History Trivia / TradingPlaces

** Ophelia's "Swedish" disguise came about because Creator/JamieLeeCurtis couldn't do the correct Austrian accent.

** Creator/DanAykroyd's acting career had slumped because most studio executives were hesitant to cast him following Creator/JohnBelushi's death (Creator/JohnLandis claims they compared it to [[Creator/AbbottAndCostello "Abbott without Costello"]]). His performance here and in ''Film/Ghostbusters1984'' proved he could play off other actors, thus assuring him a secure career since.

** The film completely resurrected the 75-year-old Creator/DonAmeche's film career. One of 20th Century Fox's top stars in the 1940's, he had only appeared in five films in the the next three decades, with nothing since 1970. Ameche won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his next film ''Film/{{Cocoon}}'' and worked steadily for the rest of his life.
** Creator/DanAykroyd's acting career had been slumping because most studio executives were hesitant to cast him following Creator/JohnBelushi's death (Creator/JohnLandis claims they compared it to [[Creator/AbbottAndCostello "Abbott without Costello"]]). His performance here proved he could play off other actors and he's had a long, steady career since.

** The film completely resurrected the 75-year-old Creator/DonAmeche's film career, which had essentially ended in 1949. He had only appeared in five films in the interim with the last one being in 1970. He won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his next film ''Film/{{Cocoon}}'' and worked steadily until a month before his death in 1993.

** Creator/DanAykroyd's acting career had been slumping because most studio executives were hesitant to cast him following long time partner John Belushi's death (Creator/JohnLandis claims they compared it to "Abbott without Costello"). His performance here proved he could play off other actors and he's had a long, steady career since.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
** At the time the film was made, using misappropriated or "insider" information to invest in commodities (as opposed to the stock and bond market) was ''not'' a crime, although a government courier could still get in trouble for unauthorized release of government information [[spoiler:like the crop report in the film]]. The law that changed this, Section 136 of the Wall Street Transparency and Accountability Act, [[note]]also called the Dodd-Frank Act[[/note]] enacted in 2010, is informally known as the "Eddie Murphy Rule." The chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission [[ThereShouldBeALaw specifically referred to the film]] when [[http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/SpeechesTestimony/opagensler-25 first publicly proposing the rule change]].
** A lot of what goes down at the stock market in this movie is also not possible now thanks to computers -- pit trading and open outcry are no longer widely used, for example.

* BeamMeUpScotty: Randolph Duke doesn't actually say "Sell, Mortimer, sell!" towards the end of the movie. The Dukes had their own trading broker, Wilson, working at the floor of the commodities market, so Randolph actually says "We've got to get Wilson and tell him to sell!", and Mortimer later says "Wilson, for Christ's sake, sell!".

* ProductionPosse: In addition to John Landi bringing back Creator/FrankOz, another [[Franchise/TheMuppets Muppeteer]], the late Richard Hunt, played Wilson.

* ProductionPosse: In addition to John Landi bringing back Creator/FrankOz, another [[Franchise/TheMuppets Muppeteers]], the late Richard Hunt, played Wilson.

* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Don Ameche abhorred swearing in real life, and only agreed to one take of his famous PrecisionFStrike at the end of the film. He also had a hard time saying the N-word in the bathroom scene, and could only do it after Eddie Murphy gently reminded him it was just a movie.

** A lot of what goes down at the stock market in this movie is also not possible now thanks to computers[[note]]pit trading and open outcry are no longer widely used, for example[[/note]], and the loopholes exploited have been closed up. One of them is even called "The Eddie Murphy Rule" thanks to this film.

** In addition, with the advent of more sophisticated computerization, modern commodities markets have "breakers" that prevent prices from changing as rapidly as depicted in the film, [[spoiler:precisely to avoid the sort of mess the Dukes tried to cause and profit from, as well as the kind of mess they ended up getting themselves into]]. These limits were added a few years after the film was made (a result of the infamous 1987 stock market crash).

** At the time the film was made, using misappropriated or "insider" information to invest in commodities (as opposed to the stock and bond market) was ''not'' a crime, although a government courier could still get in trouble for unauthorized release of government information [[spoiler:like the crop report in the film]]. The law that changed this, Section 136 of the Wall Street Transparency and Accountability Act, [[note]]also called the Dodd-Frank Act[[/note]] enacted in 2010, is informally known as the "Eddie Murphy Rule." The chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission [[ThereShouldBeALaw specifically referred to the film]] when [[http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/SpeechesTestimony/opagensler-25 first publicly proposing the rule change]].

** The shots of the World Trade Center (including a ground-perspective shot of how tall the towers were) cast a bit of a shadow on an otherwise fresh, entertaining comedy.

** At the time the film was made, [[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught using misappropriated or "insider" information to invest in commodities (as opposed to the stock and bond market) was]] ''[[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught not]]'' [[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught a crime]], although a government courier could still get in trouble for unauthorized release of government information [[spoiler:like the crop report in the film]]. The law that changed this, Section 136 of the Wall Street Transparency and Accountability Act, [[note]]also called the Dodd-Frank Act[[/note]] enacted in 2010, is informally known as the "Eddie Murphy Rule." The chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission [[ThereShouldBeALaw specifically referred to the film]] when [[http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/SpeechesTestimony/opagensler-25 first publicly proposing the rule change]].

* CareerResurrection: The film completely resurrected the 75-year-old Creator/DonAmeche's film career, which had essentially ended in 1949. He had only appeared in five films in the interim with the last one being in 1970. He won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his next film ''Film/{{Cocoon}}'' and worked steadily until a month before his death in 1993.

** Several well-off characters using payphones instead of cell phones.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Since 1997, Trading Places is always shown in Italy on Christmas Eve; to the point that Italians joke "it's not Christmas without Trading Places".

** In Latin America, the film was known as ''De Mendigo A Millonario'' (From Beggar to Millionaire).
** The German title is "Die Glücksritter" (Soldiers of Fortune).
** The Italian title is "Una Poltrona per Due" (An Armchair for Two).

** Louis boasts that his watch is waterproof to three atmospheres. Nowadays watches can be waterproofed to 50 atm.

** Creator/RonnieBarker and Creator/JohnGielgud turned down the role of Coleman.