* AdamWesting: ''Full Metal Jacket'' is the [[{{expy}} source]] of most subsequent RLeeErmey's roles. Ermey is playing himself, [[ActorSharedBackGround given his past as a Marine Drill Instructor]].
* DyeingForYourArt: Vincent D'Onofrio gained so much weight for his role as Pvt. Gomer Pyle, that he tore ligaments in his knees during the obstacle course scene. He surpassed Robert [=DeNiro=]'s record (for ''RagingBull'') for most weight gained for a role, over 70 pounds.
* FakeNationality: The actress who played the Vietnamese hooker is actually of Chinese and French descent.
** Arguably averted -- a mixed-race ethnic Chinese and French bastard could easily have been found in 1960s Vietnam, and would have been a likely candidate for the sex trade in that time and place.
* HeyItsThatGuy: Animal Mother is just like [[{{Firefly}} Jayne Cobb]], except with a desire to save others. He was also a [[ThePatriot Royal loyalist]] during TheAmericanRevolution.
** On the other hand, [[LawAndOrderCriminalIntent Bobby Goren]] has never snapped as bad as Gomer Pyle, thank God.
** Before becoming Film/JamesBond's CIA contact, [[Film/TheLivingDaylights Felix Leiter]] was a Marine journalism officer. (alternate: Who knew [[Series/{{Lost}} Christian Shephard]] served in Vietnam?)
* HeyItsThatVoice: After [[spoiler: being killed by Private Pyle]] Gunny Hartman [[spoiler: was aptly reincarnated]] as a [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory toy army man]].
* RealLifeRelative: Stanley Kubrick's daughter Vivienne Kubrick composed the original music, under the pseudonym Abigail Mead (adapated from the name of the family home, Abbot's Mead).
* ThrowItIn: When filming the scene where [=GySgt=] Hartman is berating new recruits, the "reach-around" comment was tossed in by Ermey, and not originally in the script. Kubrick stopped the filming to ask what that meant. After it was explained, he laughed, and decided to include it in the final film.
** Most of Ermey's other lines, as Hartman, were also ad-libbed. He was one of the few actors allowed to go OffTheRails in Kubrick's films.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger was considered for the role of Animal Mother.
* The rap group 2 Live Crew sampled the infamous [[{{AsianHookerStereotype}} "Oh me so horny/Me love you long time"]] lines for their hit single "Me So Horny."