Trivia for
The Patriot (2000) More at IMDbPro »

• Screenwriter Robert Rodat wrote 17 drafts of the script before there was an acceptable one.
  
  
• Heath Ledger performed his own stunts.
  
  
• Harrison Ford declined the lead role, feeling the script had boiled the Revolutionary War down to a "one-man's-revenge" melodrama.
  
  
• The character Benjamin Martin was originally written with six children, but Mel Gibson added one more because he himself had seven children.
  
  
• Director Trademark: [Roland Emmerich] [44] Seen in the tavern where Martin recruits for his militia, also seen on a wine bottle label
  
  
• Aunt Charlotte's house is the same one used in Forrest Gump (1994), with slightly different interior paneling. The stone hedge visible in Forrest Gump is camouflaged with bushes in this film.
  
  
• When teaching Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger how to shoot a muzzle-loading rifle, technical advisor Mark Baker gave them the advice to "aim small, miss small", meaning that if you aim at a man and miss, you miss the man, while if you aim at a button (for instance) and miss, you still hit the man. Gibson liked this bit advice so much he incorporated it into the movie, just prior to the ambush scene.
  
  
• Jake Gyllenhaal auditioned several times and was considered for the role of Gabriel Martin, but eventually lost out to Heath Ledger.
  
  
• Paul Walker auditioned for the role of Gabriel Martin.
  
  
• The final battle is based to a large extent on the Battle of Cowpens: The mixture of militia and Continental army in the battle. The militia's reputation of not holding and the tactic of using that to lure the British in. The militia only firing a couple of volleys before a planned retreat to a secondary line composed of the Continental army. The Continental army firing and then performing a bayonet charge.
  
  
• One of the "redcoats" (actually dummies) that is floating face down in the river after the "trap" is a dummy of John Travolta.
  
  
• Kevin Spacey was the first choice to play Tavington, but after paying Mel Gibson his $25 million there was not enough in the budget to pay Kevin too.
  
  
• The character of Benjamin Martin is loosely based on the real life soldier Francis Marion, aka The Swamp Fox. The Swamp Fox taught the soldiers guerrilla tactics and their camp was in fact near the ruins of an old Spanish church.
  
  
• Although Col. William Tavington is supposedly "loosely" based on Col. Banastre Tarleton, there is probably more similarity than not. Both were equally bloodthirsty. On May 29, 1780, in Lancaster County, South Carolina, Tarleton led 200 men against 450 under the command of Col. Abraham Buford. Col. Abraham Buford offered to surrender and lay down their arms to Tarleton. Tarleton tricked Buford by offering the Colonials quarter, and when they laid down their arms, Tarleton ordered the British troops to attack without mercy. American casualties were 113 killed. This was known throughout the rest of the Revolution as "Buford's Massacre" and sealed the sentiments of the upper South Carolinian residents against the Loyalists and the British army, much as portrayed in the movie. In a conflicting account of the incident, Buford had rejected a proposal from Tarleton to surrender with the answer "Sir, I reject your proposals, and shall defend myself to the last extremity" - interpreted as an invitation to battle without quarter by Tarleton. The brave Virginian troops fought to the death while Buford, their commander, left them to their fate and fled. More Revolutionary War battles were fought in South Carolina than in the rest of the colonies combined.
  
  
• After the explosion of the cargo ship we see (or hear, actually) Tavington smashes his glass when placing it down. He really just places it down, but it was decided to add a smashing sound for comic effect. We never actually see the glass breaking.
  
  
• Among the American cavalry officers who participated in the real Battle of Cowpens was Lt. Col. William Washington - General George Washington's cousin, who went Mano-a-Mano with Banastre Tarleton in a saber clash.
  
  
• The real General Cornwalis was not even present at the Battle of Cowpens.
  
  
• Due to the gratuitous violence of the film certain television stations in the U.S. have visually altered the scene where Benjamin Martin repeatedly hits the British soldier with his hatchet/tomahawk. In that scene Martin is covered in the blood of the soldiers he has killed. The red blood has been altered to brown to make it appear to be mud.
  
  
• Rocking chairs are not believed to have been common furniture before the early 19th century. While Col. Martin is waiting in Gen. Cornwalis' office, he notices and begins to specifically examine the rocking chair in the corner, finally going so far as to sit in it. (Though apocryphal, Benjamin Franklin is sometimes attributed with inventing the rocking chair.)
  
  
• Ryan Phillippe was considered for the role of Gabriel Martin.
  
  
• Cameo: ['Thomas Hayden Church'] one of the many people in the church before it is burned to the ground.
  
  

• SPOILER: The character of Col. Tavington is loosely based on Col. Banastre Tarleton, who was Cornwallis's cavalry commander. Col. Tarelton had his foibles, but he was not nearly as cold-hearted and evil as Col. Tavington (though many historians portray them equally). In the movie, Colonel Tavington died at the end of the Battle of Cowpens. The real Banastre Tarleton lived until 1833 and even served in the British Parliament.
  
  

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