Factual error: Although the movie was set a few years after the Civil War, the train was equipped with modern automatic couplers.
Factual error: When challenged by Henry Lowe, Professor Tolson begins to recite the infamous William Lynch speech. However, the speech was proved to be a hoax that was actually written in the 1990s. No text could have existed at the time of this scene for Tolson to quote.
Factual error: In a couple of scenes, most notably the one where Graysmith drives his kid to school, there are newer cars in the background than the year it is supposed to be. In this scene the car is a 1971 Chrysler, when the scene takes place in 1969.
Factual error: The movie was meant to be set in Oregon, but it was actually filmed in Shreveport, Louisiana. In the scene that has Tracy leaving the apartment complex where Bafford (Mr. Smith) is, she is worried that she is being chased by a jogger who may possibly be Mekes. In the background, during the shot where the jogger first appears, a brown sign can be seen. These specific signs are unique to Louisiana and describe the history of certain locations, this one obviously being Shreveport.
Factual error: When Stowe and Callaghan shoot each other at the end, the CGI shell casings have huge, unrealistic primers.
Factual error: The movie was set roughly in the early 1950s, but the two motorcycles were at least mid-1980s or newer.
Factual error: The movie depicts Wes Studi, who is playing the Paiute medicine man "Wovoka," as coming to the Sioux reservation and delivering his vision. Wovoka (aka Jack Wilson) was from Schurz, Nevada 1250 miles away from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He never travelled to South Dakota. What really happened was tribal parties (at great personal risk) travelled to Nevada to get the message and brought it back to the Sioux people. Of course, this message was "modified" somewhat to better fit Lakota culture.
Factual error: When Cole and Carter are skydiving, there are a number of inaccuracies. First, Carter and his instructor jump well before Cole to put a safe distance between them. However, Cole and his instructor immediately catch up to Carter and then match their speed. This could be achieved by skilled jumpers, but not by instructor-novice pairs. Second, the men have a conversation while free-falling, which is completely impossible. Third, Carter pulls his own rip-cord (too early) and Cole's instructor yells at him to pull his own cord before it's too late. In reality, the instructor always carries the chute and pulls the cord for a first-time jumper, for exactly these reasons. (00:40:30)
Factual error: The phone at the Peacocks house is too modern for the time - the cord going into the handset had a clip in cord versus being attached directly to the piece.
Factual error: The route that Hanssen discusses with O'Neil on their way back to the FBI headquarters, from the DIA, is not geographically correct and would not get them from point A to point B.
Factual error: When Richard asks Art his opinion of his book, a copy of "Haymarket Scrapbook" is on a shelf. This book was first published in 1986, yet Richard's book will be published in 1981. (01:03:00)
Factual error: The license plates on Dan's car are very inaccurate fakes. The colors especially are way off. Certainly, the makers may use a fake sequence of characters the same way "555" phone numbers are, but the styling of the plate should look right. Real NJ plates are a pale yellow along the top 1/4 that fades to a very pale tan by halfway down. Dan's plate is a bright yellow (nearly orange) at the top and the rest is white. The numerals are also the wrong typeface. The mistake is made more obvious by the fact that real New Jersey plates are seen in the early portion of the film on other cars.
Factual error: Although set in the 1960's, a modern UPS truck is seen just before the rooftop concert scene.
Factual error: In the beginning when Anwar is in Cape Town, South Africa, according to the shadows cast by the men in Anwar's party, it's about 1 pm. He makes a call to Isabella in Chicago, United States when he apologizes for not calling her earlier. Cape Town is 8 hours ahead of Chicago, it would have been pitch dark in Chicago at that time but Isabella is outside in the midday sun playing soccer with Jeremy.
Factual error: At the beginning of the movie, we find out that Holly and Gerri were married when she was 19. She then turns 30, so at least 11 years have passed since the day that they met. However, when Holly sees Gerri in the pub on the day that they meet, he sings "The Galway Girl". This song was not written by Steve Earl until 2000, and they must have met sometime around the year 1996.
Factual error: The creature Jess catches in the greenhouse is a Common Brushtail Possum, which is only found in New Zealand and Australia. Though the film was shot in New Zealand, it is supposed to be set in Lark Creek, Virginia, a rural area in the southern part of the United States.
Factual error: When the two nuns strip to join Lorenzo in the bathtub, they both have bikini tan lines, hardly an everyday occurrence during the 14th century.
Factual error: During the scene where Captian Less finds out his father was sent to Auschwitz by Eichmann, one of the maps on the wall displays a map of Europe. The map, however, is incorrect, and is a modern day map as opposed to how a map would have looked in 1961. At the time, the Czech Republic and Slovakia didn't exist as separate entities, Germany was not unified, Yugoslavia was yet to dissolve and Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Moldova would not have appeared as separate states. (00:43:45 - 00:45:35)
Factual error: This movie takes place in Seattle. However, when Jack gets his car and drives out of his office you can see a Bell Canada building.
Factual error: Doomsday sees a little girl crying in the street and stops his assault on Superman to go attack the little girl. Superman quickly grabs Doomsday around the waist and jumps, rocketing them both up into space before Doomsday can crush her. The shockwave of this jump is seen as the tremendous force causes the street they were standing on to break apart and rubble fly. Yet the little girl is completely unaffected by the shockwave, it passes right through her and she is only feet away from the crater now left from Superman jumping up with Doomsday. (00:25:20)