The secret history of ‘Fast Times’

You could devote an entire graduate seminar to the colorful backstories and factoids of “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.” Here’s a quick crash course on the movie’s secret history.

■ There’s no original score: If you never noticed that “Fast Times” uses prerecorded music from the Universal Studios library, that’s probably because you’ve been so focused on the excellent rock-pop soundtrack. Although director Amy Heckerling pushed for hip, young bands, producer Irving

Azoff was a classic-rock mogul with a long list of friends — a push-pull that resulted in a wide-ranging mix of songs from The Cars, Led Zeppelin, the GoGo’s and Jackson Browne.

■ It’s the film debut of Nicolas Cage: Although Cage auditioned for the role of Brad (snagged by Judge Reinhold), he wound up playing Brad’s unnamed coworker at AllAmerican Burger. Cage has said he was so cruelly mocked by other actors for being the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola that the experience led him to change his last name. Other notable cameos in “Fast Times” include Eric Stoltz,

Anthony Edwards, rocker

Nancy Wilson, filmmaker Martin Brest and photographer Patty Springsteen (sister of rock icon Bruce).

■ It may be the first movie to use the word “gnarly”: John R. Leonetti, director of the horror film “Wish Upon,” was a member of the camera crew on “Fast Times” and recently told the website Collider about working on the memorable scene in which biology teacher Mr. Vargas (Vincent Schiavelli) shows a cadaver heart to his students. The script called for surfer-dude Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn) to say, “Oh, gross,” but Leonetti blurted out, “No, that’s

gnarly,” and inspired Penn to change the line. “I got ‘gnarly’ on the big screen for the first time in the history of the world,” Leonetti said. “So that’s my claim to fame.”

■ David Lynch was asked to direct: It’s tough to imagine, but Lynch — whose only feature credits at the time were the surrealist nightmare “Eraserhead” and the brooding biopic “The Elephant Man” — was indeed approached to direct this sunny Southern California teen flick. Lynch reportedly enjoyed the script but ultimately passed. What the director of “Dune” and “Mulholland Drive” might have done with this

material, we’ll never know.

■ Cameron Crowe’s signed book is offered for $1,000: Crowe’s book went out of print not long after the film’s release, making it something of a collector’s item. As of press time, Amazon was charging almost $70 for a copy, while ebay was offering one signed by Crowe for $1,000. “It’s the one thing that I still have the rights to, and I like that there’s one thing that’s not readily available,” Crowe told The Hollywood Reporter in 2011. “I have been approached about republishing, but I haven’t done it. I like it too much as a kind of bootleg.”