Labyrinth [1986] (1 disc)

Random Trivia For This Title:

• The upside-down room in the Goblin City is directly inspired by a drawing by ^[?] M.C. Escher - which can been seen in Sarah's room at the beginning of the film.
• To help the actor playing him to see, there is a video camera in Ludo's horns
• The tricks that Jareth does with the crystal balls are all done on-set with no camera trickery. They were not, however, done by David Bowie. A juggler called ^[?] Michael Moschen used his hands (in many cases, without being able to actually see what he was doing) to make it look like Jareth was doing the tricks.
• In Sarah's room is a copy of Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, a story about a bad little boy who is sails away to a land of monsters.
• The exchange "You remind me of the babe" "What babe?" etc. is reminiscent of dialogue from The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer. "You remind me of a man" "What man?" etc.
• ^[?] Monty Python member Terry Jones wrote one early version of the script. Little of his material was retained beyond the point where Sarah eats the poisoned peach. The original script ended with Sarah punching and kicking Jareth, then watching him shrink down until he's becomes a small and "snivelling" goblin. Also, Toby's name was Freddie in the early drafts of the story. The baby's name was changed because the infant Toby Froud would only react to his own name.
• David Bowie was one of the three choices for Jareth. The other two were Michael Jackson and Sting.
• The full costume for Hoggle was lost for some time. It turns out that it was lost on an airplane and later bought from the airline by 'The Unclaimed Baggage Center', a store in Scottsboro Alabama. It is now on display in their museum.
• After solving the problem of the guards who lie or tell the truth, Sarah falls into an oubliette, which Hoggle describes: "It's a place where you put people...to forget about 'em!" Oubliettes were a type of dungeon where the only entry was through an opening high in the ceiling. To leave an oubliette was practically impossible without external assistance. The word "oubliette" comes from the French word "oublier' meaning 'to forget". The basic premise was that an oubliette was a dungeon for prisoners that the captor(s) wished to forget. Prisoners were often left to starve to death in an oubliette.
• The owl in the title sequence is computer generated - the first attempt at a photo-realistic CGI animal character in a feature film.
• Michael Jackson, ^[?] Prince, and ^[?] Mick Jagger were considered to play Jareth. Jim Henson preferred Sting, until his kids convinced him that David Bowie (who had reached his peak of mainstream popularity with the "Let's Dance" album) would be best suited to it. Bowie wanted to make a children's movie, liked the concept, and found the script funnier and more amusing than many other contemporary special effects movies.
• Helena Bonham Carter, Jane Krakowski, ^[?] Yasmine Bleeth, Sarah Jessica Parker, ^[?] Mary Stuart Masterson, Laura Dern, ^[?] Maddie Corman, Kerri Green, Lili Taylor, Laura San Giacomo, Ally Sheedy, Mia Sara, and Marisa Tomei all auditioned for the role of Sarah Williams. Krakowski, Sheedy, and Corman were all highly considered for the role, alongside Jennifer Connelly, who eventually won the role.