Trivia / Primary Colors

• Approval of God: Bill Clinton loved the movie and invited John Travolta to the White House on the condition that he come as "Jack Stanton". Travolta declined.
• Billing Displacement: Adrian Lester is listed FIFTH in nearly all material for the film, despite obviously being the lead character. John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Billy Bob Thornton, and Kathy Bates are all listed above him. Even though Thornton and Bates play much smaller characters, and even Travolta and Thompson (as a fictional Bill and Hillary Clinton) are back-ups to Lester's Henry Burton.
• Box Office Bomb: Budget, $65 million. Box office, $52,090,187. It didn't help that it was released early into the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal.
• Creator Killer: This was the last feature film written by Elaine May, who earned a BAFTA and an Academy Award nomination for her script.
• Dyeing for Your Art: John Travolta put on extra weight for the part.
• Enforced Method Acting: Larry Hagman's appearance at the political rally was kept a secret from the extras in the crowd. The reaction when he walks on stage is genuine.
• Fake American: Emma Thompson playing the politically-active wife of an American politician. The actress is British from London. Adrian Lester himself is a British Jamaican from Birmingham, England. He is playing an African-American.
• Star-Derailing Role: Adrian Lester left a production of Othello in England be in this movie, convinced that it would be his big break. Alas, the film didn't do as well as expected and he didn't work for a year afterwards.
• What Could Have Been: The lead role was offered to Tom Hanks, who liked the script but respectfully declined, due to his close friendship with Clinton at the time. Mel Gibson, Bill Murray, Liam Neeson and Jack Nicholson were also considered.

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