Director
Edward James Olmos stated in the DVD commentary that he made several homages to
O Menino de Cabelos Verdes (1948), which starred a then twelve year old
Dean Stockwell. Stockwell portrayed Peter Fry, a war orphan whose hair inexplicably turned green when he discovered that his parents had been killed during the Second World War. One example was when Cavil asked the boy John "Are you a war orphan?". This question was asked of Peter Fry several times in
O Menino de Cabelos Verdes (1948).
Olmos also used a still shot picture of Peter Fry from the movie when casting for the character of John the Boy, because he wanted the actor to bear a strong resemblance to how Stockwell looked in his adolescence.
Alex Ferris resemblance to Stockwell's picture helped get him cast. At one point, Olmos wanted John the Boy's hair color to be green like Peter Fry's character, but was ultimately overruled by the producers.
