaviour into his own performance.

Thanks to Mikey

Update

Penny Marshall once stated in an interview that Jared Rushton, who played the character of Billy Kopeche, really has blond hair. Penny Marshall thought he was the boy for the part but thought that his blond hair gave him too much of a "California Kid" look, so he got the part on the condition that he died his hair and eye brows a darker color, hence the reddish-brown color of his hair in the movie.

Thanks to Monica Rushton

Update

The scene where Josh and Billy squirt silly string in poses of sneezing, barfing, etc. was not in the original script. It came from the rehearsal when Penny Marshall put Tom Hanks, Jared Rushton, and David Moscow in a studio room full of toys and just let them play together. When they got hold of the string they attempted to out-gross each other and that is how the scene ended up in the movie.

Thanks to vince michaels

Update

I was an extra in the scene in the toy store. I was walking in the background when he was laying on the floor shaking because he got zapped by the laser gun. it was nice to see Tom Hanks and Penny Marshall in the flesh. Very laid back and friendly people behind the scenes. You can tell they loved what they did for a living!

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Next Section: Deleted Scenes

Deleted Scenes

There are often scenes cut from the final version of a movie. Sometimes these will have been seen by preview audiences, or be included in Blu-ray or DVD extras etc.

Shucks.. We don't know of any cut scenes from "Big". Can you help? Please add one for others to enjoy. It's quick & easy

Next Section: Alternate Versions

Alternate Versions

Sometimes, there will be several versions of a movie floating about on cable, tv or video etc. Other times, a Director may release a special cut of the movie on Blu-ray or DVD.

The following versions of Big are apparently real. If you disagree or have additional info, please update us.

Thanks to Melissa Wilson

Update

There is a scene in the movie where Josh's girlfriend and he are fighting about why she can't make a wish on the zoltar machine and go back with him. She makes a comment that is something to the effect of "I can't go back to being a little girl in pigtails." In the ending that I remember in theatres, there is a final scene after Josh returns to his mother. He and Billy are sitting in school, and the teacher introduces a new girl. She has pigtails and looks like his old girlfriend. They smile and giggle a bit, and then the movie ends.

Thanks to Ross Phillips

Update

Allegedly an early version of "BIG" had an alternative ending in which the girl lead comes into Josh's classroom once he has gone back to school. She has obviously gone to the machine and wished to be "SMALL" and was played by a young actress who looked the spitting image of her elder counterpart.

Thanks to Staci Baird

Update

There was another ending to Big.. I watched it in the theatre and it does end with them in school the next day and Susan is there as a new student. I want that scene back. I was hoping it was in the new DVD I just purchased and I was so disappointed. I guess it was released at only a few screening theaters across the country and mine must have been one of them.

Sara wrote in to add that she saw that version originally, in Dublin, Ireland, and was disappointed when the version that I saw recently only had Josh walking down the road with Billy.

Thanks to David

Update

I remember going down to the video shop and hiring Big. I do remember the ending in question. From memory it rolled AFTER the credits. Susan turns up as the new student in Josh's class. My brother also remembers it, so, it isn't just me :) David, Coffs Harbour NSW Australia

Thanks to Scorch

Update

Yes, I remember the ending where Susan comes back too, and is introduced as a new student, in pigtails, and so does my beloved - we bought the DVD recently, watched it & were both, completely independently, disappointed to NOT see this ending scene.

Thanks to Anonymous

Update

Me and my husband both remember watching the ending where Susan wishes to be small and comes back as the new girl in school.

Where has this version gone and why is it never shown on TV? Definitely not getting it mixed up with any other films!!!

Thanks to Anonymous

Update

I DID see the alternate ending with the young girl in the classroom, no-one else I know has ever seen it and they think I am mistaken, but I know I saw it in Canada when the movie first came out and I have looked for that alternate ending many times since. It seems that it has disappeared.
After all these years "Big" was on TV tonight and I thought about this alternate ending and finally thought to google it.

Several other people saw the exact same alternate ending, not a dream or another movie, or imagination. Thanks for clearing that up.

Thanks to Anonymous

Update

I just finished watching it on TV. I was disappointed to not see the final scene where he is in school and sees the younger version of his girlfriend.

I remember the scene clear as day and then started looking on the Internet to find the alternate version. However it is not on any of the DVDs or on YouTube. Everyone who has seen the alternate version of this ending remembers the exact same scene. I even watched the ending of "14 going on 30" which is similar but not at all the same as the version I remember. I also remember thinking how do we know this is definitely the girl? If it is who is this girl living with? How did she find the school he went to? Where is she getting the money for school/food/etc. However, it is a much cuter ending IMO.

Thanks to Aster

Update

I rented Big on Betamax in the early 90s when I was in my early twenties. I watched the film several times before returning it after the weekend. The alternate ending was after the titles. And young Josh meets a new girl with red hair at school. I have never seen this other movie, which was never shown in the UK, and I have always been deeply disappointed that the ending I know so well has never been on any other edition.

So WHO has an old rental videotape of BIG from the early 90s?

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