History Trivia / ToKillAMockingbird

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!! The 2018 Theater Adaptation

* CreatorChosenCasting: Harper Lee was on set for the first day of filming and was reduced to tears by how well Creator/GregoryPeck embodied Atticus Finch.

** Collin Wilcox was active in the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement, but after playing Mayella Ewell, she sometimes had to remind fellow activists that she was just playing a character in response to their sideways looks.

* CompletelyDifferentTitle: "Alabama Story" in Japan, "The Darkness Beyond the Hedge" in Italy, "The Sun Rises For Everyone" in Brazil.

* DevelopmentHell / TroubledProduction:

* {{Woolseyism}}: The Italian title of the book and movie is 'Il Buio Oltre La Siepe', 'The Darkness Beyond The Hedge', which is a pretty poetic description of the main theme of both works; not just racism, but also fear of the unknown, whatever is in that darkness that is just beyond the hedge that borders the world we do know, [[spoiler: like Boo Radley]].

* AmateurCast: Scout and Jem were played in the film by Mary Badham and Phillip Alford, local kids from near the shooting site. Neither had any acting experience. Alford had a few TV roles later, while Badham was cast in several film and TV productions, notably as Sport Sharewood in ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' and Willie in ''This Property Is Condemned'', where she sings "Wish Me a Rainbow". A heavy Alabama accent prevented her from moving on to an adult acting career. John Megna (Dill) was the only kid in the cast with substantial acting experience, most of it on Broadway. He went on to do many films and TV episodes (he was the "Bonk bonk on the head!" kid from the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Miri") before dying of AIDS at 42.

* CreatorPreferredAdaptation: Harper Lee was on set for the first day of filming and was reduced to tears by how well Creator/GregoryPeck embodied Atticus Finch.

* FanNickname: Tequila Mockingbird - which is how the title is pronounced if said with a Southern Drawl. It has even been defictionalized - a bar in Virginia offers it as a drink.

* CreatorPreferredAdaptation: Harper Lee was on set for the first day of filming and was reduced to tears by how well Gregory Peck embodied Atticus Finch.

* UsefulNotes/ListOfFilmsYouShouldSeeByTheAgeOf14: #45

* UsefulNotes/AFIS100YearsSeries:
** AFIS100Years100Movies: #34
** AFIS100Years100HeroesAndVillains:
*** #1 Hero, Atticus Finch
** AFIS100YearsOfFilmScores: #17
** AFIS100Years100Cheers: #2
** AFIS100Years100Movies10THAnniversaryEdition: #25
** AFIS10Top10:
*** #1, Courtroom Drama

* AFIS100YearsSeries:

* BigNameFan: Creator/WaltDisney had the film screened at his personal theater when it was first released and loved it. At the end he told his colleagues that this was the kind of movie [[AnimationAgeGhetto he wished he could make]].

* WriteWhoYouKnow: Scout was based on Harper Lee's childhood, Atticus on her lawyer father, Jem on her four-year older brother, and Dill on her childhood friend Truman Capote. Boo Radley was based on one of her neighbors (Alfred "Son" Boleware, who was put under house arrest by his father well into adulthood after a teenage vandalism incident), and Tom Robinson was the amalgam of several cases. Ultimately everyone in the book is based off of someone from Lee's childhood. The townspeople were not amused. However, the book was VindicatedByHistory in Monroeville (Lee's hometown). They perform a stage version of it every year with AudienceParticipation for the courtroom scene: the audience is segregated as they were in the courtroom, and twelve men from the crowd are selected as the jury.

* ReferencedBy:
** The book is ComicBook/{{Superman}}'s favorite.
** In the ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS15E10DiatribeOfAMadHousewife Diatribe of a Mad Housewife]]", Homer expresses disappointment with the book, stating that it only taught him racial tolerance instead of how to kill mockingbirds.
** ''Series/PowerRangersJungleFury'': "[[Recap/PowerRangersJungleFuryS1E31PathOfTheRighteous Path of the Righteous]]" opens with Dominic reading the book, and he summarizes it as how one man is willing to stand up for his beliefs against all odds. As he struggles with being the only one who believes Jarrod can be redeemed, Casey takes this to heart.

* LifeImitatesArt: At a couple of points in the movie, Scout, who is only just learning to read, sits on Atticus' lap to visually follow along as he reads aloud. ''Decades'' later, real-life educators began recommending this very technique to parents who wanted to help their youngsters learn to read.

* DyeingForYourArt: Robert Duvall stayed out of the sun for six weeks and dyed his hair blonde, for the role of Boo Radley who, according to the story, spent much of his life as a recluse.