Rob Brown got the role after initially auditioning as an extra. Brown had no aspirations of being an actor, and was only hoping to make some money to pay his $300 cell phone bill. But director Gus Van Sant invited him to audition for the role of Jamal, and liked his natural ability.
When Jamal checks out the data on Forrester with the school's computer, the facts he discovers are Sir Sean Connery's real-life data.
During filming, it was discovered that Sir Sean Connery could not type. When you see Forrester's hands on the keys, they are someone else's hands.
In addition to being based on J.D. Salinger, William Forrester is also heavily inspired by John Kennedy Toole. Toole wrote the book "A Confederacy of Dunces", a mysteriously autobiographical book, but when no one would publish it, he committed suicide in his car. Several years later, the book was published and won the Pulitzer Prize.
The famous line from the film, "You're the man now, Dog!", served as the inspiration for the popular internet site YTMND.
Gus Van Sant: (At around one hour and seven minutes) Library assistant (at a computer in background) where Jamal attempts to check out Forrester's "Avalon Landing" novel.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
