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This Heathers trivia quiz has 50 free questions with answers and covers the 1988 black comedy from every angle: Veronica Sawyer and J.D., the three Heathers of Westerburg High, the drain-cleaner 'hangover cure', Kurt and Ram, the pep-rally bomb and the very different ending the studio refused to shoot. It also digs into the making of the film — Daniel Waters' dream of a Stanley Kubrick version, the stars who turned it down, a 15-year-old Winona Ryder begging for the part, Shannen Doherty's red hair — and its afterlife as a box-office flop turned cult classic, an Off-Broadway and West End musical, and a short-lived TV reboot. Early questions suit anyone who has seen the film once; later ones reward fans who know the fictional band behind the film's pop hit and where the funeral scenes were shot. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries before publishing.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who plays Veronica Sawyer in the 1988 film Heathers?
Winona Ryder
She was 15 when cast and turned 16 during filming; her agent literally got on her knees begging her not to take it.
Q 02Who plays Jason 'J.D.' Dean?
Christian Slater
He later admitted to channelling Jack Nicholson in the role; he had thrown a tantrum after assuming he botched his audition.
Q 03Which future superstar auditioned unsuccessfully for the role of J.D.?
Brad Pitt
He was still a year away from his breakout in Thelma & Louise.
Q 04What is the name of the high school in Heathers?
Westerburg
Though set in Sherwood, Ohio, the school was stitched together from three Los Angeles campuses.
Q 05In which state is Heathers set?
Ohio
Filming was done entirely in Los Angeles over 33 days on a small budget.
Q 06Which actress plays queen bee Heather Chandler?
Kim Walker
She was dating Christian Slater at the time and got the part after Heather Graham's parents vetoed it.
Q 07What does J.D. serve the queen bee as a 'hangover cure', killing her?
Drain cleaner
Veronica had mixed orange juice and milk to make her vomit; J.D. swapped in the blue stuff.
Q 08How do Veronica and J.D. cover up Chandler's death?
They forge a suicide note
The note makes Chandler seem deep and misunderstood, and she becomes more worshipped dead than alive.
Q 09Which two football players do J.D. and Veronica lure into the woods?
Kurt and Ram
J.D. claimed the 'ich lüge' bullets were tranquilizers; German speakers will notice the phrase means 'I lie'.
Q 10After their deaths, Kurt and Ram are turned into martyrs for what?
Homophobia
J.D. stages the scene to look like a lovers' suicide pact, and their funeral becomes a bizarre celebration.
Q 11Which Heather takes over the clique after Chandler's death?
Duke
Shannen Doherty played her; she had wanted Veronica but gave an 'amazing' reading as Duke instead.
Q 12What was J.D.'s final plan for the school?
Blow up the pep rally and stage it as a mass suicide
He blackmails Duke into getting the whole school to sign a petition that is secretly a mass suicide note.
Q 13How does J.D. die at the end of the film?
He detonates a bomb strapped to his chest
Q 21Why did Doherty run out crying when the cast first watched the finished film?
She realised it was a dark comedy, not a drama
Producer Denise Di Novi said Doherty never quite got what Heathers was — which made her character feel real.
Q 22How much did Lisanne Falk, who plays Heather McNamara, lie about at her audition?
Her age
She was 23 and claimed to be in her late teens, only coming clean once she had the part.
Q 23What was the film's budget?
$3 million
Principal photography took just 33 days in July 1988.
Veronica had already shot him in the boiler room; he follows her outside, delivers a eulogy and presses the button.
Q 14Whom does Veronica invite to spend prom night watching movies at the very end?
Martha
Martha 'Dumptruck' Dunnstock had earlier survived walking into traffic and been mocked for it.
Q 15How did the original script end?
J.D. blows up the school; prom is held in heaven
New World Pictures financed the film but refused the dark ending and insisted it be changed.
Q 16Which director did screenwriter Daniel Waters originally want for Heathers?
Stanley Kubrick
He admired Dr. Strangelove and figured Kubrick was the only person who could get away with a three-hour teen film.
Q 17The cafeteria scene near the start of Heathers is a homage to the opening of which Kubrick film?
Full Metal Jacket
Waters modelled Veronica's lunchtime poll on the barracks scene that opens that film.
Q 18Who directed Heathers, in his feature debut?
Michael Lehmann
He met Waters through a mutual friend after the script failed to reach Kubrick.
Q 19Which actress turned down the queen-bee role because her parents disapproved of the film?
Heather Graham
She was 17; the part went to Kim Walker, who was dating Christian Slater at the time.
Q 20Doherty refused to go blonde like the other Heathers. What did the producers settle for?
Red hair
Doherty also refused some of the script's more explicit lines and reportedly ran out crying at the first screening.
Q 24Roughly how much did Heathers gross in the United States during its initial release?
$1.1 million
Distributor New World Pictures was going bankrupt at the time; the film only found its audience on video.
Q 25Which song appears twice in Heathers, including a Sly and the Family Stone version over the end credits?
Que Sera, Sera
Doris Day would not lend her original to a project with profanity, so Syd Straw sang the first version.
Q 26What is the name of the fictional band whose hit 'Teenage Suicide (Don't Do It)' features in the film?
Big Fun
Musician Don Dixon wrote it and recorded it with Mitch Easter, Angie Carlson and Marti Jones.
Q 27Where did Heathers have its world premiere in the fall of 1988?
Milan
It reached Sundance in January 1989 and opened in US theaters that March.
Q 28Which prize did Daniel Waters win for the Heathers screenplay?
The Edgar Allan Poe Award
The film also won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature.
Q 29Which iconic frat-party location does Veronica visit with Chandler early in the film?
Remington University
Veronica vomiting on Chandler there is what triggers the queen bee's vow of revenge.
Q 30How does J.D. first make an impression on Veronica?
He fires blanks at Kurt and Ram in the cafeteria
J.D.'s father is an explosives-obsessed demolition mogul, a detail that pays off horribly later.