- Acclaimed Flop: The film has a 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes and it was nominated for seven Oscars including Best Picture, but it only grossed $60 million on a $68 million budget.
- Approval of God: The real Jeffrey Wigand first spend some time with Russell Crowe to help him get into character, then praised his performance as himself, noting that Crowe "really nailed it", especially when it comes to tics and gestures.
- Box Office Bomb: Budget, $68 million. Gross, $60,289,912. And according to certain sources, the budget might also be $90 million.
- Cast the Expert: Pete Hamill, a famed journalist and novelist, plays the reporter at The New York Times Bergman gets in touch with.note
- Dyeing for Your Art: Russell Crowe gained weight and shaved his head for a wig.
- Fake American: Australian Russell Crowe as Jeffrey Wigand, Canadian Christopher Plummer as Mike Wallace, and Anglo-Irish Michael Gambon as B&W boss Thomas Sandefur.
- Fake Nationality: Maori actor Cliff Curtis continues his long trend of playing non-Maori by appearing here as a Lebanese sheik.
- Playing Against Type: Russell Crowe, who is best known for playing heroic, violent badasses, as a timid, uncharismatic scientist.
- Underage Casting: Russell Crowe was 34 when the movie was made; the real Jeffrey Wigand was 52 when the original scandal happened, and is in fact 3 years older than the real Lowell Bergman. In comparison, Crowe is 24 years younger than Pacino.
- An even greater case with Cliff Curtis, a 30 year old Maori playing 60 year old Lebanese Sheikh Fadlallah. Even now, 25 years after this film was made, he's still slightly too young.
- What Could Have Been: Michael Mann originally wanted Val Kilmer for Jeffrey Wigand.
- Working Title: The original title for this film was Man of the People. That was the working title when scenes were filmed in Israel.
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