Trivia / The Green Mile

The book provides the following trivia:

• Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: At the time the first installment was released to the public, King hadn't even figured out the ending yet... but still a set release scheduled for it. The return of Mr. Jingles at the end only came about because his wife literally asked him What Happened to the Mouse?, after King had completely forgotten about him.

The movie provides the following trivia:

• Actor-Inspired Element: It was Michael Jeter's idea for Delacroix to be reciting the Hail Mary in Cajun French when he's in the electric chair.
• Adored by the Network: AMC seems to love this movie a lot, airing it at every chance they get.
• Billing Displacement: Michael Clarke Duncan is billed fourth despite John Coffey being the primary focus of the story.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Frank Darabont originally wanted to cast Barry Pepper as Percy.
• Creator-Driven Successor: To The Shawshank Redemption. A Christian allegory Period Piece about a wrongfully-accused convict, based on a Stephen King story and directed by Frank Darabont, and featuring several of the same supporting actors.
• Creator-Preferred Adaptation: Stephen King called this film the single most faithful adaptation of his work.
• Dawson Casting: Doug Hutchison, who plays Percy, who is 21 in the novel, was 39 at the time. Also, Wild Bill was 19 in the novel, but is played by 31 year old Sam Rockwell in the movie.
• Dyeing for Your Art:
  • Michael Clarke Duncan had to stop lifting weights while filming to look more like a man from 1935. He's still a mountain of muscle in the movie, though.
  • Bonnie Hunt gained 15 pounds for her role. She joked, "It only took half an hour."
• Method Acting:
  • Tom Hanks stayed in character as Paul Edgecomb whenever Stephen King visited the set. King asked him if he would like to sit in Old Sparky, but Hanks refused since he is in charge of the block.
  • For emotional scenes, Michael Clarke Duncan would recall his father leaving him as a child.
• Never Work with Children or Animals: Tom Hanks wasn't pretending to swipe his shirt. The mouse really defecated on him in the scene.
• Scully Box: To make 6'5'' Michael Clarke Duncan taller. Specifically, to tower over David Morse (Brutal, 6'4'') and James Cromwell (Warden Moores); at 6'7'', Cromwell is one of the tallest actors in Hollywood, but you wouldn't know it from this movie. John Coffey is only 6'8" in the book, but in the movie, he's well over seven feet tall.
• Star-Making Role: For Michael Clarke Duncan, who became a quite in-demand character actor off the success of the movie and his subsequent Oscar nomination.
• Throw It In!: As Del is getting ready to be electrocuted, he recites to himself the Hail Mary prayer in Cajun French; Michael Jeter ad-libbed this.^note Though in the book, he did recite the Lord's Prayer in Cajun French with the reverend that administered his last rites.
• Underage Casting: Dabs Greer was eighty-two playing Paul who is really one-hundred and eight. Justified since finding anyone of that age, let alone any actors, would be nearly impossible.
• What Could Have Been:
  • John Travolta was offered the role of Paul Edgecomb, but turned it down. Michael Douglas and Michael Keaton were also considered.
  • Josh Brolin auditioned for "Wild Bill" Wharton.
  • Jennifer Lopez turned down the role of Melinda Moores.
  • Originally, Tom Hanks was going to play the older Paul Edgecomb, but the makeup tests did not make him look credible enough to be an elderly man. Dabbs Greer was cast instead as the older Paul Edgecomb.
  • The role of John Coffey was originally offered to Shaquille O'Neal.

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