Film Trivia: 1.Francis
Marion was the youngest of seven children. His grandfather, father and
nephew were all named Gabriel. He also had a brother named Benjamin.
2. During filming, Director
Roland Emmerich celebrated a birthday. As a surprise, Mel
Gibson arranged for the cheerleaders of the nearby Carolina Panthers
football team and a local marching band to come out and help celebrate.
3.Leon
Rippy, who portrayed John
Billings, was born and raised in Rock Hill, South Carolina, which is
near where much of the movie was filmed.
8. The Smithsonian Institute served as Technical Consultant on the film.
This is the first time that it was involved with a film in such capacity.
9. The movie was shot entirely in South Carolina from September 7, 1999
to January 2000, lasting 101 days.
10. Production was interrupted for several days and the sets evacuated
because of the late season Hurricane Floyd, which narrowly missed the film's
location. A total of four hurricanes slowed production.
11.Mel
Gibson and Heath
Ledger trained on how to lock and load the period muskets. Gibson stated
that he had learned (and practiced enough) to load and fire his pistol in under
a minute. During filming, Ledger ripped open one of his fingers, requiring three
stitches, on a musket flint lock.
