Revolutionary Road - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Revolutionary Road or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Revolutionary Road

[morris]

It's never named in the film, but in Richard Yates' source novel, the play April acts in is Robert E. Sherwood's "The Petrified Forrest," written in 1935. In the play, the female lead, Gabby, dreams of leaving what she sees as a humdrum existence in the U.S. to move to France; this is also April Wheeler's dream.

[liam]

In his comments about the book Kurt Vonnegut said that this was "The Great Gatsby" of his generation. Leonardo DiCaprio - who plays Frank in this film - later on played the lead role in The Great Gatsby (2013).

[nora]

Producer Elliott Kastner planned to make this in the late 1960s.

[brent]

Some scenes in the U.S. and International trailer were not included in the final cut of the movie, such as the scene of Frank's "Nothing's forever, right?" line and the scene with Helen showing the Wheelers their soon-to-be home.

[bernice]

Apart from the scenes at Frank's work, all the scenes were filmed in sequence. Kate and Leo stated that it helped immensely, because by the time the more intense scenes near the end of the film were being shot, they knew their characters wholeheartedly.

[ronnie]

The tickets to Paris are on a Cunard Line steamer. Cunard Line merged with White Star Line, which built and owned the Titanic. Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio starred in Titanic (1997).

[leo]

Whilst shooting the scene where Frank and April first meet and dance together, the director was blasting a ballad to set the scene. After take 13, someone changed the music to Céline Dion's "My Heart Will Go On", the anthem from Titanic. Initially, everyone paused, before Leo and Kate wordlessly spread out their arms and recreated the iconic pose of their Titanic characters. This resulted in applause and laughter from the 300 extras, energising the mood.

[kristina]

This film marked the second time Leonardo DiCaprio played a character named Frank and the third time Kathy Bates played a character named Helen.

[riley]

This film marked the second collaboration between Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, after Titanic (1997), where they also played lovers.

[chris]

Director Sam Mendes recounted that Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet would make each other laugh and tease each other in between scenes, then get in front of the camera and act disgusted at each other. DiCaprio said that whilst they were older physically, their relationship remained unchanged from when they would goof around together on the set of Titanic (1997).

[kylie]

This film marked the second time Kathy Bates has played opposite both Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

[cassandra]

Kate Winslet first read the script in 2005, and immediately fell in love with it. She asked her husband, Sam Mendes, to direct, who initially hesitated, feeling that he had already tackled the subject of suburbia with American Beauty (1999). Kate then presented the script to Leonardo DiCaprio when out for coffee together; both in the habit of sending each other scripts to do together. At the Academy Awards in March 2007, after Leo had finished reading the script, Kate organised for the two of them to go out for drinks; sending Sam instead to discuss the film. A deal was made and filming began 10 weeks later.

[manuel]

Following filming, Leonardo DiCaprio gifted Kate Winslet with an engraved ring. Winslet keeps the inscription secret.

[tammy]

Knowing that comparisons between the film and Titanic were inevitable, Kate and Leo would play 'Guess the press questions' on set. "We would do versions of the questions and versions of the answers between ourselves." According to them, the films bare no comparison whatsoever.

[brent]

The first film collaboration between Kate Winslet and director Sam Mendes.

[mathew]

The only film that year nominated for Best Motion Picture Drama at the Golden Globes, and not Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

[chad]

In 1955, the year most of the movie is set, abortion was illegal throughout the US. It remained illegal in most states until Roe v. Wade in 1973 (see also the trivia for Dirty Dancing (1987)). In Connecticut, it was also illegal to buy or use any form of contraception, until Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965. One of Frank's work friends jokes that April's pregnancy was the result of a faulty prophylactic, but it would have been illegal for the Wheelers to use any form of birth control. Since Frank worked in New York, he could have brought birth control there, but its use in Connecticut still would have been illegal. In the book April comments that she felt her diaphragm was loose the night they conceived, and that she had to go out the next day to buy a replacement.

[christina]

Scenes were filmed showing April and Frank as children, giving some backstory to their personalities. Sam Mendes omitted those scenes in the film however, feeling that it showed April and Frank as victims.

[ray]

At the end of Titanic (1997), Leonardo DiCaprio's character dies and Kate Winslet's lives. At the end of this film, the opposite happens: Winslet dies and DiCaprio lives.