Trivia: After the guests leave and Randy is alone on the couch watching Halloween, right as the ghost-face walks in, the Halloween theme begins. In Halloween the beginning of the theme means the shape is near.
Trivia: According to the Director's commentary, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation did not want the film to be released under the title "Independence Day" to avoid legal complications (specifics weren't disclosed as to what the problems might be, but it's also why the abbreviation "ID4" was used). Roland Emmerich (director/writer) and Dean Devlin (writer) needed to justify the title, so they added the rousing bit right at the end of President Whitmore's speech at the hangar when he ends with, "The 4th of July will no longer be known as an American holiday...today we celebrate our Independence Day!"
Trivia: During filming, Val Kilmer became so difficult to work with, that after his final scene was filmed, director John Frankenheimer ordered his crew to "get that bastard off my set."
Trivia: The movie wasn't based on a true story. The Coen brothers just threw that in. That said, the special edition DVD of the film contains a statement that the film was inspired by a real life incident in which Richard Crafts killed his wife Helle and disposed of her body by feeding it through a woodchipper.
Trivia: The guy who starts to read when the satellite signal is lost at the end of the movie is Kyle Gass, the other half of the band Tenacious D, of which Jack Black is also a member.
Trivia: In the scene when Jake is sitting on the frame of his burnt house talking to Harry Rex, in one shot, the crotch of his pants has a large hole. He obviously has no underwear on, and you can see his "anatomy". Viewed on VHS.
Suggested correction: That hole is on the top of his inside leg.
Trivia: The look of the movie is based on a collection of Topps trading cards.
Trivia: In the book, Aaron does not have a stutter - the stutter was introduced for the film because when Edward Norton auditioned for the part, he did the lines with a stutter and it won him the part.
Trivia: When the Gecko brothers are at the hotel and George Clooney returns, the bag of food he's holding is from Kahuna Burger, the burger joint talked about by Samuel L Jackson in Quentin Tarantino's other movie, Pulp Fiction.
Trivia: At the beginning of the film Lucy and Ray watch a videotape called 'Murders, Madmen and Psychopaths', with the news report of Johnny Charles Bartlett. The reporter is a genuine TV reporter in NZ (where the film was shot), cast presumably due to her real American accent. (00:11:10)
Trivia: I was reading through some of the entries concerning the Borg in the Star Trek Encyclopedia, and came upon a comment they had about Wolf 359 - it's the name of an actual star in space, it makes up part of the Constellation Leo. It's also the site of the first major fleet battle between StarFleet and the Borg. Take your mind back to the scene where Zef and Lily first walk out of that bar, and Lily sees a speck of light that is actually the Borg Sphere, and asks Zef what it is. He replies "That, my dear, is the Constellation Leo". Now, obviously he didn't see what she was pointing out the first time around, but we could probably assume that from their point of view the sphere was in the general area that the constellation occupies in the night sky. Nice coincidence that the first attack on Earth by the Borg came from the same direction as the major battle between Starfleet and the Borg.
Trivia: A projectile hitting the air at near the speed of light" (about 334,800,000 MPH) would instantly vaporise in a huge, blinding flash from the ridiculously intense frictional heating that would occur at such an enormous velocity in the atmosphere. The energy released would probably kill the shooter and anyone standing anywhere near him. Makes for a good movie effect though.
Trivia: Does anyone else notice the parallels between this movie and The Devil's Advocate? They both have Al Pacino running New York City and his "right hand man" is named Kevin.