History Trivia / NorthByNorthwest

** ''The Man in Lincoln's Nose''.

* Future horror film director Creator/GeorgeARomero, then 19 years old, worked on the set as a gofer. He later said that he was turned off by what he termed Hitchcock's "mechanical" directing style.

** The final shot of the film was to be the two leads climbing into bed on their train and sharing a passionate kiss with "The End" superimposed over it, but UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode objected, saying it implied that the couple were [[CoitusEnsues going to have sex]] (not an unreasonable conclusion) and demanded a change. In classic Hitchcock form, he obliged and changed it to a cut-away of their train [[FreudWasRight going into]] [[VisualInnuendo a tunnel.]]

** In Spain, it was released as ''Con la muerte en los talones'' ("With Death on His Heels", meaning either "[With] Death in Close Pursuit" or conversely "In Close Pursuit by Death".).

* ThrowItIn: An unintentional one. When Eve [[spoiler: shoots Roger in the restaurant with the blanks]], a child actor covers his ears before the gunshot happens. The take was still used, since aside from this, it was the best take.

** Legend has it that Hitchcock denied Creator/JimmyStewart the part of Thornhill because he thought he was too old for it... so instead he got Creator/CaryGrant, who was even older than Stewart. (Another theory is that the less-than-spectacular box office reception for ''Film/{{Vertigo}}'' caused a falling-out between Hitchcock and Stewart, hence no ''North by Northwest'' for the latter. ) Other actors considered or suggested for the role included Creator/GregoryPeck, Creator/WilliamHolden, Music/FrankSinatra, and Music/DeanMartin.

** Hitch himself noted that he wanted the climax to involve the heroes interacting with the faces on Mt. Rushmore, rather than just climbing ''around'' them. Specifically, he wanted Cary Grant to hide for a moment in one of the noses...[[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments and then have a sneezing fit.]] While the scene was filmed on a sound-stage using a model of the monument, so there was no risk of damage to the monument, there was a small public outcry during the film's production, which complained that climbing over the presidents' faces would be disrespectful, so Hitchcock had to agree that the movie would not have characters actually touch any of the faces.

* WriteWhoYouKnow: Even after basing the murderer in ''Film/RearWindow'' on David O. Selznick, Hitchcock couldn't resist a few more digs at his former boss-turned-nemesis. Roger Thornhill's MysteriousMiddleInitial is "O" but it doesn't stand for anything, which was also the case with Selznick's "O". Also, Thornhill dictating a memo even while he's leaving work was based on Selznick's habit of constantly dictating memos to secretaries while he was doing other things.

* Future horror film director Creator/GeorgeARomero, then 19 years old, worked on the set as a gofer. He later said that he was turned off by what he termed Hitchcock’s "mechanical" directing style.