Labyrinth released in 1986 and was the last feature film that Jim Henson directed before his death in 1990. While the movie didn’t meet expectations on release in theatres, it eventually went on to become a cult classic after it was released on home video. Despite many rumors of a potential sequel, as of yet, nothing has surfaced, however, a spin-off is reportedly in the works.
This musical fantasy film is a favorite in many households, but there are many behind the scenes facts, hidden points of interest, and trivia that a lot of fans are likely unaware of. Check out these ten facts that many don’t know about the film.
10 Title Sequence
Throughout the film, Jareth the Goblin King (played by David Bowie) displays his ability to shapeshift into the form of an owl. Despite Jim Henson being known for using physical props and puppets, during the opening title sequence in Labyrinth, there is a CGI owl that is flying about the screen.
Interestingly, Labyrinth is widely considered to be the first feature film to attempt a photo-realistic computer-generated animal for the big screen. Considering the age of the film, the graphics have not aged that badly.
9 Sarah’s Room
Many of the fantastical creatures and areas that appear in Labyrinth are hinted at beforehand in the form of the furnishings in Sarah’s room at the beginning of the film. To name just a few, there is a figure of Jareth on Sarah’s dressing table, soft toys that resemble Ludo and Sir Didymus, and a musical box that has the appearance of Sarah during the masquerade sequence.
There’s also a poster of M.C. Escher’s Relativity on the wall, which alludes to the end scene with Jareth in a room with many stairs. There are numerous others, such as a board game resembling the hedge area of the labyrinth itself, and a figure that resembles Hoggle too.
8 Merlin Ambrosius
The old English sheepdog used to play Sarah’s pet Merlin is the same dog used to portray Ambrosius, Sir Didymus’s mount. Both names are an allusion to The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth, as within this book Merlin is referred to as “Merlin Ambrosius.”
This is also another direct parallel between Sarah’s real life and the fantasy life within the labyrinth, alongside many of the objects found in her room that were mentioned previously.
7 Magic Dance
Dance Magic is one of the most memorable songs from the film, and despite releasing by this name as a single, the end credits refer to it as “Dance Magic.” Some of the lyrics reference the movie The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer from 1947, however, the words in the lines were changed from “man” to “babe” and “hoodoo” to “voodoo.”
Additionally, it is explained in the Inside the Labyrinth documentary that the baby who was supposed to supply the gurgles for the song would not perform, so the gurgles that can be heard on the track were made by David Bowie himself.
6 Inspiration
The film was inspired by the children’s book Outside Over There by Maurice Sendak, in which a young girl has to travel to a fantastical land to find her baby sister who has been spirited away by goblins.
Maurice Sendak is most known for his book Where the Wild Things Are. Labyrinth paid tribute to him by having a copy of this book in shot during a scene in Sarah’s room, close to a soft toy that resembles Ludo.
5 Hoggle
Many viewers don’t notice that the back of Hoggle’s waistcoat is designed to be in the shape of a face with a tongue sticking out of its mouth. The tongue acts as the strap that goes across Hoggle’s chest. This extra face on the character is supposed to represent that Hoggle can be “two-faced.”
The voice of Hoggle was Brian Henson, Jim Henson’s son. The novelization of Labyrinth states that Hoggle is a gnome, however, the conceptual designer Brian Froud has stated that Hoggle is a part goblin and part dwarf in the DVD commentary.
4 Hidden in Plain Sight
The film features many little hidden secrets that viewers often don’t notice at first. Some of these were added many years after the film’s initial release, for example, in the DVD release, several hidden faces of Jareth were hidden in the scenery throughout the film (there are seven in total).
There are also small details that add some humor to the film. For example, when Sarah and her companions reach the castle door, there are two pints of milk waiting outside to indicate that even in the goblin world there are milkmen delivering.
3 Newspaper Clippings
Eagle-eyed viewers may have spotted a photo of David Bowie with another woman on Sarah’s mirror and in her scrapbook, in the form of newspaper clippings. While not explained in the film, the Labyrinth novelization explains that Sarah’s mother, who is an actress, left Sarah’s father for her fellow actor that is shown in the photos and is also portrayed by Bowie.
The story of the two actor’s whirlwind romance is covered by the newspaper, and it’s these clippings that Sarah has kept in her room. Her mother being an actor is likely why Sarah is playacting at the beginning of the film, as she is attempting to follow in her mother’s footsteps.
2 Toby
Sarah’s baby brother in the film was played by Toby Froud, the son of Brian Froud who was the film’s conceptual designer. Originally, in early drafts the character of the baby was going to be called “Freddie,” however, Toby would only answer to his own name so this was eventually changed.
Froud explains in his DVD commentary that Toby kept crying during the scene where he is sat on Jareth’s lap, so the film crew had to distract the baby with a hand puppet off-camera so that David Bowie could finish his lines uninterrupted.
1 Crystal Ball Skills
Jareth portrays some rather awesome skills with his crystal balls, but this wasn’t actually David Bowie performing these tricks, nor are they done by special effects. A choreographer by the name of Michael Moschen, who is also a trained juggler, was responsible. This is shown in the Inside the Labyrinth documentary.
Moschen would crouch behind Bowie and position his arms to look as though they are those of Jareth. This was a common trick used by Henson’s company for puppetry, however, unlike those occurrences, Moschen did not have a small screen to see how he was performing and so he had to perform the tricks blind.
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