Trivia / Bullet Train

• Actor-Inspired Element:
  • The bucket hat that Ladybug wears was Brad Pitt's idea, as he thought it made for a fun visual gag and figured that Ladybug would not have the best sense of fashion.
  • The White Death was originally supposed to be wearing a snappy tailored suit, but Michael Shannon suggested that his clothes should look rumpled and ill-fitting, to show that the death of his wife had affected him so badly that he'd stopped taking care of himself.
• All-Star Cast: An interesting example where most of the big names are either One Scene Wonders or cameos. Altogether, it included Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Hiroyuki Sanada, Andrew Koji, Bad Bunny, Sandra Bullock, Zazie Beetz, Logan Lerman, and Michael Shannon, with a series of cameo appearances by Karen Fukuhara, Masi Oka, Channing Tatum, and Ryan Reynolds.
• Approval of God: Kōtarō Isaka, the author of the source novel, voiced his approval for the movie and defended its westernized approach, positively comparing the film's version of Tokyo to Gotham City and describing the book's cast as "ethnically malleable."
• Awesome, Dear Boy:
  • Ryan Reynolds eagerly accepted his cameo as Carver in the film as a way of paying back Brad Pitt for his cameo in Deadpool 2.
  • Brad Pitt asked Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum to appear in this film because he enjoyed working with them on The Lost City.
• California Doubling: Despite the film being set in Tokyo, it was filmed almost entirely on a soundstage in Los Angeles. The crew built and decorated three train cars and LED screens with video footage of the Japanese countryside were hung outside the train's windows in order to help immerse the actors.
• Dawson Casting: The Prince's age is never explicitly stated, but she's implied to be a teenager, while her actress was 22 during filming.
• Fake Brit: Americans Brian Tyree Henry and Joey King put on fairly believable English accents for their roles.
• Fake Nationality:
  • Puerto Rican Bad Bunny as the Mexican Wolf.
  • The Elder is a born-and-bred Japanese yakuza. His younger self is played by the Indonesian-American Yoshi Sudarso.
• Fake Russian: Americans Michael Shannon, Joey King and Logan Lerman as Russians.
• No Stunt Double: Filming in an enclosed space during the middle of a pandemic meant that the use of stunt doubles was hard to find, so the cast had to do most of their stunts themselves. Brad Pitt alone did an estimated 95% of his own stunts.
• Playing Against Type:
  • Brad Pitt, best known for playing cool and charismatic characters, plays an Adorkable assassin who tries to avoid killing anyone and ends up in a situation where he's far in over his head.
  • Joey King tries her hand at a villainous role for once, playing a sociopath with very little moral qualms who hides under the mask of an innocent schoolgirl.
• Production Posse:
  • Leitch works here with Jonathan Sela, his cinematographer on all his films so far including John Wick ^note Which he co-directed with Chad Stahelski but was left uncredited on due to Director's Guild rules.
  • Zazie Beetz, who plays the Hornet, previously played Domino in the Leitch-directed Deadpool 2. To a lesser extent, star Brad Pitt had a cameo in Deadpool 2. Ryan Reynolds also makes a cameo appearance, following up on Deadpool 2 and Hobbs & Shaw.
  • The movie also reunites Brad Pitt and Logan Lerman eight years after Fury, though they don't get any scenes together before Lerman's character bites it.
• Viral Marketing: Sony has teased the first trailer with a fake promotional video for Nippon Speed Lines, the fictional company that runs the train used as the film's setting.
• What Could Have Been: Sandra Bullock's character was almost played by Lady Gaga. However, Gaga was forced to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with House of Gucci.

---