Happy Rex Manning Day! 9 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About ‘Empire Records’ For The Elder Millennials

For an entire generation (heretofore known as “Elder Millennials”) the sassy cast of the 1995 hit Empire Records had a chokehold on us since the moment it came out. The cult classic follows a day in the life of a ragtag group of young adults as they prepare their failing record store for a signing by Rex Manning. Full of beautiful young people (including a then-unknown Renee Zellweger), each of us had a crush on at least one member of the cast. I’m not in any way ashamed to admit that I had a massive crush on Ethan Embry as Mark–and still do. That little slacker has a permanent place in my heart.

If you’re a big Empire Records fan, then you’ll be happy to know that April 8 is Rex Manning Day! So clean up the shop, put out some decorations, and get ready to learn all the behind-the-scenes scoop that you ever wanted to know about your favorite too-cool-for-you movie about a record store gearing up for the arrival of a washed-up former star.

9 Fun Facts from Behind the Scenes of Empire Records

1. Although Liv Tyler (Corey) and Coyote Shivers (Berko) played coworkers in the movie, Shivers was actually Tyler’s step-father in real life, having married her mother, Bebe Buell, a few years prior.

2. So many of us loved Corey’s outfit in Empire Records. It turns out that little sweater and plaid skirt weren’t a part of the plan. Liv Tyler told Vogue:

What I do remember is that we had a different outfit planned as our favorite look. Then, the night before we started filming, the studio called and said they wanted me in a plaid skirt and a sweater. I was like, what!? I was so pissed and didn’t understand at all, so we gave them a plaid skirt and a sweater, but with a little fuck-you thrown in there.

3. Love the movie? Then you may have loved the original cut, too, which featured several other characters and 40 extra minutes of footage. Sadly, all of that was edited out during post-production. Lame!

4. Renee Zellweger’s character, Gina, wants to sing but her fear holds her back until the last minutes of the movie when she gets on the roof of the Empire to sing “Sugar High” with Berko. Playbill asked Zellweger about her singing experience prior to the release of Chicago and she said, “I sang in the shower a lot, and my brother told me to shut up a lot, and I sang a couple of notes in Empire Records.” That’s quite a jump to Chicago!

5. Liv Tyler (Corey) and Ethan Embry (Mark) were in another 1990s cult classic: That Thing You Do (1996).

6. Speaking of Ethan Embry, he had a huge crush on Liv Tyler during filming, as well as the other women in the cast. He told Complex, “All three of them, Liv and Reneé and Robin, yeah. They were the coolest girls in the world.”

7. Robin Tunney only got one take for her head-shaving scene in the bathroom of the Empire. Why? Because she really shaved her head in that scene–it wasn’t a wig or a bald cap. In fact, because of this role, she had to wear a wig for The Craft (1996), which shot directly afterward.  (Empire Records AND The Craft? Now that’s a solid ’90s resume.)

8. The Rotten Tomatoes rating is a huge clue that Empire Records is a cult classic. While the audience score has a rightfully high percentage of 83%, the critics’ tomato rating is an abysmal 31%. Clearly the critics of 1995 had no idea the legacy the movie would have.

9. Maxwell Caulfield, who plays the infamous Rex Manning, didn’t get the hype of Empire Records at first. He told The Hollywood Reporter:

It’s titled Rex Manning Day, but it might as well be called Empire Records Day. It initially eluded me because the film had been such a box office disappointment, so I didn’t give it the credence that it has developed over the years. It just won’t go away. It’s one of those showbiz oddities.

“There are 24 usable hours in every day,” so you might as well start Rex Manning Day watching the movie you love. You can currently watch Empire Records on Paramount+ and Showtime.