Night at the Museum (2006)
Trivia
Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson were only on-set together for one day. Stiller talked to a toothpick for the Jedediah scenes. Wilson filmed all of his parts three months later.
Owen Wilson's role as Jedediah was supposed to be a cameo. His character tested so well with the audience, they expanded the role.
(at around 1h 17 mins) When the night guards chase Nick up the stairs, only Dick Van Dyke performed the stunt himself. The other two actors required younger stunt doubles.
The real American Museum of Natural History had twenty percent more visitors during the holiday season following this movie's opening.
Film debut of Rami Malek (Pharaoh Ahkmenrah).
Trainers spent several weeks training Crystal the Monkey to slap and bite Ben Stiller in the film.
Larry's inability to remember Christopher Columbus' name is a wink and a nod to producer Chris Columbus.
Ben Stiller watched Mission: Impossible (1996) and Mission: Impossible II (2000) in order to run the way his long-time friend Tom Cruise does.
Rami Malek (Pharaoh Ahkmenrah) is Egyptian.
(at around 1h 40 mins) The television news report mentioning cave drawings in the subway shows a quick shot of the 81st Street subway station in New York City, which is indeed the correct subway stop for the American Museum of Natural History. Many New York City subway stations include wall tiling that incorporates mosaics and artistic patterns in themes related to the station's neighborhood. The subway cave drawings shown in the film are actually part of the tile art in the station, relating to the museum itself.
(at around 1h 28 mins) Stuntman Roger Lewis (the cowboy in the blue shirt) broke vertebrae in his neck while filming the scene where Jedediah and Octavius let the air out of the van's tires. Luckily his injury was minor.
(at around 48 mins) The pronunciation of Sacagawea's name is debated in the movie. Both pronunciations used are correct.
(at around 1h 19 mins) The song "I'm Made of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of?" by A Day to Remember is titled after a quote from Teddy Roosevelt near the end of the movie.
Despite their respective careers of more than fifty years each, this is only the second time Mickey Rooney and Dick Van Dyke have worked together. Their first being The Comic (1969).
Director Shawn Levy doubled as the T-Rex during filming in order to capture the realistic reactions of Ben Stiller in scenes involving him and the creature.
The building featured in the film, which was constructed on a soundstage in Vancouver, British Columbia, is based on the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, external shots of which were used in the movie.
(at around 1h 29 mins) When Jedediah and Octavius are draining air out of the van tire towards the end, Jedediah says "I ain't quittin' you" in his usual country accent, a reference to Brokeback Mountain (2005).
(at around 36 mins) Larry asks Teddy if he can ask him a question and Teddy replies "Yes, but only one." Larry's response "What is this, some kind of three wishes thing?" Robin Williams (Teddy) voiced Genie in Aladdin (1992) and Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996).
This is the second time Steve Coogan has played a miniature figurine. The first was in The Indian in the Cupboard (1995) where he played a First World War British Army medic named Tommy Atkins.
Major cinema chains in the UK pulled the film off their screens to protest Twentieth Century Fox's decision to release the DVD only three months after its theatrical debut.
The Hall of Wonders and Hall of Reptiles can be seen briefly throughout the film, those were't originally set for the film. Ben Stiller wanted more color and better atmosphere in the museum, so the signs of room halls were added right before shooting.
On the wall of the elevator and in the lobby, signs on the wall can be seen with titles paralleling what is happening to Larry at that point in the movie, including: "Spineless" and "Weathering the Storm".
The carved head statue that asks "Dum-Dum" for "gum-gum" is called a "Moai", from Easter Island. Easter Island has hundreds of these ancient carved monoliths, whose origin is something of an archaeological mystery.
Primary filming was set to take place in Montreal, Quebec, but Ben Stiller was reportedly unhappy about working there, and is fond of Vancouver, prompting a move to British Columbia.
Ahkmenrah is based on the actual historical young pharaoh, Tutankhamun. The contrast is there is no explanation about Tutankhamun's cause of death.
Originally, Stephen Sommers was the director of the project. He eventually left due to creative differences.
(at around 17 mins) In the part at the beginning where Larry is getting the rules, Gus explains, "Instructions; you start with 1... 2... 3..." and Larry asks, "4?" to which Gus replies, "Are you crackin' wise?" This is a reference to the fact that Larry doesn't get past number three on the instructions before he loses them later that night.
Gus (Mickey Rooney), when threatening to punch Larry (Ben Stiller), tries to intimidate him by saying he "once went nine rounds with John Sullivan." He is referring to John L. Sullivan, who was a bare knuckle fighter and then gloved boxer and heavyweight champion in the 1880s and 1890s. John L. Sullivan died in 1918, two years before Mickey Rooney was born (in 1920).
(at around 44 mins) Dr. McPhee says, "Nothing funny about Little Bighorn." In Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009), one of the characters is Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, who was the U.S. Cavalry leader in the Battle of Little Bighorn.
Teddy's infatuation for Sacagawea is ironic, as the real Theodore Roosevelt openly held prejudices against Native Americans, believing them to be "savages". Though the wax model does emphasize the difference between his real-life counterpart and himself, he describes the former as being more of a positive figure. This is quite ironic given that the wax Teddy does not once display any racial-based disdain for Sacagawea's people, unlike the former U.S. President.
The song Larry is whistling his first night, just before he notices the missing T-Rex, is called either "Dem Bones" or "Dry Bones." The lyrics are about how bones are connected to one another in order ("The foot bone connected to the shin bone, the shin bone connected to the knee bone," and so on) and then about disconnecting them. When he finds Rexy a few seconds later, he's drinking from the fountain, and the instructions for keeping him entertained involve his disconnected bone.
Alan Silvestri replaced John Ottman as score composer.
(at around 53 mins) Octavius calls Larry "Mary" when the Roman Soldiers and the Cowboys agree to cooperate. Ben Stiller starred in There's Something About Mary (1998).
Steve Coogan (Octavius) and Paul Rudd (Josh) both feature in this movie. They would later costar in the movie "Ideal Home"
One of the main characters in the film is named Teddy. Kim Raver (Erica Daley) appeared in Grey's Anatomy (2005) as Teddy Altman.
Carla Gugino's character is named Rebecca in this movie and in Son in Law (1993).
A Docent is a person who acts as a guide, typically on a voluntary basis, in a museum, art gallery, or zoo.
Prior to the events of the movie, Larry tried to get a failed invention called "The Snapper" (a competitor of The Clapper) off the ground. In Duplex (2003), his character installed a Clapper hooked to the neighbor's TV, who played it too loud at night, so they could try to get some sleep.
Actor Trademark
Ricky Gervais: [sentence] Dr. McPhee rarely finishes his sentences. E.g., when Larry is getting his job back, Dr McPhee says, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice..."
Spoilers
When Dr. McPhee finds the Roman and Western figurines mixed up, he accuses Larry of not watching over the exhibits too well, but does not accuse Larry of having tampered with the exhibits. Similarly, when he watches the news footage of a caveman battle toward the end, his reaction is fairly passive rather than astonished at the otherworldliness of what he is seeing. This suggests he's "in on" the secret, for the context of this movie. However, this was either forgotten or deliberately discarded for the sequels, where he firmly disbelieves in magic.
