50 Fun Facts About Catch Me if You Can

Who directed the 2002 film Catch Me If You Can?

He committed in August 2001 after several other directors came and went, and shot the whole film in 52 days.

Which actor plays FBI agent Carl Hanratty, the man on Frank Abagnale's trail?

Gandolfini had been lined up for the part in an earlier version of the project under director Gore Verbinski.

Which actor earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination as Frank Abagnale Sr.?

He also picked up a BAFTA nomination. The film's only other Oscar nod went to John Williams for his score.

Which then little-known actress was cast as Brenda Strong, the nurse Frank gets engaged to?

Martin Sheen and Nathalie Baye play Brenda's parents; her father, a Louisiana lawyer, helps Frank sit the state bar exam.

Which airline's pilot uniform does Frank wear while forging payroll cheques under the name Frank Taylor?

He deadheads on flights for free and, in the film's telling, runs up forgeries worth millions of dollars.

Cornered by Carl in a motel, Frank claims to be a Secret Service agent with what name?

Carl only later realises the name belongs to the Flash's comic-book alter ego, a clue that his quarry is barely more than a kid.

Under what alias does he pose as a doctor at a Georgia hospital?

That is where he meets Brenda, a naive young nurse. He soon leaves medicine for law.

Which state's bar exam does Frank pass in the film with the help of Brenda's father?

He goes to work as a prosecutor. The real Abagnale claimed to have been an assistant attorney general there, one of many claims later disputed.

How does Frank escape when Carl turns up at his engagement party?

He tells Brenda to meet him at Miami airport two days later, then slips past the agents there behind a group of women dressed as stewardesses.

In which French town, his mother's birthplace, is Frank finally arrested in 1967?

Carl convinces him to surrender to the French police. Quebec City's Old Town stood in for the town on screen.

How does Frank get off the plane bringing him back to the United States in 1969?

Carl has just told him his father is dead. Frank runs to his mother's house and finds she has a new family.

How long is the prison sentence a judge hands Frank after he surrenders to Carl?

Carl eventually persuades the FBI to let him serve the rest of it working in the Financial Crimes Unit, spotting forged cheques.

According to the film's closing titles, how long had Frank been married as of 1991?

The captions add that he has three sons, lives in the Midwest and remains friends with Carl.

With whom is Frank's mother Paula having an affair, in the discovery that precedes his parents' divorce?

James Brolin plays Barnes. When Frank finally reaches his mother's home years later, she is married to Barnes and has a young daughter.

In which New York suburb does the Abagnale family live in 1963 before IRS troubles force them to move?

Frank watches his father work his charm on bank managers there, and picks up the tricks.

In which French port city does the film open, with Carl arriving to collect his prisoner in 1969?

The rest of the story then unfolds in flashback from 1963.

Which director was first attached to Catch Me If You Can before leaving for another project?

Verbinski, Hallström, Miloš Forman and Crowe were all considered before Spielberg committed in August 2001.

How many days did it take to shoot Catch Me If You Can?

Filming ran from February to May 2002 across 147 locations in Los Angeles, New York, Quebec and Montreal.

How many filming locations were used for Catch Me If You Can?

They included the TWA Flight Center at JFK, and Quebec City stood in for the French town where Frank is caught.

What was the production budget of Catch Me If You Can?

It went on to gross $352.1 million worldwide after opening on Christmas Day 2002.

On what date did Catch Me If You Can open in US cinemas?

The premiere had been held a week earlier in Westwood, Los Angeles. It holds a 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Roughly how much did Catch Me If You Can gross worldwide?

That was nearly seven times its budget, making it one of the biggest hits of the 2002 holiday season.

Who composed the jazzy score for Catch Me If You Can?

It brought him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score, alongside Frank Sinatra's 'Come Fly with Me' and 'The Girl from Ipanema' on the soundtrack.

Which Frank Sinatra song features on the Catch Me If You Can soundtrack?

Fitting for a film about a fake airline pilot. Stan Getz and João Gilberto's 'The Girl from Ipanema' is on there too.

The real Frank Abagnale makes a cameo in the film as what?

He appears during the arrest in France. His 1980 memoir, co-written with Stan Redding, was the basis for the screenplay.

Carl Hanratty was based on which real FBI agent, who did not want his name used in the film?

The surname Hanratty was borrowed from football player Terry Hanratty instead.

Carl's surname in the film was borrowed from a well-known figure in which field?

Terry Hanratty was a Notre Dame quarterback who won two Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Spielberg spotted Jennifer Garner in which TV series before casting her in Catch Me If You Can?

Ellen Pompeo and Elizabeth Banks also turn up in small parts, as Marci and Lucy, a few years before their own breakthroughs.

Which future Grey's Anatomy star plays Marci, one of the young women Frank charms?

Elizabeth Banks plays Lucy, the bank teller who explains cheque routing to Frank.

Who wrote the screenplay for Catch Me If You Can?

He adapted Abagnale's semi-autobiographical 1980 book, whose film rights were sold the year it was published.

Which of Spielberg's regular collaborators shot Catch Me If You Can as cinematographer?

Michael Kahn, another Spielberg regular, edited it. The film was distributed by DreamWorks.

For which award was Leonardo DiCaprio nominated for playing Frank Abagnale Jr.?

He made the film back to back with Gangs of New York, which complicated the production schedule.

At which Broadway house did the musical version of Catch Me If You Can open on April 10, 2011?

It closed that September after 32 previews and 170 regular performances.

Who won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for playing Carl Hanratty on Broadway?

It was the show's only win from four nominations. Aaron Tveit played Frank.

Which Hairspray songwriting team wrote the score for the Catch Me If You Can musical?

Terrence McNally wrote the book, Jack O'Brien directed and Jerry Mitchell choreographed, after a 2009 tryout in Seattle.

How many regular performances did the Broadway musical run for before closing on September 4, 2011?

Its Seattle tryout had been at the 5th Avenue Theatre in 2009.

Which author's 2020 book concluded that most of Frank Abagnale's claimed criminal history was fabricated?

Prison records showed Abagnale was locked up during the very period he claimed to be flying for free and practising medicine.

How long did the real Frank Abagnale actually spend in a French prison?

He then did two months in Sweden and about three years in US federal facilities before parole in February 1974.

With which co-writer did Frank Abagnale produce his 1980 memoir Catch Me If You Can?

Abagnale had gone straight in 1975, teaching bank staff how forgers work, and set up Abagnale and Associates the next year.

In what year was the real Frank Abagnale born?

That made him 54 when the film came out and, if his story were true, a teenager for most of his cons.

After fleeing the engagement party, Frank tells Brenda to meet him at the airport of which city?

He spots plainclothes agents around her when he arrives and drives off, realising she has been followed.

Frank slips past the agents at the airport surrounded by eight young women dressed as what?

He recruits them by staging a fake hiring drive at a local college while back in his pilot uniform.

Which actor plays Roger Strong, Brenda's attorney father?

Spielberg wanted him for his 'intimidating presence', and it is Roger who helps Frank arrange to sit the state bar exam.

After giving the agents the slip at the airport, Frank flies to which European city?

The airport scenes were actually shot at Ontario International Airport in California, which doubled for the Florida terminal.

Shown a fraudulent check in prison, Frank instantly deduces that who was involved?

The insight persuades Carl to have Frank serve the rest of his sentence working for the FBI's Financial Crimes Unit.

Which Sopranos star was originally cast as Carl Hanratty under director Gore Verbinski?

He stayed attached through two directors before scheduling conflicts with his TV series forced him out in August 2001.

Place Royale in which Canadian location stood in for the French town where Frank is arrested?

The church visible behind the arrest scene is Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, and the shoot wrapped in Montreal a few days later.

Who played Frank Abagnale Jr. in the Broadway musical version?

Tom Wopat played his father, and the show had tried out at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre, the same house that launched Hairspray.

To promote the film, Game Show Network re-aired a 1977 episode of which show featuring Abagnale?

DreamWorks marketed the film as merely 'inspired by a true story' to sidestep the accuracy rows that had hit A Beautiful Mind.

In real life, Abagnale was arrested in September 1969 in which city in southern France?

He had stolen a car and defrauded two families in Klippan, Sweden, and served his sentence in a Perpignan prison before being extradited to Sweden.