♡ facts and information about the lost boys (1987) ♡

the lost boys is a vampire horror/comedy released in 1987, directed by joel schumacher. micheal and sam emerson move to a small town in santa carla, little do they know the town is crawling with vampires!

the film stars actors such as kiefer sutherland; previous movies; the bay boy, stand by me, brotherhood of justice, trapped in silence.

the film also stars corey haim, jason patric, brooke mccarter, billy wirth, jami gertz, dianne wiest, jamison newlander and corey feldman.

before taking the roles, jason patric met jami gertz whilst they were filming the movie solarbabies (1986) and they quickly become very good friends.

at first jason patric was hesitant about being apart of the movie, joel knew that he really wanted him in this movie. jason and joel spoke about the film and he quickly decided he didn’t want to do it, he was worried it would be trashy, exploitation vampire movie +

he was very serious about his acting and the kind of roles he wanted to do. jason said he didn’t want to be in a vampire movie, didn’t want to be wearing the fangs and fly. after this jason went off to star in a play but joel was still positive of him being in the film.

in schumacher’s words jason turned down the movie at least three times, along side delores robinson (jasons manager) they would meet jason a couple of times a week for at least six weeks! trying to convince him the movie would be a big move in his career.

joel schumacher said as soon as kiefer walked through the door he offered him the role of david on the spot. “he was just so arresting and captivating” kiefer said he “liked joel immediately and understood that there was a really cool punk rock look and feel

to both the character and the movie.”

before billy wirth got his part his was just studying at a university and doing abit of modelling when he had the opportunity to join up with an agency called the actors group

joel said to billy - “ look, we’re going to cast you in the movie as one of the lost boys, you won’t have a lot of lines but this part will change your life” and i remember billy talking about this when i saw him last year at a horror event! this guy is so genuine and lovely.

billy’s agent represented a guy on the west coast, his name was brooke mccarter, they would star in the movie together. brooke reached out and invited billy to stay with him

brooke had already been cast as david but kiefer would later get this role instead!

jason and corey spent a lot of time together before the filming, jason said he wanted them to be comfortable with each other and get a fraternal feeling and corey would come over or they would go places together

joel very much had a punk rock look in mind for the film

costume designer susan becker worked closely with the boys and joel with their outfits. sending them to melrose with a budget for their outfits.

the lost boys costume designs, especially markos jacket has got to be some of the most badass cool costume there is in film, love it

ve neill (makeup artist) was doing the makeup for the film, she has worked with makeup effects on movies such as beetlejuice and edward scissorhands

greg cannom (vampire prosthetics designer) had worked with ve before, when he got a call from her he had just finished working on the movie vamp featuring grace jones. they then arranged to do a test makeup on the side with brooke mccarter in gregs garage

steve laporte (makeup artist) “ve and i went over to gregs house and he already had brooke in the chair, the molds were still warm, we did the application on brooke, took it over to the studio and joel loved it, he was hired right there on the spost”

kiefer wanted a billy idol style hair cut in the lost in the shadows book - “ i went in a fibbed a little big by telling ramsey to give me billy idols haircut, but keep it long in the back so that joel didn’t fire me” - kiefer

when filming the mayor of Santa Cruz was as afraid it would give the town a bad name. Joel assured her that they would change the name of the town

Santa Cruz in the 80s was very much a hippie town and ‘stuck in the sixties’. micheal chapman said with the opening credits it was the real Santa Cruz, exactly how it was and didn’t fake anything

the boys were in Santa Cruz for a month of shooting, and joel brought them all together

during filming in santa cruz the boys had been on the motorbikes, kiefer had popped a wheelie and hit one of the trolley car tracks, he had broke his left wrist very bad, they then found a surfboard maker to make a cast for him. that’s why he is wearing black gloves in the movie

jason had never ridden a motorcycle before the snorting he spent a couple of days with a stunt coordinator

joe ferrara was the owner of the comic book store at the time where the iconic scene where sam meets the frog brothers. it used to be a grocery store until he and a partner bought it in the 70s. shooting would take place monday through friday between midnight and 6am at the board

walk. and then saturday they would shoot at the comic store between 9am and midnight.

the two comic books that the frog brothers give corey were not real comic books, put together by the prop master on the movie and featuring the art of chris miller

billy on shooting: “ brooke and i were definitely wild and having it our way in santa cruz, i had found my partner in crime, my wingman, and my brother from another mother, all rolled into one”

during shooting brooke brought his stereo and keyboards and often him and corey would rock out

“one of the most interesting things about kiefer in this film is that he has the least amount of dialogue, but his presence is extraordinary” - joel schumacher

in sams room you will see a poster of rob lowe (st.elmos fire) on the door

the original script called for a much younger set of vampires

kiefer talks about the contact lenses being unbearable, they would scratch his eyes so bad, the scene where he sheds a single tear is just the effect of the contact lenses on his eyes but it makes a badass scene

the sax man of the lost boys is tim capello he has worked along side people like tina turner in her band

the lost boys soundtrack is truly a masterpiece it features artists such as inxs, jimmy barnes, lou graham and echo and the bunnymen, there cover of people are strange by the doors.

the soundtrack was a major selling point for kiefer the inclusion of these artists helped push him towards the film

jim morrison poster in the lost boys cave.

the lost boys inspired buffy the vampire slayer

there was a deleted scene of the movie in which kiefer talks about, apparently it was “too violent and gross” he was really looking forward to the scene making the movie but joel decided to cut it out.

brooke mccarter who plays paul in the lost boys actually auditioned for bill and teds excellent adventure but alex winter who plays marko ended up getting the role as bill!

corey haim had a bat tattoo for the lost boys

there was talks about a sequel called ‘The Lost Girls’

kiefers half brother, angus sutherland , starred as shane in lost boys: the tribe.