Ice Castles is perhaps best remembered today for the film's famous theme song written by the legendary Marvin Hamlisch. It marked the feature film debut of ice-skater/actress Lynn-Holly Johnson, who was cast after she was brought to the attention of the filmmakers by "Ice Capades" executive Michael Kirby and ice-skating coach John Nicks. Johnson, who was on tour with the Ice Capades show, flew to Minnesota for a script reading and to perform some ice-skating. Johnson then flew back to the show and a week later flew to Toronto, Canada for a screen-test.  She then landed the role and signed on not long after this. She says she was repeatedly pressured to do a nude scene in this film, which she refused to do. She says this incident makes her laugh and say "if you only knew!" whenever someone tells her what a great family film this movie was.