History Trivia / Waterloo

* FakeBrit: The Canadian Creator/ChristopherPlummer as the Anglo-Irish Duke of Wellington (as such it also counts as FakeIrish). Magdalene De Lancey is played by Italian-American Veronica De Laurentiis (Dino's daughter), and Tomlinson is played by Russian actor Oleg Vidov.

* BackedByThePentagon: Soldiers of the Red Army were used as extras to portray the British army. They panicked repeatedly and scattered during the filming of some of the cavalry charges. Attempts to reassure them by marking the closest approach of the horses with white tape similarly failed, and the scene was cut.

* CaliforniaDoubling: The titular battle was filmed in western Ukraine. The palace scenes were shot at the Royal Palace of Caserta and Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi, both of which are in Italy.

* LoopingLines: Most of the film was dubbed in post, as was common in both Russia and Italy at the time. Especially noticeable during the battle sequences as characters speak clearly but there's no sound coming from the explosions in their proximities. Jack Hawkins was also [[SameLanguageDub dubbed by Robert Rietti]] - Rietti dubbed him for ten films, ever since Hawkins had virtually lost his voice after being treated for throat cancer.
** Rietti later recalled that he dubbed some 80 separate parts in the final film.
* TheOtherMarty: Creator/VirginiaMcKenna replaced Creator/OliviaDeHavilland who dropped out at the last minute.

* FakeBrit[=/=]FakeIrish: The Canadian Creator/ChristopherPlummer as the Anglo-Irish Duke of Wellington. Magdalene De Lancey is played by Italian-American Veronica De Laurentiis ([[{{Nepotism}} the producer's daughter]]), and Tomlinson is played by Russian actor Oleg Vidov.

* CaliforniaDoubling: The titular battle was filmed in western Ukraine. The palace scenes were shot at the Royal Palace of Caserta and Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi, both of which are in Italy.

* DirectorsCut / DeletedScene: There were rumors of a four-hour edition that circulated for years, hinted by a few [[MissingTrailerScene Missing Trailer Scenes]] and promotional material. However, both Mosfilm and the film's editor both insist that the longest cut made was a 132 minute roadshow premiere cut. In any case, this cut, according to the shooting script, adds a few minor scenes and recuts Blucher's speech at the climax to the Ligny sequence (and explains how he ends up injured in his introduction). The cut unfortunately has been long since been lost, but a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSaGPIpb830&t=34s a Youtuber named malbrouk has managed to recut the movie based on the script and surviving promotional material.]]

* TheOtherMarty: Virginia [=McKenna=] replaced Creator/OliviaDeHavilland who dropped out at the last minute.

* FakeBrit[=/=]FakeIrish: The Canadian Creator/ChristopherPlummer as the Anglo-Irish Duke of Wellington. Magdalene De Lancey is played by Italian-American Veronica De Laurentiis ([[{{Nepotism}} the producer's daughter]]), and Tomlinson is played by Russian actor Oleg Vidov

* LoopingLines: Most of the film was dubbed in post. Especially noticeable during the battle sequences as characters speak clearly but there's no sound coming from the explosions in their proximities. Jack Hawkins was also [[SameLanguageDub dubbed by Robert Rietti]] - Rietti dubbed him for ten films, ever since Hawkins had virtually lost his voice after being treated for throat cancer.

* FakeBrit[=/=]FakeIrish: The Canadian Creator/ChristopherPlummer as the Anglo-Irish Duke of Wellington.
* FakeNationality: Quite a few. Blücher is played by a Georgian (from the Caucasus), Ney by an Irishman, Cambronne by a Russian and Napoleon by an American. The only French character played by a Frenchman is Bédoyère.

* LoopingLines: Most of the film was dubbed in post. Especially noticeable during the battle sequences as characters speak clearly but there's no sound coming from the explosions in their proximities. Jack Hawkins was also [[SameLanguageDub dubbed by Robert Rietty]] - Rietty dubbed him for ten films, ever since Hawkins had virtually lost his voice after being treated for throat cancer.

* FakeNationality: Quite a few. Blücher is played by a Georgian (from the Caucasus), Ney by an Irishman, Cambronne by a Russian and Napoleon by an American.

* LoopingLines: Most of the film was dubbed in post. Especially noticeable during the battle sequences as characters speak clearly but there's no sound coming from the explosions in their proximities.

* FakeBrit: The Canadian Creator/ChristopherPlummer as the Duke of Wellington.

* FakeNationality: Quite a few. Blücher is played by a Georgian (from the Caucasus), Ney by an Irishman, Wellington by a Canadian, Cambronne by a Russian and Napoleon by an American.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Crossing into AnachronismStew territory, a certain Haydn tune is used as the {{Leitmotif}} for the Prussian army. At the time in which the film is set, the tune was an exclusively Austrian one, that of the song ''Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser'' (God Preserve Franz the Emperor). The other text, the ''Deutschlandlied'', which became the German (not Prussian) national anthem in 1922, was not written until 1841, 26 years after Waterloo. The problem is that what the Prussian bands actually played in 1815 - as attested by British eyewitnesses - was the tune of "God Save the King", which was used for ''Heil Dir im Siegerkranz'' (Hail to Thee in the Victor's Wreath), the official Prussian anthem from 1795 to 1918. But it would have been possible to use e. g. a different Prussian melody for the purpose, as ''Film/BarryLyndon'' used the Hohenfriedberg March.

* SmallReferencePools: Within the armies, only a few units are singled out, often ones that stick out because of their uniform (e. g. Highlanders, ''Leibhusaren'') or elite status, thus in the charge of the British heavy cavalry, you only get to see the Scots Greys with their bearskin caps, not the other regiments (who wore helmets). The charge of the Imperial Guard is only shown as coming up against Maitland's 1st Foot Guards, the other British, Dutch-Belgian, Hanoverian and Brunswick units involved in the repulse are not seen. This may in part be due to a LimitedWardrobe brought on by budget constraints - thus the Polish Lancers of the Imperial Guards were among the troops Napoleon brought from Elba and appeared in the scenes showing Napoleon's march to Paris, so it probably was simply more economic to use these uniforms also for the repulse of the charge of the Scots Greys instead of dressing the lancers up in the green uniforms of the regiments actually involved.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Crossing into AnachronismStew territory, a certain Haydn tune is used as the {{Leitmotif}} for the Prussian army. At the time in which the film is set, the tune was an exclusively Austrian one, that of the song ''Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser'' (God Preserve Franz the Emperor). The other text, the ''Deutschlandlied'', which became the German (not Prussian) national anthem in 1922, was not written until 1841, 26 years after Waterloo. The problem is that what the Prussian bands actually played in 1815 - as attested by British eyewitnesses - was the tune of "God Save the King", which was used for ''Heil Dir im Siegerkranz'' (Hail to Thee in the Victor's Wreath), the official Prussian anthem from 1795 to 1918. But it would have been possible to use e. g. a different Prussian melody for the purpose, as ''BarryLyndon'' used the Hohenfriedberg March.