Trivia: Although they played mother and son in this film, Debbie Reynolds (born 1932) was only twelve years older than Michael Douglas (born 1944).
Trivia: The Grand National sequence towards the end of the film combines filmed footage with real footage of the 1983 Grand National.
Trivia: The book that this movie is based on is a fake. The author Thomas E Gaddis admitted he never met Stroud until 1962 in a courthouse in Kansas City for 30 seconds. His story came from his mother, ex-cons who knew him or he just made them up. Stroud was never allowed to see the film.
Trivia: Paul Jesson and Timothy Spall play father and son in this film. In real life, Jesson is only ten years older than Spall.
Trivia: Although Eileen Heckart plays Paul Newman's mother in the film, she was only six years older than Newman.
Trivia: Although Lionel Jeffries and John Fraser play father and son in this film, Jeffries was only five years older than Fraser.
Trivia: Charles Laughton plays Edward Moulton-Barrett, the father of Elizabeth Barrett (Norma Shearer). In real life, Laughton was only three years older than Shearer.
Trivia: Eddie is given a heartfelt pep talk by his idol Matti Nykänen, the Finnish ski jumper. Nykänen actually spoke no English at all.
Trivia: Bruce Forsyth, who plays Arthur Lawrence, was only 7 years older than Julie Andrews, who plays his daughter Gertrude.
Trivia: Christopher Plummer earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance as J. Paul Getty. At the age of 88, Plummer is the oldest acting Oscar nominee.
Trivia: Glenn Close is only twelve years older than John Hawkes, who plays her son.
Trivia: Stan tells Ollie he's never getting married again, he will just find a woman he doesn't like and buy her a house. Stan would marry three more times and divorce twice between 1937 and1953, including remarrying and re divorcing one of his ex wives.
Trivia: Christian Bale nearly played George W. Bush in the Oliver Stone-directed film W, but left the project because he didn't like the prosthetics he had to wear.
Trivia: This was the first biographical film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Trivia: When the screenwriter was pitching the film back in the 90's, reportedly at one meeting an executive suggested in all seriousness that Julia Roberts should play Harriet Tubman. When another person in the room mentioned that it wouldn't make any sense for the (very white) Roberts to play the role of Tubman, he responded "It was so long ago! Nobody would know the difference!"
Trivia: Will Smith won the Best Actor Oscar for his role in the film. However, his award was overshadowed by an altercation with Chris Rock earlier in the evening, which saw Smith slap Rock in the face after Rock made a joke about Smith's wife Jada Pinkett Smith (which Will initially laughed at). As a result, Smith was given a 10-year ban from the Oscars ceremony, and also lost consideration for upcoming film roles.