Trivia for
As Good as It Gets (1997) More at IMDbPro »

• Uses a recording by Art Garfunkel of "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life," a Monty Python song from Life of Brian (1979). The original lyric, "Life's a piece of shit...” was changed to "Life's a counterfeit."
  
  
• Jack Nicholson dedicated his Oscar to his A Few Good Men (1992) co-star J.T. Walsh who had died shortly before the Academy Awards in 1998.
  
  
• The role of Melvin Udall was initially offered to John Travolta.
  
  
• The role of Carol Connelly was initially offered to Holly Hunter.
  
  
• In one scene the dog starts mimicking Jack Nicholson by stepping over the cracks in the sidewalk. The filmmakers accomplished this by placing little obstacles on the cracks so that the dog had to step over them. They then removed the obstacles digitally in post-production.
  
  
• The MPAA originally rated this film R. It was reduced to PG-13 on appeal.
  
  
• Verdell the dog, was played by six Brussels Griffons, named Timer, Sprout, Debbie, Billy, Parfait, and Jill. Jill was the star.
  
  
• The exterior used for Melvin Udall and Simon Bishop's apartment building is located near 5th Avenue on 12th Street in Manhattan.
  
  
• Betty White, an animal rights activist, was offered the Shirley Knight (Beverly Connelly) role, but turned it down when she learned of how the dog would be mistreated in the movie.
  
  
• Title of this movie was translated as "Mr. Cat Poop" in Hong Kong. Apparently it came from the name "Melvin" which is pronounced very similarly to the Cantonese colloquial word for cat poop.
  
  
• John Cusack considered the role of Simon Bishop, but pulled out due to conflicts with writing, filming, and producing Grosse Pointe Blank (1997).
  
  
• The commercial that Melvin was watching when Carol came over was actually a promo for Nick At Nite "Classic TV rewind" featuring scenes from the show "I Dream of Jeannie" (1965).
  
  
• The taxi (No. 2T94) that Melvin hails to take Carol and her child to the hospital is the same taxi used in the movie Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) by Samuel L. Jackson.
  
  
• Udall's response to the question about how he writes women is an actual response given by author John Updike when asked the same question.
  
  
• An earlier version of the script was called "Old Friends". It was listed as one of the best unproduced screenplays by Movieline magazine and had Kevin Kline and Mike Newell attached at one point to star in and direct it, respectively.
  
  
• Paul Gross auditioned for the part of Simon Bishop, but the director told him he was too "fine-featured" for the part.
  
  
• The couple Melvin insults at the restaurant in the beginning of the movie are played by Peter Jacobson and Lisa Edelstein, who would go on to star together in the TV show "House M.D." (2004).
  
  
• The last Academy Award for Best Picture nominee to date to win both Best Actor and Best Actress.
  
  

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