Trivia / The Queen's Gambit

• California Doubling: Takes place largely in the Midwest of the United States (mostly Lexington, Kentucky), but also has segments in Moscow, Mexico City, Paris, New York, and Las Vegas. However, it was mostly filmed in Berlin with some segments shot in Canada.
• The Danza: Harry Melling plays Harry Beltik.
• Dawson Casting:
  • Beth is a teenager for much of the show; Anya Taylor-Joy was 23 at the time of filming.
  • And at least a child actor played Beth at the age of nine; Moses Ingram was 25 at the time of filming and playing the adult, teen and child version of Jolene. Presumably, Jolene is a couple years older than Beth, although not much older since she implies that she was still living in the orphanage while Beth was a couple years into the competitive chess circuit.
• Fake American: Most of the characters are American, but the only American actors in the main cast are Moses Ingram, Bill Camp, and Marielle Heller. Anya Taylor-Joy and Christiane Seidel were also born in America, but both were raised in Europe (and Argentina, in Taylor-Joy's case).
• Fake Nationality: British Millie Brady as French Cleo.
• Fake Russian: Vasily Borgov, the Russian world chess champion, is played by Marcin Dorociński, who is Polish.
• The Red Stapler: The popularity of the series has gotten people interested in chess in real life, with chess set sales spiking dramatically and membership in chess organizations seeing a notable bump.
• Saved from Development Hell: The book was originally going to be adapted in 1983. The rights then changed hands in 1984 when the author, Walter Tevis, died. Finally, in 1992, Scottish screenwriter Allan Shiach (who writes under the pseudonym Allan Scott) acquired the rights and wanted to make an art house film adaption. Then, in 2007 and 2008, Shiach started working with Heath Ledger to make said film... and then Ledger died. Finally, in March 2019, Netflix ordered a seven-episode mini-series adaptation. All in all, it took Shiach twenty-eight years after he acquired the rights to make an adaptation.
• Sleeper Hit: After only four weeks of release, it became Netflix's most-watched scripted miniseries, and it was a smash hit with critics as well.
• Star-Making Role: While she had appeared in big projects beforehand, Anya Taylor-Joy's performance here really raised her star, and she would go on to be cast in many other projects shortly after its success.
• Suppressed Mammaries: A classic aid to Dawson Casting, in that Anya Taylor-Joy is given outfits that thoroughly bury her curves when she's still playing a 15- to 16-year-old girl. As Beth grows older and tries to own her sexuality as well, the clothes become more form-fitting.

---