TRIVIA: John Hughes' directorial debut.
Anthony Michael Hall and Molly Ringwald initially disliked each other, so John Hughes took them to a record store and they bonded after they found out they like the same music. One of the groups they liked was The Rave-Ups which Molly scribbled on Samantha's notebook.
Of all the films Molly Ringwald made with John Hughes, she said, "I had the most fun on Sixteen Candles."
Molly Ringwald almost lost the part of Samantha Baker to Ally Sheedy, her future co-star in The Breakfast Club (1985).
Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall were both 16 years old when this movie was released.
The movie's Costume Designer begged Molly Ringwald not to wear the hat she wore in the beginning of the movie. Ringwald insisted. After the movie was released, teenage girls started wearing their hats tilted back like that.
Michael Schoeffling was so shy during his audition, it almost cost him the job. But Producer Michelle Manning said, "He was so stunning and dreamy, that we cast him."
Haviland Morris didn't want to do the shower scene, because the point was that she had bigger breasts than Sam and Randy, which she didn't. So they had a body double for her.
Jim Carrey auditioned for the role of Ted "The Geek".
The movie's line "Can I borrow your underpants for ten minutes?" was voted as #86 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.
John Hughes cast Molly Ringwald after seeing her headshot. Inspired by Ringwald's appearance, he put it up over his desk and wrote the film just over a weekend, with her specifically in mind for the lead role.
John Cusack and Joan Cusack's roles were essentially consolation prizes. They were prominently cast in The Breakfast Club (1985), with John cast as Bender, and Joan set to play Allison. But Universal thought that John Hughes' script for this film was more commercial, and therefore should be made first.
When Ginny, Sam's sister, sits down in the church scene, she does so next to Agnes Belushi, mother of John Belushi and Jim Belushi. The Reverend is played by Brian Doyle-Murray, Bill Murrays older brother.
DIRECTOR TRADEMARK(John Hughes): [The Beatles]: Ted Farmer sings "Birthday" to Sam in the auto shop.
In late 2003, USA Network announced that a made-for-television sequel, to be called "32 Candles", was being planned, showcasing the original characters sixteen years after the original film. It was unknown at the time of the announcement, whether any of the original cast members would be involved with the project, but that turned out to be unimportant, since the announced new film was never made.
The German title of the film, "Das darf man nur als Erwachsener", translates to "One may do that only as an adult".
Based on his performance as another father character in Breaking Away, Paul Dooley was offered his role in this film but turned it down as he felt the character was just a stock Dad character without much development. Dooley said it's typical if you turn down a role, you get offered more money but turned it down again, due to the character's development. John Hughes called Dooley personally and told him that he wrote a scene with Dooley and Ringwald's character, which became an iconic moment in the film. Dooley said later on, he'd have viewers come to him and tell him that they wished he were their father, based on the scene.
In an article published in Salon, Amy Benfer considers whether the film directly condones date rape. After the party scene, Jake tells Ted that his girlfriend Caroline is "in the bedroom right now, passed out cold. I could violate her ten different ways if I wanted to." He encourages Ted to drive her home saying "she's so blitzed she won't know the difference." When Caroline and Ted wake up next to each other in the car, Caroline says she's fairly certain they had sex though neither of them remember it. Amy Benfer writes "The scene only works because people were stupid about date rape at the time. Even in a randy teen comedy, you would never see two sympathetic male characters conspiring to take advantage of a drunk chick these days."
When Sam sees her grandparents for the first time, the theme song from The Twilight Zone (1959) is playing. Her grandfathers, played by Edward Andrews and Max Showalter, starred separately in two different episodes.
