50 Fun Facts About National Treasure

Which actor plays treasure hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates in National Treasure?

Nicolas Cage. He took his stage name partly from the Marvel hero Luke Cage, and he came back as Ben Gates for the sequel, Book of Secrets.

What liquid do Ben, Riley and Abigail use to reveal the invisible ink on the Declaration?

Lemon juice. The back of the real Declaration holds only a filing label, and the historian who confirmed it asked fans never to try lemon juice on an original document.

In National Treasure, Ben reads a clue's time off the clock tower engraved on the back of which banknote?

The $100 bill. Ben reads 2:22 on its engraved clock tower, then races to be in place when a shadow marks the next hiding spot.

Which Pirates of the Caribbean producer made both National Treasure films?

Jerry Bruckheimer. Jon Turteltaub directed both, but a third film stalled for years: its star said the scripts were hard to write because the history had to survive fact-checking.

Which actor, The Hangover's missing groom Doug, plays Ben's computer-expert sidekick Riley Poole?

Justin Bartha. His Riley turns author in the sequel, signing copies of his own book about the hunt, and he returned to the part in the 2022 series Edge of History.

What is the profession of Abigail Chase, played by Diane Kruger?

National Archives archivist. Ben takes her glass during a toast at the gala, then lifts her fingerprints from it to reach the Declaration.

Which actor plays Ian Howe, the financier who turns on Ben in National Treasure?

Sean Bean. For once the actor famous for dying on screen survives: his Ian ends the film in handcuffs, arrested while chasing a false clue.

In National Treasure, the clue 'the secret lies with Charlotte' turns out to point to what?

A ship found in the Arctic. The colonial wreck lies locked in the ice, though the Arctic on screen was really a frozen reservoir in Utah.

In National Treasure, where are the spectacles that reveal the Declaration's hidden map?

In a brick at Independence Hall. Ben cuts out a brick marked with a Masonic symbol and finds the spectacles inside, their coloured lenses each showing a different layer of the map.

A key clue in National Treasure comes from which set of writings by Benjamin Franklin?

The Silence Dogood letters. The teenage Franklin wrote them posing as a Mrs Silence Dogood, to get into print in the Boston newspaper his own brother published.

The treasure map trail finally leads to an underground chamber beneath which New York landmark?

Trinity Church. The real church stands at the head of Wall Street, but the torch-lit chambers the film puts beneath it were a purpose-built set.

At the end of National Treasure, Ben turns down what, to Riley's annoyance?

A 10% finder's fee. Ben accepts just 1%, which still makes all three of them rich, though Riley goes on grumbling about it.

In National Treasure, a riddle names 'Pass and Stow', the two men whose names are on which American icon?

The Liberty Bell. John Pass and John Stow recast it in Philadelphia, and while Ian runs to the bell's modern pavilion, Ben heads for the tower where it hung when the riddle was written.

Which veteran actor plays FBI agent Peter Sadusky in the National Treasure films?

Harvey Keitel. His Sadusky hunts Ben for the whole film, then turns out to be a Freemason himself, more interested in striking a deal than in locking Ben up.

Which Will Smith film did Book of Secrets dethrone?

I Am Legend. It had set a December opening record a week earlier, in December 2007, then saw its takings fall by more than half as Book of Secrets took first place.

Book of Secrets opens with a plot to clear a Gates ancestor accused of helping to kill which president?

Abraham Lincoln is the president; Thomas Gates is accused because John Wilkes Booth had asked him to decode a message on the night of the assassination.

In Book of Secrets, the coded message in the assassin's diary uses which type of encryption?

A Playfair cipher. It swaps letters in pairs using a five-by-five key square, and Thomas Gates tears the coded pages out of the diary and burns them once he realises who his visitors are.

In Book of Secrets, the map points to which legendary city of gold, once sought by the conquistador Coronado?

Cibola. Coronado reached it in 1540 and found Zuni pueblos with no gold at all, whereas the film hides a real golden city beneath Mount Rushmore.

Clues in Book of Secrets are hidden in twin desks known by what name?

The Resolute desks. One stands in the Oval Office and its twin overseas, where Ben works the drawers like the tumblers of a safe until a hidden compartment gives up a carved plank.

In Book of Secrets, what does Ben do at Mount Vernon to learn where the secret book is kept?

Kidnaps the President. Ben lures him into a hidden tunnel under the house, and the President, more intrigued than angry, warns him how it will look and then says where the book is.

According to Book of Secrets, which president had Mount Rushmore carved partly to hide a legendary site?

Calvin Coolidge. In the film he finds the clue plank in 1924, has it photographed and destroyed, then hires Gutzon Borglum to carve away the landmarks; the real Coolidge handed Borglum his drill bits in 1927.

Which Oscar-winning actress plays Ben's mother, Emily Appleton, in Book of Secrets?

Helen Mirren. Her Emily has not spoken to Ben's father in 32 years when the film begins, yet the two end it reconciled and leading an expedition together.

Which actor, Oscar-nominated for Apollo 13, plays the black-market dealer Mitch Wilkinson in Book of Secrets?

Ed Harris. His villain dies a hero of sorts, holding a door open as the city floods so the others can escape, and Ben sees that he gets the joint credit he asked for.

On which streaming service did the 2022 National Treasure spinoff series premiere?

Edge of History premiered on Disney+ in December 2022 and was cancelled after a single season.

In National Treasure, Ben escapes the FBI by diving into the Hudson from the deck of which museum ship?

USS Intrepid. Ian sets up the handover on the aircraft carrier's flight deck, and Ben slips the FBI by jumping over the side, a dive his navy salvage training had prepared him for.

Which Oscar winner plays Billie Pearce, the apparent antagonist of Edge of History?

Catherine Zeta-Jones. Her Billie is a black-market antiquities dealer who is already a billionaire, and the series ties her hunt to something other than money: the brother she lost.

At the end of National Treasure, what does Ben want done with the treasure?

Given to museums worldwide. Ben trades the hoard for dropped charges and credit to his family and Riley, but the FBI still needs someone in prison, so he helps them catch Ian.

In National Treasure, the treasure passed from ancient times to the Founding Fathers via which order?

The Knights Templar, the film says, carried the treasure from the Holy Land to Europe, and the Freemasons later hid it in America.

As a boy in 1974, Ben first hears the treasure legend from whom?

His grandfather, John Adams Gates, tells young Ben the legend in 1974, while Ben's father Patrick dismisses the family obsession.

The actor who plays Ben Gates was born into which famous filmmaking family?

The Coppolas are his family: he was born a Coppola, nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola, and changed his surname to avoid accusations of nepotism.

In National Treasure, the clue 'Parkington Lane' turns out to refer to what?

A name on a tomb. The team expects a street inside the church and finds a Master Mason's coffin beneath it instead, and shifting the coffin opens the way down toward the treasure.

In Book of Secrets, Ben uses what technique to reveal traces of the cipher on the diary page?

Spectral imaging. The scan picks up what is first dismissed as a smudge: ink set off from the facing page, its letters backwards until Ben flips the image.

In Book of Secrets, Ben and Abigail sneak into which royal residence to reach a hidden clue?

Ben and Abigail stage a lovers' quarrel to get themselves detained inside Buckingham Palace, then slip into the Queen's office to recover a hidden clue.

The President tells Ben the Book of Secrets is hidden in which building?

The Library of Congress. The President first says the conversation never happened, then asks 'Where else do you keep a book?' and recites its shelf code.

Abigail's new boyfriend in Book of Secrets, Connor, works as what?

Connor, played by Ty Burrell, is a White House curator, which Ben exploits to get himself and Abigail into the Oval Office.

In Book of Secrets, the clue plank is carved in which ancient language, that of Mexico's first great civilisation?

Olmec. Ben's mother reads it for him, and when the lost city is finally found she is thrilled less by the gold than by carvings she says will unlock the Olmec language.

Ben Gates's actor won his Best Actor Oscar for which 1995 film?

Leaving Las Vegas. He plays another Ben there: Ben Sanderson, a Los Angeles writer who sells or burns everything he owns and drives to Vegas.

Which monarch really had an Oval Office desk made as a gift to the US president, as Book of Secrets recounts?

Queen Victoria. The desk's oak came from a British ship that American whalers salvaged and the United States sent home as a gift, and she sent the desk to President Hayes in thanks.

In National Treasure, Riley corrects the timing of a shadow clue by allowing for what?

Daylight saving time. Clocks only shifted from World War I, Riley says, savouring knowing something Ben does not, and when he asks who first proposed it Ben and Abigail answer together: Benjamin Franklin.

In National Treasure, the hunt for the Charlotte turns up which object carrying the next clue?

A meerschaum pipe. Its stem carries a riddle pointing to the Declaration, and the pipe turns up again at the end as the key that opens the treasure room.

Early in Book of Secrets, Riley's book signing ends when the IRS confiscates what?

The IRS seizes his Ferrari as Riley leaves a poorly attended signing for his book, having failed to pay tax on his share of the first treasure.

Fleeing the gala in National Treasure, Ben is stopped with the stolen Declaration where?

The gift shop. The cashier mistakes the real Declaration for one of her souvenir copies, so the man who has just stolen it is made to buy it.

Which veteran actor appears in National Treasure's 1974 prologue as John Adams Gates?

Christopher Plummer. He appears only in the 1974 prologue, passing young Ben the single clue the family has guarded since 1832: the secret lies with Charlotte.

In Book of Secrets, Ben and Riley go to Paris to inspect a small copy of which monument?

The Paris replica of the Statue of Liberty carries an engraving that sends them on to Britain; the diary page had referenced Edouard de Laboulaye, who proposed the statue.

Ben and his father send Ian on a wild goose chase to which Boston landmark?

Patrick claims the lone lantern echoes Paul Revere's signal, sending Ian to Old North Church in Boston, where he is arrested breaking in.

Which Canadian actor, JFK in Thirteen Days, plays the President in Book of Secrets?

Bruce Greenwood. His unnamed President ends the film covering for Ben, telling his own agents that Ben saved his life.

In Book of Secrets, what answer to 'the debt that all men pay' unlocks the diary cipher?

Death is the answer to the riddle Thomas Gates whispered with his dying breath; Ben uses it as the cipher keyword more than a century later.

Which country singer of 'Forever and Ever, Amen' has a cameo performing at the Mount Vernon party in Book of Secrets?

Randy Travis. The party is at Mount Vernon only because Ben's side got it moved there, to an estate whose old plans showed him a secret tunnel.

Which California theme park's replica of a Philadelphia landmark stood in for the real building?

Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park has a full-size replica of the Philadelphia building, which doubled for the original in several shots.

Which former Yes guitarist composed the score for both National Treasure films?

Trevor Rabin. He co-wrote the band's chart-topper 'Owner of a Lonely Heart', then left after 1994's Talk album to score films, many of them for the producer behind this franchise.