Trivia
Casting
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- Australian soul singer Renee Geyer claimed to have appeared in the film, telling the Australian Women's Weekly "Stephen MacLean (writer of Starstruck) and Wendy de Waal have helped make me less inhibited as a performer. They've brought out the actrine in me." Has anyone ever spotted her?
- Colin Friels, husband of My Brilliant Career's Judy Davis, came close to playing the role of Terry Lambert.
- Although filming took place in Sydney, both main cast members, plus director Gillian Armstrong and screenwriter Stephen MacLean, all originally hailed from Melbourne.
Screenplay
- In Stephen MacLean's original script, the story was set in the 1960s.
Production
- Gillian Armstrong turned down a number of different projects in favour of Starstruck, including another classic Australian film of the era, Puberty Blues (1981), which co-starred Starstruck's Ned Lander (Robbie).
- Some of Brian Thomson's design elements, such as the neon lights seen in the Lizard Lounge, were originally intended for Shock Treatment (1981), Jim Sharman's unofficial sequel to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
- It was initially hoped that the tightrope sequence would be filmed at Martin Place in central Sydney, but this proved too impractical and expensive.
- Stuntwoman Dale Aspin walked the tightrope in place of Jo Kennedy, and was badly injured when she fell during filming. Fortunately, she escaped without lasting damage.
- The fake breasts on Jackie's tightrope walking costume were made of cardboard.
- The performers in 'Tough' were not dancers but actual lifesavers from the University of Sydney. In some shots, the lane lines on the bottom the University of Sydney's indoor pool can be spotted.
- The crowd of the Wow! Show was composed of actors from Sydney's Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP). By contrast, the crowd for the New Years Eve finale, filmed at the end of the shoot when money was scarce, was made up of two separate groups of school students working as volunteers. This made for an exhausting day's work for choreographer David Atkins, who had to teach the entire sequence twice in one day, once to each group. Atkins subsequently became an internationally renowned producer of live events, counting the 2010 Vancouver Olympics Opening Ceremony amongst his notable productions.
- Look carefully at the beginning of 'Body and Soul', and you'll spot Angus taking the Polaroid photo that is later seen sitting on top of a sandcastle in Jackie's room.
Music
- The film was not initially conceived as a full musical. Originally, it was planned to feature only two songs.
- INXS and Men at Work were amongst the rising Australian bands who were considered to take the part in the film that was eventually taken by The Swingers.
- The film was one of the first in Australia to be recorded in Dolby digital sound. Academy Award-nominated sound engineer Dave Dockendorf was specially brought out from Los Angeles to supervise the initial Dolby mix.
- 'I Want To Live in a House' was produced by Ian 'Molly' Meldrum of Countdown fame, who had previously worked with writer Stephen MacLean and producer David Elfick on Go Set Magazine. Gillian Armstrong later described the character of Terry Lambert as 'a blonde, suntanned Molly Meldrum'.
- The title of The Wow! Show was most likely inspired by The Go! Show, a music program that was broadcast in Melbourne during the late 1960s, whose filming Gillian Armstrong sometimes attended as a teenager.
Release
- Starstruck was amongst the first Australian films to be used by Qantas Airlines as its inflight entertainment.
Fan Theories
- Is Angus really Jackie's brother? Because Angus and Jackie share the same surname, we can assume that their fathers are brothers. When Pearl goes on her holiday to Queensland, she cannot have just bumped into Angus' father by coincidence ... how long has their relationship gone on? Is the reason he is living with Pearl and Jackie because he is secretly Pearl's son?
- Is Strictly Ballroom an unofficial sequel to Starstruck? Look closely, and you'll notice that Pearl's apartment is filled with old ballroom dancing trophies, and the dress she gives Jackie for Christmas is her former dancing costume. She would have been dancing in the late 1950s or early 1960s - just like Doug and Shirley Hastings, of Strictly Ballroom.
- Does the film end with a nuclear holocaust??? Thanks to website visitor Joni for this one. "With my luck, I'll crack it and then some nuclear holocaust will come along and ruin my career!" says Jackie Mullens, early in the film. Then, the film ends with the sound of a bomb and a fade to black ...