Trivia: Both Frank Langella and Michael Sheen played their respective roles in the original Broadway production.
Trivia: David Seidler won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for this film. At the age of 73, Seidler was the oldest person to win the Award.
Trivia: This was the first film from a black director to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Trivia: During the filming of one scene in a native village, Klaus Kinski hit one of the extras over the head with his sword, almost killing him. The man survived because he had a helmet on.
Trivia: General Robert E. Lee was shown throughout the movie as wearing the three star insignia of a Colonel, rather than the three stars surrounded by a wreath as was the proper insignia for all Confederate generals. General Lee actually wore this throughout most if not all of the war, and this is accurate.
Trivia: In the movie, when we first see Lady Jane Grey, we see a painting of Helena Bonham Carter as Jane. The portrait this was based on was long believed to be the only known portrait of Lady Jane but is now reclassified as Henry VIII's last wife, Catherine Parr. It is in the National Portrait Gallery, London, England.
Trivia: This movie was filmed back-to-back with Letters from Iwo Jima, a fictional account of the battle of Iwo Jima that looks at it from the Japanese soldier's perspective.
Trivia: Outside the Port Authority terminal is a statue of Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden from "The Honeymooners." According to Oliver Stone in the audio commentary, that statue actually exists.
Trivia: When the Facebook team are celebrating their 1,000,000th member, Mark Zuckerberg is wearing an Arm & Hammer t-shirt. This is in reference to Cameron Winklevoss/Tyler Winklevoss being played by actor Armand "Armie" Hammer. (01:42:25)
Trivia: The film was to have run six hours with two intermissions, but it was cut down to four with one.
Trivia: Esmond P. Knight, the actor who portrayed Captain Leach of the battleship "Prince of Wales" was a crew member on the ship during the real battle where he was badly injured, suffering a period of blindness.
Trivia: The characters John Blackthorne and Toranaga are based upon two historical figures: Togukawa Ieyasu and William Adams, an Englishman who both became a samurai and a close advisor to Ieyasu in the 1600s.
Trivia: The Chinese extras cast in this film were almost all Spanish residents, especially in Madrid. This was done to such an extreme extent that some Chinese restaurants and other Chinese-Spanish-owned businesses in the Madrid area especially were forced to close for a few days due to lack of personnel.
Trivia: Although Adrian Brody was officially the star of "Hollywoodland," his character (private detective Louis Simo) was a completely fictional role in the movie. Virtually all of the other characters in the film are based on real people, but there never was a Louis Simo, and he's not based on any actual person (s). George Reeves' mother did hire an attorney and a detective agency in real life; however, "Hollywoodland" director Allen Coulter said that the character of Louis Simo wasn't even partially based on anyone in real life.
Trivia: Angelina Jolie was pregnant with her daughter Shiloh when she portrayed Mariane Pearl, who was pregnant with her son Adam during the events of the movie.
Trivia: In real life, Mary secretly married her second husband, William Stafford, while Anne was still Queen. Henry and Anne did not approve because Stafford had a low social rank and little money. Mary was banished from court, and her parents and uncle disowned her. Her final interaction with Anne was probably when Anne sent her a golden cup and some money, but still would not allow her at court. She was probably not present at the execution of Anne, like in this movie.