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Trivia: The film somewhat stirred controversy when it was released because it was the first time that a leading actress' (Janet Leigh) character dies during the first third of the film. Before Psycho, the leading actress' character either lives throughout the film or dies at the end. Her character never dies early in the film.

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Trivia: When director Roman Polanski won the Oscar for "Best Director" during the 2003 Academy Awards ceremony, he did not attend because of his statutory rape conviction in 1977. If he returns to the United States, Polanski will be immediately arrested once he steps into American soil. On late 2003, actor Harrison Ford presented the Oscar that Polanski won in March during the Deauville Film Festival in France.

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Trivia: For her role in the film, Halle Berry became the first black actress (even though she is actually bi-racial, as her mother is white) to win an Oscar for "Best Actress."

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Trivia: Because of how the film depicted the King of Siam, Thai authorities banned the film from being shown in Thailand.

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Trivia: Haing S. Ngor became the first Cambodian and the second non-actor (he is a doctor by trade) to win an Oscar for an acting role. Unfortunately, Ngor was murdered in a gang-related robbery at his home on February 25, 1996.

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Trivia: Beethoven never mentioned during his lifetime who was his "Immortal Beloved." The long-debated riddle of her identity was solved beyond reasonable doubt in 1977 by an American musicologist. The woman was identified as Antonie Brentano (1790-1869), the wife of a Frankfurt merchant and a mother of four.

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Trivia: Of all the characters, only Estella's name appeared in both the film and the original novel. All other characters had different names in the loosely-adapted film version.

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Trivia: For his role in Gandhi, Kingsley became the first actor of Indian descent to win an Oscar for an acting role.

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Trivia: Because of the North Hollywood shootout incident, the Los Angeles City Council passed laws that banned the sale and use of semi- and automatic weapons.

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Trivia: Kingpin is black (unlike the comics) because all the white actors (all of them professional wrestlers) who auditioned for the role were not deemed good enough.

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Trivia: The real Larry Flynt appears as a judge in the film.

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Factual error: Jerry Falwell and Charles Keating never knew each other personally in real life.

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Trivia: The film was supposed to be released in September 2001, but because of the September 11 terrorist attacks, its release was postponed until early 2002.

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Trivia: When the film was released during the war with Iraq, the poster of the film was edited by airbrushing the peace sign that Amanda Bynes made. This was done by Warner Bros. so no one will think that the poster is a war protest, or make it seem that the studio is against the war.

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Trivia: The current King of Jordan appeared briefly as an officer saluting Picard in one episode.

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Trivia: Singer/actress Aaliyah's brother Rashad Haughton provided her voice after her death from a plane crash on August 2001. "The Queen of the Damned" was the last film Aaliyah appeared in.

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Trivia: When the film was shown during the 2003 Baseball Hall of Fame ceremony, Susan Sarandon and her partner Tim Robbins were not invited because of the controversy surrounding their anti-war views on Iraq.

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Trivia: The replica of the Forum Romanum was built for $3.5 million.

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Trivia: Actor Heino Ferch spent five hours in the wardrobe transforming into Vercingetorix every day.

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Trivia: Originally, the producers intended to depict a more sympathetic side of Hitler, but after protests from Jewish groups (especially the Anti-Defamation League), the idea was dropped.

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