Did You Know?

Among the books burned by the firemen is the film journal "Cahiers du Cinema" for which director François Truffaut wrote. Pictured on the cover is a picture from Breathless, written by Truffaut. Also among the books burned is "The Martian Chronicles" and "Fahrenheit 451" itself, both written by Ray Bradbury.

The first and only English language film for director François Truffaut.

According to producer Lewis M. Allen, François Truffaut and Oskar Werner hated each other by the end of filming. For the last two weeks, they didn't speak to one another.

According to producer Lewis M. Allen, it was his last-minute idea to have Julie Christie play both main female roles. Allen says Terence Stamp then withdrew from playing Montag because Stamp felt that with two parts, Christie would overshadow him.

The title of the movie (and the book) comes from the exact temperature at which paper catches fire.

Paul Newman, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Charles Aznavour, Peter O'Toole, and Terence Stamp were all considered for the role of Montag.

Books shown or mentioned in the movie: Don Quixote - Othello, the Moor of Venice - Vanity Fair - Madame Bovary - Le monde a coté - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass - Gaspard Hauser - Robinson Crusoe - The World of Salvador Dali - Jeanne d'Arc - Life and Loves - The Weather - My Autobiography by Charles Chaplin - Les negres - Confessions of an Irish Rebel - The Ginger Man - Petrouchka - The Catcher In The Rye - The Moon and Sixpence - Lolita - David Copperfield - Mein Kampf - She Might Have Been Queen - Social Aspects of Disease - The Ethics of Aristotle - The Brothers Karamazov - The Sorrows of Young Werther - The Martian Chronicles - Plato's Republic - Fahrenheit 451 - Pride and Prejudice - Gone with the Wind - Animal Farm - No Orchids for Miss Blandish - Jane Eyre - Moby Dick - The Picture of Dorian Gray - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - The Trial.

Amongst the actresses considered for the role of Clarisse/Linda Montag was Jean Seberg.

Although film editor Thom Noble speculates on the DVD that the books burned in the film's fire sequences were all director François Truffaut's, the director actually solicited paperbacks from grips, electricians and other crew members working on the film because he felt that well-worn, dogeared copies achieved the effect he wanted to convey.

According to producer Lewis M. Allen, François Truffaut spoke virtually no English, and the cast and crew mostly operated in French. Oskar Werner, Julie Christie, cinematographer Nicolas Roeg and associate producer Michael Dalamar all spoke French. Allen had high school French, but editor Thom Noble did not speak the language at all.

Director 'Francois Truffaut' cast Oskar Werner, the star of his classic Jules and Jim, in the role of Guy Montag after Terence Stamp dropped out of the role, because he was uneasy at co-starring with Julie Christie, his former lover. Stamp also felt that Christie's appearing in dual roles would overshadow him. Losing his ideal Montag (the film after all was set in England), Truffaut turned to the Austrian Werner, whose accent and demeanor were decidedly non-English. Truffaut came to regret his choice as he became dismayed by Werner's interpretation of the character and the two frequently clashed.

Anton Diffring is dubbed.

François Truffaut reportedly said that he found science fiction films uninteresting and arbitrary. Because of this, a friend of his told him the story of Ray Bradbury's novel 'Fahrenheit 451'. Immediately afterward, Truffaut wanted to make a film from the novel and subsequently spent years raising the financing.

François Truffaut became so frustrated with Oskar Werner he later declared that if he hadn't wasted six years attempting to make the film, he would have left the set like a shot.

Most of the books being burned are classics with the exception of a crossword puzzle book and issues of Mad Magazine and Cahiers du Cinéma.

In the scene where the middle aged woman is burned alive, one of the last images we see from the books that are burning is what looks like Joan of Arc, who also burned alive for her convictions.

Truffaut originally wanted Tippi Hedren and Jean Seberg to play the parts of Linda Montag and Clarisse. However, Alfred Hitchcock told Truffaut that Hedren was not available to work with him, and Seberg was considered "not bankable enough" by the producers, so Julie Christie was cast instead in both parts.