Trivia for
Night at the Museum (2006)

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• The coin trick that Larry performs for Atilla the Hun is a French Drop.
  
  
• The building featured in the film, which was constructed on a sound stage in Vancouver, Canada, is based on the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, external shots of which were used in the movie.
  
  
• Visitors to the real American Museum of Natural History increased by 20% during the holiday season following this movie's opening.
  
  

• Primary filming was set to take place in Montreal, but Ben Stiller was reportedly unhappy about working there, and is fond of Vancouver, hence prompting a move to BC.
  
  
• Alan Silvestri replaced John Ottman as score composer.
  
  
• While filming, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson only had one day that they saw each other. Stiller talked to a tooth pick for the Jedediah scenes, then three months later Wilson came in and filmed all of his parts.
  
  
• Originally, Stephen Sommers was the director of the project. He eventually left due to creative differences.
  
  
• Trainers spent several weeks training Crystal, who plays the monkey Dexter, to slap and bite Ben Stiller in the film.
  
  
• The woman in the employment office is Ben Stiller's mother, Anne Meara.
  
  
• Major cinema chains in the UK pulled the film off their screens in protest at Fox's decision to release the DVD barely after three months since its theatrical debut.
  
  
• Owen Wilson's role as Jedediah was just supposed to be a cameo - but his character tested so well with the audience, they gave him a bigger part. He wasn't going to be credited either way.
  
  
• The 3D-effect opening titles is a visual spoof of the opening titles in Panic Room (2002). Also, as in both of these movies, much of the premise is set in one location, with the exception for the opening and the end.
  
  
• The villains' van bears the license plate "GR 1963," an in-joke by set-dresser Guy Roland, born in 1963.
  
  
• Dick Van Dyke's dancing with a mop at the end of the film is a reference to Mary Poppins (1964), which Van Dyke also starred in.
  
  
• Larry makes a reference to a Genie's Three Wishes when speaking to Roosevelt. Robin Williams, who plays Roosevelt, played Genie in Aladdin (1992).
  
  
• When Jed tells Octavius that he won't quit him, it'a a tongue-in-cheek reference to Brokeback Mountain (2005).
  
  
• On the wall of the elevator and in the lobby, signs on the wall can be seen with titles paralleling what is happening to Larry at that point in the movie, including: "Spineless" and "Weathering the Storm".
  
  
• Stuntman Roger Lewis (the cowboy in the blue shirt) broke vertebrae in his neck during the scene where Jedediah and Octavius let the air out of the van's tires. Luckily his injury was minor.
  
  
• Larry's inability to remember Christopher Columbus' name is a wink and a nod to producer Chris Columbus.
  
  
• In this film, Steve Coogan plays Roman general Octavius. In Spider-Man 2 (2004), Alfred Molina plays scientist-turned-villain Dr. Otto Octavius. In Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), Molina "reveals" to Coogan that 'after doing some research, he found out that they are cousins'.
  
  
• The TV news report mentioning cave drawings in the subway shows a quick shot of the 81st St. subway station in New York, which is indeed the correct subway stop for the American Museum of Natural History. Many NY subway stations include wall tiling that incorporates mosaics and artistic patterns in themes related to the station's neighborhood. The subway cave drawings shown in the film are actually part of the tile art in the station, relating to the museum itself.
  
  

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