Trivia / Burn After Reading

• Actor-Inspired Element:
  • It was George Clooney's idea that his character wear a gold chain, thinking it would make him look ordinary and a bit old-fashioned.
  • Tilda Swinton modeled her character's hairdo after Edna Krabappel's.
• Actor Allusion: Chad uses the alias "Mr. Black". Brad Pitt was the star of Meet Joe Black.
• Playing Against Type: What's funny about casting George Clooney and Brad Pitt is that they would normally be great in a standard spy movie doing their usual cool, intelligent leading man shtick, but instead Clooney's character is a paranoid sleaze and Pitt's character is a huge idiot.
• Production Posse:
  • In addition to George Clooney, Frances McDormand, and Richard Jenkins (who had appeared in The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) and Intolerable Cruelty), the actor playing the Russian cultural attache appeared as the bartender in Miller's Crossing.
  • Averted with regards to the cinematography, as this was the first film since Miller's Crossing not to have Roger Deakins step in to do the photography. Emmanuel Lubezki ended up taking his place.
• Working Title: The film-within-a-film Coming Up Daisy was titled Tell Me That Again! in the script.

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