The Untold Truth Of Weekend At Bernie's

"Weekend at Bernie's" might not have resonated with audiences the way it did had filmmakers gone with its original title. According to Mel Magazine, screenwriter Robert Klane gave his script the title "Hot and Cold," and it went into production under that name. It didn't sit well with Terry Kiser, the actor who played dead Bernie. "Halfway through the movie, I went up to the producer and the writer and I said, 'Boys, this isn't Hot and Cold anymore, I hate to tell you.' They didn't realize how much Bernie had become the forefront of everything. I said, 'Weekend at Bernie's,' and they said, 'I think you're right.'" 

However, director Ted Kotcheff claimed that he came up with the final title. After a "Weekend at Bernie's" test screening, a studio public relations rep ordered Kotcheff to devise a new name. "I always thought Bernie was a funny name, so I came up with 'Weekend at Bernie's,'" Kotcheff wrote in "Director's Cut: My Life in Film."

But because "Weekend at Bernie's" had been produced, fully or in part, before it was named, filmmakers had commissioned and received a title song. Reggae musician Winston "Pipe" Matthews and Police guitarist Andy Summers wrote a song called "Hot and Cold," and '80s pop star Jermaine Stewart recorded it. Despite no longer really fitting into the movie, the song played over the end credits of "Weekend at Bernie's" and appeared on the soundtrack.