FILM 2054: ONE HOUR PHOTO (2002)
FILM 2054: ONE HOUR PHOTO (2002)
TRIVIA: After the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, Robin Williams overheard viewers say that they forgot it was Williams in the lead role 15 minutes into the film. An observation that made Williams proud.
In preparation for his role, Robin Williams trained for two and a half days at a photo developing training facility in Southern California on an Agfa MSC 101-D photo developing machine.
Robin Williams often played practical jokes in the middle of a take during the making of a film. According to producer Christine Vachon, Williams burst out of a doorway completely nude during one take for a chase scene.
Robin Williams had to shave most of his arms, upper chest and hands for this movie because of his extremely hairy body.
Several of the family photos Sy goes through at the flea market feature Mark Romanek as a boy, his parents and his aunt.
Robin Williams was originally cast as the SavMart manager, Bill (later played by Gary Cole), but after reading the screenplay for a second time, Williams requested the role of Sy.
Jack Nicholson was originally offered the role of Sy, but turned it down.
Trent Reznor of 'Nine Inch Nails' was initially chosen by Mark Romanek to provide the musical score for the film. Romanek, however opted not to use the score Reznor provided. Some of the compositions meant to be used in this film were reworked and released on the album Still by Nine Inch Nails.
During the scene in which Sy discusses an elderly customer who has him develop never-ending photos of nothing but her cats, the photos shown of each cat were photos that the cast and crew had brought in of their own pets according to the American Humane Society. It was seen as a way to get more natural-looking cat photos instead of staging shots with trained animals.
The episode of The Simpsons (1989) that Sy is watching in his house is The Simpsons: Cape Feare (1993).
The hotel where the abduction takes place, where Sy photographs the adulterers, is called "the Edgerton". This is a reference to the scientific engineer Harold Eugene "Doc" Edgerton, most famous for his pioneering work with high speed stroboscopic flash. This technique made it possible to photograph very high speed events, and some of Edgerton's most well-known images are of a bullet in flight cutting through a playing card, a bullet passing through an apple, a balloon bursting, and a drop of milk falling into a into a glass of milk, forming a perfect milk coronet.
Gary Cole (Bill Owens) stars in the movie Office Space (1999), where he also plays a boss whose name is Bill.
