Battle Royale - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[wesley]

Some shots that took place at night were actually shot during the day; during post-production, those scenes were tinted so as to give the impression that it was night time. An example is when Kiriyama attacks Kawada, Noriko, and Shuya in the bungalow. Scenes from the bonus DVD in the extras department confirm this.

[wesley]

One of the top-10 highest-grossing films in Japan.

[michele]

Body count: 48. (15 from flashbacks)

[jeffrey]

Over 800 actors and actresses auditioned to play the students.

[jesus]

The truck that Shinji uses to build his car bomb is a Honda Acty pick-up truck.

[gerald]

Many members of the Japanese Parliament tried to get the novel banned, but to no avail. When the film was released, they attempted to ban it also. Both efforts resulted in the novel and film becoming even more successful as people bought the book and went to the movie to see what the fuss was all about.

[jeffrey]

None of the cast had any stunt doubles, not even the lead, Tatsuya Fujiwara.

[chris]

Actress Chiaki Kuriyama (Takako Chigusa) was cast as GoGo Yubari in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) by Quentin Tarantino, since he is a huge fan of this film.

[francisco]

When Kitano speaks to his daughter on the phone, the girl on the other end of line is actually the sister of the female lead actor who plays Noriko.

[kenneth]

An American remake had been in development since the early 2000s, and producer Roy Lee reportedly obtained the rights in 2006. After the release of The Hunger Games (2012), Lee stated the project had been cancelled because "Audiences would see it as just a copy of Games - most of them wouldn't know that 'Battle Royale' came first. It's unfair, but that's reality".

[wesley]

The movie was shot in different locations all over Japan. The one location that was actually a small island was Hachijô-Kojima, an uninhabited island in the Izu chain hundreds of miles south of Tôkyô - it is used in many scenes where the students are seen by the seashore, as well as the shot of the island at the end.

[lena]

Kinji Fukasaku had started work on a sequel - Battle Royale II (2003) - before succumbing to prostate cancer. He had shot one scene for the follow-up with Takeshi Kitano when he died. The film was completed by his son Kenta Fukasaku who dedicated it to his father.

[kristen]

The news helicopter was an Aerospatiale AS355 Ecureuil 2/TwinStar (JA9957).

[linda]

The video game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (2017) (also known as, PUBG) is based on the concept of this film.