20 facts you might not know about 'Swingers'

Favreau had been in the business for a bit, with minor roles in movies and TV shows. You may remember him as Eric the Clown from the episode of Seinfeld where George flees the fire. He hadn’t written anything and had just received screenwriting software as a gift. Favreau wrote Swingers as an “exercise” in two weeks.

Favreau got his script in front of producers, but they all wanted to do stuff like cast big actors or not go to Vegas. Undeterred, Favreau stuck to his guns, even doing readings of the script to try and garner interest.

Nicole LaLoggia hopped on to work on the film's production because she knew Favreau from when he auditioned for a role in the movie Getting In. That movie was directed by her roommate, a guy named Doug Liman. Liman is now known for directing movies like The Bourne Identity. At the time, he only had Getting In to his name. Liman is the one who got the production paid for, thanks to a business associate of his father. The one catch for the cash? Liman had to be the director.

Favreau and Vince Vaughn met when both had small roles in the underdog sports classic Rudy. This helped Vaughn get the role of Trent, though he had to audition for it. Meanwhile, Ron Livingston, who plays Rob, was friends with Favreau from their improv days in Chicago.

Both Vaughn’s father and Favreau’s grandmother play gamblers in Las Vegas. LaLoggia, meanwhile, plays the voice of Michelle, Mike’s ex-girlfriend, and she also has a background role in the flesh. Favreau’s downstairs neighbor shows up in a party scene. It just so happened that his neighbor was Adam Scott, who became a successful actor himself.

Mike’s apartment in the movie? That was Favreau’s apartment in real life. The 1964 Mercury Comet convertible that Trent drives? That was Favreau’s actual car. Hey, anything to save a few bucks on a slim budget.

The whole “you’re so money” thing that became synonymous with the film was inspired by a series of ads starring Spike Lee and Michael Jordan. In those ads, Lee would refer to Jordan as “Money.” Meanwhile, the bit where Mike leaves message after message on his ex’s answering machine was inspired by a Jeff Garlin standup bit. He is a comic who spent time in Chicago, like Favreau.

The exterior shots of the casino Trent and Mike visit are of the Stardust, but the Stardust would not allow the movie actually to film within their building. Instead, the interiors were shot at the Fremont Hotel and Casino, a bit farther north in Vegas.

While Swingers didn’t shoot in Stardust, they were able to shoot in two popular spots in Los Angeles at the time. The Dresden Lounge and the Derby play themselves externally and internally. However, since the businesses couldn’t shut down and the film production couldn’t afford to rent them out, they would shoot during working hours. Signs warned people that they would become unpaid extras if they wandered into a shot.

Swingers and the swing revival sort of coincided, which may have played a role in the movie’s popularity. The swing band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy regularly played at the Derby, and Favreau befriended them by spending time hanging out there. This led to Favreau asking the band to be in the film as themselves playing at the Derby.

A big climactic centerpiece focuses on Mike meeting Lorraine and dancing with her. The intricate swing dancing took some time, though. Favreau and Heather Graham, who played Lorraine, practiced their dance at Graham’s house for a month.

When Trent and Mike are talking on the side of the freeway? That was shot without a permit. A film crew drew attention, and the police showed up looking for a permit. While production stalled, Liman had to finish filming the scene surreptitiously without the cops realizing it.

Why does Mike open his fridge in one scene? It had nothing to do with what was happening within the story. Instead, Liman felt the scene didn’t have enough light, so the fridge light had to be used to illuminate it further.

Years after Swingers came out, Favreau said that he was inspired by Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, and Kevin Smith. It’s not hard to tell that Favreau was a fan of at least two of those directors. You can see posters for Reservoir Dogs and Taxi Driver in the movie.

Las Vegas. Old-school music. A bunch of dudes hanging out. Do you get Rat Pack vibes from that? You aren’t the only one. It has been said that Swingers is inspired by the Rat Pack, with Mike and his friends Trent, Rob, Sue, and Charlie representing Frank Sinatra and his crew.

The first plan was to enter Swingers into festivals like Sundance, but they worried it wouldn’t be considered serious enough. Instead, the first screening was for friends, the crew, and some potential buyers. Ultimately, Miramax bought the film and agreed to screen it.

Swingers was made on a budget of $200,000. It quickly became a cult classic. The movie ended up making $4.6 million at the box office. Now, for a big-budget film, that would be a failure. For this movie, it was a huge success. The cultural impact was arguably even bigger.

Part of the score for Jaws is used in Swingers, but to make that happen, they had to get approval from Steven Spielberg. While watching the film to see if he wanted to sign off, Spielberg was struck by Vaughn’s performance. This led to him casting Vaughn in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. That was huge for the actor’s career.

Trent’s license plate is THC 1138. As most sci-fi fans likely know, this is the name of George Lucas’ first film. Favreau is clearly a Star Wars fan. After all, he went on to develop The Mandalorian for Disney.

Swingers was a breakout film for Favreau and Vaughn, and Favreau’s screenwriting debut. His second produced script was for 2001’s Made. On top of that, Favreau made his directorial debut with Made. If that wasn’t enough, the movie also costarred Vaughn and Favreau in a Swingers reunion. This time, the success wasn’t as clear. Made cost $5 million and earned $5.5 million. Hey, Favreau’s directorial career would turn out just fine.