Trivia: U-571 cause quite a stir in England especially in the small northern town of Horsforth (where I actually live), because we felt the movie 'Hollywood-ised' a British victory. The people of Horsforth raised an astonishing £241,000 in one week (about £4million today) to fund the building of the HMS Aubretia, the ship that captured the first enigma machine when it depth charged U-110. It caused so much upset amongst people that President Bill Clinton wrote a letter to the people of Horsforth praising the town for their part in the war effort. The letter is now on display in the local museum.
Trivia: Judging by his looks, one would think Gary Oldman is paying homage to that Sean Penn's also somewhat 'offbeat' lawyer-characterization in "Carlito's Way".
Trivia: At one point in the film, a character is walking through the dressing room backstage of the theater, and you can see a "phantom hand" sticking out of the wardrobe hanging on the rack. To this day, this mysterious hand has no explanation, as there was no reason for it to be in the scene. Some like to think, given the nature of the film, the hand is of supernatural origins.
Trivia: John Henshaw, who plays the Man Utd loving father of Gordon, is actually a lifelong fan of Manchester City FC, and held a season ticket at Maine Road, where the schools' cup final in the film was held.
Trivia: Kirsten Dunst improvised the scene where she hears Cliff's track.
Trivia: In the scene where Shaft first calls Rasaan reminding him of owing a favour, the song playing in Rasaan's apartment is one by Sean Paul. Rapper Busta Rhymes (Rasaan) and Jamaican artist Sean Paul have featured on several of each other's songs.
Trivia: Harvey Korman who played the part of Wilma's father in this movie is also the voice of the Dictabird in the first Flintstones movie.
Trivia: The disgusting food that Big Momma makes for Trent and Sherry is exactly the food that is visible being made in the movie "Nothing To Lose", where Martin Lawrence first enters a restaurant with Tim Robbins in the desert at the start of the movie.
Trivia: Ape Boy was actually played by Violent J (who also played Big Baby Sweets). Apparently, because Shaggy 2 Dope was supposed to do a wrestling move on the actor who played Ape Boy, they would have to have someone who was trained in wrestling to play the part. According to Violent J, it would have cost too much money to re-dub someone else's voice over his own in the Doughnut Shop scene, which is why Ape Boy sounds like Big Baby Sweets.
Trivia: The fictional childhood of Nick, growing up in a burlesque club surrounded by beautiful, nearly naked women who adored him, is bizarrely similar to the actual childhood of Alan Alda, who plays the boss character. Alan Alda's father ran a burlesque club, and apparently the strippers and dancers treated the young Alda as a mascot, even keeping him in the changing room as they got dressed. However, as an adult Alda became an activist for feminist causes, rather than the chauvinist effect it had on the fictional Nick.
Trivia: Wim Wenders made the movie in a real hotel in a rather run-down area in LA. Throughout the shooting he had to deal with unwanted extras interfering with the shooting. One lovely example is the scene where Skinner talks to Tom Tom in a car in front of a porn cinema, and a lady in red, who is seen in the background, all of a sudden puts her nose to the window to have a good look at Mel Gibson. (00:41:50)
Trivia: Just before the Gods Speaker finds the picture of the jaguar in the book, you see a picture of someone fishing off a crescent moon: the Dreamworks logo.
Trivia: As director Bonnie Hunt says on the DVD commentary, she told Minnie (Grace) to hit David (Bob) really hard in the scene when she slaps him, to get a better reaction. This is why his face looks surprisingly cheerful behind his hand as he holds it to his cheek - he's trying very hard not to laugh, as he wasn't expecting it.
Trivia: The provider of the shrieks, growls, and snarls of the velociraptors was a chihuahua.
Trivia: The Marquis de Sade, a promiscuous man and a convicted rapist died of syphilis (a sexually-transmitted disease) in 1814.
Trivia: John Travolta made the film with Franchise Pictures. A few years after the film, it was revealed in a court case that Franchise had fraudulently overstated the budget of Battlefield Earth by $21 million to scam investors. After losing the case, Franchise filed for bankruptcy, and Travolta fired his manager, who set up the deal with Franchise in the first place.
