Due to the controversial lack of recognition for Elephant Man (1980), make-up and industry technological contributions became recognized by the Academy Awards in 1981. Make-up artist Rick Baker was the first to receive an Oscar in the new category. William Tuttle was the first make-up effects artist to receive an honorary Oscar, for his work on Le cirque du docteur Lao (1964). At 31, Baker was also the youngest person to win the award, a record that was later tied by Tami Lane for Le Monde de Narnia : Le Lion, la Sorcière blanche et l'Armoire magique (2005).
David Naughton recalled the zoo scene, "As for running naked around London Zoo, in the scene where I'm in the wolf cage, the only reassurance I had was that the wolves had just been fed. But the handlers still said there were to be no loud noises or fast moves. "OK," I said hopefully. "This will just be one take, so start rolling those cameras." We were supposed to be done by 9 am, but we overran. At one point, I looked up and said: "Wow! Why have you got all those extras over there?" They replied: "They're not extras, the zoo's open."
Rick Baker claimed to have been disappointed by the amount of time spent shooting the face-changing shot for the transformation after having spent months working on the mechanism. John Landis only required one take lasting about seven seconds. Baker felt he had wasted his time until seeing the film with an audience that applauded during that one seven-second shot.
David Naughton was reportedly cast because John Landis had seen him in a television commercial for Dr Pepper. However, Naughton was later let go by Dr Pepper because of his nude scenes in this film.
Director John Landis had to avoid filming any full-frontal nudity of David Naughton during the transformation scene and dream sequences after Naughton informed Landis that he was not circumcised, even though his role, David Kessler, was written as being Jewish.