Trivia / The Remains of the Day

• Half-Remembered Homage: Ishiguro based Stevens on the archetype of the servile English butler, not any actual knowledge he had about this. He refused to do research, instead wanting to write close to the archetype. Most of the details about "cleaning schedules" and such are completely made up.
• Irony as She Is Cast: In the book, Stevens mentions that he believes those from the Celtic countries are too hot-headed to make good butlers. Guess where the actor who played him is from.
• Production Posse: Was originally referred to as The Remains of Howards End since it shared most of that film's creative team as well as the two leads.
• Throw It In!: The pigeon at the end of the movie. Word of God from Merchant and Ivory states that it is most definitely not a metaphor.
• What Could Have Been: Meryl Streep was interested in playing Miss Kenton. However, the script was written with Emma Thompson in mind, and so it remains one of three parts Meryl has ever been turned down for.