Trivia for
Panic Room (2002) More at IMDbPro »

• Nicole Kidman was originally cast in the role of Meg Altman and Hayden Panettiere was cast as her daughter, Sarah. Before filming began, Panettiere was replaced with Kristen Stewart. Then, only eighteen days into filming, Kidman had to leave the film as well, due to a recurring knee injury, suffered during the filming of Moulin Rouge! (2001). David Fincher suggested that the studio close the production and collect the insurance, but the studio decided to go on. Jodie Foster was offered the role. She was due to be the president of the Cannes Film Festival jury but withdrew to work with Fincher, with whom she was originally supposed to work on The Game (1997) in the role eventually played by 'Sean Penn'. Foster had only nine days to prepare for the role.
  
  
• Daveigh Chase auditioned for the role of Sarah but lost to Kristen Stewart.
  
  
• Jodie Foster was pregnant with her second child during filming. Because of this, reshoots had to be made in the autumn of 2001 after she had given birth, as principal photography took longer than planned.
  
  
• Maynard James Keenan, the lead singer for Tool, was offered the role of Raoul but declined owing to other commitments.
  
  
• Cameo: [Nicole Kidman] As the voice of Stephen Altman's girlfriend.
  
  
• Andrew Kevin Walker (the sleepy neighbor) was the screenwriter of Se7en (1995), also directed by David Fincher.
  
  
• David Fincher directed three actors on this film who have previously directed movies of their own: Jodie Foster, Forest Whitaker and Dwight Yoakam.
  
  
• The first of two films in as many months to feature screenwriter David Koepp's name in the opening credits, hanging in front of a New York skyscraper. (See also Spider-Man (2002))
  
  
• Sandra Bullock was originally attached to star.
  
  
• During the opening credits, the phrase "Face Your Fears" flashes across one of the teletrons.
  
  
• The opening credits were created by a collaboration between title design company The Picture Mill and special effects company ComputerCafe. It took them one year to complete.
  
  
• Adam Goldberg was originally slated to play Junior, but had to pull out due to conflicts with "The $treet" (2000) which was cancelled after 9 episodes.
  
  
• Darius Khondji left the project after just two weeks into principal photography. He was still credited as co-D.O.P in the opening credits
  
  
• Writer David Koepp got the idea for the film from an article in The New York Times about "safe rooms" and getting stuck inside an elevator in his own brownstone.
  
  
• According to David Fincher, Kristen Stewart grew more than three inches during filming of this project. She was smaller than Jodie Foster when the production started and towered over her when the final shots were done.
  
  
• All of the indoor scenes were shot entirely in the sequence in which they appear in the finished film.
  
  
• The cellular phone used by Jodie Foster in this movie is a Nokia 8890. The silver slide phone is often mistaken as the phone used in The Matrix (1999).
  
  
• David Koepp wrote the first draft of the script in six days
  
  
• Because the sets had been designed with Nicole Kidman in mind, who is much taller than Jodie Foster, the green safety lasers on the panic room door ended up exactly at the level of Foster's eyes, constantly blinding her as she entered and exited the room.
  
  
• Forest Whitaker's character was initially imagined by screenwriter David Koepp as an unpleasant white-collar compulsive gambler, in Koepp's own words someone like "Humphrey Bogart in one of his less pleasant roles."
  
  
• The phone number that is hooked up to the home is mentioned to be 579-3000. The area code for Manhattan is 212; the number 212-579-3000 is, in reality, for Patsy's Pizzeria.
  
  
• One of the few David Fincher films that doesn't have a sad ending.
  
  
• Outside of the opening and closing scenes, everything else in the film is either set within the walls of the panic room or Meg's house.
  
  
• Though set in New York, the film was primarily shot in Los Angeles.
  
  
• David Prior, who produced the film's DVD noted that this was "the most elaborate, complex DVD I have yet produced." According to Prior, director David Fincher originally conceived the film as a low-budget B-film. But during the process it evolved into a "gargantuan undertaking that tested the endurance and tenacity of everyone involved."
  
  
• David Fincher agreed that the film's production was an arduous one, remarking it as a "logistical nightmare." The lighting issue during the filming process was particularly difficult due to the complexity of the security cameras used in the mansion that send surveillance images to the television in the panic room.
  
  
• Howard Shore, the composer chose this film after scoring the music to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). He wanted to take on a smaller project after such a mammoth undertaking, but many people felt Panic Room (2002) was one of Shore's darkest, most brooding thrillers.
  
  

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