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Trivia: The climax was originally meant to take place in Washington DC, where the lab would have been set, but director Brett Ratner decided to relocate the lab to Alcatraz and rework the ending to take place there.

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Trivia: Patrick Stewart has said preparing for the role of Xavier was the most fun he's ever had preparing for a role, because the studio was constantly sending him comic books to read.

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Trivia: The studio was hesitant about the film and didn't want to take a big financial risk on it. Thus, they reduced the budget to $75 million in comparison to the $90-$100 million many other blockbusters at the time cost.

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Trivia: While they look great on-screen, reportedly the leather costumes the cast wore were a massive pain behind the scenes. They were so stiff at the start of the shoot, the cast could barely move in them. The first day of shooting, the cast was supposed to hop over a small ledge, and none of them could do it because the suits weren't flexible enough. Thankfully, the suits eventually began to loosen up the more the cast wore them.

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Trivia: Hugh Jackman would start getting into character by taking ice-cold showers every morning the instant he woke up. They put him into an angry mood that he would then use for the character. He reportedly continued the tradition with every sequel.

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Trivia: The main character's last name is "Corvis," which is similar to "corvus," the Latin word for "crow."

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Trivia: The studio tried to get famous singer Tori Amos for the role of Sarah, but she disliked the script and turned it down.

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Trivia: Buddy's comically-prolonged belch was provided by famed voice actor Maurice LaMarche, who is known for shows like "Pink and the Brain", "Futurama", and "The Real Ghostbusters."

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Trivia: The original script was written in 1993 and was much a much darker comedy in tone that was supposed to be rated PG-13. It was also intended to star Jim Carrey. However, the project kept getting held up, and Carrey eventually lost interest in it. The film finally started to come together in the early 2000's, when it was rewritten into a more family-friendly film and Will Farrell joined the cast. It was finally released in 2003 - ten years after it was originally written.

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Trivia: There was originally a scene explaining that the villain Judah fell through the ice of a frozen river and drowned as a child, and his soul was sent to hell. He was revived by paramedics and came back to life, and became obsessed with the occult after having liked what he saw while in hell. (This also explains his line about how he has "already been there" and "liked what [he] saw" during the final battle when Ashe tells him to "go to hell.").

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Trivia: Just an odd little comparison: Richard Brooks plays the villain - a sadistic, mentally unhinged character named "Judah Earl." Six years later, he'd also play a sadistic, mentally unhinged villain in the series "Firefly" with the incredibly similar name "Jubal Early."

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Trivia: Will Ferrell turned down an offer of $29 million to appear in a sequel, because he was afraid of tarnishing the legacy of the first film, which was a huge hit and became a new holiday favorite for audiences.

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Trivia: When Buddy is startled by the Jack-in-a-Box toys, his reaction is genuine. Director Jon Favreau actually had a remote control that controlled the toys - Will Ferrell didn't know when they'd go off.

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Trivia: The news footage of Buddy walking through the woods is a reference to the famous "Patterson-Gimlin film" - a 1967 piece of footage supposedly taken of a bigfoot in Northern California.

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Trivia: Gene Hackman's final film before he retired from acting. Since this movie came out, the only film or TV projects he's done have been a handful of documentaries, either appearing as himself or narrating.

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Trivia: This film holds the distinction of being the last major film released on Laserdisc in North America.

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Trivia: The film was originally written as a sequel to "Leon: The Professional" (also known as "The Professional") that would follow a grown-up Mathilda. However, due to rights issues, the movie was reworked to be a stand-alone film focusing on an original character.

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Trivia: At first Nathan Fillion insisted on doing all his own stunts. However, he discovered his stunt double wasn't being paid since he wasn't technically working, with Fillion doing all the stunts himself. Fillion felt bad for having taken his work, so he began using his stunt double from then on.

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Trivia: Early on, there were only meant to be five main characters on the crew. Over time, this increased to nine.

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Trivia: Reportedly, Mal was originally written with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" alum Nicholas Brendon in mind, but it quickly became clear that there simply wouldn't be enough time for him to star in both series simultaneously.

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