The Count of Monte Cristo - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[jamie]

A party was held to celebrate Richard Harris' seventieth birthday during filming.

[francisco]

Shooting the final scene was actually done in two parts, and was originally shot in autumn. However, the grass was very brown, so they decided to reshoot everything in spring. If you look closely, you can briefly see some of the brown grass directly behind Count Mondego (Guy Pierce).

[javier]

Jim Caviezel and Dagmara Dominczyk appeared in Person of Interest: Many Happy Returns (2012).

[darrell]

The name that Luigi Vampa (JB Blanc) gives Edmond Dantes (Jim Caviezel), "Zatarra", means "driftwood" in Burmese, the language of Myanmar.

[javier]

Arnold Schwarzenegger turned down the role of Edmond Dantes when the film was in early stages of development.

[ella]

The scene in which Morrell goes to J.F. Villefort for Edmond's release has a tragic twist in the book. Edmond is accused of being a Bonapartist, and Morrell is a Bonaparte supporter. The plea is made during the Hundred Days when Napoleon had returned to power. Thus, with Villefort's encouragement, Morrell is convinced that the best way to secure his release under Napoleon's regime is to claim in a letter that all the charges against Edmond were true, thus making him a loyal servant of the Emperor. Villefort, being a stout Royalist, and far from convinced that Napoleon's return would be permanent, never delivers the letter to Napoleon, instead, simply adding them to Edmond's case file, thus essentially proving the state's case against him when King Louis XVIII is restored to power.

[fred]

Screenwriter Jay Wolpert came up with the idea, not present in the novel, that Fernand Mondego (Guy Pearce) and Edmond Dantes (Jim Caviezel) started out as best friends. His logic was that it would work better as a "buddy" film that turned sinister. Wolpert believed that when a friendship soured, the hate generated was both more terrible and more believable.

[kristina]

The opening scene, where the characters are sailing towards the island, is actually filmed in a giant water tank in Malta, and the island is superimposed via computer. Another film that used this exact same tank was the war movie U-571.

[violet]

The white polka dot dress with ornate floral pattern on the bodice that Dagmara Dominczyk (Mercedès Iguanada) wears at the office of Monsieur Villefort is the same costume Julia Sawalha (Lydia Bennet) wears while observing Wickham horse riding in Pride and Prejudice (1995), and Ruby Bentall (Mary Bennet) wears to the Meryton Assembly Ball in Lost in Austen (2008).

[victoria]

The seventeenth adaptation of the classic tale.

[liam]

Kevin Reynolds enjoyed working with Helen McCrory, and was disappointed about having to delete a subplot involving Valentina in order to tighten the story pacing.

[sylvia]

When Disney green-lit the film, they were hoping of making a family movie, and having it released through their Disney banner.