Trivia / Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

• All-Star Cast: David Niven, Cantinflas, and Shirley MacLaine star in the lead roles, and there are cameos by many celebrities, such as Marlene Dietrich, Buster Keaton, Peter Lorre, Robert Morley, Edward R. Murrow, Cesar Romero and Frank Sinatra. This was back when cameo appearances were still a novelty and a big deal.
• Awesome, Dear Boy: David Niven jumped at the chance to play Phileas Fog, telling Michael Todd that he'd do it for nothing.
• Billing Displacement: The Spanish and Latin American posters and programs have Cantinflas as the top-billed actor because he was popular in those countries.
• The Cast Showoff: The bullfighting sequence was added because Cantinflas had bullfighting experience. He was actually in the ring with the bull, eschewing the use of a stunt double. It was one of the first sequences shot.
• Creative Differences: Producer Mike Todd fired original director John Farrow after about a week. Todd realized quickly that only one person could run a Michael Todd production, and it wasn't going to be Farrow. Farrow got a screenplay credit, however, and won an Oscar for his troubles.
• Creator Backlash: Shirley MacLaine felt miscast as an Indian princess.
• Creator's Favorite: David Niven always said that Phileas Fogg was his favorite role.
• Deleted Role: According to Farley Granger in his autobiography Include Me Out, Mike Todd filmed him as a gondolier on the Grand Canal while shooting on location in Venice, but it was never used in the film.
• Deleted Scene: Another prologue was filmed featuring the characters Fogg, Passepartout and some of the cameo actors on a contemporary airplane flight, during which Fogg opened a book, possibly Around the World in Eighty Days. However, the prologue was apparently abandoned in favor of the more informational prologue featuring Murrow.
• Directed by Cast Member: In the Latin American Spanish dub, Maynardo Zavala is both the voice actor for Inspector Fix and Mockridge, as well as the ADR director.
• Fake Nationality:
  • American Shirley MacLaine portrays the Indian-European Aouda.
  • Mexican actor Mario Moreno ("Cantinflas") as Frenchman Passpartout.
• Multiple Languages, Same Voice Actor: For the European Spanish-dubbed version, Cantinflas provided the voice of his character Passepartout, but not for the Latin American Spanish dub, since it took until 1993 after his death to dub this film there.
• Late Export for You: In both Mexico and Latin America, the movie was shown using exclusively the European Spanish dub, rather than using a local dub, partly out for respect for Cantinflas' own work. It took until 1993, after his death, to have this film dubbed with Mexicans, and the role of Passpartout was voiced by Salvador Nájar, who also dubbed Cantinflas in Pepe, also dubbed after Cantinflas' demise.
• Never Work with Children or Animals: According to David Niven, Mike Todd's car was held up by a herd of sheep and he got the idea to have sheep block the train in the film. This idea was prompty abandoned when the sheep ran away from the train and they were replaced with buffalo.
• Posthumous Credit: Despite Robert Newton's fatal heart attack seven months before the film's release, he's still credited for his work as Inspector Fix.
• Promoted Fanboy: David Niven had been a fan of the book since childhood.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Mike Todd originally wanted Cary Grant to play Phileas Fogg, but gave up after trying for six months.
  • Donna Reed was offered the part of Princess Aouda, but she rejected it, having just played another "exotic" role as an Indian maiden in The Far Horizons (1955).
  • Gregory Peck was originally cast as the U.S. cavalry officer. Producer Mike Todd felt Peck wasn't taking the role seriously enough and fired him. James Cagney, Gary Cooper, Kirk Douglas and John Wayne were all offered the role, but according to Todd, "they all wanted to kid it".
  • Peter Ustinov was offered the role of Inspector Fix.
  • The manservant played by John Gielgud was originally offered to Laurence Olivier.
  • Todd invited Maurice Chevalier to do a cameo. Chevalier asked to be billed at the foot of the cast list. Todd refused, so Chevalier declined the offer.
• Written by Cast Member: Noël Coward was asked to write his own lines for his cameo.

---