History Trivia / BeingJohnMalkovich

* AscendedFanon: After ''Film/GetOut2017'' was released, fans started comparing the plots, making {{Wild Mass Guess|ing}}es that they took place in the same universe, and the 2017 horror film was secretly a sequel to the 1999 fantasy. After hearing this theory, the directors of both movies met, spoke at length, and publicly stated that though ''Get Out'' was never conceived as a sequel to ''Being John Malkovich'', they enthusiastically decided that the films are a SharedUniverse; [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBvcngHRTFg "as far as I'm concerned, it's true."]] The director of ''Get Out'' actually hopes to cast Malkovich in a sequel, stating that it would be "cool" to "do the full trilogy."

* BreakthroughHit: For Creator/SpikeJonze.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Not as bad as most instances, but nonetheless fairly noticeable. Going past the elephant in the room of the 1973 World Trade Center being visible in one shot, almost every TV in the film is an analog 4:3 CRT, with the only widescreen LCD being seen in Malkovich's apartment; LCD televisions had been out for roughly a year by the time the film released, but were a considerable luxury if only due to how nascent the technology was. Just ten years later, LCD monitors would become a mainstream commodity, with CRT televisions fading away outside of particularly niche or ''very'' low-income markets. Additionally, characters communicate on the phone exclusively via corded landline phones rather than cell phones, which were also still something of a luxury at the time, and Craig seeking out job offers through the newspaper readily dates the film to an era before the internet became a mainstream utility; it already existed for years by 1999, but was still fairly niche in terms of usage. By the film's 20th anniversary, job listing sites would become a much more common means of seeking out work.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: The fact that characters can only call one another on landline phones ends up playing a significant role in the film's plot, as it results in there being only very specific instances where they can convey information to each other over a long distance. Had the film come out 20 years later, the plot of it would likely go by at a much different pace with the mass availability of smartphones.

* ActorSharedBackground: Shortly before cast in the film, Malkovich told Charlie Kaufman that he, himself, has once lived in an apartment building with a 7½th floor.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Not as bad as most instances, but nonetheless fairly noticeable. Going past the elephant in the room of the 1973 World Trade Center being visible in one shot, almost every TV in the film is an analog 4:3 CRT, with the only widescreen LCD being seen in Malkovich's apartment; LCD televisions had been out for roughly a year by the time the film released, but were a considerable luxury if only due to how nascent the technology was. Just ten years later, LCD monitors would become a mainstream commodity, with CRT televisions fading away outside of particularly niche or ''very'' low-income markets. Additionally, characters communicate on the phone exclusively via corded landline phones rather than cell phones, which were also still something of a luxury at the time, and Craig seeking out job offers through the newspaper readily dates the film to an era before the internet became a mainstream utility; it already existed for years by 1999, but was still fairly niche in terms of usage, but by the film's 20th anniversary, job listing sites would become a much more common means of seeking out work.

* AscendedFanon: After ''Film/GetOut2017'' was released, fans started comparing the plots, making Wild Mass Guesses that they took place in the same universe, and the 2017 horror film was secretly a sequel to the 1999 fantasy. After hearing this theory, the directors of both movies met, spoke at length, and publicly stated that though ''Get Out'' was never conceived as a sequel to ''Being John Malkovich'', they enthusiastically decided that the films are a SharedUniverse; [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBvcngHRTFg "as far as I'm concerned, it's true."]] The director of ''Get Out'' actually hopes to cast Malkovich in a sequel, stating that it would be "cool" to "do the full trilogy."

** A relatively minor change, but one of note for Music/TheyMightBeGiants fans: the script specified TMBG's "Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head" would play over the end credits; for whatever reason the song ultimately wasn't included in the movie.