Trivia / Doubt

• Acting in the Dark: The only people who know whether Father Flynn is guilty of the molestation charges that form the crux of the plot are the actors who played him in the original stage and film versions, since they were told so by author John Patrick Shanley himself. At least one of the actors took the secret to his grave.
• Enforced Method Acting: In both Broadway stagings of the play and in the film, only the actor playing Flynn knows whether or not his character is guilty, making the titular "doubt" all the more real.
• Shrug of God: Shanley is famously tight-lipped about whether or not Flynn is innocent, only telling the actors who play him in Broadway and Phillip Seymour Hoffman for the movie, who took the secret to his grave. Anybody doing an amateur production is forced to make their own conclusion.
• Star-Making Role: Viola Davis' One-Scene Wonder as Mrs Miller gave her a real breakthrough and the Hollywood Hype Machine got behind her — resulting in a second Oscar nomination for The Help.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Oprah Winfrey really wanted the part of Mrs. Miller in the film adaptation. John Patrick Shanley however refused to even give her a reading.
  • Natalie Portman was the first choice for Sister James, but she declined. Amy Adams really lobbied for the part and, thanks to some help from Philip Seymour Hoffman, was able to convince the director to cast her.
• Word of Saint Paul: Two of the actresses to play Sister Aloysius, Cherry Jones and Meryl Streep, believe Father Flynn to be guilty.

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