Trivia: When Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman have their showdown in the lavatory towards the end, Hackman greets him and says that this is a "long overdue pleasure." This is a reference to the fact that this scene is the first scene ever between Hoffman and Hackman, two former classmates at film school, in their substantial screen careers. Despite being in the industry for decades, and being long-time friends, they had never made a movie together.
Trivia: When Captain Aubrey makes the toast 'To wives and sweethearts - may they never meet' he is following a custom in the Royal Navy called the toast of the day. There was a special toast for every day of the week. This one in particular was usually for Saturdays. There is a minor mistake, however: tradition dictated that the proposer (in this case, the captain) would say the first part 'to wives and sweethearts', to which the most junior officer present would reply 'may they never meet'. Here is the list that seems to be most commonly followed dates from before Trafalgar, courtesy of the Canadian Navy website: Monday - our ships at sea, Tuesday - our men, Wednesday - ourselves, because no one else is likely to both, Thursday - a bloody war or a sickly season (to ensure quicker promotion), Friday - a willing foe and sea room (The two preceding seem to be of historical interest only), Saturday - wives and sweethearts - may they never meet (reply is made by the youngest officer present) Sunday - absent friends.
Trivia: The man in handcuffs being taken from the police station at the end is the real life Phil Kauffman.
Trivia: If you stay a little bit into the credits, there is a nice thank you speech from the person who plays Rocket.
Trivia: Colin Farrell recorded a version of The Clash's "I Fought the Law..." for the film.
Trivia: Ciaran Hinds who plays the role of the husband of Chris, had also starred with Helen Mirren in the award winning series Prime Suspect 3, back in 1993.
Trivia: When Willard's boss is working on his spreadsheet program, just before the rats show up, he is not entering the spreadsheet formula properly. He is entering the actual numbers like 235+345+315 instead of using cell addresses like =A1+B1+C1. Not really a mistake because his character could be an idiot on spreadsheets. Just an interesting observation.
Trivia: In one scene Julia Roberts takes her students to see a painting by Jackson Pollack. Julia's co-star Marcia Gay Harden won her Academy Award playing Pollack's wife in the movie, "Pollack" opposite Ed Harris, who incidentally played Julia's boyfriend/fiance in "Stepmom". (00:45:20)
Trivia: April uses her bedspread as a tablecloth. The same bedspread she and her boyfriend had had sex on earlier in the day. Eeewww.
Trivia: The dog is named "Tig" after Kevin Costner's grandmother.
Trivia: I don't speak Spanish, however, after asking my fiance (from Mexico) to carefully watch the scene when Memo talks to his right hand man, it explained the movie better. If you know Spanish and listen to the dialogue carefully, you hear Memo asking his right hand man to kill his son. That explains A LOT.
Trivia: While this is common knowledge to most, this movie was inspired by the events of Columbine in 1999. Some scenes mimick the real-life massacre almost exactly. For instance, they planned to kill many more than they actually were able to because of the failure of their improvised explosive devices. The real killers had planned to murder at least 600 people, though it is not mentioned in this film the scope of the plan. Another, more obvious, link is the use of the Tec-9 assault pistol. One can also link the use of settings like the Library and the Cafeteria to the media coverage of the real event. Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacreFirearms.
Trivia: Nicole Kidman was originally cast as Frannie, but Meg Ryan insisted on playing the role and also auditioned, something unusual for famous actresses like her.
Trivia: The last conversation between Tom Arnold and that big guy is an obvious tribute to the conversation between the same two actors at the end of Exit Wounds. They even mention the latter in the former.
Trivia: Chapter 17: At home with the Triplets. After entering the apartment building, the Triplets, Madame Souza, and Bruno climb multiple flights of stairs. On their right, they pass a bathroom with an open door with flies swarming about, taking off then landing again on the contents of an unflushed toilet. If you glance at the turd in the bowl, you will see that it is in the shape of a most famous mouse. (00:41:15)
Trivia: The experiment that showed that humans lose 21 grams at the moment of death were later shown to be highly flawed. The entire experiment was based on only four people. Only the first subject actually lost 21 grams. Another person lost a different weight, and the other two died before they could be properly weighed.
Trivia: The second entry in the "Vengeance Trilogy" by director Park Chan-wook. The three films are not directly related, but are connected by similar visual styles and themes of revenge and retribution. The first film was "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance," while the final film was "Lady Vengeance." All three films have been optioned for American remakes, although as of 2019, only "Oldboy" has been successfully remade.
Trivia: "Selby Wall", played by Christina Ricci, is a totally fictional character. She does not exist. Wuornos' lover was Tyria Moore, who is tall and stocky and looks nothing like Ricci. There is evidence that Wuornos told Moore about at least one of the murders she committed (Richard Mallory in November 1989) and she didn't report it. She agreed to make the phone call to Wuornos, taped by the police, in exchange for immunity from prosecution. This is correctly depicted in the film.