In "Whenever You're Away From Me", Kira and Danny dance by a mirror, where you can see the cameraman. See more...
In his biography, Gene Kelly has admitted that he knew Xanadu was a bad film, but found Olivia Newton-John a joy to work with and she helped him survive it. See more...
Directed by Robert Greenwald, starring Gene Kelly, Olivia Newton-John (add more)
Genres: Fantasy, Musical, Romance
Comments made in brackets are corrections from other visitors. As such, any aggressive/abusive corrections (and I get quite a few) written as if they're comments I've made myself will be ignored. To submit your own corrections for mistakes, just click the edit icon under an entry, then choose "correct entry". Some entries have "duplicated entry" after them - these are entries which were already listed on the main page, but were submitted again. I occasionally leave these online for a while, just in case they were moved in error, so don't worry about pointing them out to me.
The ripped pieces of paper from Sonny's drawing land in front of the mural, yet they have all vanished as the muses dance in "I'm Alive." [Well, the little pieces of paper flew across the sky for quite a while before landing...it's not that far of a stretch to think that they blew away again.]
Corrected by Japan-Games
During the film Sonny changes from being left-handed to right handed sometimes, while he draws and paints. [He could be ambidextrous, and is able to paint and draw with either hand.]
Electric Light Orchestra were told by director Robert Greenwald to fit in the word "Xanadu" as many times as they could in their song. [Not true. The statement from www.imdb.com that "The word Xanadu was spoken 21 times in this song" was reworded for this submission. I can find no evidence that the director ever told Electric Light Orchestra to do this.]
Corrected by Jazetopher
The script was incomplete at the time when Olivia Newton-John signed on for Xanadu. It was written as they went along. [Copied from www.imdb.com.]
Corrected by Jazetopher
The animated sequence in this film, which is accompanied by the song "Don't Walk Away" was made by Don Bluth. He almost recreates the scene in his later film version of Thumbelina. [Copied from www.imdb.com.]
Corrected by Jazetopher
Famously received the one sentence review: "In a word, Xana-don't." [Copied from IMDB.]
This film features the title theme song "Xanadu," which is the only song in history beginning with the letter 'X' to break into Billboard's Top 40. [Trivia is supposed to be about the film - pointing out that songs beginning with the letter 'X' are more than somewhat rare hardly counts.]
Corrected by Tailkinker
There were over 60 Xanadu Dancers in total, for the Xanadu Roller Disco scene. [Something that could probably be determined by simply watching the film, or looking at the end credits, is hardly interesting trivia.]
Corrected by Tailkinker
The exterior of Los Angeles' Pan-Pacific Auditorium was used in film for shots of the Xanadu nightclub. The art deco Streamline Moderne building burned down in 1989, though a front spire section was saved and used on the recent Pan-Pacific park community center building which now stands in its place. [Pointing out filming locations is hardly interesting trivia - everything had to be filmed somewhere and the information about the fire has no relevance to the film in question.]
Corrected by Tailkinker
Bill Pullman was one of the Roller Skaters in the Xanadu club scene. He has a couple of clear shots in the scene. [Pointing out actors in films is not valid trivia.]
Corrected by Tailkinker
Playing on a 99-cent double-feature with Can't Stop the Music, this inspired John Wilson to create the Razzie Awards, dishonoring worst achievements in film. It later won the first ever Worst Director Razzie Award for Robert Greenwald. [Cut and pasted from IMdB.]
Corrected by Twotall
The only reason that Gene Kelly took the role of Danny McGuire because filming was a short drive from his home in Beverly Hills, so he could be close to his family. [Copied almost verbatim from IMdB.]
Corrected by Twotall
Came in at # 27 in "The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made." [In what poll? And I fail to see how this is trivia-worthy. A lot of movies get on these kinds of lists, and to only be no. 27 in any kind of rating is not very special.]
Corrected by Twotall
The interior of Xanadu took three months to build. [Not nearly interesting enough to be considered trivia.]
Corrected by Twotall
The set of the Xanadu club cost $1,000,000 to build. [So what? That's not exactly trivia-worthy.]
Corrected by Twotall
Towards the end after the Xanadu number, the mirrored curtain lifts and an overhead shot shows the eight sisters at the center, then dancing down the pink points of the star illuminated on the stage floor. The dancer at the 6 o'clock position starts down the wrong color point and then corrects herself before she reaches the edge of the stage. [The characters bad dancing is not a movie mistake. Although it is worth a laugh at.]
Corrected by Hamster
In Simpson's office at the record studio, Simpson tells Sonny to "pick up the van and hustle your butt over to the Platinum Palace." The next scene shows Sonny driving up to the Platinum Palace in a pickup truck, not a van. [Character error, not a movie one.]
Corrected by Hamster
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