Cold Mountain - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[oscar]

At 51 minutes, Renee Zellweger's character, Ruby Thewes, makes her first appearance, approximately one-third of the way through the film.

[aaron]

Julia Roberts and Cate Blanchett were both considered for the role of Ada, before Nicole Kidman was ultimately cast.

[kristen]

At one point in his journey, Inman asks a local if he's near the Cape Fear River. Cape Fear is adjacent to the coastal city of Wilmington, and the Cape Fear River runs south through Wilmington. The region is the namesake of the movies Cape Fear (1962) and Cape Fear (1991).

[richard]

Nicole Kidman did all of her own piano playing.

[aaron]

According to TIME Magazine, Jude Law had to gain 10 kg (22 lb) of muscle for his role on location in Romania. As there wasn't any regular fitness equipment around, he did so by carrying his personal trainer around on his back, dragging logs and pushing a tennis-court roller.

[sylvia]

Renée Zellweger was shooting a scene for Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) when she was informed about her Golden Globe nomination for this film.

[chad]

In 'cock and bull story' an historical film advisor decries Cold Mountain's battle scenes as being very unrealistic.

[ken]

Jena Malone and Donald Sutherland were also in Pride & Predjudice together, and would later appear together in the Hunger Games film franchise.

[phyllis]

Francis Kemp was first considered for the old mountain woman, but turned it down.

[elmer]

The film has a shooting ratio of 60:1, which means that for every one minute that appears on screen, there were 60 minutes of footage.

[gerald]

Natalie Portman originally auditioned for the part of Ada.

[addison]

The pistol carried by Inman during much of his journey is a LeMat model known as the "Grape Shot Revolver" due to its having a central smooth-bore barrel which could function much like a shotgun. A 9-shot (.36 or .42 calibre) "cap & ball" cylinder serves the upper barrel.

[darrell]

The original budget for the film was $40 million, which later expanded into $120 million, before it was finalized at $80 million. Harvey Weinstein made the film over the objections of his boss, the Walt Disney Company chairman, Michael D. Eisner, who had pressed him to find a new partner to help pay for the film after MGM, a co-financier, lost faith in the project and dropped out two weeks before filming began.