Trivia for
Wag the Dog (1997) More at IMDbPro »

• After this film started production and before its release, US President Bill Clinton became involved in a sex scandal and threatened military action against Iraq.
  
  
• Dustin Hoffman based his character of Stanley Motss on Hollywood producer Robert Evans.
  
  
• Director Cameo: [Barry Levinson] with his back to the camera in the opening scene at the movie studio.
  
  
• Director Trademark: [Barry Levinson] Ralph Tabakin (Southern Man) has appeared in every Levinson picture from Diner (1982) to Liberty Heights (1999).
  
  
• The political talk show at the end of the film lists its phone number as 1-(800)-555-0199. This number is also Lester Burnham's office number in the film American Beauty (1999) as well as Lowell Bergman's fax number in the film The Insider (1999)
  
  
• The character of Winifred Ames was originally written for a man.
  
  
• The talk show phone number, (800) 555-0199, is common to many films and television shows because this is the only number that has been reserved by the phone company as an allowable "fake" 800 number for media usage.
  
  
• Conrad's line, "A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow," is a quote from WWII General George S. Patton.
  
  
• During the course of the movie, a joking reference is made to James Belushi as an Albanian. In fact, Belushi is the son of an Albanian immigrant.
  
  
• The scene in which shoes laced together are hanging from telephone and electric wires was shot on East Capitol Street a few blocks behind the U.S. Capitol. The production crew left several pairs of shoes behind and they remained hanging on the wires for years.
  
  
• In the funeral scene, soldiers in the military band are played by members of the Riverside Community College marching band.
  
  
• The name of Schumann's medication, "Prozalium", is a combination of Prozac and Valium.
  
  
• "Why change horses midstream?" was originally a campaign slogan for Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.
  
  
• Both Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman did the film for no upfront salary. Hoffman and Barry Levinson did this movie while on a break from doing Sphere (1998).
  
  
• During the filming of Wag the Dog (1997) Dustin Hoffman, his co-star Robert De Niro and director Barry Levinson had an impromptu meeting with President 'Bill Clinton' at a Washington hotel. "So what's this movie about?" Clinton asked De Niro. De Niro looked over to Levinson, hoping he would answer the question. Levinson, in turn, looked over to Hoffman. Hoffman, realizing there was no one else to pass the buck to, is quoted as saying, "So I just started to tap dance. I can't even remember what I said."
  
  

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