13 Weird Facts About Casper That Will Haunt You (In a Friendly Way)

When Brad Silberling’s big movie adaptation of the classic Harvey Comics character Casper floated into theaters in 1995, it wasn’t just another family-friendly ghost story. Audiences warmed to its comedy, heart, and meta surprises so much that it became a solid success, and Casper has maintained a place in our regular Halloween rotation ever since.

Casper is still a nostalgic fave for ’90s kids everywhere, and if you’re feeling all fuzzy about the ghostly lil guy, we’ve got 13 memorable facts about his movie that (hopefully) won’t give you a scare.

1. Casper was a CGI trailblazer

Big CGI characters may be a dime a dozen now, but our friendly ghost was a cinematic trailblazer, becoming the first wholly CGI lead in a feature film. The team at Industrial Light & Magic spent a long time ensuring that Casper worked onscreen first, then moved into a post-production animation process that took over a year.

2. An Amiga set-up saved the day

Casper ended up relying on a trusty Amiga to bring its lead to life because it was just about the only computer with video in and out ports at the time. This turned out to be a necessary part of showing the cast and crew what ol’ Cas would even look like. Its groundbreaking ‘live’ 2D animatics approach was overseen by the movie’s animation director Phil Nibbelink, and required a quick turnaround. “I was drawing with a regular Wacom tablet connected to the Amiga,” he told Beforesandafters. “By the time [the cast] had done a run-through, I’d have all the Caspers properly drawn.”

3. You may have seen the Casper house again in a different context

The ghostly shenanigans continued for a couple of years after Casper‘s release. The Whipstaff Manor set reappeared on the small screen in a curious fashion when the Backstreet Boys filmed their music video for “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” there. You may recall them asking you if they were sexual. “Yeahhhh,” you answered in your head just now. That’s the power of Whipstaff, baby!

4. Christina Ricci and Devon Sawa were onscreen love interests twice in one year

Devon Sawa appeared only briefly as the human version of Casper at the end of the movie, but he made a lasting impression on audiences. It also wasn’t the only time in 1995 that he’d get to play a love interest for star Christina Ricci. The two would appear together again on the big screen a few months later in the coming-of-age movie Now and Then.

5. It got the ball rolling on movie crossover cameos

Several big names make cameos as themselves in Casper, like Mel Gibson, Clint Eastwood, and Rodney Dangerfield, but Dan Aykroyd pops up in the form of his Ghostbusters character, Ray Stantz. It was one of the first major film crossovers at the time and went some way towards popularizing them. Though most of these crossovers have been welcome in the decades since, some are definitely more on the “can you not?” end of things. Your mileage may vary.

6. J.J. Abrams had a hand in making it

Although it’s hard to imagine the film without Devon Sawa literally embodying Casper, the movie didn’t originally end that way. A fresh-faced J.J. Abrams was brought aboard to rewrite the ending to include that moment. “The ending was approved and a nationwide casting call was launched,” Sawa revealed back in 2018. “I sent a VHS tape down to casting directors and a week later booked the role of Casper. I’ve been working ever since. Thanks JJ.”

7. It almost had the same director as The Crow

The Crow and Dark City director Alex Proyas was originally attached to Casper, but left after realizing it wasn’t for him. “I loved the idea of doing a kid’s fantasy,” he recalled. “One of my favorite films of all time is Wizard of Oz. I would like to do something like that one day. Casper seemed to be an opportunity to do a really great kids’ film with some real solid emotional resonance. Unfortunately, it started to move away from its potential at some point and that’s the reason I politely bowed out.” Welp!

8. A Poltergeist crossover was scrapped

The writers originally wanted Poltergeist’s best house cleaner to make an appearance, with Zelda Rubinstein considered for a brief scene. “We pictured her shooting out the chimney, screaming ‘Go toward the light!”’ screenwriter Deanna Oliver revealed. Sadly, it never happened, but we did get some other fun cameos.

9. They tried to make a live-action sequel

The Prince of Egypt director Simon Wells had a go at co-writing a live-action Casper sequel, but Universal Pictures cancelled it in 2000 due to a combination of direct-to-video Casper flops and Ricci not being keen to reprise her role. “I’m not that disappointed that fell through,” Wells told Variety at the time. We’ll always have Casper!

10. Bill Pullman’s now-famous son would entertain a prequel

Lewis Pullman is now one of the biggest stars in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the fractured Sentry in Thunderbolts* and Avengers: Doomsday, but along with playing his father Bill Pullman’s son in the upcoming Spaceballs sequel, he would be willing to entertain some future ghostly hijinx as Bill’s Casper character, Dr James Harvey. “That’s sacred grounds to step on, especially something as beloved as Casper,” he mused, adding, “I would [do] a prequel where I play him younger.”

11. There was no need for Casper’s backstory to be that upsetting

The wispy character didn’t even have an origin story in the comics. He was just a ghost. His parents were ghosts! There wasn’t much to go on for the filmmakers behind Casper, so it feels crazy out of pocket that they made the character as tragic as possible by saying he died of pneumonia as a child in cold weather, devastating his father. Critic Leonard Maltin was so annoyed by the addition to the story, he gave the film a “BOMB” rating. We wouldn’t go that far, but …sniff! Come on.

12. Critics didn’t love it, but audiences did

Casper is sitting at an incredible 59% on Rotten Tomatoes, with a consensus that it’s “a meandering, mindless family movie that frequently resorts to special effects and transparent sappiness.” Audiences have largely never agreed, giving it an A Cinemascore rating and spending a total of $289 million to see it in theaters. You can’t please everyone.

13. It was missing a big cameo in its final cut

Casper producer Steven Spielberg had to promise Mel Gibson and Clint Eastwood that he would also do a cameo in the movie in order to convince them to do theirs. Unfortunately, Spielberg’s performance wasn’t that great, and director Brad Silbering decided to cut him out of the movie. “I had to tell Steven, ‘You’re not the strongest of the group … [he] was sort of relieved. He felt compelled to do the cameo since he asked for favors, but he’s not an actor. Doing the cameo, he was as nervous as anything.”