Trivia / Shark Tale

• Accidentally Correct Zoology: Great white sharks are portrayed as being part of a large criminal network made of large groups of them. Great whites have long been believed to be mainly solitary creatures, but newer studies on the species have revealed that, while they don't live in groups and mainly travel alone, they can still congregate near large sources of food and have surprisingly complex social interactions, as they seem to genuinely enjoy the company of others of their kind every once in a while.
• All-Star Cast: DreamWorks really went above and beyond for this one. In addition to casting just about the biggest name actors they could, they even went after non-acting celebrities like Katie Couric.
• Author's Saving Throw: Many Italian American groups protested the movie before its release for its portrayal of Italian stereotypes. The studio reacted to this by renaming one of the sharks from Don Brizzi to Don Ira Feinberg.
• Cast the Expert: Ziggy Marley and Doug E. Doug made sure that the Jamaican slang the jellyfish use are accurate to the very definition.
• Creator Backlash: When Michael Imperioli, the voice of Frankie, was asked if he enjoyed being in the film in 2023, he responded with simply "no".
• Creator Killer: The film had the polar opposite reaction from critics and audiences from Finding Nemo and also has the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score for any of DWA's productions. It led director Bibo Bergeron's American directing career to wind up on the rocks; his next film A Monster in Paris is a French movie and came out seven years later.
• Descended Creator:
  • Animator and Head of Story David Soren voiced the little shrimp that Don Lino tries to make Lenny eat.
  • Storyboard artist David P. Smith plays Crazy Joe.
  • In the tie-in game, Dreamworks storyboard artist Sean Bishop voices Sykes, Lenny and Frankie.
• Dueling Movies: With Finding Nemo, though both were released about a year apart from each other. Also with The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, where Burger King had tie-ins for October and November 2004, respectively.
• DVD Commentary: By directors Vicky Jenson, Rob Letterman and Bibo Bergenson.
• Kids' Meal Toy: It had 10 action figures of Oscar and co. at Burger King. Europe features a different set of 6 toys.
• Missing Trailer Scene:
  • Luca is seen playing the piano.
  • After Lenny faked his death, he clanged metal while yelling in pain.
• The Other Darrin: Everyone in the video game was recast with soundalikes except for David P. Smith, who voiced Crazy Joe.
• Playing Against Type: Martin Scorsese as the voice of Sykes is very different from his usual "filmography", which usually consists of Creator Cameos in his own films or Adam Westing in commercials.
• Release Date Change: The movie was supposed to release on November 5th but got pushed back to prevent competition with The Incredibles. This helped Shark Tale get number one at the box office for three weeks straight.
• Same Language Dub: Katie Current is voiced in the original dub by her namesake, Kate Couric. British broadcaster Fiona Phillips dubbed over Couric's lines in the film's UK release, and Australian broadcaster Tracy Grimshaw dubbed over Couric's lines in the film’s Australian release. In both cases, the character's original Punny Name is kept intact.
• So My Kids Can Watch: Will Smith said he agreed to voice Oscar so his kids, Willow and Jaiden, could watch him in a family-friendly movie.
• Stillborn Franchise: A sequel was originally planned for a 2008 release, but was later shelved due to the first movie's poor international take.
• Throw It In!: Will Smith improvised his rendition of "Three Little Birds" as Oscar.
• Typecasting: Will Smith is playing a hip-hop urban gangsta, Jack Black is the comic relief, Robert De Niro is an Italian mob boss, Renée Zellweger is the Love Interest, and Angelina Jolie is playing a sexy seductress. That’s pretty original.
• Voices in One Room: A lot of the actors recorded their lines together, such as Will Smith & Jack Black, and Robert DeNiro & Martin Scorsese.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Ernie and Bernie were originally henchmen to an electric eel named Polly, who was the loan shark that demanded the 5,000 clams. They likely gave that part to Oscar's boss Sykes to reduce the number of characters. Though other eels appeared in both the film and video game.
  • Luca would have died (killed by Lola in a reference to The Godfather) during the film as well as the tone overall being Darker and Edgier than it came to be.
  • James Gandolfini was considered for Don Lino. This would have reunited him with The Sopranos co-stars Michael Imperioli and Vincent Pastore.
  • This would have been hand-drawn but the failure of Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas prevented it from happening.
• Working Title: Sharkslayer.

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