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Original Screenplay (.pdf file / 0.2 MB)

IMDB.com TRIVIA
The following contains miscellaneous information regarding the film's production.

 - Thora Birch left the filming in Omaha on her third day because of creative differences with the director.

 - When the last name of the obnoxious character Tracy Flick is written in upper-case letters, it easily can be mistaken for a certain profane word.

 - The apples on the tree in the back yard of Mrs. Novotony were tied onto the branches.

 - The film was produced in the fall and a freak snowstorm interrupted filming.

 - Apples are featured prominently in the movie, usually before trouble arrives for a character. They are used as an analogy to entice Paul Metzler to enter the election, an apple tree is shown before Mr. McAllister is stung by a bee, apples hang above the doorway to Mr. McAllister's living room right before he discovers his wife knows he cheated on her, and Mr. McAllister wins the Apple Teacher of The Year Award at the beginning of the movie.

 - In the text of a newspaper article in the film: "If you've paused the film in order to read this entire article, your time would be better spent renting Citizen Ruth (1996) from your local video store. Do you know how hard it is to write these fake few stories for newspaper movie props? I've got better things to do."

 - Just before Paul learns he lost the election, he's in Spanish class learning to conjugate the verb "perder" - "to lose."

 - One of the porno videos in Jim McAllister's collection is called "The Big Election."

 - G.W. Carver High School is actually Papillion-LaVista High School located in Papillion, Nebraska, a suburb of Omaha. Director Alexander Payne wanted to use Millard North High School, located in Omaha, but the school board refused after reading the script and deeming it inappropriate.

 - The American Family Inn, where Mr. McAllister and Linda are supposed to have their rendezvous is located about a mile from the headquarters of the Strategic Air Command where President Bush went after the September 11 attack.

 - As Jim is preparing for his rendezvous with Linda at the American Family Inn, the marquee reads "Welcome Seed Dealers".

 - Both actor Chris Klein and director Alexander Payne are from Omaha, and the film was shot almost entirely in and around Omaha using actual high school students from the Omaha area.

 - All of Alexander Payne's films take place in Omaha and are filmed in Omaha.

 - Loren Nelson, who played the custodian in the movie, was actually a custodian at Duchesne Academy in Omaha. He has since retired.

 - The hotel which Mr McAllister goes to cheat on his wife is called The American Family Inn.

 - Pepsi-Cola is used as a symbol of opposition. Jim McCallister gets the idea to have Paul Metzler run against Tracy Flick after looking at a Pepsi can and recalling an earlier quote from Tracy about Coca-Cola. Pepsi banners appear in different parts of the movie. The cup that Jim throws at the limo at the end of the movie also has the Pepsi logo on it.

 - The movie is a reworking of Budd Schulberg's 1941 novel "What Makes Sammy Run?". In the novel an older writer (Al Manheim) observes as Sammy Glick rises through the ranks of New York journalism and the Old Hollywood studio system. In the movie Al Manheim was replaced by Jim McAllister and Sammy Glick by Tracy Flick.

 - After his fall, Paul narrates about how his life no longer has meaning because he can't be first string quarterback next year. One of his football pictures is shown and then burned up almost immediately. The fire burns in the pattern of the name "Joe" with the 'o' covering most of Paul's body on the picture. Why is still unclear.

 - When Tracy rips up the posters of Paul in the school hallway, the theme form Navajo Joe (1966) (which was also used at the end of Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)) plays in the background.