Deep Impact

Question: All of the residents of Eastern United States were informed by the president when the smaller of the two meteors were to strike in the Atlantic Ocean, yet, even with ample time to evacuate away from the area of impact, why did it appear the residents all chose to leave on the final day? (Clogged highways and chaos).

Answer: There is no logical reason. It can be argued that people are just stubborn and/or reluctant to leave their homes under any circumstance. However, this is a movie, and showing the last-minute chaos of people attempting to evacuate heightens the tension and the drama.

raywest

Answer: When the president announces the strikes, he says it will occur in 12 hours so they didn't have days to evacuate 100 million people, only hours.

The president tells people to leave with around 10 hours left before impact.

Ssiscool

Answer: They were trying to send missiles, which failed. The president spoke and that's when people started to leave.

Question: How did Jenny's mother commit suicide?

Answer: She overdosed on prescription pills.

MoonFaery

Question: How does the government hear about the comet? The scientist saves the information to a disk then takes the disk in the car with him. He crashes and the car catches fire. The disk would have been destroyed.

Answer: It could have been salvaged and worked on, plus he was calling people in authority. There would have been an investigation into the crash, which leads back the young boy and the comet.

Question: The comet fragment lands on one of the Outer Banks Islands in North Carolina. Wouldn't the wave created then rush outward from the impact, toward Africa, and not inland as shown in the movie?

Answer: The wave created by displaced water would radiate outward in all directions equally. Since the ocean floor slopes upwards toward land, the wave would increase in size in that direction. Because the depth drops sharply on the ocean side, the wave would be greatly reduced in size.

Question: What happened to the step-mom?

Answer: If you mean Rya Kildstedt, her husband, Maxilliam Schell, said to his daughter on the beach. She went to be with her mother in the Midwest.

Question: Referring to Leo and Sarah: What parent would let their young daughter not go to the Ark when given the chance?

Answer: It was Sarah who decided she would not go to the Ark. She chose to stay with her parents.

raywest

Leo then decided not to go to the ark, either, went back and got Sarah and the baby.

Charles Austin Miller

Factual error: While the tidal wave is enveloping Manhattan, there is a scene where Washington Square Park is destroyed. A large arch is hit by the wave before reaching the rest of the park. The problem is the arch is on the UPTOWN side of the park, not the DOWNTOWN side which according to the movie was the direction the wave was coming from.

More mistakes in Deep Impact

President Beck: We always thought the deadline for public knowledge was the publication of next year's budget since we've spent more money than we can account for. That won't happen for two weeks. I don't suppose I could prevail upon you to wait two weeks in the name of national security?
Jenny Lerner: Two weeks? There's no such thing as two weeks in the news business.

More quotes from Deep Impact

Trivia: When everyone gets out of their cars in the traffic jam and watches the comet pass overhead, they were really looking at a crew helicopter passing over. In post production, the helicopter was covered up with the comet.

More trivia for Deep Impact

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