Trivia for
The Usual Suspects (1994) More at IMDbPro »

• Christopher McQuarrie's inspiration for the character of Keyser Soze was a real-life murderer by the name of John List, who murdered his family and then disappeared for 17 years.
  
  
• The line-up scene was scripted as a serious scene, but after a full day of filming takes where the actors couldn't keep a straight face, director Bryan Singer decided to use the funniest takes. A making-of documentary shows Singer becoming furious at the actors for the constant cracking-up.
  
  
• When Redfoot flicks his cigarette into the face of McManus, it was originally intended to hit his chest, so McManus' reaction is actually Stephen Baldwin's real unscripted reaction that Bryan Singer decided to keep in the movie.
  
  
• Benicio Del Toro's delivery of the line "He'll flip ya'. Flip ya' for real" is straight from the movie Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (1988), about jazz pianist Thelonious Monk. Monk says the line himself.
  
  
• The name of the film's production company (Blue Parrot/Bad Hat Harry Productions) is an inside reference to a line from Jaws (1975), where Brody is mocked by an old guy in a black bathing cap on the beach and greets him by saying "That's some bad hat, Harry." The "Blue Parrot" part is a reference to Casablanca (1942), as is the title of the film.
  
  
• The nurse behind the counter is played by director Bryan Singer's mother.
  
  
• The Japanese characters on the outside of the meeting room where Kobayashi is talking with Edie Finneran and others say "Kobayashi" and "bengoshi" (attorney); the ones in reverse on the window read "seikou" (success), "chikara" (strength), and "zaisan" (assets).
  
  
• The role of Dave Kujan was offered to Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken, who both turned it down.
  
  
• Michael Biehn turned down the role of McManus because of his previous commitment to filming Jade (1995).
  
  
• The idea for this movie started only with the concept of a movie poster of five of guys in a lineup.
  
  
• Over a decade later, Kevin Spacey and Bryan Singer would reunite to work on the film Superman Returns, in which Singer cast Spacey as the diabolical super-villain Lex Luthor.
  
  
• The Usual Suspects was the second movie where Peter Greene refers to someone else as "The Gimp", the first being Pulp Fiction ("Bring out the gimp"), referring to Kint as "the gimp" in this movie.
  
  
• In a poll on IMDb, the movie was voted as having the best plot twist, beating out The Sixth Sense, The Crying Game, and Witness for the Prosecution.
  
  
• Originally, Keyser Soze was supposed to have the name Keyser Sume, named after Christopher McQuarrie's old boss. He allowed his old boss to read the script, and decided he did not want to be associated with an inherently evil villain, so requested a change be made.
  
  
• The long-haired Keyser Soze (in the flashback) was played by one of the grips. He was chosen because director Bryan Singer noticed that the man was not able to straighten his elbows, giving him a very surreal and powerful look.
  
  
• As Fenster and Hockney enter the garage shortly before the jewelry heist, Hockney can be heard telling a joke about a "chick" in the backseat of a car that is "totally naked". The punchline of this joke can be heard later on in the film in Hungarian, told by two Hungarians leaving a building by the docks before the climactic finish at the boat.
  
  
• The fingers on 'Kevin Spacey (I)''s left hand were glued together to make his character's disability more realistic.
  
  
• In one scene, Hockney says in response to Fenster, "What did he just say?" That was Kevin Pollak the actor speaking, not his character; he actually did not understand what Benicio Del Toro said.
  
  
• Kevin Pollak's mother is in the crowd of people observing the trial.
  
  
• The cop's reaction to Benicio Del Toro during the line-up ("In English please") was unscripted and unrehearsed, as was Del Toro's rather strong reaction. The cop, incidentally, is played by screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie.
  
  
• In the scene where Mr. Koboyashi's bodyguards are shot in the elevator, a match cut shows McManus above the lift doors. This shot of Stephen Baldwin was filmed outside in the car park as a pick-up.
  
  
• 'Kevin Spacey (I)' filed down his shoes to make them look worn by his character's gimp.
  
  
• The breathing voice at the foreground from a shot behind the ropes was provided by editor / composer John Ottman.
  
  
• In the original script, the opening scene was longer featuring a subplot of Keaton (Gabriel Byrne) planting a bomb on the ship. It was shot but later left on the cutting floor. Part of it remained with Keaton asking Keyzer, "What time is it?". Because of the last minute change, all shots of the exploding ship were shot at Bryan Singer's backyard.
  
  
• It was editor John Ottman's gloved hands in the shot of Keyzer dropping the cigarette on the floor. The shot of Keyzer's foot stomping the cigarette was actually filmed with Bryan Singer's foot.
  
  
• Al Pacino also read the part of Dave Kujan, but had to pass due to scheduling conflicts. Pacino has since noted that this is the film he regrets turning down the most.
  
  
• Verbal Kint says "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing man he didn't exist". This quote from the French poet Charles Baudelaire also appears in "End of Days" (1999), also featuring Gabriel Byrne and Kevin Pollak.
  
  
• Throughout the movie, 'fuck' and its derivatives are used 98 times.
  
  
• The character of 'Fenster' was originally conceived as the oldest man of the group, a more seasoned veteran. Benicio Del Toro was originally asked to audition for the role of McManus. Benicio asked to audition for the role of Fenster, telling the director that he had an 'idea' for the part. The unintelligible way that Fenster spoke was Benicio's idea, and the director decided to go with it.
  
  
• Co-stars Stephen Baldwin and Gabriel Byrne share the same birthday, May 12th.
  
  
• The part of Verbal Kint was always intended for actor Kevin Spacey.
  
  
• Ranked #10 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Mystery" in June 2008.
  
  
• In an interview (on the Special Edition DVD), 'Kevin Pollack' states that part of the reason for the hilarity during the line-up scene came from the fact that Benicio Del Toro, the now Academy Award winning actor, farted, like 12 takes in a row." Del Toro himself said "somebody" farted, but no one knew who.
  
  
• In Doctor Dolittle (1998) when Eddie Murphy walks through a dog pound, one of the dogs says "I am Keyser Soze" (in Kevin Spacey's voice).
  
  
• In German "Fenster" means "window".
  
  

• SPOILER: Body count: 17
  
  
• SPOILER: Actor Gabriel Byrne, when asked at a film festival, "Who is Keyser Soze?" replied, "During shooting and until watching the film tonight, I thought I was!"
  
  
• SPOILER: The writer Christopher McQuarrie sat down during his lunch break at the solicitors office where he worked and made up the plot to the film from a notice board. The board was made by Quartet, a company based in Skokie, Illinois, the same make as is in the film.
  
  
• SPOILER: Five actors played the part of Keyser Soze: Gabriel Byrne's and 'Kevin Spacey (I)''s faces are shown as Keyser Soze; in the flashback sequence, Keyser Soze is played by a man with long hair that obscures his face; composer and editor John Ottman played the part of Keyser Soze's hand lighting a cigarette; and Bryan Singer played the close up of Keyser's feet.
  
  
• SPOILER: Before he's allowed to leave, Verbal Kint gets back his belongings, which include a gold watch and a gold lighter. Keyser Soze was seen earlier using both.
  
  
• SPOILER: The coat and hat that Keyser Soze wears can be seen hanging in Arturro Marquez's room.
  
  
• SPOILER: The order that the personal packages are given to everyone in the pool room is the same order in which the characters die.
  
  
• SPOILER: In the opening sequence, when the unknown gunman urinates on the flame, it is gelatinous & lumpy. At the start of the interrogation by Kujan, Kint asks for coffee and notes that when he gets dehydrated, his urine becomes very thick and lumpy.
  
  
• SPOILER: During the bedside interrogation of the Hungarian survivor of the fire, the interpreter mistranslates a key word. The Hungarian uses the word "pasas" (pronounced "pash-aash") which the interpreter (who speaks Hungarian with a strong American accent and is therefore not native) translated as "we were picking up a 'package'". "Pasas" is actually Hungarian slang for a "guy". Only another Hungarian could have picked up on it, and as a result, no one in the movie did, hence the police's investigation of the non-existent cocaine delivery as the motive for the fire, which allowed Verbal the time he needed to go free.
  
  
• SPOILER: Verbal Kint is the only one not shown getting arrested for the line up at the beginning of the movie.
  
  
• SPOILER: When Verbal Kint falls to the ground during the interrogation by Kujan, Verbal clearly says "I did, I did kill Keaton." Kujan is yelling at the time and does not hear the slip up, which Verbal quickly covers up by saying "I did see Keaton get shot."
  
  
• SPOILER: After Jeff Rabin serves coffee for Dave Kujan and Verbal Kint, Verbal starts talking about Guatemala.Then Dave Kujan asks Verbal Kint, "Now,what happened after the line-up?" After that we see Verbal Kint focusing on the bottom side of the cup Dave Kujan has been holding.
  
  
• SPOILER: When Verbal borrows Dave Kujan's lighter for his cigarette, he uses his right hand to light it (since his left arm is cripple). However, he can't make the lighter work and it slips from his hand. At the end, it is revealed that Verbal is actually left-handed and that his left hand works perfectly (Keyser Söze is also shown to be left-handed in the flashback scenes).
  
  
• SPOILER: In the climatic gunfight at the pier, every shot shown as an apparent POV shot from Keyser Soze's perspective is directly proceeded by "Verbal Kint" (Kevin Spacey) being on screen.
  
  
• SPOILER: In the movie, Kevin Spacey's character explains that his nickname is "Verbal" because he talks too much. In the DVD commentary, Bryan Singer points out that the nickname is a clue, since Keyser Soze is said to have a German mother and a Turkish father. According to Singer, in a mix of German and Turkish, "Keyser Soze" can be roughly translated as "King Blabbermouth."
  
  
• SPOILER: In the commentary track, it is mentioned that Benicio Del Toro chose to make Fenster's dialogue unintelligible because Fenster's only real purpose was to die as an example to the other characters, "so it doesn't matter what he says". Kevin Pollak jokingly laments that Del Toro is such a skilled actor that he took what was meant to be nothing but a throw-away character and "stole every scene he was in!"
  
  
• SPOILER: Watch closely near the end, when Keaton is shot and Verbal hides behind the pile of ropes. As Verbal runs to the ropes he passes behind a stack of tires and does not emerge, but the pan quickly continues to the ropes. Bryan Singer told Kevin Spacey to stop behind the tires so Verbal isn't actually seen hiding behind the ropes, because "There's no one there. There was never anyone behind the ropes."
  
  

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