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: 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: 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: 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: 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.
Trivia: In the scene where Doctor Spivey is interviewing McMurphy, this whole scene is improvised. Spivey (Dr. Dean Brooks) is the ACTUAL doctor of the institute in real life, and was simply told to interview Jack Nicholson (McMurphy) as if he was a real patient. Nicholson had to improvise and get from the beginning of the scene to the end.
Trivia: Director Oliver Stone claimed that the lead character of Chris was largely autobiographical and mirrored many of Stone's own experiences as a soldier in Vietnam.
Trivia: The real Frank Abagnale Jr. was held in the French prison (Perpignan's House of Arrest) for approximately six months. His term was shortened from twelve months. When released (extradited to Sweden), he was ill because he had been forced to live in a damp, dark cell, naked and allowed only bread and water. In Sweden where he was tried and convicted he was kept in a comfortable Swedish prison. However, upon completion of his prison term in Sweden, he was next to be extradited to Italy. The Swedish government believed in prison reform and was afraid of the treatment he would receive in an Italian prison. As a result, Sweden revoked Frank's passport so it could intentionally have him extradited to the U.S. Once in the US, he was protected and couldn't be tried in the foreign countries where he perpetrated his fraudulent schemes. The book about his life contains a more accurate depiction than the film and was written 10 years prior to its release.
Suggested correction: Incorrect. Abagnale served three months in a French prison, not six. He then served two months in a Swedish prison. He was ordered to recompense Swedish victims of his crimes but never did. The book about his life was published over 20 years before the film was released, not 10. The book and movie are both almost completely inaccurate; most of Abagnale's stories of his crimes and frauds were greatly exaggerated or completely made up. Journalists started discovering these lies in the late 1970s.
Trivia: There are 133 F-words in this movie.
Trivia: Orchard house, the house in the movie, is actually the house that Little Women's author, Louisa May Alcott was raised in.
