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2* AllStarCast: Creator/SeanConnery, Creator/NicolasCage, Creator/EdHarris, Creator/JohnSpencer, Creator/WilliamForsythe, Creator/TonyTodd, Creator/DavidMorse and Creator/MichaelBiehn.
3* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: [[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47475564 Almost 20 years after the movie was made]], researchers had discovered hidden tunnels and even buildings dating back to the Civil War similar to those seen in the film.
4* ActorInspiredElement: It was Creator/NicolasCage's idea that his character would not swear; his euphemisms include "gee whiz", "a-hole", and "Zeus's butthole".
5* AwesomeDearBoy: Creator/SeanConnery said yes to the film because he wanted to work with Creator/NicolasCage.
6* {{Blooper}}: In the [[spoiler:MexicanStandoff scene, Darrow's pistol keeps changing from left hand to right hand.]]
7* CastTheExpert: Some of the Navy [=SEALs=] in the film were played by real Navy SEALS.
8* ExecutiveMeddling: Bay was getting quite an amount of studio interference, until Connery [[DefiedTrope told them to just let Bay make the movie the way he wanted]], if they wanted Connery to stay with the film.
9* FakeAmerican: Creator/StuartWilson as U.S. Army General Al Kramer.
10* InMemoriam: The film was dedicated to Don Simpson, who died during production.
11* {{Irony}}: The movie was filmed on location, and had catering. As Bay said, people were eating steak and lobster in rooms "where men were taken to their lowest existence."
12* MissingTrailerScene: In the trailer, several shots appear to show Goodspeed firing an [=XM177=] assault rifle. While Goodspeed does acquire an [=XM177=] during the course of the film, he never actually fires it.
13* PlayingAgainstType:
14** Creator/NicolasCage said yes to the film because people thought he was too quirky to be an action star and he wanted to prove them wrong.
15** Creator/WilliamForsythe usually plays villains, but portrays a ReasonableAuthorityFigure in the film.
16* ThoseTwoActors: Creator/EdHarris and Creator/MichaelBiehn had both appeared in ''Film/TheAbyss'', where they also opposed each other.
17* ThrowItIn: Much of Creator/NicolasCage's dialogue was ad-libbed (including the "Zeus's butthole" line, which Creator/MichaelBay wanted to cut but Cage insisted on having).
18* TroubledProduction: The film launched the blockbuster career of Creator/MichaelBay and remains one of his most critically respected films, but is notorious for its behind-the-scenes headaches.
19** It was a film that, along with ''Film/TheCableGuy'', became the [[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-05-21-ca-6461-story.html center of controversy]] as the Writers Guild of America went into arbitration over the many writers that had touched the script. The final agreement left several writers on ''The Rock'' uncredited, including Jonathan Hensleigh (who had done a number of rewrites) and script doctors like Creator/QuentinTarantino and Creator/AaronSorkin. Bay called the arbitration process "a sham" in an open letter, particularly for leaving Hensleigh uncredited.
20** Bay, who was still early in his Hollywood career (having only made ''Film/BadBoys1995'' less than a year prior), had to deal with overbearing ExecutiveMeddling from Disney executives who were overseeing production. That changed when Creator/SeanConnery accompanied Bay to a board meeting and threatened to leave unless Bay was allowed to make the film his way. And since the film was being shot on location at Alcatraz Island and could not close it down for filming, Bay had to plan filming around the many tours hosted there.
21** There were also stresses between long-time production duo Creator/JerryBruckheimer and Don Simpson. Simpson was one of Hollywood's most infamous party animals and had fallen further into drug use and controversy, most notably when a doctor that Simpson hired as a "rehab specialist" was found dead of a drug overdose in Simpson's estate. Bruckheimer felt his partner was too erratic and unfocused to work with any longer and terminated their partnership in December 1995, though both agreed to see the film through. Simpson himself died of a drug overdose a month later, some five months before the release date. The film would be dedicated to his memory.
22* UncreditedRole: Creator/AaronSorkin was an uncredited script doctor for the screenplay.
23* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
24** Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger was offered the Mason role, but at the time the script was only eighty pages "with a lot of handwriting and scribbles, and it didn't seem fully baked". In a Reddit AMA, he stated he regrets not taking the role.
25** Creator/TonyScott was originally supposed to direct but turned it down to direct ''Film/TheFan''.
26** In a recent Interview, Michael Bay had planned a sequel, where Goodspeed would've gone on the hunted by the Government since he was carrying the Microfilm with the Government's darkest secrets, Carla would or would not be with him. Goodspeed's only hope would've been John Mason to help him.
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28* This film has the unusual, highly unfortunate legacy of [[https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jul/08/it-was-such-obvious-bullshit-the-rock-writer-shocked-film-may-have-inspired-false-wmd-intelligence?CMP=twt_gu having been the basis of false reports]] that convinced the United Kingdom to enter the Iraq War. Documents given to UsefulNotes/TonyBlair described chemical weapons being made by Saddam's regime, stored in identical fashion to the ones in the film (glass beads containing neon-green gas). [=MI6=] was alarmingly careless in vetting the report, and failed to make their doubts of it clear until it was too late. This proved a particular source of consternation to the film's cowriter, David Weisberg, who had, after doing his homework on chemical weapons, [[ArtisticLicenseMilitary completely fabricated the appearance and storage methods of the film's nerve agents for the sake of visual interest]]. He knew full well that no sane military would make chemical weapons [[SicklyGreenGlow bright neon green]] or [[NoOSHACompliance store them in highly fragile glass spheres]], and any actual chemical weapons expert should have immediately dismissed the report as a joke.

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