Trivia: The wrestling commentator is Jim Ross,he and Jerry Lawler are both commentators. They both appear in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
Trivia: This movie is a retelling of the story of "Dangerous Liaisons."
Trivia: The strange incantation heard at the beginning of the orgy scene is a fragment of a Romanian Orthodox Church sermon played backwards. If you play it backwards you'll notice that there are two main voices (in the movie is supposed to be only one - the voice of the "great priest") and a choir.
Trivia: In actual life, Lana states that Brandon never proposed to her. In fact, when she found out that Brandon was actually Teena, she ended the relationship then and there.
Trivia: When the scene where the cow is blown up was threatened to be cut due to money constrictions George Clooney paid for the effect out of his own pocket feeling it important to the scene. He was right, the scene was wildly popular with audiences. (Source George Clooney Biography at http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/biographies/george_clooney_biog/5).
Trivia: In the beginning scene where the crew responds to a cardiac arrest, they defibrillate (shock) the patient three times in under fifteen seconds. When the monitor appears on the screen his rhythm appears to be asystole, which the current (2015) guidelines state should not be shocked. The 2015 AHA guidelines also call for two minutes of compressions between shocks. One might think the writers made a mistake; however, the recommendation not to shock asystole only appeared as recently as 1992. The medics in Bringing Out the Dead would have learned to give three shocks in rapid succession and likely would have shocked asystole as a precaution because it can be hard to distinguish from fine ventricular fibrillation. The film is actually medically accurate considering it is set in the early 90s. (00:04:35)
Trivia: Director Oliver Stone makes a cameo as sportscaster.
Trivia: This is Charlize Theron's second movie with Delroy Lindo, although their first movie together, Devil's Advocate (1997) didn't have any scenes of them together.
Trivia: In the film, Hurricane Carter is shown as having published a book called "The Sixteenth Round." This book, as well as parts of Sam Chaiton's (played in the film by Liev Schreiber) book "Lazarus and the Hurricane," is what the film is adapted from.
Trivia: The film is based on a true story. The man who is played by Val Kilmer was a married man, in his early fifties, when he regained his sight, and he is gradually losing it again.
Trivia: Marilee Rush's "Angel of the Morning", featured in the film's soundtrack, was written by Angelina Jolie's uncle, Chip Taylor.
Trivia: There are two versions of the DVD available in the US, an R-Rated edition and the uncut original edition. One funny thing about the cut R-rated edition is that in the opening montage scene, despite the footage of the homosexual gangster raping the busboy having been taken out, you can still hear the audio and sound effects overlapping the other shots in the scene.
Trivia: Blythe Danner is only 10 years older than her on-screen daughter Kate Capshaw.
Trivia: Melissa Joan Hart called the New York premiere of this film the worst day of her life. She had broken up with her boyfriend, learned she was fired from Scary Movie as she was leaving the premiere to go to the airport to film the movie, leading her to return to the premiere, and then learned Archie Comics was threatening to sue and fire her from Sabrina, the Teenage Witch for breach of contract. A picture of her from the premiere alongside Britney Spears shows her with red eyes because she had been crying all night.
Trivia: Meryl Streep's role is the only performance for which Wes Craven directed an actor to an Academy Award nomination.