Trivia for
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) More at IMDbPro »

• When the League arrives at the London Docks, the camera passes by a wall with a poster for a carnival that is coming, there are two names: Dr. Alan Moore and Dr. Kevin O'Neill. These are the names of the gentlemen that created and wrote the comic "League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen". The poster is, in fact, a duplication of the title page of the League of Extraordinay Gentlemen Vol. 1 collected edition.
  
  
• As was the case with From Hell (2001), another movie based on a comic by Alan Moore, the scenes set in London were filmed in Prague.
  
  
• Monica Bellucci was originally cast as Mina Harker, but had to drop out due to schedule conflicts.
  
  
• Filming was delayed due to the summer 2002 floods in Prague, Czech Republic which destroyed more than $7 million worth of sets.
  
  
• There were widespread rumors that Jason Isaacs was to play the part of British Agent Campion Bond. However, in an interview Isaacs revealed he hadn't even read the script and that all reports of him in the role were, in fact, fabricated.
  
  
• The last scenes filmed were for the trailer, which were the first scenes publicly seen.
  
  
• The film's literary characters are Allan Quatermain, introduced in H. Rider Haggard's "King Solomon's Mines" (1885); Mina Harker from Bram Stoker's "Dracula" (1897); Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde from Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1886); Rodney Skinner, who replaced Griffin from H.G. Wells' "The Invisible Man" (1897) (due to rights issues, and the character in the comic was given the name Hawley Griffin as the original novel gave no first name); Captain Nemo from Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" (1870) and "The Mysterious Island" (1874); Dorian Gray from Oscar Wilde's "The Portrait Of Dorian Gray" (1891); Tom Sawyer from Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (1876); Ishmael from Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" (1851); and Professor James Moriarty from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Final Problem" (1893). The Fantom's mask design alludes to Gaston Leroux's "The Phantom Of The Opera" (1911). Also, M (a shortening for James Moriarty) is taken from the Sherlock Holmes stories.
  
  
• The other two portraits in the meeting room also represent previous Leagues. The first shows Robin Hood (from various legends/poems), Ivanhoe (from Sir Walter Scott's novel) and the Black Arrow (a Robert Louis Stevenson novel). The Black Arrow, though, is set in the 15th century (during the War of the Roses), far later than Robin Hood and Ivanhoe, but this may be one of the many who took the name prior to the novel's setting. The other portrait displays the Four Musketeers - Porthos, Athos, Aramis, and D'Artagnan (from the various novels by Alexandre Dumas père), the Sea Hawk and Captain Blood (both pirates created by Rafael Sabatini and, incidentally, both played by Errol Flynn in the movies). These are according to the screenplay of the film.
  
  
• Quatermain, Nemo, Jekyll and Hyde, Dorian Gray, and Professor Moriarty all "died" in their original novels or stories. In the novel "The Invisible Man" Dr. Griffin went quite mad and was eventually killed. Here, Skinner says he got the serum to turn himself invisible from a mad doctor, a very clever way to get around the rights issues. Both the original Invisible Man, Mr. Hyde, and Nemo were far from heroes in their original incarnations. Nemo was a rebel to the crown and Mr. Hyde and the Invisible Man were murderers and rapists.
  
  
• While filming in Prague, the cast went to an Indian restaurant for lunch. The Indian proprietor recognized Naseeruddin Shah, called him by name, escorted the party to his best table, and waited on them personally.
  
  
• The character of Campion Bond was supposed to appear (one media report suggested that he would be played by 'Roger Moore (I)', thereby having two former James Bonds in one movie), but the character was dropped before filming began to be saved for a possible sequel..
  
  
• English comedian Eddie Izzard read for the part of Rodney Skinner/the Invisible Man.
  
  
• The character of Tom Sawyer was added because the studio thought many people in the American market wouldn't care about the movie unless an American character and cast member was in it.
  
  
• The magazine on Quatermain's desk aboard the Nautilus is "The Strand". Arthur Conan Doyle originally published the Sherlock Holmes stories in The Strand.
  
  
• Although Alan Moore uses "Quatermain", and this is often considered the canonical spelling of the character's name, H. Rider Haggard himself occasionally used "Quartermain", and that spelling is used several times throughout the movie (especially obviously on the grave marker).
  
  
• A poster in the background of one scene displays "Volcanic eruptions on Mars". This is an inside joke to the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2 comic in which the League battle the Martians from H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds". This is also a hint of a possible sequel to the film.
  
  
• When Nemo first introduces Alan Quartermain to his first mate, his first mate introduces himself by saying, "Call me Ishmael." This is the opening line of "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville, another famous 19th-century literary work.
  
  
• A portrait seen in the background of one shot appears to be of a previous League, and corresponds to a similar portrait seen in the comic. This previous (1780s?) League consists, then, of: The Reverend Dr. Syn, pirate and highwayman; Sir Percy Blakeney, the Scarlett Pimpernel; Natty Bumppo, aka Hawkeye or the Deerslayer, hero of "Last of the Mohicans"; and Lemuel Gulliver, of "Gulliver's Travels". Two female members appearing in the comic portrait - Lady Blakeney and Fanny Hill - are absent.
  
  
• A scene was cut from the film where Tom Sawyer explains that he and his friend, Agent Huck Finn, were tracking down the Fantom, and that the Fantom killed Huck. This is the reason why Sawyer is so intent on getting the Fantom.
  
  
• All of the characters except Rodney Skinner (the Invisible Man) have fallen into the public domain, which means that anybody can write about them. Apart from the 19th Century characters used in the film, this goes for many Golden Age comic book characters, including those used in the Marvel Comics AVENGERS miniseries from the 1990s.
  
  
• Three clips from the original script, also featured in the novelization, are shown in the UK trailer. The first is Nemo, Jekyll and Skinner on the conning tower of the Nautilus. The second shows Eva Draper, a character completely cut from the film, just before Sawyer saves Quatermain's life in M's fortress chamber. The third is when Quatermain chases the Phantom through Venice, and tackles some of his henchmen on a boat. These are all brief, but clearly seen.
  
  
• Cameo: [James Robinson] the screenwriter, is seen as Johnathan Harker in the photograph with Mina.
  
  
• According to producer 'Don Murphy (III)' in a making-of featurette on the DVD release, pre-production work on this film actually predated the publication of the first issue of the comic book. This may explain why there are noticeable differences between the film and the graphic novel.
  
  
• At one point, Peta Wilson does a humorous impersonation of Sean Connery's voice. According to Wilson, this was a last-minute addition to the scene, and she felt nervous doing it, since Connery impersonations was considered a no-no on the set. Before the shoot she called Connery and offered not to do the accent, but he insisted she should. Afterwards she asked him what he thought. He replied, "You were great!" She was taken aback and asked if he really meant it. He said, "Yeah, it's terrible! It's the worst impersonation I have ever heard, and it's perfect."
  
  
• LXG takes place in an alternate universe where technology is more advanced in 1899 than it was in real life. Aside from the use of an automobile and other advanced devices, we also see Captain Nemo's crew using sonar and Nemo refers to solar power many years before they were invented.
  
  
• During the destruction of Venice, there is a brief shot of the footwell of the NemoMobile. Shown are three pedals, however, Tom Sawyer slams his foot on the gas pedal without ever touching the clutch. This is because, a) The NemoMobile used an automatic transmission and, b) the pedal on the far left is in fact, not a clutch pedal, but rather a second brake pedal. By having independent braking to the left and right side of the car, the stunt driver could achieve certain tricks not normally attributable to a 22 foot long vehicle.
  
  
• While the film contains numerous allusions to literary characters and places, the original comics were so thick with them that many web pages were devoted to panel-by-panel breakdowns of annotations.
  
  
• While capturing Hyde in Paris, Quartermain says Hyde has been terrorizing the Rue Morgue for some time. With his physical distortions, Hyde may well have been the roof-running "ourang-utan" (sic) from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", another famous 19th-century literary work. Indeed, both Sawyer and Quatermain refer to Hyde as a "big monkey" in the scene.
  
  
• Captain Nemo, an Indian, is seen performing martial arts throughout the movie. The martial arts discipline of Shin Sun Do is thought to have originated in India.
  
  
• In the comic book version of The League, Mina Harker (who refers to herself by her maiden name, Mina Murray) does not have vampiric abilities. The only reference to her past are large scars from bite marks on her neck which are hidden by a scarf. Additionally, she is the League's leader, the one who is responsible for recruiting the other members.
  
  
• The movie is set in 1899, as we're reminded again and again, but the dates on the newspapers following the bank break-in don't match with our reality, reinforcing the "alternate universe" feel: the newspapers read "Monday, April 9, 1899", "Tuesday, April 10, 1899", and so on, but April 9 fell on a Sunday in 1899, not Monday.
  
  
• Naseeruddin Shah trained with a karate master to do much of his own fighting stunt work as Nemo.
  
  
• Stephen Norrington had such a hard time with this film that he announced he would never direct another film again.
  
  
• When Alan Quartermain is teaching Tom Sawyer to fire long-distance shots, you can see Shane West's (Tom Sawyer) arm and shoulder shaking from the strain of holding the gun. He says on the cast commentary that he was quite embarrassed because Sean Connery, who was nearly 72, seemed to have no problem holding the solid wood and metal gun while firing a shot, whereas he, in his early twenties, found it incredibly heavy and strained to hold it still while aiming at the target.
  
  
• This feature is included in the first wave of Blu-Ray releases by Fox. A total of five movies were included in this initial wave. The others being: Fantastic Four (2005), Behind Enemy Lines (2001), Ice Age (2002) and Kiss of the Dragon (2001).
  
  
• In the original graphic novel Alan Quatermain had written himself out of public life and become an opium addict. At the start of the story he is rescued from an opium den by Mina Harker and enlisted as a member of the League. In the film adaptation, Sean Connery reportedly refused to play an opium addict, so the writers changed his story so he was merely hiding from the public.
  
  
• Alan Moore, the author of the original graphic novel, was reportedly unhappy with the adaptation of his story, with it being vastly different from his original story.
  
  
• The film's creators were sued in 2003 by Martin Poll and Larry Cohen. Poll and Cohen claimed that they had pitched a similar idea to Fox between 1993 and 1996, under the title 'Cast of Characters'. They alleged that Fox hired screenwriters to adapt Alan Moore's comic long before it was finished, and instead used ideas from their screenplay to make up the story. The case was settled out of court.
  
  
• The ring the Fantom wears on his left fore-finger bears the Masonic symbol of the compass and set-square.
  
  
• Tony Curran's agent did not want him to take the role of Skinner. He reasoned that since the character is invisible for most of the film, no one would care about who was playing him. Once the film came out Skinner became a fan favorite.
  
  
• Production delays and constant clashes between himself and director Stephen Norrington convinced Sean Connery that he had fallen out of love with modern film making. While he made no official announcement at the time, he has since insisted that he is now officially retired, save for some voice-over work.
  
  
• Thomas Ian Nicholas auditioned for the role of Tom Sawyer.
  
  
• The reason Captain Nemo denounces the kidnapping of the scientists' wives and children as 'monstrous' is from personal experience. In Jules Verne's original story, Nemo's own wife and child were kidnapped and murdered; grief-stricken, Nemo built his submarine and retreated into the sea.
  
  
• The second invisible man (whom Sawyer fights) is actually Sanderson Reed, the man who recruited Quatermain.
  
  
• In the original storyline, it is revealed at the end that Skinner is actually an agent for British Intelligence. He was working undercover to see if Sanderson Reed was actually a double-agent working for M.
  
  
• Nemo's name is actually a Latin word, which means, "nameless".
  
  
• Sean Connery was offered roles in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), but said he didn't understand the roles. So when offered another role he didn't quite get, (LXG) he took it.
  
  
• Sean Connery had a particularly bad working relationship with director Stephen Norrington. This was his last film before he decided to retire from acting.
  
  
• Fox was unable to get the rights for the literary character of The Invisible Man. Not only did this necessitate the character in the film have his name changed from the canon's "Griffin", but that he could never be referred to as "the" Invisible Man, only "an" invisible man.
  
  
• A sequel was planned but was canceled due to negative critical reception.
  
  

• SPOILER: Stuart Townsend stated in an interview that he was the only one of the seven League members whose contract did not bind him to a three-picture deal. He said they were going to ask it of him, but he observed that it would be pointless since his character is killed in the movie, and they agreed to contract him for only one picture.
  
  
• SPOILER: When Quatermain first enters the downstairs meeting room at the headquarters for the League we can see Masonic symbols carved on the face of the door. The same symbol appears on the Fantom's ring, foreshadowing the Fantom's true identity.
  
  

Related Links