Trivia
Jump to:
Spoilers (2)
Fox Searchlight bought the rights to distribute the film at 2006 Sundance for $10.5 million.
Share this
After Focus Features backed out, producer Marc Turtletaub bought the rights back from the studio in 2005 and announced that he would cover the budget himself.
Share this
Contrary to popular belief, Frank's last name is not Greenberg. The released script revealed his last name to be Ginsberg.
Share this
The "heroin" Grandpa snorts in the bathroom in the beginning of the movie is actually crushed up B vitamins.
Share this
The license plate on the Hoovers' Volkswagen van reads "153 H8A". This can be seen most clearly over the mechanic's right shoulder during the scene inside the garage.
Share this
Originally written as an East Coast road trip movie from Maryland to Florida, it was shifted to a journey from New Mexico to California due to shooting issues.
Share this
The scenes that took place in Redondo Beach, California, were actually filmed in Ventura, California. None of the freeways near Redondo Beach lead to the beach.
Share this
Steve Carell, at the time he was cast for Little Miss Sunshine, was a relative unknown in Hollywood. According to an article in Entertainment Weekly, the producers of the film worried that he wasn't a big enough star and didn't have much acting experience. However, between the time the film was shot in the summer of 2005 and its release in the summer of 2006, Carell became a huge success as the star of the high-grossing film The 40 Year Old Virgin in August 2005 and the leading character of the popular NBC Emmy-winning television series The Office, which premiered in March 2005 and for which Carell won a Golden Globe in 2006 for best lead actor in a comedy television series. In the span of just one year, Carell had become such a star that the producers had gone from protesting his casting to tapping him to do prominent promotion for the film.
Share this
On July 25, 2006 Fox Searchlight Pictures invited VW bus owners to a screening of Little Miss Sunshine at Vineland Drive-In theater in City of Industry, California. 65 VW buses were present at the event.
Share this
Directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris had previously directed the "1979" music video by The Smashing Pumpkins. The total of Frank's purchase at the convenience store is $19.79.
Share this
Dwayne is actually from a previous marriage of Sheryl's. She says toward the beginning "he visited his dad in Florida", and a wedding photo is shown with him in it, but much younger. Olive however is not, because her last name is Hoover, the same as her father's.
Share this
During the diner scene, the four customers seated behind Sheryl (Toni Collette) and Richard (Greg Kinnear) are the parents of directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris.
Share this
While filming in a convenience store in Santa Clarita, CA a Paul Dano look-a-like walked in. Dano was late and unaccounted for so everyone thought the look-a-like was Dano. After he explained that he was not Dano, they took some pictures and sent him on his way.
Share this
All of the girls acting as participants in the "Little Miss Sunshine" beauty pageant, except Abigail Breslin, were veterans of real beauty pageants. They wore the same costumes, including hair and makeup, and performed the same talent routines as they had in their real-life pageants.
Share this
The film was dedicated to Rebecca Annitto, the 14-year-old niece of producer Peter Saraf, who was killed in a traffic accident in 2005. She appeared as an extra in scenes at Pann's Restaurant and the convenience store.
Share this
Thomas Haden Church turned down the role of Richard Hoover, a decision he said he later regretted.
Share this
The production crew made sure Abigail Breslin really was listening to music in her headphones to keep her from hearing Alan Arkin's profanity-laced scenes.
Share this
The Emcee at the pageant is a parody of the official emcee at the child beauty pageants, Tim Whitmer (aka Mr Tim) whom can be seen or heard in various child beauty documentaries.
Share this
In the film, Grandpa asks Dwayne how old he is, to which Dwayne replies he's 15. In reality, Paul Dano who played Dwayne, was 22.
Share this
Though they are supposed to be mother and son, the difference of age between Toni Collette and Paul Dano is just 12 years.
Share this
Bryan Cranston ("Stan Grossman") and Dean Norris ("State Trooper McCleary") have supporting roles, and also star together in AMC's Breaking Bad. Breaking Bad is also set in Albuquerque.
Share this
One VW bus that Greg Kinnear drove during filming of this movie is on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.
Share this
After Olive hugs Dwayne and they begin to ascend back to the van, a sign can be seen in the background reading: "United we stand".
Share this
Larry Sugarman's license plate reads, "LostTime" a reference to Marcel Proust's most famous work, "À la recherche du temps perdu," which is often translated as "In Search of Lost Time."
Share this
Spoilers
The grandfather's first name is revealed only once, after he has died. His full name is Edwin Hoover.
Share this
In the commentary, the directors note that Greg Kinnear was really self-conscious about dancing because his wife made fun of his dance moves at their wedding. He was so self-conscious that he requested the dance scene be eliminated from the film.
Share this
