Trivia for
The Sum of All Fears (2002) More at IMDbPro »

• The movie changed the villains from Islamic extremists (in the novel) to Neo-Nazis. This was done to increase realism because before the terrorist attacks on the USA of 11 September 2001, Islamic extremists were considered unable to carry out intensive terrorist act on US soil. After 9/11 the production staff had to review how to present the movie to the public.
  
  
• Dr. Elena Rhyzkov, a character mentioned in an early scene set in the CIA offices, was also a character in Phil Alden Robinson's Sneakers (1992) in which Rhyzkov was played by Lee Garlington, who also appears as Mary Pat Foley in this film.
  
  
• Morgan Freeman plays a ranking member of James Cromwell's Presidential administration. In Deep Impact (1998), the roles are reversed.
  
  
• The U.S. aircraft carrier shown in the movie is CVN-74, the U.S.S. John C. Stennis, identified by the large white "74" on the side of the ship.
  
  
• Matt Damon had a cameo as a waiter, but it was cut from the final film.
  
  
• Phillip Noyce, director of Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994), was offered to direct but turned it down. Harrison Ford also turned down the role of Jack Ryan. It is still unclear whether their decisions were related.
  
  
• One of Ben Affleck's predecessors in the role of Jack Ryan was Alec Baldwin. In Pearl Harbor (2001), Baldwin tells Affleck, "You remind me of me some twenty years ago."
  
  
• The "Super Bowl" scene takes place in Baltimore. The two teams playing in the game are portrayed by the Toronto Argonauts and the Montreal Alouettes. The Montreal Alouettes used to be known as the Baltimore Stallions of the Canadian Football League. The Baltimore Stallions were part of the failed American expansion of the CFL, and relocated to Montreal in 1996.
  
  
• Wolfgang Petersen was offered the chance to direct but declined.
  
  
• During the opening a nuclear bomb is shown being rolled out to be loaded on an Israeli A-4 Skyhawk. However, the bomb designed for the scene could not be physically carried by the A-4 so the subsequent scenes of the plane have had to have a CGI bomb attached in post production.
  
  
• When Ben Affleck first arrived on the set he told director Phil Alden Robinson, "Nice working with you again." Robinson said, "What do you mean 'again'?". Affleck explained that when Robinson was filming the scene in Boston's Fenway Park for Field of Dreams (1989), he and Matt Damon were among the thousands of extras.
  
  
• Russell Bobbitt, the California Property Master, also plays the Israeli Pilot from the opening scene. The prop picture in his fighter plane is that of real-life daughter Jordan Lynn, and was chosen before he was cast as the pilot.
  
  
• Real U. S. Marines along with two Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters were used for the sequence of rescuing Fowler from the wrecked motorcade. The mission conducted by the Marines in this scene is what to expect when executing a TRAP (Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and/or Personnel). TRAP missions are most likely to be assigned to a Marine Expeditionary Unit. All Phil Alden Robinson had to do was point at the overturned limo and say "The President is in that car!"
  
  
• The title is paraphrased from a Winston Churchill speech; "Why, you can take the most gallant sailor, the most intrepid airman or the most audacious soldier, put them at a table together - what do you get? The sum of their fears."
  
  
• Ciarán Hinds (President Nemerov) who did not previously speak a word of Russian, learned all of his large chunks of Russian dialogue in two weeks.
  
  
• When shooting at the desert locations, several Panavision cameras reportedly malfunctioned when the heat caused some of the internal parts to soften and fail.
  
  
• The lines "Meet the new boss, just the same as the old boss" is from the Who's "Wont Get Fooled Again", written by Pete Townshend.
  
  
• The speech that President Nimerov dictates at the end of the film is taken from a speech given by John F. Kennedy.
  
  
• The wintry Moscow scene was shot in the summer, so the snow is artificial.
  
  
• The spray can that Liev Schreiber uses to cut through the chain link fence is supposed to be a real-life CIA chemical spray known as "Ice Piss". When asked if a real can of Ice Piss could be acquired for the scene, the technical advisor said, "I don't want to go to prison!"
  
  
• According to the director's DVD commentary, this was the first American film unit (the second unit) to enter the Kremlin. Red Heat (1988) was the first American unit to film in Moscow.
  
  
• The shot of the crippled air craft carrier was originally intended to be an establishing shot before the attack. This explains why there is no crew visible, despite the fact crew and pilots were seen racing for the fighters moments before.
  
  
• The nuclear bunker that James Cromwell and Morgan Freeman walk into at the beginning of the movie is a real nuclear bunker. The scene was shot at a real Canadian nuclear bunker in Carp, Ontario. This bunker was designated as the one that members of the Canadian government, including the Prime Minister, would be housed in during a nuclear attack. The bunker was in operation from 1961 until the mid 1980s, and was known as the "Diefenbunker" in honor of former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, who was PM during its initial construction.
  
  
• The town they zoom in on in the satellite shot near the beginning of the movie is actually Frogtown, Virginia.
  
  
• This film is not a prequel to the others in the Jack Ryan series. The 'Harrison Ford' films are direct follow-ups to The Hunt for Red October (1990) despite the recast of Alec Baldwin's role. Still in this film we see Jack Ryan meet John Clark, something which also happens in Clear and Present Danger (1994) . Therefore this film is might be seen as a reboot of the Jack Ryan series.
  
  
• After having bought the 12-type fission bomb for $400 from the Arab digger (a nominal sum, for the digger's dead son rather than the "worthless" device), Olson emails his contact. On the TV in the background an episode of the BBC TV series "Antiques Roadshow" (1997) is playing. This is a TV show that tours the UK (and occasionally other parts of the world) assessing and valuing items that the general public have found, just like the digger did, and often surprising people with their value.
  
  

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