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After reading the script with his wife, Barry Sonnenfeld (the director) turned to his wife and said "Tommy Lee Jones". She turned to him and said "Will Smith", and that is how they were cast. This is confirmed by Barry Sonnenfeld on the DVD commentary. See more...

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Men in Black (1997) - 54 mistakes

Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, starring Linda Fiorentino, Rip Torn, Tommy Lee Jones, Tony Shalhoub, Vincent D'Onofrio, Will Smith (add more)

Genres: Action, Comedy, Sci-fi

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Revealing: When Will Smith throws a rock at the escaping Edgar alien, if you watch the rock after it hits the alien, it disappears after hitting the ground.

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Audio problem: When Will Smith is looking at the two space ships at the MIB headquarters, if you look in the background Zed and K are there typing on the computer. But if you look closer you can tell that they're not even touching the keyboard and the sounds are just added into the movie.

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Continuity: Just before the diner scene, where the two aliens are discussing the galaxy, we see the outside of the Russian restaurant. The neon sign says "haroshaya" meaning "good" all the way across the window, in the next shot inside the restaurant, the "ha", which looks like the English letters "xo", is gone and the sign is centered.

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Continuity: When the Bug's spaceship floats over Shea Stadium and the NY Mets outfielder sees it and gets conked on the head by the fly ball, he is wearing number 23. In a later scene, when J picks up the tabloid newspapers, the photo of the ballplayer has number 20.

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Visible crew/equipment: When Tommy Lee Jones shakes the dog asking him about the galaxy, right before they exit the car, you can see the cameraman's reflection in the shiny black door frame.

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Continuity: When Will Smith is holding the squid, watch the reflection on the alien's black eyes. Although Will Smith is standing alone, the reflection on the eyes shows two people, or - depending on the shot - one with a big hat.

Edit Submitted by Sacha Time
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Continuity: When the jeweller leaves his shop, the shop window clearly shows the reflection of the parked exterminator's van. Then you see the van being driven up the cross-street as the jeweller leaves in the taxi.  Then Edgar/bug parks the van, goes to the shop, and you can see the same reflection in the jewellery shop window.

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Continuity: When the countdown timer for the destruction of Earth appears on the viewscreen, you see it count down to 59:56. There is a cut to three cast members including Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones for a brief dialogue scene. When it cuts to Will Smith walking away you can see the clock still counting down on the screen in the background. Now it is showing the time of 59:54. The aforementioned dialogue section took noticeably longer than two seconds.

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Continuity: When Will Smith and the other recruits are taking their written tests, the white table first appears to be situated between the second and third men from the left. When Smith goes to the table to pull it across the room, it is much further to the right of the scene.

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Continuity: After Will Smith holds the squid, the amount of slime on his jacket differs between the right and left shots.

Edit Submitted by Sacha
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Continuity: When J and K first get in the car (the Ford POS),the windows keep switching from up to down. Interior shots Will Smith's window is up, exterior shots his window is down.

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Other: When the two men are in the diner before they get killed by Edgar the bug, the subtitle reads, "Sure. I ordered you some Pirogi". It's spelled Pierogi.

Edit Submitted by "Mountain Mike" Johansen Time
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Other: There is a mistake in the French subtitle translation. In the diner when the cook asks Edgar the Bug, "where's Ivan?" Edgar responds, "[I] gave him a break". The translator writing the subtitles must have thought he was saying "GIVE him a break" because the subtitle reads, "laisse-le tranquille" which means, "leave him alone".

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Revealing: When J is trapped by a tentacle of the baby alien he casts no shadow on the ground, revealing it's all CGI.

Edit Submitted by Sacha Time
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Continuity: At the end J and K kill the Bug, getting covered with slime and gunk. Then in the next scene, when K is giving the neuralizer to J, they are both suddenly clean, while the woman is still extremely messy.

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Continuity: When the truck gets smashed at the start, the tree beside the truck is well alight, but when the man comes out of the house, it is only a little alight.

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Continuity: In the restaurant scene, the jewel case containing the diamonds is to Mr. Rosenberg's right, but when the Arquillian asks what it is, the jewel case is to Mr. Rosenberg's left.

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Factual error: When Tommy Lee Jones is looking at his wife on the computer, he had typed in Truro (in Cape Cod, Mass.), but when he zoomed in, it was on the lower cape; Truro is located on the upper cape near the tip.

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Revealing: There is a scene where Agent J is standing on a car and shoots the "Noisy Cricket" at the fleeing Edgar. The camera shot is from inside the car and just before Agent J crashes through the windshield, you see a precut area in the glass.

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Visible crew/equipment: In the scene in the beginning where Will Smith chases the alien who jumps off the bridge onto the street. Will Smith jumps from the bridge onto a tour bus, then jumps on the back of a newspaper delivery van. In the passenger side of the van is a cameraman with his back towards the windshield in order to film down the side of the van as Will Smith jumps off the van.

Edit Submitted by william burke Time