Trivia / Gran Torino

• Amateur Cast: Partially. The Hmong people in the film are played by actors with no previous credits, except for Doua Moua, who plays Spider.
• Creator Backlash: Some of the Hmong actors aren't pleased with the film and feel it didn't effectively convey its anti-racism message and just came off as racist due to the film being told from mostly a Caucasian's point of view with the Hmong characters living under his shadow. Main star Bee Vang initially said to be satisfied over the film, but he changed his stance over the years and now believes the film could have definitely been better than it is at this field.
• Promoted Fanboy: Bee Vang, who plays Thao, was a fan of Eastwood's work while growing up and owns copies of his movies, such as Dirty Harry, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and Letters from Iwo Jima. However, after working on the film and actually being directed by the man in a racially hypocritical work environment which allegedly shown his true displeasing colors to him, Vang had an Artist Disillusionment following looking back at the movie as an Old Shame as noted above and now views Eastwood as a Broken Pedestal.
• Real-Life Relative: Clint Eastwood and son Scott Eastwood (as Trey). His other son Kyle provided the score.
• What Could Have Been: In the original screenplay, the story is set over winter and spring. When Walt notices the Hmong cutting the chicken's head off, he spits in the snow. Thao is also pushed off a bike into the snow by the Latinos. It cuts forward three months to spring after this. Also, Walt visits the bar, has a drink of expensive whiskey, and then calls Sue from the phonebooth outside the bar.

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