Trivia: At the beginning of the movie, when The Dude is writing a check for the cream at the grocery, look at the date on the check. Sept 11, 1991. A few seconds later we see George Bush Sr. talking about Iraq. So here we have a scene containing Sept. 11th, George Bush and references to the Middle East in a movie that takes place in 1991. (00:03:00)
Trivia: The bees in the dome scene are real (there were about 30,000 of them). David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were actually in the dome with them, and neither of them wore protective gear, but weren't stung nonetheless.
Trivia: At the very end of the movie when the new kids are telling the story, they make a sarcastic comment about the killer being the girl from the Noxzema commercials. The girl who played the killer, Rebecca Gayheart, really was the girl from the Noxzema commercials.
Trivia: The film's cover of "Another Brick in the Wall" (Parts 1 and 2) were performed by a band called "Class of '99." The band was a super-group made up of members from prominent 80's and 90's rock bands. (Including members of Alice in Chains, Rage Against the Machine, and Jane's Addiction.) The band was formed exclusively to record the covers for the soundtrack, and disbanded immediately after the film's release.
Trivia: "Kevin Dunn" is actually also the name of a cast member in the film, the guy who played the pay-per-view TV reporter.
Trivia: At the end of the film, the witches in black robes are all wearing red-and-white striped socks. This is a nod to one of the most recognizable witches of all time, the Wicked Witch of the East in "The Wizard of Oz."
Trivia: When the servant is reading the Italian woman's cards, look at the justice card. It pictures a person in front of a red flag with a yellow star, a lot like the Chinese flag. In the next scene, (after the children's performance), the Chinese woman is standing at her podium in front of a Chinese flag; red with yellow stars.
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 film is loosely based on an ongoing series of novels by Japanese author Koji Suzuki. While the film shares the basic premise of the novels, the details are vastly different. (Notably, the books feature heavy and increasing science-fiction overtones that are absent from the films.) The American remake, "The Ring," is based more directly on this film and its sequel "Ringu 2" than the novels.