Did You Know?
One detective in the scene at the police station with Ben Stiller says, "I'm Detective Stabler, this is Detective Krevoy." These names are a reference to the film's producers, Steven Stabler and Brad Krevoy.
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Football star Steve Young was originally supposed to play the part of Mary's secret love. However, as a practicing Mormon, he declined, due to the nature of the movie.
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Ted brings Warren a baseball autographed by Tony Conigliaro. Conigliaro played for the Boston Red Sox in the 60s and was seriously injured when he was hit in the face by a pitched fastball, echoing Warren's accident in the previous montage.
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The high school scene in the beginning was shot at Plantation's City Hall in Florida. Upon seeing a rough cut of the film, and displeased with the raunchiness, city council members requested that Plantation not be acknowledged in the credits.
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The reporter in the closing credits speaking to chest-holding Ted is from Providence's WJAR NBC-10.
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Jonathan Richman and Tommy Larkins, performed together in Kingpin which was also directed by The Farrelly Brothers.
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When Ted goes out to pee after talking with the hitchhiker, he encounters many homosexuals. Almost all of them are crew members.
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Cameron Diaz and Lin Shaye were mooned by one of the Farrelly brothers during the filming of the scene in which the two actresses were looking downwards out of the window Puffy had jumped out of.
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On The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Cameron Diaz admitted being the body inside the bag carried by the hitchhiker, played by Harland Williams.
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The dialogue between Mary and Ted about how there aren't enough meats on sticks was originally written for an episode of Seinfeld that never aired. The Farrelly Brothers liked it and bought it for use in the movie.
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Dropping Ted on the stretcher wasn't scripted. When it happened, they cut to make sure Ben Stiller was okay and then thought it was so funny they left it in.
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The studio was initially reluctant to allow Ben Stiller - the Farrelly Brothers' first choice - to star, so the brothers decided upon a then unknown Owen Wilson instead. When the studio was even more reluctant to let Wilson star, they agreed to allow the Farrellys to cast Stiller.
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The opening scenes of the film are set in Cumberland, Rhode Island. This is an actual town in Rhode Island where the Farrelly Brothers grew up.
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The scene with the homosexuals is staged in a South Carolina Rest Stop (with South Carolina trooper decals and uniforms). This is based on a real case where Troopers discovered that the stops where being used as meeting places for homosexuals to meet and have anonymous sex. The troopers learned this after arresting a South Carolina state offical "in the act" at one of the stops.
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Cameron Diaz's father was on set during filming, so the Farrellys decided to throw him in the movie. In the scene where Ben Stiller is released from prison after being wrongfully accused of murder, Cameron's dad is the inmate in the front with a beard and long hair jeering at Ben.
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The hotel where Ted stays in Miami, the Cardozo, is a real hotel, owned by Gloria Estefan.
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The character "Patrick Healy" is also the name of an associate producer involved with this film. It is also the name of the National District Attorneys' Association spokesman in the book, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" by Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.
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After the financial losses suffered from Kingpin, the Farrely brothers thought their next film would probably be their last. So they decided to go all out and deliver the most hysterically black comedy they could dream up. When There's Something About Mary became a box-office smash hit, the Farrely's careers were safe to continue.
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Lee Evans' British accent in the movie was supposed to be fake, but he is British in real life. Therefore his supposedly real American accent is fake.
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The waterfront house in which Mary lives in Miami was destroyed in 2008 by a construction accident that killed two people and injured five others. A crane collapsed at a nearby 40-story condominium under construction going through the roof of the house. The developer had originally designed to incorporate the house to be part of the property of the condominium development. As a result of the accident and the 2008 housing recession, the condominium never opened.
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Although the identity of Brett Favre as Mary's previous boyfriend "Brett" is kept secret throughout the film, a clue to his identity is provided by Mary's friend who refers to him as "Pacman". At the time, Favre played for the Green Bay Packers.
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Pat Healy says, "You know, in Nepal, the villagers there call me Kin-Tan-Tee, which means Noble Man Who is Loved By Many Animal, Who, In Kind, He Loveth Too." Similarly, in Crocodile Dundee II, Wally says about Mick, "Some people say that he talks to the animals. The aborigines call him Jabba-Jahda-Ah-Der-Ahd, which means The Crocodile Who Walks Like a Man." Both Walter and Healy, of course, are lying.
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