Trivia: In China this film was renamed 'Mr. Cat-Poop'.
Trivia: Filmmakers George Miller and Francis Ford Coppola both sued Warner Bros. over Contact. George Miller sued for breach of contract (as he was the original director before being fired and replaced by Robert Zemeckis), while Coppola sued because he claimed that he and Carl Sagan (the writer of Contact) had already developed the premise for a TV show in the 1970's which was never produced, before Sagan later used the idea for Contact in 1985. Both suits failed - Miller's firing was within contract and perfectly reasonable, and Coppola was dismissed (twice) because he had taken far too long to sue the company (if he sued when Sagan began working in the 80's, he may have won, but he waited until after the film's release in 1997 to sue).
Trivia: Roberto Benigni became the first Italian actor in more than 35 years to win an Oscar for an acting role. The last winner was Sophia Loren. His unexpecting Oscar win for "Best Actor" marked only the second time that an actor had directed himself in an Academy Award winning performance. The other was Laurence Olivier for Hamlet (1948). Benigni also became the first actor to win a best actor oscar for an non-English speaking role.
Trivia: In the scene where the bass singer meets the convenor for the first time, the bass singer calls the bird 'Papageno' (the convenor corrects it to 'Paganini'). Papageno is, of course, the bird in Mozart's 'Magic Flute'.
Trivia: There were 4 trials for Jim Williams , not 1. The 4th and final trial took place in Augusta, Georgia, Not Atlanta.
Trivia: This film was shot in New Canaan, CT, but rather than shooting in the winter, which would make the most sense, they brought in dead foliage and made fake ice and shot it in late spring and early summer. To make the film more dramatic, they also spliced together scenes from locations miles away, not the distance indicated in the movie.
Trivia: Random point. The hiker who stops Ewan McGregor during his escape is Timothy Olyphant, in only his second film role. You may not know the name, but he went on to play the killer in Scream 2, a drug dealer in Go, and a detective in Gone in 60 Seconds. Well, I was surprised.
Trivia: Stephen King makes a cameo appearance as the band conductor of the 'ghostly' Gage Creed Orchestra.
Trivia: Alex Whitman's (played by Matthew Perry) dad, Richard, is played by John Bennett Perry, Matthew Perry's real-life father.
Trivia: The pony girl was Costner's daughter. The boy of the letter (Postman's horse stunt) was Costner's son.
Trivia: Cathy Moriarty (born 1960) is only six years older than Mary Stuart Masterson (born 1966), who plays her daughter.
Trivia: A G.I. historically refers to an enlisted member of the US Army (and Air Force during the 2nd World War). Lt. O'Neill is in the Navy, where the term doesn't apply. Additionally, she is an officer, so even if she was in the Army she STILL wouldn't be a G.I. Though to be fair, Lt. (Navy) Jane doesn't have exactly the same ring to it.
Trivia: Clint Eastwood's daughter Kimber has a cameo as a White House tour guide.
Trivia: The box that holds all the captured chess pieces shows Pixar Studios' old address, or the address they had at the time of this film.
Trivia: Peter Fonda received his only Academy Award nomination for acting for his role as Ulysses "Ulee" Jackson in this film.
Trivia: "Traveller" (1997) is by "Traveler Production. Company." Traveler and Traveller are the same terms, except the former (one "L") is the preferred spelling in the U.S. and the latter (two "L's") is preferred in the U.K. "Traveller" is set in North Carolina, so the more appropriate spelling (American English) would be "Traveler ", but the main characters in the movie are Irish-American. Is the film's title another con?
Trivia: June Carter Cash plays Robert Duvall's mother in the movie, even though in real life she's only two years older than him.
Trivia: When Jeff tries to get Red to pull over on the road, he almost misses an RV and has to swerve at the last minute. In front of where he swerves is a big rock looking thing, right frame. It is there to hide the camera filming the lower angle shot we see in this sequence.
