Director Mark Steven Johnson told Sci Fi Wire that Nicolas Cage had a great idea on the set one day. He said: "Nic convinced me that, although Johnny may be in pain, the Ghost Rider is actually happy about the transformation, and it probably feels really good for him to be unleashed after all this time. And so the screaming with horrible pain that I imagined turned into this maniacal laughter. That made it so much better. We know that the transformation scene is the most important scene in the whole movie, so it was important that we get it right."