Trivia / A Haunting in Venice

• Advertised Extra: A masked gondolier is prominent in the movie poster, standing just behind Poirot. However, their only presence in the movie is as transport to the party; they do not play any part in what happens after.
• Billing Displacement: The principal actors are credited in alphabetical order by last name, meaning that Kyle Allen (Maxime) is credited before Kenneth Branagh, and Emma Laird (Desdemona) is ahead of both Kelly Reilly (Rowena) and Michelle Yeoh (Joyce).
• B-Team Sequel: Patrick Doyle, Kenneth Branagh's associated composer, didn't do the soundtrack for this film, with Hildur Guðnadóttir taking on the job, instead.
• Completely Different Title: The French and Spanish titles of the film are Mystère à Venise and Misterio en Venecia ("Mystery in Venice"). In Latin America the film got the title Cacería en Venecia ("Hunting in Venice") leading some to suspect that someone in the Latin-American distributor mistook haunting for hunting while renaming the film (even if one could say it's still about Poirot "hunting" a killer).
• Meaningful Release Date:
  • Released on September 15, 2023; Dame Agatha Christie's 133rd birthday.
  • Probably accidental: in the United States, the movie was released hours before the holiday of Rosh Hashanah, and prominently features both honey and apples (symbolic foods meant to evoke a sweet new year for observers) as plot devices and Arc Symbols.
• Playing Against Type: Tina Fey is best known as a comic actress. Here she appears in a suspenseful murder mystery with supernatural elements, although her character Ariadne Oliver is generally more comic relief.
• Production Posse:
  • Jamie Dornan and teen actor Jude Hill (Leopold Ferrier) were in Kenneth Branagh's Belfast prior to this film.
  • Haris Zambarloukos returns at the cinematography after doing that of both Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile.
• Reality Subtext: Ariadne Oliver complaining about the reviews for her last three books reflects how Hallowe'en Party (the third-to-last case featuring Poirot in publishing order) was received. At the time, the quality of Agatha Christie's novels was clearly declining due to her age and memory problems. It may also reflect the reception of Branagh's own Death on the Nile, which was plagued by delays and bad press due to the COVID-19 pandemic and accusations against actor Armie Hammer and generally seen as a disappointing follow-up to Murder on the Orient Express.

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