The Pelican Brief - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

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

[jamie]

Both Sam Shepard and John Heard died in July 2017. Their deaths were just 6 days apart.

[gerald]

Denzel Washington and Tony Goldwyn both starred on TV series St. Elsewhere.

[jessie]

The characters that Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington play in the film become lovers in Grisham's novel. Although Roberts was interested in bringing that romance to the screen, Washington disagreed, and felt that target audiences did not want to see an interracial romance. Thus, the romance never takes place in the film. According to other reports, Washington didn't want to kiss Roberts because she is white. He said he isn't racist, he just felt it may have alienated his main fan base of black women at the time, which some people felt was hypocritical because if a white actor had said that about a black actress, there would have been major complaints.

[kenzi]

Director Alan J. Pakula pulled a prank on the set, involving the then-couple Julia Roberts and Lyle Lovett. Roberts was filming a scene where she is supposed to talk on the phone with the character played by John Heard. Pakula sent Heard's lines to Lovett (who was touring and away from where the film was being made), allowing him to speak to his wife. Roberts played the scene normally, though she didn't recognize the voice over the phone. It was only after Pakula yelled "Cut!" that she learned that it was Lovett who was acting with her.

[nicholas]

Denzel Washington's character, Gray Grantham, is a white man in the novel.

[stephanie]

One of three films directed by Alan J. Pakula and starring Hume Cronyn. They also collaborated in The Parallax View (1974) and Rollover (1981).

[ken]

Gray Grantham and Smith Keen secretly meet at the house of George and Martha Washington in Mount Vernon, Virginia. Denzel Washington was born in Mount Vernon, New York.

[javier]

John Grisham wrote the part of Darby Shaw with Julia Roberts in mind. Roberts read the book once it was finished, and agreed to the role without even seeing a script.

[veronica]

Almost every scene has something blue in it, especially the colors turquoise/teal. From Denzel's suit to a pen Darby uses, there is teal everywhere. Walls, cars, calendars, clothing of people walking by in the background have teal. Even the furniture in some scenes are a shade of teal. No way is it a coincidence. Sometimes it's very obvious and other times it's subtle, like in the airplane hangar at the end when the police car pulls out and the turquoise light reflects on the floor.

[maureen]

John Grisham typically signs over the rights to his books and does not participate in film production decisions. For "The Pelican Brief," he campaigned to get Julia Roberts the role of Darby Shaw.

[claude]

Julia Roberts who won the Best Actress Oscar for "Erin Brockovich (2000)" presented her co-star in this film, Denzel Washington his Best Actor Oscar for "Training Day (2001)" the following year.

[sophie]

The rights to "The Pelican Brief" were bought before the book was written. When John Grisham released a sample from the book, the movie rights were purchased on the spot.

[scarlett]

The cast of The Pelican Brief cast includes five actors who guest starred on "Miami Vice" (1984): 1) Nicholas Woodeson: "Made for Each Other", Season One. 2) Anthony Heald: "The Prodigal Son", Season Two. 3) John Heard: "One Way Ticket", Season Two. 4) Stanley Tucci: "Baby Blues", Season 3; "Contempt of Court" and "Blood & Roses", Season 4. 5) Julia Roberts: "Mirror Image", Season 4.

[edgar]

Paul Rudd named his daughter after Julia Roberts character Darby.

[lynn]

The bomb that is placed in Grantham's car uses a mercury switch. This is made of a glass ampule that contains a pair of metal contacts and an amount of mercury. It is designed so that when moved in such a way that the mercury touches both of the leads, this completes the circuit and detonates the bomb.

[nina]

Tony Goldwyn, who plays the White House chief of staff, Fletcher Coal, went on to play the President of the United States in the television show Scandal (2012).