The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

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

[addison]

While filming in Prague, the cast went to an Indian restaurant for lunch. The Indian proprietor recognized Naseeruddin Shah, called him by name, escorted the party to his best table, and waited on them personally.

[beth]

The addition of Tom Sawyer to the cast, may have been meant to increase the movies appeal to U.S. audiences, but it wasn't just a whim. After "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"'s success, Mark Twain wrote two little-known sequels to "Tom Sawyer", in one of which, Tom has a Jules Verne-like adventure ("Tom Sawyer Abroad") and in the other, becomes a detective ("Tom Sawyer, Detective").

[richard]

Captain Nemo denounces the kidnapping of the scientists' wives and children as "monstrous". In Jules Verne's original story, Nemo's own wife and child were kidnapped and murdered. Grief-stricken, Nemo built his submarine and retreated into the sea.

[bryan]

Alan Moore, author of the original graphic novel, was unhappy with the adaptation being so different from his original story. Moore has since distanced himself from other movie adaptations of his work, including V for Vendetta (2005) and Watchmen (2009).

[albert]

The magazine on Allan Quatermain's desk aboard the Nautilus is "The Strand", original publisher of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories.

[caroline]

Tony Curran's agent did not want him to take the role of Skinner. He reasoned that since the character is invisible for most of the movie, no one would care about who was playing him. Once this movie came out, Skinner became a fan favorite.

[camila]

Allan Quatermain, Captain Nemo, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dorian Gray, and Professor Moriarty all died in their original novels or stories. In the novel "The Invisible Man", Dr. Griffin went quite mad and was eventually killed. Here, Skinner says he got the serum to turn himself invisible from a mad doctor, a very clever way to get around the rights issues. The Invisible Man and Mr. Hyde were far from heroes in their original incarnations, as they were murderers and rapists.

[fred]

Marks the second movie where Stuart Townsend (Dorian Gray) played an immortal being. The other being the vampire Lestat in Queen of the Damned (2002).

[veronica]

Moriarty's motive is to start a World War across Europe and sell weaponry to both sides. This is essentially his plan in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), minus the supernatural and science fiction elements.

[bernard]

At one point, Peta Wilson does a humorous impersonation of Sir Sean Connery's voice. According to Wilson, this was a last-minute addition to the scene, and she felt nervous doing it, since Connery impersonations were considered a no-no on the set. Before the shoot, she called Connery and offered not to do the accent, but he insisted she should. Afterwards, she asked him what he thought. He replied, "You were great!" She was taken aback and asked if he really meant it. He said, "Yeah, it's terrible! It's the worst impersonation I have ever heard, and it's perfect."

[jim]

English comedian Eddie Izzard read for the part of Rodney Skinner/the Invisible Man.

[ava]

During the battle of Venice, there is a brief shot of the footwell of the NemoMobile. Shown are three pedals; however, Tom Sawyer slams his foot on the gas pedal without ever touching the clutch. This is because, a) The NemoMobile used an automatic transmission, and b) the pedal on the left is in fact, not a clutch pedal, but rather a second brake pedal. By having independent braking to the left and right side of the car, the stunt driver could achieve certain tricks not normally attributable to a twenty-two-foot long vehicle.

[nora]

This story takes place in an alternate universe, where technology is more advanced in 1899 than it was in real-life. Aside from the use of an automobile and other advanced devices, Captain Nemo's crew uses sonar, and Nemo refers to solar power, many years before either was invented.

[darrell]

Body Count: sixty-six.

[bernard]

This movie's literary characters are: Allan Quatermain, introduced in H. Rider Haggard's "King Solomon's Mines" (1885), Mina Harker from Bram Stoker's "Dracula" (1897), Dr. Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde from Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1886), Rodney Skinner, who replaced Hawley Griffin from H.G. Wells' "The Invisible Man" (1897) (the character in the comic was given the name Hawley Griffin, as the original novel gave no first name), Captain Nemo from Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" (1870) and "The Mysterious Island" (1874), Dorian Gray from Oscar Wilde's "The Picture Of Dorian Gray" (1891), Tom Sawyer from Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (1876) and its sequels, Ishmael from Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" (1851), and Professor James Moriarty from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Final Problem" (1893), one of the Sherlock Holmes stories. The Fantom and his mask design alludes to Gaston Leroux's "The Phantom Of The Opera" (1911). British Intelligence chief "M" alludes to "Casino Royale" (1953) by Ian Fleming as does Campion Bond, a character from the script, who is supposed to be the grandfather of James Bond (and never made it into the movie).

[terry]

In an interview with The Times, Kevin O'Neill, illustrator of the comics, said he believed this movie failed because it was not respectful of the source material. He did not recognize the characters when reading the screenplay, and claimed that director Stephen Norrington and Sir Sean Connery did not cooperate. Finally, O'Neill said that the comic book version of Allan Quatermain was a lot better than the movie version, and that marginalizing Mina Murray as a vampire "changed the whole balance".

[sylvia]

In a Q & A with Empire Magazine, Jason Flemyng was asked if the bust-ups between Sir Sean Connery and director Stephen Norrington were as bad as reported. He replied that they were much worse "You know when someone in your class is getting told off and your toes curl in your black Clarks' shoes? That's how it was. My favorite bust-up was in Venice. The League had to walk from Captain Nemo's boat down the street, Magnificent Seven-style. At the end of the take, Sean shouted to Norrington, 'What? You want us to do that again?' He replied, 'For $18 million, I don't think it's too much to ask you to walk down a road.' To which Connery's reply was unprintable."

[chad]

While capturing Mr. Hyde in Paris, Allan Quatermain says Mr. Hyde has been terrorizing the Rue Morgue for some time. An allusion to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", another famous nineteenth century literary work.

[frances]

Tony Curran played a vampire named Priest in [Blade II](/category/5040/Blade-ii) (2002). Stephen Norrington, who directed this movie, directed Blade (1998), and Richard Roxburgh (M) played Count Dracula in Van Helsing (2004).