That Thing You Do

Trivia: Throughout the entire movie, no one ever says the bass player's name. Even in the credits, he is listed as T.B. Player and The Bass Player.

Trivia: Another Beatles parallel in the film: There's a scene where you see the band members play on stage and Mr. White is watching them (while moving his head along with the music). There's a famous picture of Brian Epstein (Beatles' mythological manager) doing the exact same thing on The Beatles' famous Shea Stadium concert.

Trivia: The name and logo of the record label in this movie, Playtone, became the name of Tom Hanks' production company.

Trivia: There are several Beatles parallels: The Beatles' first hit, "Please Please Me," was a speeded-up version of a slow ballad. On the Ed Sullivan show, a shot of John Lennon was accompanied by the caption, "Sorry Girls, He's Married." Also, lead singer Jimmy gets sick on the show as George Harrison did prior to their appearance.

Malaver

Trivia: The ballad that appears on the flip side of their hit single (and which they play at Villapianos) is also being played by the band at the wedding reception in another Tom Hanks production, "My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding.

Trivia: The four actors of the band rehearsed for eight weeks as a band in order to improve their performing, but most of their performances were still dubbed by professional musicians.

Malaver

Trivia: Two of the characters in this movie, Lenny Haise and James Mattingly, have the same last names as the characters from Tom Hanks' previous movie, Apollo 13; Fred Haise and Ken Mattingly.

Trivia: Tom Hanks' wife, Rita Wilson and two of his kids, Colin and Elizabeth can be seen in the movie. Rita Wilson played Marguerite, the cocktail waitress in the jazz club, Colin was the page who escorted Liv Tyler and Elizabeth was the bored girl in the dress shop.

Factual error: When the boys go to the radio show in CA, the DJ says to the listeners to keep Saturday and Sunday, August 20th and 21st [1964] open. The 20th and 21st of August 1964 were a Thursday and a Friday.

ChiChi

More mistakes in That Thing You Do

Mr. White: You guys look great in gold, have I told you that?

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Question: Are the characters in this movie based on actual people? Is it a true story or a fictional story that was entirely possible?

Answer: The movie was written by Tom Hanks and some what reflects the music industry during that time period. It is not about a real band, but shows how a lot of bands were treated at the time and how quickly you can rise and how you can fall even faster.

Bruce Minnick

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