16 Things you didn't know about Purple Rain
Purple Rain was one of the defining films of the 1980s and even earned Prince an Oscar but that is not the whole story!
1. The song was inspired by Bob Seger after he played "Turn the Page" he urged Prince to write something and he responded with "Purple Rain".
2. Prince was in the midst of re-negotiating his contract with his managers and only agreed to re-sign with them if they could get him a movie.
3. Prince wanted to end with his parents dying in a murder-suicide. That idea was dropped.
4. Prince arranged for all the musicians to take dance and acting classes prior to filming. The lead singer of The Time, Morris Day, was booted out of class for goofing off.
5. Patricia Kotero was modeling for a tool company when she auditioned for Purple Rain and Prince told her "You're going to be one of those one-name girls" and named her Apollonia.
6. Apollonia dunked into Lake Minnetonka four times in a row and on her last time went into hypothermia.
7. Jerome tosses a woman in a dumpster at one point which comes from a real life story.
8. Prince dated several woman during the filming.
9. Michael Jackson was not impressed and left 10 minutes before the film was over.
10. The Time/Revolution rivalry included a three day food fight at one point.
11. Vanity dropped out of the film for The Last Temptation of Christ not because she was dating Prince at the time.
12. Prince was not impressed with Lisa Coleman's wardrobe.
13. There was talk of a sequel which did not happen but Prince did make a semi-sequel Graffiti Bridge.
14. Warner Brothers was worried about the competition with Rick Springfield's Hard to Hold. Needless to say they did not need to worry.
15. The Film boosted the popularity of the Minneapolis club First Avenue. People would come just to see if Prince were there.
16. Prince wanted Stevie Nicks to write the lyrics to a demo of Purple Rain but she declined because it was too overwhelming.
Now everyone go watch in Memory of Prince and with these unknown facts in mind!
