History Trivia / KingdomOfHeaven

* ActorAllusion: Creator/LiamNeeson is no stranger to playing Knights, [[Film/{{Excalibur}} Medieval]] [[Film/ThePhantomMenace or otherwise]].

* DawsonCasting: Baldwin IV says he won't live to see 30, but is played by the 35-year-old Edward Norton. It is however a marginal example, since he's wearing a mask for the majority of his screen time.

** Saladin is portrayed by an Arab actor, but in real life he was actually of Kurdish descent.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Yup, that's [[Series/GameOfThrones The Kingslayer and Ser Jorah]] as The village sheriff and King Richard respectively.

** ''Kingdom of Heaven'' originally began as a Creator/RussellCrowe vehicle called ''Tripoli'', a period film about the 19th century Barbary Wars. Although Creator/KeanuReeves ended up replacing Crowe, creenwriter William Monahan (''Film/TheDeparted'') had a script written, Scott signed on to direct, 20th Century Fox greenlit it, sets and art assets were being made, and then things went nowhere. After two attempts at getting it off the ground, Monahan began writing ''Heaven'' after ''Tripoli'' fell apart, and Scott took it because he had always wanted to do a movie about the Crusades. (There was a token attempt to revive the ''Tripoli'' project in 2019, but it went nowhere again.)

** The first draft of the script opened directly after the shipwreck. The screenwriter William Monahan had wanted to open with the death of Balian's wife, but feared it would make the movie too long. When Ridley Scott came on board, he told Monahan not to worry about length and thus the film opens with the death.

** Creator/RidleyScott used the cue "Valhalla/Viking Victory" from ''Literature/TheThirteenthWarrior'' for this film. Slightly controversial, given the director's turbulent relationship with ''Literature/TheThirteenthWarrior'''s composer, Music/JerryGoldsmith, when they worked together on ''Film/{{Alien}}'' and ''Film/{{Legend 1985}}'' that saw Scott cutting off a large part of Goldsmith's music on the former and re-using parts of Goldsmith's earlier score from ''Freud''; while simultaneously throwing out Goldsmith's entire score in favor of Tangerine Dream's music for the latter. Bitter and upset by the rejection, Goldsmith never spoke to Scott again even unto his passing as a result of this.

* DoingItForTheArt: Creator/EdwardNorton requested not to be credited, as his character is constantly masked until after his death, when his leprosy-ravaged face is revealed.

** When filming wrapped up, Fox was bothered by the length of the cut that Scott had presented them (around 186 minutes) and forced him to cut the film down to a measly 145 running time, exercising the plot about Sybilla's kid, among many other scenes. Their reasoning was that audiences couldn't handle a three hour film, disregarding successful long movies such as the studio's own ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'' and ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''. They also [[MisaimedMarketing mismarketed the film]], making it seem more like ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' [[RecycledInSpace set in the Crusades]], rather than the Drama that was made. This backfired, resulting in poor box office returns and mediocre reviews (though it did fare better in international markets).

* DuelingWorks: Came out within a year of three other historical battle epics that were following-up on the success of ''Film/{{Gladiator}}''. Its competitors being ''Film/{{Troy}}'', ''Film/KingArthur'', and ''Film/{{Alexander}}''.

** Marton Csokas auditioned for Balian. He would play the role of Guy de Lusignan.

* CowboyBebopAtHisComputer: An article incorrectly described the film as pandering to UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden, and it was later found out that the journalist hadn't even seen the screenplay. After the screenplay was leaked, another article claimed that the film depicted Muslims as stereotypically stupid, backwards-thinking and unable to think in complex forms. These allegations made King Mohammed VI of Morocco worry for Ridley Scott's safety and he provided him with four bodyguards. Ironically, when the movie was released, Scott received many letters of thanks from Muslim groups for the even-handed depiction of the religion.

** Creator/RidleyScott used the cue "Valhalla/Viking Victory" from ''Literature/TheThirteenthWarrior'' for this film. Slightly controversial, given the director's turbulent relationship with ''Literature/TheThirteenthWarrior'''s composer, Music/JerryGoldsmith when they worked together on ''Film/{{Alien}}'' and ''Film/{{Legend 1985}}'' that saw Scott cutting off a large part of Goldsmith's music on the former and re-using parts of Goldsmith's earlier score from ''Freud''; while simultaneously throwing out Goldsmith's entire score in favor of Tangerine Dream's music for the latter. Bitter and upset by the rejection, Goldsmith never spoke to Scott again even unto his passing as a result of this.
* FakeBrit: The American Edward Norton gives Baldwin a British accent. The Irish Brendan Gleeson does likewise with Reynald. The Scottish Kevin [=McKidd=] plays the "English Sergeant" with no attempt to hide his native accent.

** Despite Saladin being portrayed by an Arab actor, he was actually of Kurdish descent.
** French characters are played by English actors including Creator/OrlandoBloom and Creator/MichaelSheen, the Irish Creator/LiamNeeson, and the Danish Creator/NikolajCosterWaldau.

** At the start of the project, ''Kingdom of Heaven'' originally began as a Creator/RussellCrowe vehicle called ''Tripoli''. Screenwriter William Monahan (''Film/TheDeparted'') had a script written, Scott signed on to direct, 20th Century Fox greenlit it, sets and art assets were being made and then things went nowhere. After two attempts at getting it off the ground, Monahan began writing ''Heaven'' after ''Tripoli'' fell apart and Scott always wanted to do a movie about the Crusades.
** The film was pretty much hit with ExecutiveMeddling from the start, with the execs being very uncomfortable with the length of the script and the subplot of Creator/EvaGreen's Princess Sybilla's son, who briefly ruled Jerusalem after King Baldwin (Creator/EdwardNorton) dies. In Scott's words on the 4 disc DVD set, he mentioned that studio heads said that the plot "went off on a tangent". The studio demanded Monahan to write two different versions of the script: One with and without the kid. Scott and co. shot the former.

** Creator/RidleyScott used the cue "Valhalla/Viking Victory" from ''Literature/TheThirteenthWarrior'' for this film. Slightly controversial, given the director's turbulent relationship with ''Literature/TheThirteenthWarrior'''s composer, Music/JerryGoldsmith when they worked together on ''Film/{{Alien}}'' and ''Film/{{Legend 1985}}'' that saw Scott cutting off a large part of Goldsmith's music on the former and re-using parts of Goldsmith's earlier score from ''Freud''; while simultaneously throwing out Goldsmith's entire score in favor of Tangerine Dream's music for the latter. Bitter and upset by the rejection, Goldsmith never spoke to Scott again as a a result even unto his passing.

** Capitalizing on the fact that part of the film was shot in Huesca, Spanish craftsmen and artisans were brought in to build part of the sets, as the kind of slate roofs, thatching and stone dry-walling used in the Middle Ages is still used in rural Spain. The same was done with the villages of Ibelin, shot in Morocco, where local craftsmen helped to build the sets. (Note, however, that many of the castles and kasbahs seen in the film are completely real locations in Spain and Morocco, with some of them being actually ''predating'' than the real life Kingdom of Jerusalem.)

* CowboyBebopAtHisComputer: An article incorrectly described the film as pandering to UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden, and it was later found out that the journalist hadn't even seen the screenplay. After the screenplay was leaked, another article claimed that the film depicted Muslims as stereotypically stupid, backwards-thinking and unable to think in complex forms. These allegations made King Mohammed VI of Morocco worry for Ridley Scott's safety and he provided him with four bodyguards. Ironically when the movie was released, Scott received many letters of thanks from Muslim groups for the even-handed depiction of the religion.

* ThrowItIn: During filming of the siege scene, one of the towers caught fire for real and burned down. Ridley Scott liked the authentic look of it and left it in the film.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/NikolajCosterWaldau of ''Series/GameOfThrones'' fame had a bit part in the film as the Village Sheriff.

** At the start of the project, ''[=KOH=]'' originally began as a Creator/RussellCrowe vehicle called ''Tripoli''. Screenwriter William Monahan (''Film/TheDeparted'') had a script written, Scott signed on to direct, 20th Century Fox greenlit it, sets and art assets were being made and then things went nowhere. After two attempts at getting it off the ground, Monahan began writing ''Heaven'' after ''Tripoli'' fell apart and Scott always wanted to do a movie about the Crusades.

** Many ideas in the finished film were incorporated from another project Ridley Scott had first put into pre-production called ''Tripoli''. The project was falling apart around the time the Kingdom of Heaven script came along, so Scott opted to work on the latter instead.

** Music/HansZimmer was originally attached as the film's composer, but was replaced by Harry Gregson-Williams.

* AllStarCast: Much like ''Film/{{Troy}}'' and ''Film/{{Alexander}}'', the film has a number of notable actors and actresses from North America and Europe portraying real-life historical figures such as Creator/OrlandoBloom, Creator/JeremyIrons, Creator/BrendanGleeson, Creator/LiamNeeson, Creator/EdwardNorton, Creator/MichaelSheen and Creator/DavidThewlis.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/NikolaiCosterWaldau of ''Series/GameOfThrones'' fame had a bit part in the film as the Village Sheriff.

* AllStarCast: Much like ''Film/{{Troy}}'' and ''Film/{{Alexander}}'', the film has a number of notable actors and actresses from North America and Europe portraying real-life historical figures such as Creator/OrlandoBloom, Creator/EvaGreen, Creator/JeremyIrons, Creator/BrendanGleeson, Creator/LiamNeeson, Creator/EdwardNorton, Creator/MichaelSheen and Creator/DavidThewlis.

* AwesomeDearBoy: Creator/OrlandoBloom had just finished ''{{Film/Troy}}'' and was reluctant to do another historical epic, but signed on once he heard it was a Creator/RidleyScott film.

** Creator/MartonCsokas auditioned for Balian. He would play the role of Guy de Lusignan.
** Creator/EdwardNorton was actually the first choice for Guy. Upon reading the script, he asked to play King Baldwin instead.

* CompletelyDifferentTitle: In Latin America the film is simply known as ''Cruzada'' ("Crusade").