Line #6 Trivia/BeingJohnMalkovich


1	* ActingForTwo: John Malkovich plays himself, but also plays [[spoiler: Craig, when he's permanently taken over Malkovich's body and assumed his identity. And then he plays Lester once Craig has been kicked out.]]
2	* ActorSharedBackground: Shortly before being cast in the film, Malkovich told Charlie Kaufman that he himself once lived in an apartment building with a 7½th floor.
3	* AscendedFanon: After ''Film/GetOut2017'' was released, fans started comparing the plots, making {{Wild Mass Guess\|ing}}es that they took place in the same universe, and the 2017 horror film was secretly a sequel to the 1999 fantasy. After hearing this theory, the directors of both movies met, spoke at length, and publicly stated that though ''Get Out'' was never conceived as a sequel to ''Being John Malkovich'', they enthusiastically decided that the films are a SharedUniverse; [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBvcngHRTFg "as far as I'm concerned, it's true".]] The director of ''Get Out'' actually hopes to cast Malkovich in a sequel, stating that it would be "cool" to "do the full trilogy".
4	* AwesomeDearBoy: Creator/CharlieSheen was in rehab when he heard about the project. He signed on without reading the script.
5	* BreakthroughHit: For Creator/SpikeJonze as a film director and Creator/CharlieKaufman as a screenwriter.
6	* CaliforniaDoubling: The whole movie was shot in L.A., but set in New York. When Lotte falls out onto the New Jersey Turnpike for the second time, look in the background for some palm trees that shouldn't exist.
7	* TheDanza (but very easy to mistake for AsHimself): John Malkovich as Creator/JohnMalkovich. The former has said the latter bears "only the faintest resemblance" to himself. Among other differences, his middle name is changed (from Gavin to Horatio), he really had never been in "that jewel thief movie" at the time, and he doesn't live in New York.
8	* {{Defictionalization}}. A lot of people in the film compliment John Malkovich for his role as a jewel thief. However, as the character repeatedly pointed out, he'd never played a jewel thief by 1999. In 2003, he played a jewel thief in ''Film/JohnnyEnglish''.
9	* DyeingForYourArt: One of the more memorable aspects of this film is that it cast Creator/JohnCusack and Creator/CameronDiaz--two of the most iconic actors in Hollywood at the time--and managed to make both of them practically ''unrecognizable''. Cusack appears with ponytail-length hair, a full-grown beard and nebbish glasses, while Diaz appears as a homely, frizzy-haired brunette. The makeup artists personally said that making Diaz look unattractive was one of the most challenging parts of the movie.
10	* GodNeverSaidThat: A persistent rumor about the scene where Malkovich is hit in the head by a [[BuffySpeak drive-by beer canning]] claims it wasn't in the script, and was the result of a drunk extra having some fun while the camera happened to be rolling. As it turns out, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1i0xvf/i_am_actor_director_john_malkovich_ama/cazxety/?context=3 it was in the script]] and the rumor was [[https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/2eutgq/you_know_that_improvised_scene_from_being_john/ the result]] of fake director's commentary.
11	* HeAlsoDid: Michael Stipe of Music/{{REM}} produced the movie.
12	* LifeImitatesArt: After [[spoiler: Craig fully takes over Malkovich's body, he visits Malkovich's agent and tells him that he is no longer interested in acting and now wants to be a puppeteer]]. Just a few years later, real-life John Malkovich publicly declared a long-held passion for fashion design and began a second career in that, though he continued to act.
13	* OneTakeWonder: The aforementioned "Malkovich, catch!" almost didn't happen because it was running late and Spike Jonze feared drive-by beer can to the head would be hard to achieve. Lots of people volunteered, and the chosen one (John Cusack's assistant) nailed it on the first try!
14	* TechnologyMarchesOn: The fact that characters can only call one another on landline phones ends up playing a significant role in the film's plot, as it results in there being only very specific instances where they can convey information to each other over a long distance. Had the film come out just five years later, the plot of it would likely go by at a much different pace with the increased use of cellphones.
15	* WhatCouldHaveBeen: If the movie itself made you raise an eyebrow or three, check out [[http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/beingjohnmalkovich.html the original version of the script.]] Your head could conceivably explode trying to fathom it ever working on screen. And the movie had Malkovichworld, so that's saying something. Additionally, had Malkovich turned down the role, the film would most likely have been titled ''Being Creator/SteveBuscemi''.
16	** Specifically, the original script involves Craig cross-dressing in various female puppeteering jobs, the Great Mantini challenging Malkovich to a dramatic acting duel, Lester leading a Satanic cult bent on using Malkovich to take over the world (and succeeding), and Lotte marrying the chimp.
17	** Charlie Kaufman said that at least one studio (being Creator/NewLineCinema) offered to fund the movie had he changed it to ''Being Creator/TomCruise''. Might cross over into HilariousInHindsight, if one considers Cruise's behavior from around 2005-2008.
18	** The original script has Creator/KevinBacon in place of Creator/CharlieSheen, as Malkovich's actor friend. Malkovich recommended Sheen for the part.
19	** A relatively minor change, but one of note for Music/TheyMightBeGiants fans: the original script specified TMBG's "Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head" would play over the end credits; for whatever reason the song ultimately wasn't included in the movie.

Context Trivia / BeingJohnMalkovich