FILM 1806: MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE

FILM 1806: MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE

TRIVIA: The only Stephen King story turned into a movie to be directed by King himself.

When asked why he hasn't directed a movie since "Maximum Overdrive", Stephen Kingresponded "Just watch Maximum Overdrive."

Stephen King, being a former cocaine addict, later admitted that he was "coked out of my mind" the entire time he was making this picture and often didn't know what he was doing. He remarked that he'd like to try directing again someday, this time sober.

While shooting the scene where the steamroller rampages across the baseball diamond, Stephen King requested that the SFX department place a bag of fake blood near the dummy of a young player who would be run over by it. The desired effect would be that a smear of blood would appear on the steamroller and be re-smeared on the grass over and over, like a printing press. While filming the scene, however, the bag of blood exploded too soon and sprayed everywhere, making it appear as if the boy's head had also exploded. King was thrilled with the results, but censors demanded the shot be cut.

AC/DC was selected to make the music for the movie by Stephen King himself.

The "Dixie Boy" truck stop was a set constructed 10 miles outside of Wilmington, North Carolina. It was convincing enough that several truckers tried to stop in, and eventually the producers had to put announcements in local papers saying that the "Dixie Boy" was just a movie set.

An accident occurred on July 31, 1985 during shooting in a suburb of Wilmington, North Carolina where a radio-controlled lawnmower used in a scene went out of control and struck a block of wood used as a camera support, shooting out wood splinters which injured the director of photography Armando Nannuzzi; as a result, he lost his right eye. Nannuzzi sued Stephen King on February 18, 1987 for $18 million in damages. The suit was settled out of court.

Stephen King is a huge fan of AC/DC and when he got to meet them he asked them if they would provide music for this movie. He also offered the band a role in the film but AC/DC declined stating they are not actors and do not appear in this movie at all, despite claims of a scene of them on a boat which is not true at all. The band agreed to do the soundtrack after Stephen King sung "Ain't no fun waiting round to be a millionaire" from the bands 1976 Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap album. King sang the entire thing from start to finish and the band laughingly agreed that if he was such a fan they would do it for him. AC/DC preform all but two songs featured in the film, and the entire 1987 album "Who Made Who" is the soundtrack to this movie. AC/DC wrote a new track called Who Made Who, and various instrumentals aka: score music. Only two of the instrumentals appear on the album. The rest of the songs are from previous AC/DC albums and also contains a slightly edited version of Sink The Pink. The movie also features two unreleased mixes of previously released songs. One being a more rawer version of You Shook Me All Night Long and the vocals cut out of For Those About To Rock, heard only in the movie, not on the album. At the time of the release many music stores had no idea the album Who Made Who was a compilation soundtrack for this movie, and many mislabeled the album as an AC/DC greatest hits. limited pressings of the album did feature a small print and the movies logo stating it was the soundtrack to Stephen Kings Maximum Overdrive but was later removed from future pressings.

If you listen closely you can hear the ice cream truck's tune is "King of the Road".

The title of the film is referenced in The Simpsons: Maximum Homerdrive (1999), in which Homer Simpson takes over a truck driver's delivery and finds out that his truck is controlled by an on board computer. Yeardley Smith, who plays Connie in the film, is the voice of Lisa Simpson in the show.