Trivia for
The Butterfly Effect (2004) More at IMDbPro »

• The teenage versions of Evan, Kayleigh, and Tommy go see Se7en (1995) at a movie theater that's also showing Dumb & Dumber (1994). Both of those movies, as well as this one, were released by New Line Cinema. And Elden Henson who plays the grown-up Lenny can also be seen in Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003).
  
  
• Evan's diaries have the same cover layout as the diaries of John Doe in Se7en (1995), also released by New Line Cinema.
  
  
• Josh Hartnett, Seann William Scott, and Joshua Jackson were each offered the role of Evan.
  
  
• When Evan wakes up in the sorority house, there is a "Bradbury University" pennant on the wall - a reference to Ray Bradbury.
  
  
• Ali Larter was offered the role of Kayleigh, but dropped out.
  
  
• Was one of the most widely read unproduced scripts in the industry. It wasn't until Ashton Kutcher stepped up to exec produce the movie that it was greenlit.
  
  
• In the film, Melora Walters and Ashton Kutcher play mother and son. In real life, Walters is only ten years older than Kutcher.
  
  
• In early versions of the script, the character of Evan was originally Chris Treborn. When the "T" is moved over, it becomes "Christ Reborn". This was changed to Evan Treborn, which is a play on "Event Reborn".
  
  
• Elden Henson shot all of the later "normal" scenes with his character first because he had to gain around twenty pounds in one month for the later timelines in which his character is crazy. He was to look bigger as crazy Lenny and thinner as normal Lenny. To the filmmaker's amazement he accomplished this.
  
  
• Ashton Kutcher did extensive research on psychology, mental disorders, and chaos theory to prepare for his role in this film.
  
  
• When Evan is placing the phone call at "State", the number he dials is 555-5785: a number oft repeated by Frank Rizzo of The Jerky Boys.
  
  
• The picture over Evan's bed in his dorm room is "Sleep" by Salvador Dali.
  
  
• During one of Evan's "flashback" scenes, he can be heard reading part of Ray Bradbury s short story "A Sound of Thunder". In this story, a group of people travel millions of years into the past to hunt dinosaurs. One of them accidentally steps on and kills a butterfly, which dramatically alters the future.
  
  
• The wig that Eric Stoltz wears in the film was made of Stoltz's real hair.
  
  
• The scene where Evan has no arms was achieved by using two shots: one with an empty bed, and one with Ashton Kutcher lying in the bed with green gloves on his hands (which were erased later). Both shots had identical camera movements. For most films, this would be achieved by using machine-controlled cameras, which can replicate the exact same movement for multiple takes. However, since this film was fairly low-budget, the filmmakers were not able to afford this kind of equipment and the two identical shots were achieved by manually moving the camera while using a stopwatch for reference. Any small changes in the two shots were fixed digitally in post-production.
  
  
• During Evan's penultimate flashback (the one after which he wakes up in the mental hospital), there is a quick succession of shots with people making funny faces. One of the people appearing on several pictures is co-director Eric Bress.
  
  
• They only had three of the postboxes to blow up and they only got it right on the third try.
  
  
• The title is a reference to a short story by Ray Bradbury in which a group of people travel millions of years into the past and one of them unknowingly steps on and kills a butterfly which dramatically alters the future.
  
  
• All of the prison scenes were filmed in a real prison (Washington State) with real prisoners.
  
  

• SPOILER: There are four alternate endings. In the first, Evan turns around and talks to Kayleigh at the same time. In the second, Evan turns around after Kayleigh has already turned around, and follows her. In the third Kayleigh turns around first and then when Evan turns around Kayleigh walks away. Evan stands there for a minute then walks away and does not follow Kayleigh. In the fourth one, Evan watches a home movie of his birth, rather than him meeting Kayleigh. He travels into the movie, and strangles himself in the womb.
  
  
• SPOILER: The movie's title screen is a scan of the brain (as shown from the front). The left and right lateral ventricles of the corpus callosum (the middle of the brain) in this picture are displaced. Such is the case with many schizophrenic patients. The displaced ventricles in the middle of the brain are sometimes referred to as looking like a butterfly. In the movie, Evan is not schizophrenic, but in the next to last universe he "jumps" to (after he accidentally kills Kayleigh as a child), he is treated as if he is; the doctors tell him that everything that happened to him throughout the course of the movie was made-up.
  
  

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