‘Casper’ Was the First Film to Use CGI and More Fun Facts About the 1995 Hit Starring Christina Ricci

Some critics didn’t give Casper a ghost of a chance of success, but the groundbreaking 1995 supernatural fantasy film scared up a whopping $288 million at the box office!

Based on the Harvey Comics cartoon Casper the Friendly Ghost, the film is the first to use computer-generated imagery (CGI) to create the lead character, who was voiced by Malachi Pearson and portrayed in human form by a young Devon Sawa. It reportedly took two years to complete the CGI, which was cutting-edge technology at the time. In fact, the effects were said to take up space on the equivalent of 19 million floppy disks, according to ScreenRant.

In the story, the friendly ghost shares Whipstaff Manor in Friendship, Maine, with his three mischievous poltergeist uncles known as the Ghostly Trio, voiced by Joe Nipote (Stretch), Joe Alaskey (Stinkie), and Brad Garrett (Fatso). Cathy Moriarty plays Carrigan Crittenden, who inherits the manor, believes there is buried treasure hidden there, and hires Bill Pullman’s ghost therapist, Dr. James Harvey, to rid the place of the ghosts. Christina Ricci plays Kat Harvey, James’ 13-year-old daughter who befriends Casper.

The film provides a background story for Casper McFadden, who was a 12-year-old boy who died of pneumonia. That differs from the comics in which Casper was a ghost born to ghost parents.

In an early version of the script, another Harvey Comics character was supposed to make an appearance, namely Wendy the Good Witch, but Universal Studios didn’t want to pay for the rights. Ricci’s Kat pays homage to the character by wearing a very Wendy-like red hoodie.

In one of the most favorable early scenes, Dr. Harvey looks in a mirror, and his face morphs into Clint Eastwood, then Rodney Dangerfield, then Mel Gibson, and then the Cryptkeeper from the Tales From the Crypt series. All of those stars, including Cryptkeeper voice actor John Kassir, actually filmed the cameos for the scene. Harvey’s face also transformed into that of Casper executive producer Steven Spielberg, who reportedly was perfectly happy that his cameo was cut out. Spielberg did make a key contribution: Casper’s eyes were originally as drawn in the comics, but they made his face appear lifeless and unsettling. Spielberg recommended giving the friendly ghost more sympathetic eyes like E.T.

Other cameos include Dan Aykroyd as his Ghostbusters character Dr. Ray Stantz, and Don Novello as his Saturday Night Live character Father Guido Sarducci, whom Carrigan hires to perform an exorcism at the mansion.

Pullman, Ricci and other actors really put their talents to the test — in scenes where they interacted with the CGI ghosts, they were delivering their lines to tennis balls on sticks … or nothing at all! And in a scene where she is pulled by a ghost, Ricci had fishing line attached to her wrist to create the illusion.

Too cute: When Ricci’s 3-year-old son, Freddie, asked if she was a famous actress, she decided to show him Casper. He thought it was a home movie, and “he started asking me about my childhood with my best friend, the ghost,” per People. Awww!

The ghosts may be CGI, but Whipstaff Manor was real, sort of. The place was a set built on a soundstage and came complete with secret passages, vast rooms and spiral staircases. It allowed the special effects experts to incorporate the CGI ghosts with the actors and set without having to use green screens.

Casper will live on forever in the hearts of Backstreet Boys fans … or at least Whipstaff Manor will. The set was used to film parts of the boy band’s music video for “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back),” specifically the big dance hall scene.

Made for $55 million, the return of $288 million was a pleasant surprise for the filmmakers. They were actually planning to make a sequel with Ricci and Pullman on board, but the idea fell through as both grew in popularity and moved on to different projects. So the project was scrapped, and producers decided to make cheaper straight-to-video sequels instead.