During rewrites, Dana Carvey made the film to make his two, at the time, preteen sons laugh (because the majority of his projects were not suitable for children). His sons really hated live-action PG movies. They thought they were nerdy and not cool. So Carvey tried to make a movie that seemed PG-13, but was actually PG.
For years, there has been a rumor that the scene at the Turtle Club happened to be filming on September 11, 2001. When word of the terrorist attacks reached the set, the cast and crew observed a moment of silence (with Dana Carvey already in the turtle costume). This is not entirely correct. What actually happened was that the film didn't even begin production until September 24, 2001. The "Turtle Club" scene was the first scene they shot. Everyone felt weird to make such a silly movie after such a terrible tragedy. Right before they filmed, director Perry Blake gave a heartfelt speech to the cast and crew, there was a moment of silence (yes, Dana was still in costume) and then Blake called "action".
Dana Carvey played the drums himself for Pistachio's turtle character during the credits.
Adam Sandler, who executive produced this film, came up with two of the film's gags...
- The scene where Abraham Lincoln dances to "I Like To Move It".
- In the Turtle Club scene, when Pistachio bites a guy's nose off and then spits it back on his face.
Dana Carvey wanted to do the Pacino impression for six more minutes. But, Adam Sandler's people at Happy Madison stepped in and reined him in.