Several family members worked together on the production of the film.
Roman Coppola co-wrote the script with Lucas Reiner and produced the film, and sister
Sofia Coppola designed the
era-costumes used for the piece. Lucas Reiner wrote and directed the film, and his father
Carl Reiner and brother
Rob Reiner both had appearances as actors in bit parts. Carl Reiner also appeared on the DVD commentary, and praised Lucas' job as director, as well as the script to the film. Lucas Reiner discussed the casting of the film by producer Susie Landau, and noted that once actor David Cassidy of
The Partridge Family was successfully signed to the project, other stars from the 1970s signed on as well. Several musicians also played bit roles in the film. Members of the
new wave rock band
Devo appeared as the "Ministry of Knowledge," Jeff McDonald and
Steven Shane McDonald, members of the band
Redd Kross played Chris Johnson and Tommy Sears. Martin von Haselberg and Brian Routh of
The Kipper Kids portrayed the
CIA agents,
Tommy Chong appeared in a scene in a
head shop along with his wife
Shelby, and
Moon Zappa had a cameo as "an archetypal zodiac aficionado." Reiner complimented Sofia Coppola on her costuming work for the film, noting that she was only seventeen years old during initial production. Coppola had to research for the 1970s as she was very young through the period, and also developed costumes for two other periods - the future in the year 2176, and the future after the time-travelers returned home and changed the culture. The production budget for the film was tight, and crew members brought in 1970s period items of their own to supplement props in the film.
Production designer Danny Talpers designed the prop for the time machine out of two
hot tubs - which was a reference to their popularity during the period. Instead of the more expensive
cutaway technique, Reiner simply moved the camera back and forth during dialogue to save money. ==Reception==