Continuity mistake: In the final scene in which a man is shot in the airport (part of this scene actually recurs throughout the movie), the psychiatrist woman leans over him to hold him as he dies. From one angle, he reaches up to her face and his hand is clean. In the next angle, his hand is covered in blood as he touches her face.
Twelve Monkeys (1995)
Directed by: Terry Gilliam
Starring: Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt, Christopher Plummer, Madeleine Stowe, Jon Seda, Joseph Melito, Michael Chance
Continuity mistake: When Cole (Willis) asks Dr. Railly (Stowe) to turn up the radio as they are driving to Philadelphia, the camera cuts to her hand working the radio. The numbers on the radio clearly move as if being tuned, not the volume being raised.
Other mistake: The bear is lit by a flashlight before Cole actually picks the flashlight up.
Trivia: The director chose Bruce Willis for the part for his ability to bring certain emotional themes into the diehard movie. He wanted that, but he also made a list of "Bruce Willis Cliches" he didn't want in the movie, including the "Iron Blue stare"
Trivia: During the phone call between Kathrine and Professor, we can see the roof of laboratory. It is made of ordinary aluminium or plastic blocks, like roofs in offices. This kind of roof can transport air. Persons behind glass are doing something with danger microbes and they are in protective suits. Professor and his assistants, before glass, don't wear that suit, but the holes in roof can transfer microbes to their part of the laboratory. (01:27:35)
Trivia: Terry Gilliam was almost killed in a horse-riding accident during production of this movie.
Jeffrey Goines: ...and if you forget one thing, I will have you shaved, sterilized, and destroyed.
Wallace: Hey... is that the cops? I'm an innocent victim in here! I was attacked by a coked up whore and a - a fuckin' crazy dentist.
Dr. Kathryn Railly: Cassandra in Greek legend, you recall, was condemned to know the future but to be disbelieved when she foretold it. Hence the agony of foreknowledge combined with the impotence to do anything about it.
Question: Throughout the movie, Bruce willis has a tattoo visible just above his ear. Was this added for the movie or is it real? if it is real, what does it say?
Question: There are marked similarities between Cole's present day asylum and his future world, such as the showers he receives, and the scientists/doctors. What is the significance of these parallels? Do they have a hidden meaning?
Answer: It is meant to draw similarities between the treatment of the mentally ill and convicted felons. Quite often, even today, the mentally ill are housed and treated in facilities that are little better (for quality of life or prospects of rehabilitation) than prisons.
Question: What does the French soldier scream at Cole before he shoots him?
Answer: Cole is screaming "Stop!" so you can't hear what the soldier is saying. If you mean all of it, it's in the line of asking what he is doing there, calling the captain to have a look, ask him where his clothes are, and telling him to speak French.
Answer: The tattoo is for the movie. It is his prisoner identification.