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: The film's soundtrack album knocked Michael Jackson's "Thriller" off the top of the U.S. album charts, where it had ranked for more than a year.
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.
Trivia: Due to the political situation in Iraq, the location for scale shots was moved from Morocco to Mexico, an ideal alternate choice with its broad beach. However, the rushed decision presented some obstacles. Coastal Mexico is an endangered turtle habitat, so to be granted permission to set up the Greek encampment and build boats on the large stretch of beach, the film crew implemented their own turtle incubation nursery, releasing a multitude of turtles while on location in Mexico. They also did not have an accurate idea of the physical conditions of that particular beach - it was unstable and 100 feet of beach washed away overnight, leaving Greek ships teetering precariously on the edge of the bank with the missing sand.
Trivia: The person who introduces Leonardo DiCaprio onstage at the end of the film is the real Jordan Belfort.
Trivia: Bill Millin, Lord Lovat's piper, earned the nickname 'Mad Piper' due to the fact that he was spared by German snipers on D-Day because they thought him to be crazy playing bagpipes in the middle of a war.
Trivia: In one of the letters that Gerry sends Holly about choosing a future career he says "and there's no such thing as a Vampire Slayer". Funny statement since one of the stars of the film is James Marsters, who is famous for his role as Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Trivia: Stars Paul Newman and Steve McQueen apparently argued intensely over who should get top billing. In the end the producers settled for a compromise: reading the film poster (which is reproduced as the DVD cover) top to bottom, Paul Newman is first, i.e. higher, or "top" billing. But reading left to right, Steve McQueen is first. The same applies to their photographs either side of the main artwork, McQueen on the left but Newman (marginally) higher up. Ironically, this billing format was an issue when McQueen was considered for a role in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."
Trivia: The man working on the burger van is reading a copy of The Da Vinci Code - interesting as the book is about the Jesus blood line.