Actor Tom Berenger, who plays the
Magnum P.I.-like actor Sam, was so captivated with the town of Beaufort, South Carolina during the filming of
The Big Chill that he bought property there and has continued to live part of the time there throughout his life where he remains involved with the Beaufort community. Berenger also married his second (now ex-) wife on the front lawn of Tidalholm, the house used in the film.
Actress Meg Tilly who plays Chloe, went on to become a successful book author in addition to her acting work over the years.
The popular music soundtrack to
The Big Chill was re-released with new packaging for the film's 15th anniversary in 1998.
In 2004 a 2-CD Deluxe Edition of the film's famous soundtrack was released that contained a total of 38 tracks, including some previously unreleased instrumental selections such as the
J.T. Lancer theme song.
When they weren't filming, the cast loved to pass the time playing games together including poker, charades and a brand new game Glenn Close had found in Canada that had not yet been released in the States called Trivial Pursuit. "I remember when we shot
The Big Chill, and we'd have these get-togethers," wrote co-star Meg Tilly on her blog in 2008, "and there would be food and music and conversation, and then out would come the dreaded Trivial Pursuit. It was a new game and oh my was I bad. Everybody else's pieces were whizzing around the board as the rest of the cast gleefully got answer after answer right. And there was me, stuck at Go/Start. I am not exaggerating here, my piece never moved."
Director Lawrence Kasdan's wife Meg, who also served as Music Consultant on
The Big Chill, appears at the beginning of the film as an airline flight attendant who hands Sam a copy of the
Us magazine with him on the cover.
Lawrence Kasdan's older son Jake appears in the film as the little boy who approaches Sam at the funeral reception and asks for his autograph. Jake Kasdan has gone on to be a successful writer and director himself in Hollywood with such credits as
Zero Effect (1998),
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) and the Zooey Deschanel television show
New Girl.
Lawrence Kasdan's younger son Jon appears in the film's opening shot as the little boy singing "Joy to the World" as he gets a bath from on-screen dad Kevin Kline. Jon has also gone on to a successful career in Hollywood, working as a writer and/or director on such projects as
Dawson's Creek and
Californication.
In a 1998 retrospective documentary actress JoBeth Williams revealed that in the beginning she had really wanted to play the role of Meg, the attorney with the ticking biological clock that ended up going to Mary Kay Place.
At first, Glenn Close and Kevin Kline were disappointed with having to play the level-headed parental figures of the group. However, Kasdan assured them that their characters were "the glue" of the friends and extremely important to the dynamic of the film.
Before being cast as Harold, Kevin Kline also read for the roles of Michael (Jeff Goldblum) and Sam (Tom Berenger).
According to the rest of the cast, it was the house on location in Beaufort, SC shared by Jeff Goldblum and Kevin Kline that was the "party house." It was there that most of the fun gatherings took place during down time where music, games, food and drink were shared.
Since the shoot was going on through Halloween of 1982, JoBeth Williams, Mary Kay Place and Glenn Close went to a local K-Mart together to buy Halloween costumes. While there, as a joke, they also bought a vast quantity of extremely large women's underwear. Later they sneaked into Kevin Kline and Jeff Goldblum's house and hung the underwear on the ceiling fan in the living room. As a gag they would let the fan run, increasing its speed along the way until the underwear flew off in all directions and everyone dissolved into hysterical laughter.
Famous Quotes from THE BIG CHILL
"I feel terrible. The last time I spoke with Alex we had a fight. I yelled at him."
"That's probably why he killed himself. What was the argument about?"
"I told him he was wasting his life."
-- Meg (Mary Kay Place) and Nick (William Hurt)
"You alright?"
"Yeah. I'm a little disappointed, though. I wanted to ride up there. I've always wanted to ride in a limo."
-- Sam (Tom Berenger) and Chloe (Meg Tilly), on the way to Alex's burial.
"Amazing tradition. They throw a great party for you on the one day they know you can't come." -- Michael (Jeff Goldblum), at Alex's funeral reception.
"So, how's your life?"
"Great. How's yours?"
"Not so great."
"Oh, we're telling the truth." -- Sam and Karen (JoBeth Williams)
"You'd never get a crowd this big at my funeral."
"Oh, Karen, come on. I'll come. And I'll bring a date."
-- Karen and Michael, at Alex's funeral reception.
"I know this is hard for you, but it's all beautiful."
"Yeah, we put on a great funeral here."
"Yeah, maybe I'll have mine here too."
"We give first preference to people who kill themselves in one of our bathrooms...That was a terrible thing to say. I don't know why I said that."
-- Karen and Sarah (Glenn Close), at Alex's funeral reception.
"I found him."
"God, it must have been awful."
"It was. It was a real mess."
"So, what are you going to do now?"
"Oh, we cleaned it up." -- Chloe and Karen, at Alex's funeral reception.
"I feel like I have never been alone in my own house. Never. Either Richard is there, or the boys or the housekeeper. Remember those laboratory rats that went crazy when deprived of their privacy?"
"They're living with you, too?" -- Karen and Sarah
"Harold, don't you have any other music, like from this century?"
"There is no other music. Not in my house." -- Michael and Harold (Kevin Kline)
"So how about you, Michael? Tell us about big-time journalism."
"Where I work we have only one editorial rule: you can't write anything longer than the average person can read during the average crap. I'm tired of having all my work read in the can."
"People read Dostoevsky in the can."
"Yes, but they can't finish it." -- Karen, Michael and Harold
"I don't know what people think about me. I don't know why they like me, or even if they do like me."
"Well, you don't have that problem here. You
know I don't like you."
-- Sam and Harold
"What's this?"
"I'm not sure."
"What's it about?"
"I don't know."
"Who's that?"
"I think the guy in the hat did something terrible."
-- Sam and Nick, watching a television show.
"That's the trouble with these things. You have to watch them every minute."
-- Michael, to Sarah who is staring blankly into an open refrigerator.
"Really all that's happening is I'm trying to get what I want, which is what everybody does. It's just that some of their styles are so warm or charming or sincere or otherwise phony, you don't realize they're just trying to get what they want. So you see, my transparent efforts are in a way much more honest and admirable."
"Why is it what you just said strikes me as a massive rationalization?"
"Don't knock rationalization. Where would we be without it? I don't know anyone who can get through the day without two or three juicy rationalizations. They're more important than sex."
"Ah, come on. Nothing is more important than sex."
"Oh yeah? Ever go a week without a rationalization?"
-- Michael and Sam
"This is all so familiar, and I love you all so much. I know that sounds gross, doesn't it? I feel like I was at my best when I was with you people." --Sarah
"Getting away from you people was the best thing that ever happened to me. I mean, how much sex, fun, friendship can one man take?" -- Harold
"I'm not cynical about dessert." -- Nick, at the dinner table
"I know that Richard will always be faithful to me."
"That's nice. A little trust."
"Fear of herpes." -- Karen and Harold
"I don't like talking about my past as much as you guys do." -- Chloe, to Nick
"This bed has always been lucky for Sarah and me." -- Harold, to Meg
"I feel like I got a great break on a used car." --Meg, to Harold
"I must tell you I'm picking up vibrations here at the house. I'm almost certain there's sex going on around here." -- Michael, to Sarah
"Sarah, Harold, we took a secret vote. We're not leaving. We're never leaving."
-- Michael, on the day that everyone is supposed to leave Sarah and Harold's house
