Great sites

Mistakes

In the scene where Ben Affleck is walking toward a stuffed animal stand, you see a small red dog facing toward the camera. In the next side shot, when Ben is picking up the parrot, you see the same dog still facing toward the camera when you should see the dog's side. See more...

Picture

Movie Mistakes blog

Paycheck (2003) - 5 questions

Directed by John Woo, starring Aaron Eckhart, Ben Affleck, Uma Thurman (add more)

Genres: Sci-fi, Thriller, Action, Mystery

The "questions" section is for any random questions that occurred to you while watching this film, or anything you didn't entirely understand, and which Google or the IMDb can't help with. Submit them as a question, and hopefully someone will answer (the bold comments in brackets) - check back regularly. If the answer is wrong, or missing information, please use the "clarify answer" option. Don't feel limited - want to know what music played in a certain scene? Whether this was the first film to use a certain effect? Here's the place to ask!

Questions

Question: I understand how Michael collects things to prompt certain actions after he gets "out", but how does the diamond ring work. Each item serves a purpose. to set off the sprinkler system, etc. but how does he know in advance, the kid would steal the ring? The items were placed in the envelope to "make" things happen (getting off the bus if memory serves me correctly was the point of having the ring stolen.) In the original time line as viewed on the machine, there wouldn't have been a ring for the kid steal it, so how does he know the kid will "take the bait"?

Answer: He has the ability to see what will happen if he changes certain things by looking back in time. He just kept making changes until he got the desired results. He could have added dozens of things until he found something would would force him to get off the bus.

Edit Answered by pross79

Change answer Duplicate X

Question: How did those newspaper articles from the future get onto the stamp? Wasn't it possible only to see the future rather than actually travel through time?

Answer: No time travel is necessary. The machine is apparently able to show what ever the viewer wants to see, so Michael Jennings could simply have zoomed in on some newspapers in a newsstand or something and snapped a picture of them.

Edit Answered by Andreas[DK]

Change answer Duplicate X

Question: What is the name of the blond woman which has sex with Ben Affleck at the beginning?

Answer: The name of the character is Rita Dunne. The name of the actress is Kathryn Morris.

Edit

Change answer Duplicate X

Question: Ben Affleck first met Uma Thurman at a party just before he was offered and accepted the three year job. Surely he would have recognized her after having his memory wiped even if he could not remember any of the time they spent together.

Answer: Do you remember every person you've ever talked to at a party? Didn't think so. His memory isn't restored back to perfect condition - he's still had three years to forget about details at the party. He remembers things like the origins of the deal because it was important.

Edit Answered by Nick N.

Change answer Duplicate X

Question: Would it have been at all possible for Ben Affleck to obtain the key to the janitors office in the train station and mail it to himself, as he was not allowed to leave the complex he was working in for three years?

Answer: He could have got someone to obtain the key and bring it to him. The same goes for much of the other stuff in the envelope.

Edit Answered by Xofer

Change answer Duplicate X