Trivia / Con Air

• Actor-Shared Background: Larkin expresses some left-wing views on the criminal justice system. His actor, John Cusack, is famous for holding similarly leftist views.
• Breakaway Pop Hit: "How Do I Live".
• Completely Different Title: The film was called "Les Ailes de l'Enfer" (The Wings of Hell) in France. "Con" in French is a slang word for dumb people.
• Creator Backlash: John Cusack absolutely refuses to discuss it in interviews.
• Dueling Movies: Came out within a month of another "Die Hard on a plane" movie (and one that was also produced by Disney through Touchstone Pictures, no less!), Air Force One.
• Dyeing for Your Art: During set ups, Nicolas Cage lifted weights off camera to maintain the physique he had already attained for the film. Entertainment Tonight filmed a report on the film during filming and caught Cage working out between takes.
• Harpo Does Something Funny: Dave Chappelle claims he made up most of Pinball's dialogue.
• He Also Did: Director Simon West also directed the "Never Gonna Give You Up" music video. Really.
• In Memoriam: In reference to the credit "In Memory of Phil Swartz", Phil Swartz was an effects specialist who was killed during the making of this movie, when a rigged plane fell and crushed him.
• Mid-Development Genre Shift: The movie was originally going to be an indie drama.
• Missing Trailer Scene: In the trailer, the flying scene where the 2 AH-1 Cobras escort Jailbird 1 during their landing in the Las Vegas strip included the dialog "Where are they going to land this thing?" spoken by one of the Cobra pilots, and the response by Vince Larkin: "How about the blackjack tables". Neither dialog was included in the final cut.
• Referenced by...: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, which begins with Maria Delgado watching Con Air and fawning over Nicolas Cage. Later, Nick finds the bunny in Javi's collection of movie props.
• Release Date Change: Originally scheduled for a March 14, 1997 release date.
• Stillborn Franchise: Simon West floated an idea for a sequel set in space where, in his own words, "they're all robots or the convicts are reanimated as super-convicts, or where the good guys are bad guys and the good guys are bad guys. Something shocking."
• Uncredited Role: The writer Jonathan Hensleigh did an uncredited re-write on the script.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, Dolph Lundgren, Brad Pitt, Keanu Reeves, Kurt Russell, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steven Seagal, Sylvester Stallone, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Bruce Willis were considered for Cameron Poe.
  • Gary Oldman was the first choice to play Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom. Willem Dafoe and Mickey Rourke auditioned for the part. During Rourke's audition, he improvised by producing a razor sharp Bowie knife, both terrifying and impressing the director. Though suitably impressed they decided to cast Malkovich instead. Other candidates included Kevin Bacon, Alec Baldwin, George Clooney, Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Richard Dreyfuss, Ed Harris, Rutger Hauer, William Hurt, Michael Keaton, Michael Madsen, Jack Nicholson, Sean Penn, Ron Perlman, Tim Robbins, John Travolta, Peter Weller and Bruce Willis.
    • Jason Isaacs revealed an awkward story in an interview about when he tried out for the role of Cyrus the Virus. His audition involved performing a scene with a handgun so he said he'd use a nearby pencil as a prop. But then the camera assistant offered him a real gun he had tucked under his shirt in his belt. Isaacs said his voice shot up three octaves and he went all "Jerry Lewis" saying "Oh, my God! It's a real gun!" He said Simon West was as wide eyed as he was. He'd been working with the assistant for awhile and had no idea he had a gun.
  • Matthew Broderick, Robert Downey Jr. and Charlie Sheen were considered for Vince Larkin.
  • Tim Roth was the first choice for Garland 'The Marietta Mangler' Greene.
• Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: John Malkovich was unhappy during production because the script was being rewritten virtually every day and he had no idea how his character was going to turn out.

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