Magnolia - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

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

[bessie]

In William H. Macy's bar scene, the video game seen in background is Frogger (1981).

[amber]

Exodus 8:2 is alluded to over a hundred times throughout the movie.

[amber]

Paul Thomas Anderson: Anderson is seen immediately after the start of the show "What Do Kids Know?" confiscating from a member of the audience an "Exodus 8:2" sign.

[norma]

Paul Thomas Anderson also designed the poster and cut the trailers for the film.

[darrell]

The game show cards Jimmy Gator reads say "Our Kids Teach Us" on the back.

[jessie]

There were reported walkouts when Magnolia (1999) was first released into cinemas.

[norma]

In relation to the 8:2 references throughout the movie, Magnolia is an 8 letter word where the letter A not only appears twice, but in the second and eighth letters in the word.

[steve]

Almost every location contains at least one picture or painting of a magnolia.

[jesus]

Many actors who appeared in this film also appeared in many David Mamet films: William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Felicity Huffman, Clark Gregg, and Ricky Jay. The cast also includes many regular faces of many Robert Altman films: Julianne Moore, Henry Gibson, Philip Baker Hall, and Michael Murphy. Paul Thomas Anderson is a huge fan of Altman. Both director's surnames also start and end with the same letters, "a" and "n".

[toni]

Over 7,900 rubber frogs were made and used in the frog scenes. The rest were created by CGI. No real frogs were harmed during production.

[victoria]

Filming lasted 90 days, though it was originally scheduled to be 77.

[maureen]

The numbers 8 and 2 appear frequently throughout the film: - The first weather forecast: 82% chance of rain. - The gambler in the prologue needs a 2 in blackjack, but instead gets an 8. - The coil of rope on the roof when Sydney commits suicide. - One of the posters held up in the 'What Do Kids Know' audience. - The movie poster at the bus stop on Magnolia Blvd. - The placard on the third hanged convict. - Jim Kurring's box number at the date hot line. - Sydney Barringer's mother and father's apartment number is 682. - The forensic science convention starts at 8:20. - Delmer Darion flips over a stack of cards to reveal the 8 through 2 of diamonds. - Right after Jim Kurring sees Donnie Smith climbing up the building, you can see a flash of a sign on the side of the road that says "Exodus 8:2" (it's visible again when the frogs fall and hit Kurring's car) - The number on the fire fighter's plane. - In Marcy's mug shots, her criminal record number is 82082082082. - In the Smiling Peanut bar, there is a chalkboard visible with two teams, The Frogs and The Clouds, and the score is 8 to 2. - Spray painted on the cement as graffiti next to Dixon. - The kids were two days away from entering their eighth week as champions. - Quiz Kid Donnie Smith won his 100, 000 dollars on 28 April 1968. - The first two numbers of the Seduce and Destroy Hotline (1-877-TAME-HER) are 82. - Claudia proposes 8:00 for a date with Jim, but Jim says he doesn't get off work until 10:00, so the date is set for 10:00, 2 hours later than the original suggested time. - At the police station in the beginning of the movie, the clock says 8:02. - When Donnie enters the Smiling Peanut bar, the song "Goodbye Stranger" is playing. We hear the song playing from exactly 28 seconds after it's started. - Frank says "Respect the cock, and tame the c*nt" which is 8 syllables, and then right after says "Tame it!" which is 2 syllables.

[liam]

Paul Thomas Anderson has said that he was unaware that the story of frogs falling from the sky is in the Bible (he took it from Charles Fort's writing) when he wrote the screenplay. The Bible story of the plague of frogs was brought to his attention by Henry Gibson prior to filming. After he became aware of the story, Anderson worked references to Exodus 8:2 into the movie.

[kenzi]

According to her official site, Miriam Margolyes asked not to be credited in this film due to the size of her role.

[sandra]

The credits for the "What Do Kids Know?" game show give the web address www.wdkk.com which led directly to the movie's official website. The web address "www.seduceanddestroy.com" led to the film's official site, too. Both these links are now dead.

[maureen]

During the end credits of "What Do Kids Know?", the final production note is that the program was a Partridge Production, referring to Earl Partridge. The only other reference to Earl as a television producer comes from his son Frank Mackey during his interview with Gwenovier. When asked about his parents' line of work, Frank responds that his father worked in television and that his mother was a librarian.

[jesus]

Jimmy Gator mentions that "What Do Kids Know?" is endorsed by the "P.T.A." or "Parent Teacher Association." "PTA" is also the initials of the film's director Paul Thomas Anderson, and a common nickname for Anderson.

[kyle]

According to Thomas Jane, he was supposed to play two different characters in the film. But the scheduling overlapped with Under Suspicion (2000) so he was only available for the brief cameo as the young Jimmy Gator.

[liam]

Ingmar Bergman was a particular fan of the film.