Early scenes of the film are accompanied by voice-over narration from James Belushi as “Larry Burrows,” who sets up the film’s premise: “Destiny’s a pretty big concept when you think about it. Where you are in life, how you got there, what would have happened if one thing or another had been different. To be honest, I never gave it much thought myself, until today, June 14, my thirty-fifth birthday, and without a doubt, the strangest day of my life. You remember the old story that starts: This guy goes into a bar? Well, I’m the guy, and here’s the story. But wait a minute, I’m getting way ahead of myself. To tell this story right, I should start where it really begins. Twenty years ago. Twenty years ago today, as a matter of fact. June 14, 1970, my fifteenth birthday, and also a very strange day. It was the all-state high school championship game, bottom of the ninth, two outs. Our school hadn’t made it to the finals in twenty-five years, so out of a town of 30,000 people, 38,000 showed up for the game. Fillmore High had us by a run, and it was a three-two count. Fenbrook was standing on third like the bag was ready to explode under his feet. The championship had come down to one batter. Yeah, you guessed it, your truly, Larry Burrows. Haskins was throwing fastballs because that was the only pitch he ever threw. So I was ready for the next one. Then something weird happened. Don't ask me what it was, ’cause it only happened for a split second. But that was enough to change my life forever. Why is it, when you do something terrific, nine times out of ten, you’re all alone, but when you screw up really big, the whole world is watching? I wanted to crawl under home plate and never come out. As usual, my best friend, Clip Metzler, tried to cheer me up. Clip’s very big on novelty gags. It was the worst moment of my life. God, I felt bad. I thought it was really sweet, [Ellen] giving me the handkerchief and not saying anything about me crying like a big baby. Really sweet. So I married her. Not right then, of course. Several years later when we were grown-ups. Ellen and I have a pretty regular life. We have a little two-bedroom house in the suburb that isn’t quite finished, and a contractor named Guzelman who doesn’t want to quite finish it. We have a dog name Sammy. I found him rooting through some garbage in an alley, so I brought him home. He has a nervous bladder, but a good heart. Don’t you hate it when somebody knows you that well? You can’t get away with anything. But I guess that's just part of marriage. So’s the occasional argument. But we never argue about anything important. And we always make up. So far nothing had happened to make me think this was going to be anything more than just another routine day at the office. As usual, by the time I arrived, there was no coffee left, and no water. So I did the only thing I could think of. Why is it, every time you have a mouthful of freeze-dried [coffee], the boss walks in on you? Jackie is a real sweet guy, but kind of dumb for a company president. Why is it, every time your best friend kisses you on the head, a beautiful woman comes along and catches you? Cindy Jo’s father owns the company, and she’s married to Jackie. That’s how a guy named ‘Cement Head’ gets to be president. Maybe it’s because it was my birthday, maybe it was seeing Cindy Jo, I don’t know, but all morning I’d been thinking about what it would’ve been like if my life had turned out differently. Looking back I should have said no [to Ellen’s request that he investigate plant layoffs], but I didn’t, because I’m an idiot. And sure enough, when the head of my department, Niles Pender, announced he was raising production levels, I couldn’t keep my big idiot mouth shut. Leo Hansen owns the company. He’s a very sweet man, but I don’t think he has a clue about what’s really going on. Looking back, I should have said no to Dad, too, but I didn’t. I was beginning to think that something was going on. I decided to look around Niles’ office to see if I could find anything. I’d been an idiot all morning anyway, so I figured, why stop now? Why is it, every time you break into your boss’s office, he always walks in on you? Well, that brings me back to where I began, in the middle of nowhere with a car that won’t start. All things considered, it had turned into a pretty rotten birthday. But nothing in my wildest imagination could have prepared me for what came next.” Near the end of the film, the narration resumes to conclude the story: “Well, that’s it, that was my thirty-fifth birthday. I told you it was weird. It’s so weird I probably shouldn’t tell anyone about it. I mean, who’d believe me? I’m not sure I believe it myself.”
       According to production notes in AMPAS library files, the cast and crew rehearsed for two weeks in Winston-Salem, NC, but actor Michael Caine did not attend rehearsals because director James Orr did not want other actors to be “comfortable” with his character, “Mr. Destiny.” Principal photography began 19 Mar 1990 at the lavish Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC, which stood in for Larry and Cindy Jo Burrows’ mansion, the 30 Mar 1990 DV reported. The 2 May 1990 USA Today noted that Caine had finished his scenes and left. The abandoned R. J. Reynolds World Headquarters Building in Winston-Salem was used as the offices of “Liberty Republic Sporting Goods.”
       Michael Baron, a theater student at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, was selected from 2,000 hopeful extras to portray a pizza-parlor worker who delivers the line, “Be about 20 minutes,” to actors Jim Belushi and Linda Hamilton, the 11 Mar 1990 NYT noted. Baron’s name is not listed in final credits.
       Various publications, including the 18 Mar 1990 Orlando Sentinel and the 7 May 1990 Long Beach Press-Telegram, remarked on an Advertising Age article about the Walt Disney Company, owner of Touchstone Films, soliciting “product placements” for Mr. Destiny. Disney’s prices were $20,000 for a product to be visible in a scene, $40,000 if an actor mentioned it, and $60,000 if the product was used. In one scene, “Larry Burrows” gets angry because he runs out of Wheaties cereal.
       Most reviews noted the similarity between Mr. Destiny and It’s a Wonderful Life (1947, see entry), but an equally influential film is the lesser known Turn Back the Clock (1933, see entry), starring Lee Tracy as a humble man who repeats his adult life, marries the rich girl he rejected the first time, and ultimately regrets his second chance.
       The Dec 1990 BOX reported that Mr. Destiny grossed only $11.8 million in its first month of release.
       End credits contain the following acknowledgments: “The producers wish to thank The Biltmore Company,” and “This motion picture was created by Grapeshot Productions, Inc.”
Early scenes of the film are accompanied by voice-over narration from James Belushi as “Larry Burrows,” who sets up the film’s premise: “Destiny’s a pretty big concept when you think about it. Where you are in life, how you got there, what would have happened if one thing or another had been different. To be honest, I never gave it much thought myself, until today, June 14, my thirty-fifth birthday, and without a doubt, the strangest day of my life. You remember the old story that starts: This guy goes into a bar? Well, I’m the guy, and here’s the story. But wait a minute, I’m getting way ahead of myself. To tell this story right, I should start where it really begins. Twenty years ago. Twenty years ago today, as a matter of fact. June 14, 1970, my fifteenth birthday, and also a very strange day. It was the all-state high school championship game, bottom of the ninth, two outs. Our school hadn’t made it to the finals in twenty-five years, so out of a town of 30,000 people, 38,000 showed up for the game. Fillmore High had us by a run, and it was a three-two count. Fenbrook was standing on third like the bag was ready to explode under his feet. The championship had come down to one batter. Yeah, you guessed it, your truly, Larry Burrows. Haskins was throwing fastballs because that was the only pitch he ever threw. So I was ready for the next one. Then something weird happened. Don't ask me what it was, ’cause it only happened for a split second. But that was enough to change my life forever. Why is it, when you do something terrific, nine times out of ten, you’re all alone, but when you screw up really big, the whole world is watching? I wanted to crawl under home plate and never come out. As usual, my best friend, Clip Metzler, tried to cheer me up. Clip’s very big on novelty gags. It was the worst moment of my life. God, I felt bad. I thought it was really sweet, [Ellen] giving me the handkerchief and not saying anything about me crying like a big baby. Really sweet. So I married her. Not right then, of course. Several years later when we were grown-ups. Ellen and I have a pretty regular life. We have a little two-bedroom house in the suburb that isn’t quite finished, and a contractor named Guzelman who doesn’t want to quite finish it. We have a dog name Sammy. I found him rooting through some garbage in an alley, so I brought him home. He has a nervous bladder, but a good heart. Don’t you hate it when somebody knows you that well? You can’t get away with anything. But I guess that's just part of marriage. So’s the occasional argument. But we never argue about anything important. And we always make up. So far nothing had happened to make me think this was going to be anything more than just another routine day at the office. As usual, by the time I arrived, there was no coffee left, and no water. So I did the only thing I could think of. Why is it, every time you have a mouthful of freeze-dried [coffee], the boss walks in on you? Jackie is a real sweet guy, but kind of dumb for a company president. Why is it, every time your best friend kisses you on the head, a beautiful woman comes along and catches you? Cindy Jo’s father owns the company, and she’s married to Jackie. That’s how a guy named ‘Cement Head’ gets to be president. Maybe it’s because it was my birthday, maybe it was seeing Cindy Jo, I don’t know, but all morning I’d been thinking about what it would’ve been like if my life had turned out differently. Looking back I should have said no [to Ellen’s request that he investigate plant layoffs], but I didn’t, because I’m an idiot. And sure enough, when the head of my department, Niles Pender, announced he was raising production levels, I couldn’t keep my big idiot mouth shut. Leo Hansen owns the company. He’s a very sweet man, but I don’t think he has a clue about what’s really going on. Looking back, I should have said no to Dad, too, but I didn’t. I was beginning to think that something was going on. I decided to look around Niles’ office to see if I could find anything. I’d been an idiot all morning anyway, so I figured, why stop now? Why is it, every time you break into your boss’s office, he always walks in on you? Well, that brings me back to where I began, in the middle of nowhere with a car that won’t start. All things considered, it had turned into a pretty rotten birthday. But nothing in my wildest imagination could have prepared me for what came next.” Near the end of the film, the narration resumes to wrap up the story: “Well, that’s it, that was my thirty-fifth birthday. I told you it was weird. It’s so weird I probably shouldn’t tell anyone about it. I mean, who’d believe me? I’m not sure I believe it myself.”
       According to production notes in AMPAS library files, the cast and crew rehearsed for two weeks in Winston-Salem, NC, but actor Michael Caine did not attend rehearsals because director James Orr did not want other actors to be “comfortable” with his character, “Mr. Destiny.” Principal photography began 19 Mar 1990 at the lavish Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC, which stood in for Larry and Cindy Jo Burrows’ mansion, the 30 Mar 1990 DV reported. The 2 May 1990 USA Today noted that Caine had finished his scenes and left. The abandoned R. J. Reynolds World Headquarters Building in Winston-Salem was used as the offices of “Liberty Republic Sporting Goods.”
       Michael Baron, a theater student at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, was selected from 2,000 hopeful extras to portray a pizza-parlor worker who delivers the line, “Be about 20 minutes,” to actors Jim Belushi and Linda Hamilton, the 11 Mar 1990 NYT noted. Baron’s name is not listed in final credits.
       Various publications, including the 18 Mar 1990 Orlando Sentinel and the 7 May 1990 Long Beach Press-Telegram, remarked on an Advertising Age article about the Walt Disney Company, owner of Touchstone Films, soliciting “product placements” for Mr. Destiny. Disney’s prices were $20,000 for a product to be visible in a scene, $40,000 if an actor mentioned it, and $60,000 if the product was used. In one scene, “Larry Burrows” gets angry because he runs out of Wheaties cereal.
       Most reviews noted the similarity between Mr. Destiny and It’s a Wonderful Life (1947, see entry), but an equally influential film is the lesser known Turn Back the Clock (1933, see entry), starring Lee Tracy as a humble man who repeats his adult life, marries the rich girl he rejected the first time, and ultimately regrets his second chance.
       The Dec 1990 BOX reported that Mr. Destiny grossed only $11.8 million in its first month of release.
       End credits contain the following acknowledgments: “The producers wish to thank The Biltmore Company.”