FILM 2246: FALLING DOWN (1993)

TRIVIA: Michael Douglas considers this his favorite performance of all the movies he has been in.

Every studio in Hollywood turned down Ebbe Roe Smith's script. Producer Arnold Kopelsonwas getting to the stage of considering cable television, when Michael Douglas came across the script and pronounced it one of the best he'd ever read.

The movie was being shot on locations in Lynwood, California when the 1992 Los Angeles riots began. By April 30, the riots were sufficiently disruptive to force filming to stop early that day. Film crews produced more footage inside of Warner Brothers Studio in Burbank as the riots continued. By May 4, when the crew intended to resume in Pasadena, initial requests to do so were denied, causing delays. The tension around the riots was something that the filmmakers deemed to have an effect on the finished film.

Iron Maiden's song "Man on the Edge" is based on this movie.

The Foo Fighters music video for their song "Walk" is inspired by, and mimics the movie.

The cashier at the Whammy Burger, Sheila, is played by Michelle Pfeiffer's younger sister, Dedee. She appeared in the February 2002 issue of Playboy Magazine.

The opening sequence of the film, in which Foster is stuck in traffic, is a direct homage to Federico Fellini's famous opening to Federico Fellini's 8½ (1963).

In the movie, Bill Foster (Michael Douglas) is referred to as being in his late 30s, but Michael Douglas was 48 at the time the movie was shot in 1992.

The Korean American Coalition protested the film for its treatment of minorities, as well as the South Korean grocer. Because of this, and the boycott threats that followed, this movie was banned in South Korea.

Foster's broken right spectacle on his glasses is a reference to Straw Dogs (1971).

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