Trivia / Burnt

• Actor-Shared Background: Adam is a recovering addict who had serious substance abuse problems and is trying to go cold turkey. Bradley Cooper suffered from similar problems before becoming a teetotaler in 2004.
• Awesome, Dear Boy: Bradley Cooper jumped at the chance to play a chef again (having previously been in Kitchen Confidential) since he wanted to be one growing up.
• Billing Displacement: Uma Thurman and Alicia Vikander are both billed in the opening credits despite Thurman having two brief scenes while Vikander only appears in three; by comparison, Matthew Rhys is billed below Vikander despite having far more screentime and importance to the plot. Also, Lily James receives an And Starring credit alongside Emma Thompson despite James' only having a brief cameo while Thompson plays an important supporting role.
• The Cast Showoff: Bradley Cooper speaks French due to spending six months in France while in college, something he gets to show off several times to play a character who worked in Paris for a decade.
• Cast the Expert: The extras in all of the kitchen scenes are played by real-life chefs. Several Michelin star chefs were also brought on set to serve as advisors and producers.
• Deleted Role: Jamie Dornan had a role as Helene's ex-husband Leon, but his scenes ended up getting cut. However, they were included as an extra feature in the home release and can be found on YouTube.
• Enforced Method Acting: The actors worked in a real kitchen, hazards included, to understand the intensity and constant pressure of what working in one would be like.
• Method Acting: In addition to working in an actual kitchen, both Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller learned how to cook. In fact, Cooper cooked all of the dishes that Adam cooks onscreen. Daniel Brühl also learned the in-and-outs of managing a restaurant so he could play a maitre d' more authentically.
• Those Two Actors: This is the second time that Sienna Miller has played Bradley Cooper's love interest—they'd starred in American Sniper the year prior.
• Throw It In!: The scene where Adam tries to kill himself via sous vide bag was improvised by Bradley Cooper. While shooting the scene, he saw the bag between takes and decided to make the most of it. As such, he did actually choke in real life, forcing Matthew Rhys to restrain him and take the bag off his head, which made it into the final cut. Cooper would later go on to describe the experience as life-changing, as he and Rhys, who had barely known each other up until that point, had bonded in a special way.

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