Editing Strange Brew (section)

==Production==
In December 1981, Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas released a Bob and Doug McKenzie comedy album, ''[[The Great White North (album)|The Great White North]]'', which sold a million copies.<ref name="godfrey">{{cite news | last = Godfrey | first = Stephen | title = Hoser Brothers Hope Beer Film will Take Off, Eh? | work = [[The Globe and Mail]] | date = August 26, 1983 }}</ref> The success of the McKenzie brothers led the ''SCTV'' show to center an entire 90-minute episode around the characters, "The Great White North Palace", which aired in April 1982. Based on this success, they thought about parlaying that success into a feature film.<ref name="plume">{{cite news | last = Plume | first = Kenneth | title = Interview with Dave Thomas | work = [[IGN]] | date = February 10, 2000 | url = http://movies.ign.com/articles/035/035845p1.html | access-date = 2009-07-22 | archive-date = 2011-07-13 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110713005238/http://movies.ign.com/articles/035/035845p1.html | url-status = live }}</ref> After fellow ''SCTV'' cast member [[John Candy]] got an offer from [[Universal Pictures]] to do a film called ''[[Going Berserk]]'', Moranis and Thomas started talking about writing a screenplay for a Bob and Doug film. Andrew Alexander, executive producer for ''SCTV,'' reminded them that he had exclusive contracts with the two men and that if they wrote a script, he would sue them.<ref name="plume" /> Moranis and Thomas soon found themselves faced with the challenge of expanding their improvisations on ''SCTV'' from "two guys talking about how hard it was to get parking spaces in donut shops to a full-length story", Thomas said in an interview.<ref name="godfrey" />

Moranis and Thomas hired [[Steve De Jarnatt]] to write the first draft.<ref name="plume" /> Initially, Thomas told De Jarnatt that he wanted to base the film's story on ''[[Hamlet]]'', but De Jarnatt's draft was too faithful to the play and he was told be more creative with the parallels. Moranis' and Thomas' agents sent the script to various Hollywood studios, and a few days later they had a deal with [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] based not on the script but on record sales, "the breakout potential, and the fact that it was being advertised on a television show", Thomas remembers.<ref name="plume" /> MGM was unhappy with the script because Bob and Doug were improvised characters done in their "comic voices" and they felt that nobody but themselves could write for these characters.<ref name="plume" /> Thomas began rewriting the script without Moranis, who was now uncertain about doing the film. After working on the first 50 pages, Moranis took a look at what Thomas had done and they then worked together rewriting it. However, they were not sure just how much they could legally change and did most of the changes in the first third of the script, including the addition of Bob and Doug's science fiction film, ''Mutants of 2051 A.D.'', which Bob and Doug were shown watching in a movie theatre, causing a riot. Thomas remembers that the script was "far more bizarre and conceptual in the beginning ... if we had been able to rewrite the whole thing, we would have made the whole thing like that".<ref name="plume" />

Originally, Moranis and Thomas were not going to direct or write the film but ended up doing both with the guidance of executive producer Jack Grossberg, who had produced films by [[Mel Brooks]] and [[Woody Allen]]. They were given a budget of $5 million.<ref name="godfrey" /> Before filming, all of the major breweries wanted the McKenzie brothers to appear in beer advertisements. The filmmakers had the promise of the [[Molson]] Brewery, but once the brewery found out that there was a joke in the film about putting a mouse in a beer bottle, they distanced themselves from the film. The filmmakers were also banned from filming in a [[The Beer Store|Brewers Retail]] store, and from using the name "Brewers Retail". The filmmakers instead built a replica of a Brewers Retail store at a cost of more than $45,000, calling it "The Beer Store". Filming also took place at the Old Fort Brewing Co. in Prince George, British Columbia.<ref name="godfrey" /> The emergency vehicles used during filming were all real [[Metropolitan Toronto Police]] [[squad cars]]. The ambulances used briefly were on loan from [[Toronto EMS|Metropolitan Toronto Ambulance]].