Trivia for
Deja Vu (2006) More at IMDbPro »

• Denzel Washington enjoyed a brief break during the production to congratulate his son on signing with the St. Louis Rams on May 1, 2006 as an undrafted free agent.
  
  
• The original setting for the film was Long Island before Tony Scott changed it to New Orleans.
  
  
• Near the end of the car chase, Doug originally said "Jesus" after first seeing Oerstadt's face. This caused the audience at the first preview screening to erupt into laughter, as James Caviezel, who played Oerstadt, is famous for playing Jesus in The Passion of the Christ (2004). This unintentional reference had gone overlooked by director Tony Scott; he had the line removed from the film before its release.
  
  
• This script, co-written by Bill Marsilii and Terry Rossio, was started by Marsilii in 1997.
  
  
• The Lab set was built on a sound stage in Los Angeles by production designer Chris Seagers. Seagers wanted to combine a raw-edged, high-tech feel in which everything is digital and state-of-the-art; yet have exposed cables, wires, and ducts to provide a sense of reality.
  
  
• The movie went through pre-production in New Orleans. Just weeks before production was to begin, Hurricane Katrina devastated the city. With the location in ruins, the movie made the decision to find a new location to shoot. Weeks after the decision, canceling the movie altogether was in talks. Finally, three months after the hurricane, the film returned to New Orleans, Louisiana and began pre-production once again.
  
  
• New post-Katrina Louisiana legislation provided a 25% investors rebate for this film plus 10% employment credit for local hires (unless the salary exceeded one million dollars).
  
  
• The crew worked with the Port of New Orleans, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, Orleans Levee Board, West Jefferson Levee District, and numerous local residents in preparing for the production.
  
  
• The crew also worked with the city's New Orleans EMS using their EMS units old and new. The EMS personal were also hired to play background extras. All but 3-4 of the EMS personnel seen in the movie are Real NOEMS personnel. The entire EMS personnel wore their own uniforms. Also the Director of EMS was used as the EMS consultant.
  
  
• The Humvee driven by Doug is a real-life robot H1ghlander built by Carnegie Mellon's Red Team for the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge.
  
  
• Although the film secured a PG-13 rating for its domestic theatrical release, Scott always intended to release an R-rated version on DVD at a later date.
  
  
• The cast and crew of the movie who did not live in the immediate area stayed at two of New Orleans' signature properties, the Renaissance Pere Marquette and the Renaissance Arts for the duration of the filming.
  
  
• The first Tony Scott film to be rated PG-13 since Days of Thunder (1990).
  
  
• United States Navy personnel served as extras from several area commands.
  
  
• While working on the film, first assistant cameraman Michael S. Endler learned that his father, Gerald Endler, had died. As a tribute to Gerald, a former special effects technician who had actually worked with many of this film's effects crew decades earlier on other projects, Michael was allowed, on the day of shooting the ferry explosion, to place some of his ashes on a gasoline-filled water jug that would be blown up as part of the pyrotechnics of the sequence (which was referred to on call sheets as the "Stumpf Ferry Gerald Endler Memorial Pyro Blast").
  
  
• Tony Scott and Val Kilmer had shirts made for the crew that said "Malcolm X, Jesus Christ, and Jim Morrison: Deja Vu. How Can We Fail?" Denzel Washington played Malcolm X in Malcolm X (1992), James Caviezel played Jesus Christ in The Passion of the Christ (2004), and Kilmer played Jim Morrison in The Doors (1991).
  
  
• The disc jockey heard announcing the time (10:48) at both ends of the film is longtime Southern California-based DJ 'Shotgun Tom' Kelly, who currently plies his trade in Los Angeles on K-Earth 101 FM.
  
  
• Tony Scott, Denzel Washington, Val Kilmer and James Caviezel held a news conference upon their arrival to New Orleans to announce their intention to employ the local New Orleans community and incorporate post-Katrina New Orleans into the film.
  
  
• Val Kilmer noted one of the reasons he wanted to work with Denzel Washington was that his kids once went to the same Los Angeles school as his own two children.
  
  
• James Caviezel decided at the last minute to do the stunt where he is hit by a car himself. If injured he could have been paralyzed.
  
  
• Dr. Denny's line, "I need more cowbell", is a reference to the Blue Öyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" sketch in "Saturday Night Live" (1975), during which the track's producer (played by Christopher Walken) demands "more cowbell" in the song.
  
  

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