The Stepford Wives/Trivia


 * Ability Over Appearance: The wives in the original screenplay were written to be dressed provocatively - presumably this counted for Carol too. Nanette Newman was thought to not have the right look to match this idea. However her "I'll just die if I don't get this recipe" scene is one of the more iconic parts of the film.
 * Actor Allusion: In the remake, Walter references "The Wind Beneath My Wings". The song is sung by Bette Midler, who plays Bobbie.
 * Awesome, Dear Boy: The reason Nicole Kidman agreed to do the remake? She's a huge fan of Miss Piggy, and this would be her only chance to 'work' with Piggy.
 * Creator Backlash: Levin and screenwriter William Goldman were upset that instead of the sexy women of the novel, they were replaced by homemakers (see Real Life Writes the Plot below). Goldman raged, "If you're going to fuck a toaster, it'd better be a sexy toaster."
 * Old Shame: Frank Oz, Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick and producer Scott Rudin take this view regarding the remake.
 * The Other Marty: Joanna Cassidy was cast as Bobbie and shot a few scenes before being fired and replaced with Paula Prentiss.
 * Reality Subtext: Joanna's anxiety at having to was genuine - as Katherine Ross and Paula Prentiss had become good friends.
 * Real Life Relative: For the 1975 film, Mary Stuart Masterson and her father Peter play father and daughter Walter and Kim Eberhart.
 * Real Life Writes the Plot: The original vision of the first movie had the Wives all dressed like "Playboy Bunnies sans ears and tail". Then director Bryan Forbes cast his actress wife Nanette Newman as one of the Wives, and whatever talents as a thespian she possessed, her physique wasn't remotely up to it, and so all the Wives ended up in long flowing dresses that made them look like '50s housewives. This may have been for the better, as one of the book's key themes was how the women were unwillingly pressed into domestic servitude and forced to give up their ambitions, and the housewife outfits highlight that much better than the skimpier outfits originally planned would have.
 * The remake goes both ways with this, giving the robot wives short, form-fitting sun dresses that highlight their figures.
 * Trope Namers:
 * Stepford Consumer
 * Stepford Smiler: With the remake providing the page image. In the final scene of the original film, all the women have them.
 * In the remake, Walter is also one of these,.
 * Stepford Snarker
 * Stepford Suburbia: The empty sterility of American suburbia is a major theme in the original film.
 * Troubled Production: Some deleted scenes (and, confusingly, some scenes that remain in the movie) show that the wives were supposed to actually be robots like the original and this was changed late in production.