Trivia for
Elephant (2003) More at IMDbPro »

• Much of the film was improvised.
  
  
• Almost all the kids in this film are non-actors, and their real first names are used.
  
  
• The characters that appear in the video game played by Eric are from Gerry (2002).
  
  
• Gus Van Sant borrowed the title from Alan Clarke's film of the same name, and thought that it referred to the Chinese proverb about five blind men who were each led to a different part of an elephant. Each man thinks that it is a different thing. What Clarke's title actually referred to was the idea of the "elephant in the room." It's an idiom for an obvious truth that gets ignored, like an elephant in a room that no one will acknowledge is there.
  
  
• The original script draft was written by J.T. LeRoy.
  
  
• Based on a short story written by friend of Gus Van Sant and fellow writer/director Harmony Korine.
  
  
• When Elias thanks the punk couple, the actors give him their real first names (Wolfgang and Caroline).
  
  
• When we see Alex and Eric sleeping, we can see the cover of the book Eric has been reading: US Army Technical Manual #31-201-1, which covers the making and use of Incendiary devices.
  
  
• The gun that Alex uses is a Bushmaster Carbon 15 Type 21 semi-automatic varmint rifle, and the gun that Eric uses is an Interdynamic KG-9 assault pistol.
  
  
• Most of the shots in the movie are very long and Steadicam-based. The shot of the three girls walking through the cafeteria is 5 minutes and 19 seconds long.
  
  
• The school this was filmed at (Whitaker Middle School, formerly Adams High School in Portland, OR) was torn down in 2007 due to asbestos and black mold. The school had already been shut down when the film was shot.
  
  
• This film is heavily influenced by the Alan Clarke TV drama from 1989 of the same name (_Elephant (1989)_). Both films chronicle senseless killings and contain many long an wandering takes of its main characters.
  
  

• SPOILER: This film, Gerry (2002) and Last Days (2005) form Gus Van Sant's "Death Trilogy", which he edited himself. This film centers on death at the hands of a stranger.
  
  

Related Links