Trivia: The original director's cut of the film ran nearly two hours. The studio, however, severely trimmed the movie down to to just over 80 minutes, cutting out much of the character and story development in order to make the plot move faster. The director considered removing his name from the film and going with "Alan Smithee" (the name directors used to use when they are displeased with a film) as he was devastated by all the edits, but ultimately chose not to.
Trivia: Eddie Murphy had a big problem while working on this movie: He is very squeamish about most animals. It is even so serious that he flatly refused to do a scene involving an alligator. Hence, most shots with animals were done via blue-screen technique.
Trivia: Temuera Morrison and Cliff Curtis are speaking Maori in their roles as pirates. However they didn't know how to say the complex lines they were supposed to (about gold and pirates, etc), so they just ad-libbed random everyday stuff such as what they were cooking for dinner. (From Temuera's biography "Temuera Morrison: From Haka to Hollywood").
Trivia: Though this film is oft-cited as a "sequel" to the 1991 and 1993 "Addams Family" movies, it is actually a "reboot" that was produced and distributed by a completely different studio, and was actually created to serve as a "backdoor pilot" for the subsequent television series "The New Addams Family."
Trivia: In an interview with Leon, he states that he ad-libbed the line "Ain't nobody coming to see you, Otis." Charles Malik Whitfield, who plays Otis, was bothered by this, and his reaction is genuine.
Trivia: While Mr. Freeze is at Shaugnessy's, when Shaka smacks Dick across the room, he ends up flat on his back, and in the close-up when Dick raises his head, the buttons on his vest switch sides momentarily. Then the buttons revert back (noted in trivia because it's better when clicked through slowly). (00:24:25)
Trivia: The original script was titled "Tentacle." It was written in the mid-90's by Stephen Sommers, with some uncredited re-writes by "Karate Kid" writer Robert Mark Kamen. The ambiguous ending was meant to serve as a lead-in to a sequel, with rumors that it would have been either a loose adaptation of "Journey to the Center of the Earth" or a "King Kong" remake, given the Island resembles "Skull Island."
Trivia: During the climax, Sadako's unnatural movement was accomplished with a very simple in-camera effect - the actress performed the scene backwards. The footage was then reversed, which gave her movements an uncanny feeling, since they weren't quite "right." In addition, to further aid in giving her an uncanny appearance, the closeup of her eyeball in the final scenes of the film were actually shot with a male actor's eye... again to subtly make it feel not quite "right."
Trivia: Due to problems with financing this film took 7 years to make.
Trivia: Director Gus van Sant has a cameo at the beginning of the movie when Marion enters the office after her lunch break - he is talking to someone looking just like Alfred Hitchcock.
Trivia: The scene filmed on Ensign Peak during the acid trip, uses a shot from Terminator 2 to simulate Salt Lake City being destroyed by a nuclear blast.
Trivia: This was the last feature-length motion picture produced by Lyrick Studios before it was folded into HIT Entertainment in 2001.
Trivia: Chris Farley has an uncredited role in the film as Jimmy. This is his second, and the last, film to be released after his death.
Trivia: The role of Mark Sheridan was originally written for Samuel L. Jackson.
Trivia: This sequel was filmed and released at the same time in 1998 as the first film - "Ringu." As the films were based on an incredibly popular book series, the studio thought that releasing the first movie and its sequel simultaneously would drastically increase profits - fans could see the first movie, then immediately pay for another ticket to see the sequel right after. Unfortunately, this tactic backfired. Few people saw this sequel in theaters and it garnered poor word-of-mouth, despite the fact the first film became incredibly popular. As a result, one year later, a new sequel - "Ringu 2" was produced that ignored this film entirely.
