Music credits misspell Keith Richards’s last name as “Richard.” Similarly, songwriter Tony Asher’s name is misspelled “Ascher.”
       On 12 May 1982, DV announced that The Ladd Company had contracted Lawrence Kasdan direct The Big Chill, which he co-wrote with Barbara Benedek. At the time, Kasdan was best known for screenwriting blockbuster films such as The Empire Strikes Back (1980, see entry) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, see entry), and for making his directorial debut with Body Heat (1981, see entry). The picture was released to critical acclaim and box-office success by The Ladd Company.
       According to a 12 Oct 1983 Newsday article, Kasdan and Benedek began writing The Big Chill in Sep 1980, five months after the release of director John Sayles’s Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980, see entry), which also portrays a reunion with an ensemble cast. Although Kasdan was widely criticized for being derivative of Sayles, he told Newsday that Return of the Secaucus 7 merely motivated him to write a story that he conceived many years earlier. One month after starting to write The Big Chill, Kasdan began production on Body Heat, and consequently wrote the role of “Nick” for Body Heat’s star, William Hurt. The other characters were not created with specific actors in mind. An Oct 1983 edition of Esquire magazine noted that Hurt gave Kasdan a commitment to perform in The Big Chill.
       The film was semi-autobiographical. Like his characters, Kasdan was a political activist at the University of Michigan before graduating in 1970. According to Kasdan, the idealism of his youth was starkly contrasted in the following decade, when his peers expressed apathy and cynicism toward the “moral principals” they honed in college. Interacting with such detractors provoked the writer-director to sense “a physical chill that would pass through my body. I started calling it ‘the big chill.’”
       Kasdan told Newsday that his early experiences in Hollywood created a similar “chill” of disillusionment, particularly his relationship with The Ladd Company. After Kasdan delivered The Big Chill, the studio rejected the property, and the filmmaker was left with a script that no major studio would finance. In the summer of 1982, producer Richard Fischoff, a Paramount Pictures executive at the time, pushed the studio to make the film, but Paramount executives were not convinced that the adult-themed story could be marketable to a mass audience.
       In turn, Fischoff brought the project to Marcia Nasatir, who read the script in Jul 1982. As noted in a 16 Dec 2013 HR article, Nasatir became the first female vice president of production at United Artists (UA) when she was hired by Mike Medavoy in the mid-1970s. In 1978, Medavoy and four colleagues left the studio to form Orion Pictures, leaving Nasatir behind. She ultimately joined the men at Orion, but was refused an equal partnership and vacated her position to become the president of entertainer Johnny Carson’s newly established company, Carson Productions Group, Ltd. There, she launched The Big Chill as the studio’s first production. On 20 Sep 1982, DV and HR announced Kasdan’s deal with Carson Productions, and listed Columbia Pictures as the film’s distributor. Eight months later, however, a 20 May 1983 DV column announced that Nasatir was leaving Carson Productions to become a senior vice president at Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. Esquire noted the irony that her replacement, Richard Fischoff, was left to oversee the release of the film he was unable to make at his former studio, Paramount.
       As stated in a 22 Sep 1982 DV column, Glenn Close and Tom Berenger were the first actors officially cast in the picture, followed soon after by Jeff Goldblum, JoBeth Williams, and William Hurt, who agreed to star in the film before it was optioned. An 8 Oct 1982 DV news item added Meg Tilly, Mary Kay Place, Don Galloway, and Kevin Costner to the cast. Costner performed the role of “Alex,” the friend who committed suicide, but his “flashback” scenes, shot at the beginning of production in Atlanta, GA, were cut from the final film. However, Costner does appear in opening credits as Alex’s corpse, according to a 13 Sep 1998 NYT article. The 12 Oct 1983 Newsday noted that Kevin Kline was considered for the roles of “Sam” and “Michael” before he was cast as “Harold.”
       Studio production notes in AMPAS library files stated that the actors developed their roles in Oct 1982, one month before principal photography began on 8 Nov 1982 in Atlanta. Jeff Goldblum told Newsday that rehearsals took place at a condominium complex, where the actors lived, shared meals, and played late-night games such as charades and “Trivial Pursuit.” By the time shooting began, the actors had already established a “cooperative spirit.” The primary location of the film was “Tidalholm,” an 1853 Italianate estate in Beaufort, SC. On 7 Feb 1983, DV announced that filming had ended. Various contemporary sources, including Newsday and a 13 Jul 1983 LAHExam news item cited a budget between $7.75 and $8 million.
       The Big Chill made its world premiere on 9 Sep 1983 at the Toronto Festival of Festivals in Canada, where it won the People’s Choice Award. Soon afterward, the picture debuted in the U.S. at the opening night gala of the 21st New York Film Festival. A 31 Aug 1983 DV article stated that The Big Chill was scheduled to screen simultaneously at two Los Angeles, CA, venues on 20 Sep 1983. The Directors Guild Theater premiere included captions for the hearing impaired while AMPAS’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater projected a traditional print, without captions. The screenings reportedly marked the first time a feature film was premiered with captions. Both events were fundraisers for Tripod, Inc., a non-profit organization that assisted hearing-impaired children.
       Contemporary sources noted various opening dates, such as the 28 Sep 1983 LAT and the 23 Sep NYT reviews, which listed 28 Sep 1983 and 29 Sep 1983, respectively. However, Newsday stated that the film was released nationally on 30 Sep 1983 in 700 theaters. It grossed $9.2 million in its first two weeks, and $53 million during its first run, according to a 13-15 Nov 1998 HR article. The picture was reissued on 6 Nov 1998, and a DVD and LaserDisc version of the film was in preparation for Tri-Star Home Video release in early 1999. In 2013, The Big Chill celebrated its 30th anniversary at the Toronto Film Festival, where it made its world premiere. A 25 Jul 2013 Var announcement noted that many of the stars were scheduled to appear, as well as Lawrence Kasdan and producer Michael Shamberg.
       The film marked the feature film debuts of actor-filmmakers Jon Kasdan and Jacob Kasdan, sons of Lawrence Kasdan. Their mother, Meg Kasdan, performed the role of “Airline hostess.” She is also credited onscreen as a music consultant.
       The Big Chill was nominated for Academy Awards in the following categories: Actress in a Supporting Role (Glenn Close), Writing (Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen), and Best Picture.
       AFI’s “100 Greatest American Movie Music” list ranked The Temptations’ version of “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” in The Big Chill as number ninety-four.
      End credits state: “Filmed entirely on location in Beaufort, South Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia,” and, “The producers wish to thank: The South Carolina Film Office, the Georgia Film Office, and the people of Beaufort, South Carolina for their help in the making of this film.”