History Trivia / ExecutiveDecision

--->We were in rehearsals. I’m playing his Master Sargeant, and we come in for rehearsals and he says, ‘[--I’m in command. Everything I say is law. Anybody doesn’t agree?--]’ I was like, ‘[[HaHaHaNo Bwahahaha.]]’ I started cracking up because he sounded like a retard … He came up and he Taekwondo’ed my ass against the brick wall... He’s six-foot-five and he caught me off guard and knocked all of the air out of me and I was like, ‘Why?! Why?!’ I really wanted to say [[FatBastard how big and fat he was]] and that he runs like a girl, but I didn’t because all I could say was, ‘Why?!’ Why’d he slam me against the wall? We were ''rehearsing.''

-->We were in rehearsals. I’m playing his Master Sargeant, and we come in for rehearsals and he says, ‘[--I’m in command. Everything I say is law. Anybody doesn’t agree?--]’ I was like, ‘[[HaHaHaNo Bwahahaha.]]’ I started cracking up because he sounded like a retard … He came up and he Taekwondo’ed my ass against the brick wall... He’s six-foot-five and he caught me off guard and knocked all of the air out of me and I was like, ‘Why?! Why?!’ I really wanted to say [[FatBastard how big and fat he was]] and that he runs like a girl, but I didn’t because all I could say was, ‘Why?!’ Why’d he slam me against the wall? We were ''rehearsing.''

* UrbanLegendOfZelda: Various reasons have been [[http://www.manlymovie.net/2016/08/about-seagals-early-death-in-executive-decision.html bandied about]] for why Creator/StevenSeagal had so little screentime in the finished film, despite being prominently promoted in the trailers and promo art. These possible reasons include Warner Bros. "punishing" Seagal because of his antics on the set of ''Film/OnDeadlyGround'', his primadonna behavior, or both. In actuality, Seagal's character (Travis) was always meant to die in the finished film. The [[https://indiegroundfilms.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/executive-decision-apr-91.pdf earliest draft]] of the script (written in April 1991) had Travis die in the exact same way, with the only difference being that he didn't have a final line telling Grant to keep the team safe, and the team originally used the umbilical of a refueling airplane instead of a stealth jet to get onto the plane.
* WagTheDirector: Originally, Creator/StevenSeagal refused to shoot his death scene, for fear that his fans wouldn't like it. Stuart Baird insisted he must do it as scripted, though Seagal held up filming for a few days and argued that the scene was not realistic. Finally after threat of contractual breach, Seagal agreed to return to filming. Leguizamo recalled, “It was 6 a.m., he was supposed to die… and we shot his death at 8 p.m.”.

* MoneyDearBoy: Originally Creator/HalleBerry refused to be in this movie, but said yes when she was offered $1 million, her first for a film.

* MoneyDearBoy: Originally Creator/HalleBerry refused to be in this movie, but said yes when she was offered one million dollars for the job. This was her first one million dollar payment for a film.

* RetroactiveRecognition: “Doc” is played by BD Wong - best known as Dr. George Huang on Series/LawAndOrderSVU

* YouLookFamiliar: “Doc” is played by BD Wong - best known as Dr. George Huang on Series/LawAndOrderSVU

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The title comes from the fact that the government loses contact with the special forces after they board the plane and it becomes an "executive decision", i.e. a decision from the President, whether or not to shoot the plane down to prevent it. The officials on the ground make a huge deal about this, ruminate about the moral and political ramifications of such an act and think it will ruin the administration in the eyes of the public to do so, especially without proof that a bomb is on board, even though the public knows that the flight has been hijacked. The fighter planes even try to get the plane to turn around with them as escort. In the aftermath of 9/11 however, it has become official and highly publicised US policy that a plane is liable to be shot out of the sky if it is even ''[[SeriousBusiness suspected]]'' of being hijacked by suicide bombers, never mind suicide bombers who have a weapon of mass destruction on board - if such an incident happened in RealLife today, the plane may have been shot down pretty much immediately.

* TheCastShowoff: David Grant is seen taking flight lessons, and is about to go solo. In real-life, Creator/KurtRussell is an FAA licensed pilot holding ratings for several aircraft types.

* ActorAllusion: At the end of the movie, David Grant asks Jean if she likes hockey, and Jean replies, "Hockey? No, I only like baseball." At the time, Creator/HalleBerry was married to then-Atlanta Braves outfielder David Justice.

* FakeNationality: English David Suchet plays a Middle-Eastern terrorist.

* UrbanLegendOfZelda: Various reasons have been [[http://www.manlymovie.net/2016/08/about-seagals-early-death-in-executive-decision.html bandied about]] for why Creator/StevenSeagal had so little screentime in the finished film, despite being prominently promoted in the trailers and promo art. These possible reasons include Warner Bros. "punishing" Seagal for his behavior (because of his antics on the set of ''Film/OnDeadlyGround''), his primadonna behavior, or both. In actuality, Seagal's character (Travis) was always meant to die in the finished film. The [[https://indiegroundfilms.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/executive-decision-apr-91.pdf earliest draft]] of the film (written in April 1991) had Travis die in the exact same way, with the only difference being that he didn't have a final line telling Grant to keep the team safe, and the team originally used the umbilical of a refueling airplane instead of a stealth aircraft to get onto the plane.

* WagTheDirector: Originally, Creator/StevenSeagal refused to shoot this scene, for fear that his fans wouldn't like it. Stuart Baird insisted he must do it as scripted, though Seagal held up filming for a few days and argued that the scene was not realistic. Finally after threat of contractual breach, Seagal agreed to return to filming. Leguizamo recalled, “It was 6am, he was supposed to die… and we shot his death at 8 p.m”.

* WagTheDirector: Originally, Travis was to die due to low cabin pressure causing his head to explode. Creator/StevenSeagal refused to shoot this scene, for fear his fans wouldn't like it. Stuart Baird insisted he must do it as scripted, though Seagal held up filming for a few days and argued that the scene was not realistic. Finally after threat of contractual breach, Seagal agreed to return to filming, and a new death scene was scripted. Leguizamo recalled, “It was 6am, he was supposed to die… and we shot his death at 8 p.m”.

* PlayingAgainstType: Creator/KurtRussell was pretty entrenched in the public consciousness as a BadAss when this came out, which made it surprising for him to be playing a desk-jockey who gets pulled into the adventure.

* HeyItsThatGuy :
** [[WTHCastingAgency Hercule Poirot as a terrorist]]!
** And [[Series/BabylonFive G'Kar]] as his superior (a case of HeyItsThatVoice).
*** He's also [[Film/TheFugitive the One-Armed-Man]].
** [[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit Dr. Huang]] is Louie.
** [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay Miles Dyson]] is Cappy.
** Ahmed Ahmed of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour was "Terrorist #4." His role is addressed in his standup routine.
** Dr. Grant is [[Film/EscapeFromNewYork Snake Plissken]]. The Senator crossed paths with Creator/KurtRussell in ''Breakdown''.
** The Sky Marshall [[Film/OfficeSpace was once injured in a car accident and created a board game after being released from the hospital]]. As it happens, [[ChronicallyKilledActor he gets killed or nearly killed in movies a lot.]]
** [[Film/SuperMarioBros Luigi]] sees Dr. Grant for the first time and asks if he's 007.
** Cahill [[Film/TheThreeMusketeers1993 used to be a French swordsman]].
** [[Film/XMen Storm]] is the flight attendant who helped land the plane.
* PlayingAgainstType: Kurt Russell was pretty entrenched in the public consciousness as a BadAss when this came out, which made it surprising for him to be playing a desk-jockey who gets pulled into the adventure.

** The Sky Marshall [[Film/OfficeSpace was once injured in a car accident and created a board game after being released from the hospital]].

* HeyItsThatGuy : [[WTHCastingAgency Hercule Poirot as a terrorist]]!

** [[LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit Dr. Huang]] is Louie.

** Dr. Grant is [[EscapeFromNewYork Snake Plissken]]. The Senator crossed paths with Creator/KurtRussell in ''Breakdown''.
** The Sky Marshall [[OfficeSpace was once injured in a car accident and created a board game after being released from the hospital]].
** [[SuperMarioBros Luigi]] sees Dr. Grant for the first time and asks if he's 007.

* RetroactiveRecognition: [[Film/XMen Storm]] is the flight attendant who helped land the plane.

** Dr. Grant is [[EscapeFromNewYork Snake Plissken]]. The Senator crossed paths with Kurt Russell in ''Breakdown''.

** [[Film/Terminator2JudgementDay Miles Dyson]] is Cappy.

** [[Film/{{Terminator}} Miles Dyson]] is Cappy.

** And [[BabylonFive G'Kar]] as his superior (a case of HeyItsThatVoice).