Trivia: Virtually all of the extras who play soldiers in the film were members of Civil War Re-enactor groups who not only freely donated their time but also supplied their own uniforms and equipment. This ensued that the film-makers did not have pay for their own extras and that they could stage the massive battle scenes without blowing the budget.
Trivia: This is a true story. After the death of his sister, Robert Harling locked himself in a room and 10 days later came out with this play which 3 years later became a movie. The movie was even filmed in the town that where everything happened and the nurse and doctors who cared for his sister Susan played themselves in the movie.
Trivia: Michael Madsen was extremely reluctant to film the torture scenes, especially when he was required to hit Kirk Baltz.
Trivia: Betty Spaghetti is played by director Penny Marshall's daughter, Tracy Reiner. Walter Harvey is played by the director's brother, Gary Marshall.
Trivia: The song that Landon is listening to when he pulls up to the cement factory is by Shane West's own band "Jonny Was" (then "Average Joe"). The song appears on the soundtrack under the band name "West, Gould, & Fitzgerald".
Trivia: In Philip K. Dick's short story "Type II" which became the movie Screamers, the Type III robot was a small boy named David, carrying a Teddy.
Trivia: The Playstation 2/PC game "Grand Theft Auto - Vice City" by Rockstar Games is modeled on Scarface; the mansion, cars, environment, buildings, the Babylon Club ('Malibu Club' in the game), and even some of the game scenarios are similar (for instance, taking over the mansion and chainsaw scenes).
Trivia: The term "Prince with a Thousand Enemies" used in the prelude is a direct translation of the rabbit folk hero El-Ahrairah's name.
Trivia: Near the end of the movie after Mr McAllister gets fired and we see full-screen shots of newspaper articles detailing the election scandal, if you pause the film at the third newspaper article (with the headline 'Carver Student Plans Lawsuit') and read it, you'll see that the director had a bit of fun with the viewing audience by inserting a couple of paragraphs into the middle of the story: 'If you've paused the film in order to read this entire article, your time would be better spent renting "Citizen Ruth" from your local video store. Do you know how hard and unthankful (?) a task it is to write these fake few stories for newspaper movie pages? I've got better things to do.'
Trivia: Nicole Kidman played all her own piano for this movie.
Trivia: Betty Buckley really slapped Nancy Allen across the face during the detention scene. Brian DePalma wanted the right reaction.
Trivia: At the prom, the popular girls tell a couple that there's "no room" at their table. The couple is dressed like Mary and Joseph of the Bible, whom were told there was "no room" at the inn (and therefore had to give birth to Jesus in a stable).
Trivia: The guy sitting at the $100 table is Vince Vaughn's father, and the old lady who wins at blackjack is Jon Favreau's grandmother.
Trivia: In the last scene of the movie when Chris and his son are crossing the street and telling jokes, they pass a man in a suit who gives them a brief nod. This is a cameo appearance from the real Chris Gardner.
Trivia: Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin has a cameo as a lawyer in a bar talking to a woman about one of his cases.