Dominique Swain's cameo in the film was originally shot for a short film titled "Gil's Bad Day," which acted as director Daniel Lee's puppeteering audition for the Jim Henson Company. He didn't get the job, but because the short film went on to work as a puppeteer on several independent films, and on stage, where he studied under master puppeteer Bob Baker (Mary Poppins, Close Encounters of the Third Kind).