The Last Castle - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

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

[bryan]

in the first cafeteria scene, Irwin (Robert Redford) tells a group of inmates after doing combat duty for a while, " life becomes snapshots", Nathan Muir, also played by Redford says a similar phrase to Tom Bishop in Spy Game (2001), as he trains him for the C.I.A.

[victoria]

During filming breaks, James Gandolfini often played chess, which was a theme throughout the movie. Robert Redford read a dictionary, or tossed around a baseball or football.

[phyllis]

Was released to widely mixed reviews. Considered a box office failure it grossed only $27 million worldwide vs it's budget of $72 million.

[carl]

Mark Ruffalo and Robert Redford would later appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ruffalo played Bruce Banner, a.k.a. the Incredible Hulk, and Redford played Alexander Pierce in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014).

[jessie]

Originally, Colonel Winter was supposed to smoke cigars. James Gandolfini pleaded with Director Rod Lurie to drop the idea, because he felt smoking cigars would remind audiences too much of Tony Soprano, his star-making role in The Sopranos (1999).

[marc]

Mark Ruffalo performed his own stunts during the helicopter battle scene.

[beth]

The main score of the movie, composed by Jerry Goldsmith, was named "September 11th 2001", because it was recorded on that day. Also, the movie's posters were changed after 9/11, because they showed an American flag flying upside-down (which is a signal for distress). A new poster was put up featuring faces of the cast.

[charlie]

The finished film's storyline for General Irwin and Colonel Winter diverted sharply from David Scarpa's original screenplay. While both the script and the film begin by presenting Irwin as the sympathetic lead character, and Winter as the bullying antagonist, Scarpa wrote the film's second and third acts, to show that Winter was a good man, and Irwin was a violent taskmaster who brutalized the other inmates into joining his crusade to get rid of the Colonel. The script was re-written when Robert Redford signed up to the film, with Irwin remaining the generally noble campaigner against Winter's reign of cruelty.

[frances]

Winter and Yates are the names of two British chess champions.

[javier]

When Irwin is punished by being forced to move a huge pile of rocks, Robert Redford was offered fake featherweight props, but he chose to carry actual rocks to make it more realistic.

[beth]

Kathryn Morris appeared as a DOD Investigator but was cut from the film. The scene is included on the DVD.

[jessica]

Leo Fitzpatrick was cast in the film but two days before filming was to begin, he was in Los Angeles and was leaving a friend's party and was hit by a drunk driver. His leg suffered severe nerve and muscle damage, and he was unable to walk for a month and had to go through physical therapy. He was dropped from The Last Castle as a result.

[linda]

Mark Wahlberg was originally announced for the Mark Ruffalo part.

[jim]

Most of the production was filmed at the former Tennessee State Prison which operated from 1898 to 1992. The production added significant set modifications to both the inside and outside including steel walkways, guard towers, and Winter's office window.

[kyle]

One of the medal ribbons on General Irwin's uniform (which he wears when he first arrives at the prison) is the Medal of Honor, the U.S. Military's highest decoration, awarded for acts of extreme bravery in combat. It's the blue one at the top of his rows of ribbons.

[alyssa]

Oliver Hirschbiegel was offered the opportunity to direct, but he declined.

[phyllis]

Delroy Lindo (General Wheeler) & James Gandolfini (Colonel Winter) played together in 1995's "Get Shorty".

[sophie]

James Gandolfini reportedly was reluctant to accept the role of Colonel Winter, because he didn't understand the story, and had never served in the military himself. He committed largely on the strength of a lengthy speech Winter delivered in the original script. Ironically, that entire scene was cut from the final film.