Pump Up the Volume

Pump Up the Volume (1990)

Timing: 1:45 (105 min)

7/10
336

7.675/10
4969

7.2/10
33000

All about film

Video 1

Photo 19

Actors and characters

Release date

1990-08-22

Country

Canada, United States

Production

New Line Cinema, SC Entertainment

Genre

Music, Drama

Budget

$0

Revenue

$11 541 758

Website

Director

Allan Moyle

Actors

Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, Annie Ross, Scott Paulin, Mimi Kennedy, Andy Romano, Keith Stuart Thayer, Cheryl Pollak, Jeff Chamberlain, Lala Sloatman
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Sandy Stern, Rupert Harvey, Sara Risher, Nicolas Stiliadis, Syd Cappe

Operator

Walt Lloyd

Composer

Cliff Martinez

Artist

Audition

Editing

Janice Hampton, Larry Bock
All team (13)

• Due to constant smoking during filming, as required by the script, Christian Slater, who played the main character, felt unwell several times.
• Director and screenwriter Allan Moyle described the main character, played by Christian Slater, as a mix of Lenny Bruce (an American stand-up comedian, social critic, and satirist who gained prominence in the 1950s and 1960s) and Holden Caulfield (the main character in J. D. Salinger's novel 'The Catcher in the Rye').
• The school shown in the film was based on a high school in Montreal, where the director and screenwriter Allan Moyle's sister once worked as a teacher.
• Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis were in a close relationship during the making of the film, so the feelings they displayed on screen were quite genuine.
• Inspired by George Lucas's comedy *American Graffiti* (1973), director and screenwriter Allan Moyle approached Lucas to be a consultant or even producer on the *Pump Up the Volume* project. Lucas read the script and noted its potential. However, he and Steven Spielberg had released the adventure film *Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade* (1989) a year earlier, and Lucas now wanted to focus on the *Radio Killers* project. He had begun working on *Radio Killers* as early as the 1970s. Ultimately, the film of the same name (1994) was directed by Mel Smith, but it flopped at the box office.
• Just before filming began, Christian Slater had his driver's license suspended for the second time in a relatively short period for driving under the influence, and Allan Moyle had to make corresponding changes to the script. Slater's character does not drive, preferring to walk. In the final scene, his girlfriend Nora, played by Samantha Mathis, is behind the wheel.