Anecdotes for
Ronin (1998)

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• 80 automobiles were destroyed during filming.
  
  
• Sean Bean claims to be an S.A.S. veteran based in Hereford. In _Bravo Two Zero (1999)_ , Bean plays an S.A.S sergeant and mentions that Hereford is his home base. Hereford (on the England/Wales border) is the site of the S.A.S. regimental headquarters, known as Stirling Lines.
  
  
• The melancholic Ronin theme is played with an Armenian doudouk.
  
  

• A "ronin" is a samurai who is masterless.
  
  
• David Mamet worked on the film as a script doctor. He significantly re-wrote the script, making major changes to character and dialogue from J.D. Zeik's original. There was a dispute between the studio, the director and the WGA over the credit, with MGM and the WGA insisting that Zeik be given story credit and billing over Mamet. They wouldn't back down and so Mamet asked that his name either be removed or placed under a pseudonym. The credits of the film now read as "Story by J.D. Zeik. Screenplay by J.D. Zeik and Richard Wiesz".
  
  
• During one of the car chase sequences where Gregor (Stellan Skarsgård) is dictating directions to Sam (Robert De Niro) from a computer terminal, Avid film editing software - the software used to edit the film - is visible on the screen.
  
  
• One of the stunt drivers was former Formula 1 driver Jean-Pierre Jarier.
  
  
• The figure skater, Natacha Kirilova, is announced as having won two Olympic and three world championships. She's played by Katarina Witt, winner of two Olympic and *four* world championships in figure skating.
  
  
• To make it look like Robert De Niro and Natascha McElhone were actually driving during the car chase, right hand drive cars were used, with the passenger side made up to mirror the real controls. The actors then mimicked the stunt drivers movements.
  
  
• Skipp Sudduth requested to do his own stunt driving during the car chases and John Frankenheimer agreed. Frankenheimer told Sudduth "I don't wanna see any brake lights."
  
  
• Porn star Ron Jeremy flew to Paris to film a small part in the film that was eventually cut by the studio.
  
  
• To create the desired palette intended for the film, the art department was instructed to get props with mute colors. For crowd scenes, all extras were not allowed to wear any bright-colored clothes.
  
  
• Almost all scenes were shot on location with the exception of two scenes. The opening scene used a set with the couple walking past the camera as the matching shot between location and set. The other one was the sequence between Sam and Vincent in the car right after the former was wounded. It was shot in green screen.
  
  
• Body count: 34
  
  
• In order to get the correct sound for all the vehicles in the film, the filmmakers imported European model cars to the US and recorded them.
  
  
• Three of the actors from this film played villains in 007 films: Sean Bean in GoldenEye (1995), Michael Lonsdale in Moonraker (1979) and Jonathan Pryce in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997).
  
  
• The script originally called for Sam chasing Gregor in the arena to stop at the railing. However, at shooting, the stuntmen accidentally toppled over the railing, falling hard on the stone surface below. Director John Frankenheimer decided to leave the accident in the film.
  
  
• Director John Frankenheimer actually owned a similar brown Mercedes that was used in the second car chase scene. Although the script did not mentioned which car Vincent and Sam would use to chase the convoy, he suggested having the Mercedes being used in the movie.
  
  
• The 'fish in the barrel' scene was nearly scrapped when filmmakers encountered inconsistent weather over the period of 5 days. They instead settled for wetting the road and the car to give the impression that the place just rained. Also, even though there was a French by-law forbidding gunfire during photography during early-hours in the morning, the authorities gave special exception for the filmmakers.
  
  

• SPOILER: Vincent (Jean Reno) is the only mercenary that uses only one gun throughout the movie: a Beretta M92.
  
  

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