Trivia: Amy Heckerling first met with Alicia Silverstone (Cher) at a restaurant. Silverstone had a drink with a straw in it. Rather than picking up the drink, she would leave it on the table and lower her head down to the straw. According to her, Heckerling found this to be "adorable, or weird, some combination of both." Heckerling wanted Cher to be a "hot chick" who also seemed innocent.
Trivia: Writer/director Amy Heckerling was in the middle of writing the script when she saw Alicia Silverstone in an Aerosmith video on MTV, and immediately knew that was who she wanted to play Cher.
Trivia: When Cher is talking to Dionne over lunch, you see Cher's "rival" walk out of the cafe doors with a boy trying to talk to her. That boy is a young Dax Shepard.
Trivia: There are many clues in this film that foreshadow the revealing of Christian's sexuality. but there is one that less blatant than the others. When Christian is shown entering the classroom, Cher has higher hopes for finding a great guy for herself. However, if you look over his shoulder as the camera pans over to him, you can see a headline cut out of a newspaper. It reads "On The Road To Nowhere", depicting Cher later finding out that she is barking up the wrong tree.
Trivia: Alicia Silverstone had no idea had to pronounce the word "Haitians". During her speech on why "all opposed people should be allowed refuge in America", she mispronounced it on camera. Director Amy Heckerling told the crew not to correct her as she found it funny and wanted it to be in the film.
Answer: Malibu is a hazardous place to live. It's constantly threatened by wildfires, which burn out the underbrush. Then when it rains, there's nothing on the ground to keep the mud from sliding down the hills, so mudslides are a problem, too. She was probably referring to one of the many times that this has happened.
Krista