'50 First Dates' Almost Had a Different Title, Plus More Little-Known Facts About the 2000s Rom-Com
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When we think about some of our favorite cinematic duos, Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore top our list. After all, the pair have made three hilarious romantic comedies together: The Wedding Singer (1998), 50 First Dates (2004) and Blended (2014). Don't tell the others, but our favorite has to be 50 First Dates, which features an unconventional love story, a stunning Hawaiian setting and countless laugh-out-loud moments.
Henry, played by Adam, is a marine veterinarian living in Hawaii. Although Henry usually dates tourists to avoid committing to a long-term relationship, that changes when he meets Drew's character, Lucy. After the pair spend an incredible day together, Henry begins to think that she could be the one, until he learns that she suffers from a condition that causes her to lose her memory every time she falls asleep.
While reminiscing on the movie, we couldn't help but dive into the behind-the-scenes details that make it such a special watch. Read on for some surprising secrets and stories, from the sweet reason why Drew didn't want to rehearse the singing scene to details about the original script, which was completely different from the movie we know and love today.
The movie didn't always take place in Hawaii.
Can you imagine this movie taking place anywhere other than Hawaii? Well, the film's first script took place in Seattle, the screenwriter George Wing's hometown. Director Peter Segal said the location change gave the movie a new personality. "I can't imagine the movie not having been filmed there because the island and the people became very unique characters and an innate part of the film that was never originally planned," he told Entertainment Weekly.
Drew didn't want to rehearse the singing scene.
And the reason is very sweet! "Whenever [Adam] sings to me in his movies, like he did in 50 First Dates and The Wedding Singer, I don't want to hear it or see it until we shoot the first time," Drew told HuffPost. "I want that reaction to be genuine. I don't want to fake it. We want something more spontaneous."
Lucy's condition was made up for the movie.
Most of the movie's plot hinges on Lucy's condition, Goldfield Syndrome, in which every time she falls asleep, she loses her memory. But it was entirely made up for the film. Although there are various forms of amnesia, falling asleep has no known negative effects for people with memory loss. In fact, sleeping has been proven to help improve memory.
Drew and her production partner almost passed on the project.
According to Nancy Juvonen, who co-founded Flower Films alongside Drew, they received the script for what was then called 50 First Kisses (more on that soon!) about four years prior to filming. While they liked the movie, Nancy revealed in The Dating Scene, a behind-the-scenes documentary, that the script ultimately got lost in the shuffle and was forgotten about for several years.
But the possibility of Adam's involvement reignited their interest.
Nancy added that once they learned that Adam had merely read the script, it sealed the deal for her and Drew. All they had to do was convince him to commit. "We pretty much stalked Adam the way we did for The Wedding Singer," she joked.
Drew wrote Adam a letter on a typewriter to persuade him.
Adam said that while he initially read the script and thought it was "sweet and nice," it took some convincing from Drew to finally move forward with the project. "I sat down at my typewriter and typed Adam a letter. I just believed in my heart that we were supposed to do this film," Drew said in The Dating Scene. We're all thanking our lucky stars that the letter worked! "Once Drew was psyched, I got psyched," Adam said.
Henry and Lucy's first kiss took place on a famous beach.
The film's scenic Oahu shoot wouldn't be complete without taking advantage of the beach made famous by From Here To Eternity, the Oscar-winning war romance released in 1953. Henry and Lucy sealed their budding romance with a kiss at Halona Beach Cove, the same spot where Montgomery Clift and Deborah Kerr's iconic lip lock (pictured here) was shot.
The movie has been used in couples counseling.
Peter told Bustle that the movie has been used by counselors "as a tool to show how much you would do for your spouse or your significant other." He also shared that therapists considered Henry's response to Lucy's condition "pretty admirable," dubbing his actions "something you should try in your own relationships — to do whatever you can."
Adam wrote one of the movie's sweetest songs.
The song "Forgetful Lucy," which Henry sings to Lucy to tell her that he loves her despite her amnesia, was penned by Adam. "It's very sweet," Peter told Bustle. "It's funny, but I think they're at a stage in that story where you're really falling in love with those characters in that relationship." Let's be honest, it wouldn't be an Adam Sandler song without a joke or two!
The cast couldn't get over one comedy star's cameo.
Although there are cameos from several comedy legends in the movie, casting director Roger Mussenden told Bustle that everyone on set was over the moon about working with Dan Aykroyd. "I'll tell you who was the superstar when he walked in the room that even Adam bent a knee: Dan Aykroyd," he said. "[He] came in and couldn't be a sweeter guy, he was just a lovely, lovely man."
Ula was based on people Adam met in Hawaii.
In The Dating Scene, Adam revealed that he wrote the character of Ula after meeting several fearless watermen in Hawaii. These men were not afraid of sharks or Hawaiian aquatic life and sported the scars to prove it, giving Adam inspiration for the character. He also said that writing the character into the film gave him the perfect excuse to work with Rob Schneider, one of his close friends and frequent collaborators.
The first draft featured a lot of café scenes.
We adore the movie's restaurant scenes, and if you can believe it, the first draft included even more of them. Peter told Entertainment Weekly that one of the first things he did when he agreed to take on the project was work with Adam to "open the movie up because it [felt] very claustrophobic." Adam's new scenes incorporated a lot more physical comedy: He was responsible for the hilarious penguin decoy scene, as well as the moment when Lucy saves Henry with a baseball bat.
The movie originally had a different name.
When the movie was first shopped around Hollywood, it was called 50 First Kisses. Peter told Entertainment Weekly that they ultimately decided to change the name because "marketing found that the term 'kisses' was turning off guys."
And it wasn't always a comedy.
According to Drew, the original script she read was much more of a drama. Although she told HuffPost that she "loved the writing" in the original, Adam was already hard at work infusing the script with the comedic bits it's now famous for.
Lucy's story almost ended very differently.
The movie's ending is notably not the happiest, which is unique for a rom-com. Peter told Entertainment Weekly that the production company originally wanted to cure Lucy to give the movie a happy ending — but we all know that didn't happen. "I'm so glad everyone supported this bittersweet ending because that's what was so heartbreaking about it, that she has to re-experience this every day," he said.
Speaking of the ending...
In the original script, the movie ends with Lucy waking up to see a mural intended to jog her memory with a timeline of their entire relationship painted on her bedroom ceiling. Peter told Entertainment Weekly that while this finish worked well enough, they decided to take things to Alaska instead. The new ending not only depicts the end of Lucy's story, but shows Henry fulfilling his lifelong dream of studying walruses in their natural habitat. "To this day, it's the best ending to any movie that I've done," he said.
Two of Adam and Drew's rom-coms end with covers of the same '80s hit.
Both The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates feature the Spandau Ballet ballad "True," although the versions are performed by different acts. The Wedding Singer has Steve Buscemi belting out the song in character, while the cover in 50 First Dates was sung by will.i.am and Fergie.
The film's video technique has been used for memory loss patients.
In the movie, Henry films a video reminding Lucy of their love story so she can watch it every morning. In 2015, the Hebrew Home at Riverdale in New York took this approach by having the families of dementia patients record videos designed to help them break through morning mental fog. Charlotte Dell, the home's director of social services, told NBC that the idea was directly inspired by 50 First Dates. "It was fluff, but it made me think, 'How could that translate to our residents with memory loss?'" she said.
The director didn't have much downtime before the shoot.
Although production had long wrapped on Anger Management — Peter's 2002 flick in which Adam also starred — Peter was deep into post-production edits on the film when Adam approached him with the script for 50 First Dates. "It was nearly the death of me because I had literally 48 hours off before we started shooting," he said. "I wouldn't do it again, but I wanted to see if I could because I'd heard about other directors [who had done it]."
The movie was the start of a forever friendship.
50 First Dates not only marked the first time Kevin James and Adam worked together, but it was also Kevin's first movie role. After James appeared in the montage featuring Adam's character's ex-lovers, the pair hit it off. They've since worked on several films together, including the Grown Ups franchise and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.
There's a fun nod to 'Happy Gilmore.'
One fan dove deep into what he dubbed the "Sandlerverse"and investigated all of the connections between Adam's movies, from reused props to long-running jokes. In 50 First Dates, Henry and Ula play golf together, with Ula delivering a rather unconventional swing that Henry calls "the stupidest flippin' swing I've ever seen." Turns out, it's a callback to the same way Adam swung in Happy Gilmore.
This wasn't 10-Second Tom's only appearance in a movie with Adam and Drew.
50 First Dates was not the last audiences saw of 10-Second Tom, a man whose brain injury causes him to only retain memories for ten seconds. The character, played by Allen Covert, also made an appearance in Blended, the 2014 comedy that reunited Adam and Drew. In that film, he's spotted picking up a prescription at the pharmacy.
Drew chose the book her character reads.
Lucy is spotted reading Still Life With Woodpecker, a novel by Tom Robbins that poses the question, "How do you make love stay?" How perfect is that considering the movie's theme? Drew revealed to The New York Times that it's one of her favorite books.
Adam and Peter's wives made a joint cameo.
It's no secret that Adam loves to include his family and friends in his movies. (You could make a game out of spotting them all!) His wife, Jackie, appears in a quick cameo as a dentist Henry previously dated, while Peter's wife, Linda, plays her patient. In an ironic twist, Linda is actually a dentist in real life.
There's a sneaky 'Tommy Boy' reference.
In 50 First Dates, Lucy visits a clinic called The Callahan Institute. The doctor, played by Dan Aykroyd, tells her that the clinic is "funded out of Sandusky, Ohio by T.B. Callahan, the automotive components tycoon." If that sounds familiar to you, it's because it's the same Callahan automotive dynasty from Tommy Boy, another film Peter directed. In a fun twist, in that 1995 film, Dan plays a rival entrepreneur who is trying to purchase Callahan.
Working with the walruses got a little tricky.
Henry, is a marine veterinarian who is shown working with walruses several times during the flick. Peter told BBC that while the animals were "beautiful," working with them posed a few challenges. "The walrus we worked with would get angry if we kept him away from his harem for too long and he'd take out his sexual frustration on us," he said. "We'd have to get out there real fast."
Sean Astin made home movies as his character, Doug.
Sean's portrayal of Doug Whitmore is truly unlike anything we've ever seen him do before. To get into character, Sean revealed that he filmed himself portraying Doug in his driveway in order to nail his voice and physique. You can watch some of the hilarious footage in The Dating Scene documentary.
The movie is dedicated to Adam Sandler's dad.
Stanley Sandler passed away from lung cancer in 2003, and Adam included a special dedication to him in the film's credits. Adam has opened up about his parents' support for his career and has even given them parts in his movies: Stanley voiced a character in Eight Crazy Nights, while his mother, Judy, has made cameos in several of his films.
The final scene's location took movie magic to pull off.
Henry's lifelong dream of studying walruses in their native Alaska comes true in the movie's final moments, which also reveal that the couple has a daughter. So, how did they pull off the Alaskan setting? In The Dating Scene, Peter said the footage of Drew standing on the boat was filmed on a soundstage in Los Angeles, the exterior boat shots were captured during the shoot in Hawaii and the mountains were shot in Alaska. In post-production, they created a "moving matte painting" to make all of the footage blend seamlessly.
The Olsen twins got a shoutout.
Remember the scene where Henry and Lucy head to the aquarium for a date? When the pair kiss, Henry notices two dolphins staring in the tank next to them, and he jokingly yells, "Mary-Kate, Ashley, get a life." The dolphins were, of course, named as a funny nod to the Olsen twins.
Adam was influential in creating the movie's soundtrack.
When it came time to nail down the movie's musical direction, Adam took the lead. "Adam had the idea of doing '80s covers with an island vibe," Peter told Bustle. They tapped some of the biggest musicians of the time, like Seal, to put their own coastal spin on beloved '80s ballads, including "Hold Me Now" and "Every Breath You Take."
The movie was filmed at the same resort as 'Jurassic Park.'
If the Hawaiian scenery looked familiar, you might have recognized it from Jurassic Park. Danielle Perry, who works at Kualoa Ranch, told Entertainment Tonight that Jurassic Park was the movie that put the ranch "on the map." Other movies that have been filmed on the 4,000-acre property include Crashers, Kong Skull Island, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Chief of War.
Filmmakers wanted to show a different side of Hawaii.
"In my initial talks with Peter Segal, he was clear that he wanted to show the 'other side' of Oahu, not just the resort side," production designer Alan Au told Cinema Review. "He wanted to show a more rural, countryside. When we began to scout, we found that most of what we wanted was on what's called the Windward side of the island, which has beautiful beaches and is very green and lush." Designers also ensured they stayed faithful to traditional Hawaiian architecture while creating the sets.
Sean Astin was the last person to be cast.
"He sent me a tape from Seattle, and I asked the guy to wait until we saw the tape because I had a good feeling about Astin, and he was terrific," casting director Roger Mussenden told Bustle. Prior to his appearance in 50 First Dates, Sean had never acted in a rom-com, but he nailed it!
SPAM played a big role in the film.
There are tons of SPAM references in 50 First Dates, from hilarious one-liners to some not-so-subtle product placement. Although there's no word on if this was a paid promotion or just a cheeky gag, it's certainly appropriate for the film's Hawaiian setting: The state of Hawaii consumes about 7 million cans of the spiced meat a year.
This is no secret, but Drew loved working with Adam.
"I had the best time of my life doing The Wedding Singer," Drew said in the documentary. "When you realize you're working with a person you really love, you wake up in the morning and look forward to going to work." She added that her experience on 50 First Dates was also fantastic, thanks to her co-star. "With Adam, I am always laughing. He is always funny, he is always kind. I had the best time."
In fact, she thinks she and Adam are 'cinematic soulmates.'
When asked about their partnership, Drew told HuffPost that she believed the duo were "cinematic soulmates" before they had even made their first movie. We can't help but think her hunch was correct: They're one of our favorite on-screen pairings.
Adam and Drew filmed a semi-sequel in 2020.
The duo reprised their roles for a pseudo-sequel to celebrate the 2020 premiere of Drew's talk show. In the sketch, Adam continued Henry's tradition of making Lucy a video to remind her of her life when she wakes up, but this time, there was a 2020 twist, as Adam discussed the COVID pandemic and Netflix. 10-Second Tom even made a cameo!
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