FILM 2223: STARGATE (1994)

TRIVIA: Ra's glowing-eye effect was added in post-production, because test audiences didn't think that he was alien enough. This trait was continued in Stargate SG-1 (1997), as an identifier to people who are taken over by the Goa'uld.

James Spader admitted that he did the film for the money, as he found the script to be awful. He said, "Acting, for me, is a passion, but it's also a job, and I've always approached it as such. I have a certain manual-laborist view of acting. There's no shame in taking a film because you need some f****** money."

Alexis Cruz (Skaara) and Erick Avari (Kasuf) are the only actors to appear in both Stargate (1994) and Stargate SG-1 (1997).

Jaye Davidson's dislike of the attention that he received after The Crying Game (1992) made him reluctant to take the role of Ra in Stargate (1994). He didn't want to just turn the offer down, so he made what he expected to be an unacceptable demand of $1 million. This was accepted, and he appeared.

David Arnold was working as a clerk at a record store in England when he was recommended to compose the score for this film. On the DVD's commentary track, Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich admit that they were a bit nervous after hiring him, since his scoring experience at the time was limited to a few short films and only one full-length movie. However, their doubts were gone as soon as they heard what Arnold had composed, and they continued their cooperation with him on Independence Day (1996) and Godzilla (1998). Emmerich and Devlin also state that the quality of Arnold's score for the movie is best exemplified by the countless times it was re-used in trailers, TV spots and programs.

Jaye Davidson despised the costumes he wore so much, on the last day of shooting his scenes, after hearing the final "cut", he stripped naked on the set without going to his trailer. Moreover, Davidson retired from acting after completion of this film. Since 1994, he has only appeared in The Borghilde Project (2009), a 17-minute film.

High school teacher Omar Zuhdi claimed in a 1995 copyright infringement lawsuit that virtually the entire film was stolen from a manuscript he began writing as a college student. Zuhdi even had his former Egyptology professor from Johns Hopkins University vouch for him. Contrary to popular belief, Zuhdi never personally submitted his manuscript directly to Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin; he claims he submitted it only once to 20th Century Fox, who rejected it in 1984, five years before Emmerich and Devlin even met. However, the suit alleges that StudioCanal eventually acquired a copy of the manuscript, and some years later hired Emmerich and Devlin to make Stargate, using Zuhdi's ideas. Zuhdi sued Emmerich, Devlin, all of the film's other producers, StudioCanal, and MGM for $140 million. In 1997, the case was settled out of court for $50,000. In 2013, Zuhdi published a novel called "Egyptscape", based on the manuscript he says he submitted to Fox.

French Stewart's film debut.

Costume designer Joseph A. Porro was jokingly referred to as "The evil Joseph Porro" after the film was scored, because the music turns ominous at the same time his name appears in the opening credits.

The film is included on the film critic Roger Ebert's "Most Hated" list.

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This is featured on the podcast We Hate Movies Episode 545 - Stargate https://headgum.com/we-hate-movies/episode-545-stargate