Trivia for
I Heart Huckabees (2004) More at IMDbPro »

• This is Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin's first movie together, although the two of them were the original choices for Popeye and Olive Oyl in the Robert Altman film Popeye (1980).
  
  
• Jonah Hill's film debut.
  
  
• Gwyneth Paltrow was originally attached to star as Dawn Campbell, but dropped out due to the death of her father. Nicole Kidman then attached herself to the project, but could not fit the movie in due to her schedule for The Stepford Wives (2004). At that point, Jennifer Aniston was looked at for the part until finally Naomi Watts, director David O. Russell's original first choice, was a lock.
  
  
• Talia Shire makes a cameo as Albert's mom in the film. She is Jason Schwartzman's real-life mother.
  
  
• Britney Spears also auditioned twice for the role of Dawn Campbell.
  
  
• Many theater managers mistakenly wrote the film's title on marquees and in showtime listings as "I Love Huckabees". This is most likely because on all promotional material and in the film itself the title is written with a heart symbol instead of the word "heart".
  
  
• Bernard Jaffe (Dustin Hoffman)'s watch face has no hands and no numbers; it is completely blank.
  
  
• Jason Schwartzman's Albert is loosely based by director David O. Russell on himself and the themes of the film were inspired by Russell's mentor, Robert Thurman, Uma Thurman's father. In fact, Dustin Hoffman's character, Bernard, was modeled directly after Thurman.
  
  
• In Albert Markovski's "Open Spaces" office, there is a picture of Henry David Thoreau, the American Transcendentalist philosopher.
  
  
• Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee did not care for the movie, stating "It was as if somebody forgot to give the actors a script and said, 'For the next two hours, just go out there and do something.' "
  
  
• The Spanish title of the film literally translates to "Strange Coincidences".
  
  
• In March 2007, two videos appeared on the Internet showing on-set arguments between David O. Russell and Lily Tomlin. In one video, during filming of the office scene, Tomlin was annoyed at his direction and Russell snapped, calling Tomlin several foul names and even went so far as to knock over parts of the set. Dustin Hoffman can be seen walking away, hoping not to get involved. In the other video, while filming a scene in a car, Tomlin screams obscenities at Russell and gives him the middle finger. She also screams at Hoffman and Naomi Watts when they ask her to continue the scene. The car scene is not in the film.
  
  
• An existential detective couple is featured in Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel, "Vineland".
  
  
• Four fictional websites were created for marketing the film including ones for The Huckabees Corporation, an official website for the film's fictional chain store, and Jaffe & Jaffe, the existential detectives.
  
  
• Naomi Watts - an Australian - plays the spokesperson for a (fictional) American supermarket chain. In the film, she is replaced by another wholesome all-American girl to represent the store....played by Isla Fisher, another Australian.
  
  
• Both Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman - who had longed wanted to work together - jumped at the chance to do so when David O. Russell approached them.
  
  
• Typically, David O. Russell would let the cameras continue rolling after the end of each scene, urging the actors to goof around and improvise. He felt this was the best way for them to lose any sense of self-consciousness. Jude Law and Dustin Hoffman later told him that they found it a very liberating way to work.
  
  
• David O. Russell grew up in an atheist household which gave him a spiritual curiosity that traveled with him through his adult life. When he went to Columbia University, he studied religion under metaphysical philosopher Robert Thurman, father of Uma. His theories of the essential and indissoluble oneness of everything in the universe can be read into the exchanges between Jaffe and Jaffe, the existential detectives in the film, played by Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin.
  
  
• David O. Russell consulted leading physicists to further understand quantum physical reality.
  
  
• David O. Russell had Jason Schwartzman, Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin and Mark Wahlberg all in mind when he wrote the script.
  
  
• Richard Jenkins filmed his scenes in just 2 days.
  
  
• Some of Jon Brion's score is composed on a giant Wurlitzer organ. One of Brion's friends has one so the composer would visit him at his home for the recording sessions.
  
  
• Talia Shire was initially reluctant about acting alongside her son, Jason Schwartzman, because she didn't want to cramp his style.
  
  
• Shania Twain's participation in the movie came about because Jude Law wrote her a letter asking for her to take part.
  
  
• That's Jake Hoffman - Dustin's son - fleetingly as the hotel valet who quibbles over taking Jason Schwartzman's bicycle towards the end of the film.
  
  
• Although she plays an airhead character in the film - a role she chose because it wouldn't overtax her - Naomi Watts nevertheless spent the first few days onset in tears as she was still living with the intensity of the character she had just played in her previously completed film, _21 Grams_.
  
  
• As part of his preparation for his role, Mark Wahlberg went to several counseling sessions.
  
  

Related Links