Trivia: In case you missed it, this film was based on a true story.
Trivia: In the scene where Saffron is teaching Dougray how to dance at her favorite dance hall, there is a shot of some of the customers sitting and drinking. You'll see Mick Jagger talking to a girl at a table.
Trivia: Dakota Fanning's younger sister Elle makes her film debut, portraying Lucy at age 2. Incidentally, both Dakota and Elle go by their middle names; Dakota's full name is Hannah Dakota Fanning while Elle is Mary Elle Fanning.
Trivia: During the last basketball game of the movie, there is a shot of the coach, and you see some of the other team's boys warming up. Their school is on the front of their shirts. The school is Stratford, which being an Othello remake is a direct reference to William Shakespeare and his birthplace Stratford-on-Avon.
Trivia: For his role as Whitey Ford, rather than having to learn to pitch left-handed, right-handed Anthony Michael Hall wore his uniform number and logo backwards; the image was then flipped.
Trivia: The uniforms worn by the ESA soldiers are the same uniforms worn by the soldiers in Starship Troopers, they've also been used in the TV show Firefly.
Trivia: During the audio commentary, Jake Gyllenhaal actually spots some continuity mistakes, and points them out. The director then proceeds by telling him he's not doing the film any justice.
Trivia: When Freddy and Daryl are driving in the car listening to the Spanish hip hop music, at the back window there is a bee persistently trying to get into the car.
Trivia: At the end of the film, the Withered Lover is standing on the place where the Torso sat. Both of these ghosts were rather harmless, and the Torso, while described as dangerous, never attacked anyone, including Cyrus, and walked to his head near Bobby. The only other ghost seen that is more or less harmless is the First Born Son, who is more of a taunter and prankster. This ghost died a quick death, being shot in the head by an arrow by another kid accidentally.
Trivia: After Morgan Freeman shoots the guy with the shotgun, the next scene is outside with the news crew and you will see Morgan Freeman walk by the camera dressed up with dreadlocks and cap and keeps looking at the camera. It's Morgan Freeman playing an extra.
Suggested correction: I agree, it's definitely not Morgan Freeman. If you're talking about the guy in the red knit cap and what looks like a red sweater vest, he doesn't have a mustache and his nose is completely different from Freeman's nose looks like in profile. Without any confirmation from someone from the film (such as a director's commentary) or further evidence, this isn't valid trivia.
Suggested correction: Wow, I find pretty extraordinary that this cameo is not mentioned anywhere else. The guy does look like Morgan Freeman (I am adding a screenshot to the entry), and is not seen anywhere else in the scene, nor Freeman is in the wide shot, so I can't say the entry is false, I just find it quite strange since usually this sort of humorous bit roles get mentioned a lot. Kudos for noticing.
That is not Morgan Freeman.
Trivia: When Michael collides with a cello player at the charity fundraiser towards the end of the film, the cello player lets out a Wilhelm scream.
Trivia: Reportedly, the film was originally going to be titled "Escape from Mars," and was going to be a sequel to "Escape from New York" and "Escape from LA," with Kurt Russell reprising his role as Snake Pliskin. However, after "Escape from LA" bombed at the box office, the script was reworked, and Snake was rewritten into the character "Desolation" Williams.
Trivia: The film was shot primarily at the Danvers State Asylum, an abandoned hospital. The script was written around the shooting location based on what rooms and corridors were safe to shoot in. Little to no set-dressing had to be done for the film, as it was suitably dilapidated and filled with abandoned medical equipment, which helped add to the film's atmosphere.
Trivia: The actor Alec Wilson, who plays Jacko in Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, also played a goon in the second Crocodile Dundee movie. Just like in the second movie, where he gets freaked out when the Aboriginal tracker disappears, his character also gets freaked out in this movie too when Mick Dundee does it too.
Trivia: Pat Crawford Brown is just four years older than Joan Collins, despite them playing mother and daughter.
Trivia: The woman who accidentally calls Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) "Mr. Goober" is actually played by Michael Gross' sister Mary. Like her brother, she's an actress who was a co-star on Saturday Night Live for several years in the 80's, and has done a smattering of film, television and voice-acting roles since.