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Trivia / Miss Congeniality

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  • Actor Allusion: William Shatner does a spoken word version of the Miss United States song, which references his infamous spoken word cover versions of various songs.
  • California Doubling: The first movie was entirely filmed in Austin, Texas, despite starting in New York (to make for a more convincing street, Austin had brown plastic bags of fake trash and fake NYC taxi cabs). The pageant takes place in San Antonio, roughly 80 miles (129 km) north of Austin, and some pageant preliminary scenes were shot at the Arneson River Theater in downtown San Antonio. The second is mostly on location, except for a New York scene which clearly has a Las Vegas hotel in the background.
  • The Cast Showoff: Most of the contestant actresses are actually doing the talent tricks — except for Cheryl with the fire batons. Heather Burns was willing to learn how to twirl, but not to expose herself to flames (a professional replaces her).
  • Cast the Expert: Almost. Michael Caine's (Victor) wife is a former Miss World contestant, and she was able to teach him the actual tricks of the pageant trade.
  • Cast the Runner-Up: A scene was filmed with the original Miss New Jersey relinquishing her title. Because of pacing reasons, it was cut. Director Donald Petrie felt bad about cutting Jennifer Gareis's part, and had her appear as Miss New York's girlfriend Tina in the pageant scene.
  • Dawson Casting: In-universe example where Grace says she's over 30 and Miss USA contestants have to be aged 18-27.
  • Deleted Role: Edward Herrmann originally appeared as Gracie's father, but his part was cut.
  • Dyeing for Your Art: Heather Burns auditioned for Cheryl with long brown hair. Because they felt she looked too much like Sandra Bullock, she cut it to shoulder length and dyed it blonde.
  • Non-Singing Voice: Miss California's operatic singing for her talent performance is actually Wendy Racquel Robinson miming to a professional recording.
  • The Other Marty:
    • Matt Dillon was cast as Eric Matthews at first, before getting replaced by Benjamin Bratt.
    • An entirely different version of the limo scene was filmed, with the driver originally played by Jeffrey Tambor.
  • Real-Life Relative: Sandra Bullock's then-husband Jesse James is seen losing an arm wrestling contest in the sequel.
  • Reality Subtext: In the sequel, Gracie has the desire to impersonate Tina Turner prompting Sam to stare at her in disbelief. Sandra Bullock once gave an infamous interview where she claimed and she and Tina Turner were "like family" because Tina's birth family name was the same as hers.
  • Refitted for Sequel: The backstory about Gracie's mother being a cop who died on duty.
  • Talent Double: Heather Burns is replaced by a professional for the fire batons scene, understandably so given that they are fire batons.
  • Throw It In!: Sandra Bullock ad-libbed most of Gracie's routine when she comes home after the restaurant mission.
  • Underage Casting: Eileen Brennan, who plays Stan Fields' mom, was actually a year younger than his actor William Shatner.
  • What Could Have Been:
    • In the original script, Stan was in on Kathy's conspiracy to blow up the pageant.
    • In an earlier draft of the script, Frank was a female character named Nora, Kathy's daughter and a member of a radical feminist terrorist cell.
    • The earlier screenplay ends with Gracie retiring from the FBI after the pageant and becoming a schoolteacher.

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