Originally, the filmmakers offered the role of Link to Pauly Shore. When Shore first went in to meet with Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, he told him he didn't want to play Link. Because he knew, since cavemen don't talk, that the film would lose the appeal of his humor and unique "Paulyspeak", (where Shore would pause between syllables of key adjectives). Instead, Shore wanted to play one of the two teens who find the caveman. So, Katzenberg insisted that Shore, along with the writers, re-write Harold (the character's original name) to become the Stoney Brown character. Shore improvised most of his lines.
In the scene where Brendan Fraser is eating out of the dog bowl, he is actually eating Cookie Crisp.
For the scene where Link is in the bath, Brendan Fraser was popping real bath beads into his mouth. He had a bucket nearby to spit them into after each take.
Ke Huy Quan and Sean Astin appeared on-screen together briefly in this movie. It marks the first time any original cast members of The Goonies (1985) appeared on screen together again. Quan and Astin again appeared together in 2025's Love Hurts.
At 6'3", Brendan Fraser was actually too big for the clothing that costume designer Marie France had originally purchased for him. Since Fraser's outfits were supposed to look baggy on him, France had to specially make all of them.
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