This script was being developed at "Columbia" at the same time as another script about an alien visitation. The studio did not want to make both, so the head of the studio had to choose which film to make; he decided to make this one and let the other script go to a rival studio. The other script was for "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)." After 'E.T.' became such a huge hit, apparently 'Starman' sat on the shelf for almost three years before the Columbia Pictures studio agreed to release it.
Actor Jeff Bridges studied ornithology and the behavior of birds to prepare for his role as an alien in human form for this movie. Bridges particularly used the sudden jerky head movements, amongst other nuances and mannerisms, of birds for his Starman character. Bridges figured that the alien would not have human characteristics and, being encased in a human body, would act with base primitive animal instincts.
The film's director John Carpenter wanted to use the United States of America as "our very own back lot", so the cast and crew traveled from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, then Winslow, Meteor Crater and Monument Valley, Arizona, east to Nashville, Chattanooga, and Manchester, Tennessee, upstate New York, and Washington, D.C. The film company then returned to California to complete filming at The Burbank Studios.
When Jeff Bridges walks outside the house naked and uses a 'marble' his hair seems to stand on end. This effect was actually created by shooting Bridges hanging upside-down and then matting the shot onto the background the right way up to give him a surreal look. His father, Lloyd Bridges, did a similar shot-albeit comedic-for 'Airplane (1980)' .