Trivia / Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever

• Ability over Appearance: Sever was originally written as a man.
• Box Office Bomb: Budget, $70–$90 million. Box office, $19,924,033.
• California Doubling: The film inverts and subverts this trope thanks to its shooting location of Vancouver — while the story takes place there, the film features no Vancouver landmarks, which makes the film look as if it takes place somewhere else. (However, as practically everybody who has ever reviewed this movie has observed, it is somewhat mysterious why Canada tolerates American agents wreaking havoc on its territory.)
• Creator Backlash: Wych Kaosayananda quickly disowned the film, singling out the producer's interference and how it affected the film's editing and pacing. During the film's premiere, he deliberately showed up half an hour late and "pretty much hyperventilated for the whole evening."
• Creator Killer: Director Wych "Kaos" Kaosayananda was banished back to his native Thailand after this film's nuclear implosion at the American box office, and he didn't even get credited on anything again until 2012, a full decade later. It also led to uncredited writer and TV producer Peter M. Lenkov to never write another cinematic script.
• Follow the Leader: The film's visual look, with black clothing, sunglasses, and slow motion were all based on The Matrix. In fact, that film's success was the only reason this film was greenlit into production. Both films also share a composer, Don Davis (Interestingly enough, the film's score was one of the most critically panned aspects of the film).
• Real-Life Relative: While never appearing at the same time, Brian Drummond and his son, Aiden appear as a VPD officer and Michael Gant, respectively.
• Referenced by...: The Alt Text to "Versus Bracket" by xkcd reads "Some works didn't make the cut; in "Ecks vs. Sever" vs. the passage of time, the latter seems to have won pretty decisively".
• Saved from Development Hell: The film started in 1986 as a spec script by Alan B. McElroy, titled Legion, then Gunner. Vestron Pictures tried to make the movie in 1988, with Dwight H. Little directing and Dolph Lundgren starring, but Charles W. Fries didn't want to do it.
• What Could Have Been:
  • When the director had earlier read the script, he felt that it was rather similar to the films The Killer (1989) and The Professional, while actually visualizing that Chow Yun-fat and Jean Reno could be perfect square-off leads. Franchise Pictures didn't find either Chow and Reno financially viable though.
  • The film's original stars were Wesley Snipes and Jet Li, then Vin Diesel and Sylvester Stallone.
• Working Title: Legion, Gunner, Ecks. vs Sever.

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