40 Fun Facts About What Lies Beneath

Which actor, later Marvel's Agent Phil Coulson, wrote the screenplay for What Lies Beneath?

Clark Gregg stayed with the production for rewrites, which cost him the chance to read for a major role in the TV series Sports Night.

What Lies Beneath was shot during a year-long break in the filming of which Tom Hanks movie?

Cast Away paused so Hanks could lose weight and grow a beard, and the same crew made the thriller in between rather than sit idle.

Which Oscar-winning director of Tom Hanks hits made the thriller What Lies Beneath?

Robert Zemeckis said he took the script because he kept second-guessing its main character, which kept him turning the pages.

In What Lies Beneath, how does Norman Spencer finally die after chasing Claire from the house?

Drowning claims Norman when his truck plunges into the lake and the corpse of his victim, shaken loose from the wreck below, appears to seize him.

In What Lies Beneath, what happened to Claire a year earlier that wiped her memory of an affair?

A car crash a year before the story left Claire with a gap in her memory, which is why the ghost has to lead her back to what she once knew.

In What Lies Beneath, how did Norman know Madison Frank, the woman whose ghost haunts Claire?

She was his student, and their affair during a rough patch in his marriage ended with a threat that he decided he could not live with.

In What Lies Beneath, what does Claire keep finding mysteriously filled with water at home?

The bathtub fills by itself more than once, and in its water Claire glimpses the reflection of a woman who is not her.

In What Lies Beneath, the Spencers' lakeside home stands in which New England state?

Vermont also hosted the location shoot, where the exteriors of the two neighbouring houses were built specially beside the water.

What Lies Beneath borrows music, visuals and plot ideas from which famous director's thrillers?

Alfred Hitchcock is echoed in references to Psycho and Vertigo, though one reviewer argued he would never have put a real ghost in the story.

In What Lies Beneath, what do Claire and her friend Jody hold at the house once the haunting begins?

A séance is soon followed by a warning traced on the fogged mirror, which convinces Claire that a dead woman is trying to reach her.

In What Lies Beneath, what does Claire wrongly suspect her new neighbour Warren of doing?

Killing his wife is what Claire assumes when Mary vanishes for days, until Mary turns up alive and well beside her husband.

In What Lies Beneath, what does Claire secretly take from the home of Madison Frank's mother?

A lock of hair lets Claire summon the dead woman, and the possession that follows ends only when she lets it fall.

In What Lies Beneath, what does Claire find inside the small box she recovers from the lake?

A necklace that the missing woman wore in her photograph sits inside, proof that Norman knew far more than he had admitted.

In What Lies Beneath, which framed item falls from Norman's desk, revealing a hidden key?

A newspaper article about Norman hides the key, and its reverse side carries a report on a young woman who has gone missing.

In What Lies Beneath, which drug does Norman use to paralyse Claire before staging her death?

Halothane leaves Claire awake but unable to move, and she saves herself only because the dose begins to wear off in time.

In What Lies Beneath, in which nearby town did Jody once see Norman arguing with a woman at a café?

Adamant gives Norman away when he later pretends never to have heard of the place, and Claire drives there alone to look around.

In What Lies Beneath, what was Michelle Pfeiffer's character Claire before she gave up her career?

A cellist in her earlier life, Claire is at a loose end at home once her daughter has moved out, which is when the strange events begin.

In What Lies Beneath, why does Claire's daughter Caitlin move out of the family home at the start?

Caitlin leaves to go to college, and her departure leaves Claire alone in the house with a marriage that is already under strain.

In What Lies Beneath, what is the surname of Mary and Warren, the quarrelling couple next door?

Feur and Mary's first name fit the initials that Claire's computer types by itself, which sends her after the wrong ghost.

In What Lies Beneath, whom did Madison Frank threaten to tell about her affair with Norman Spencer?

The dean never heard about it, because Norman silenced her first, then lied to Claire about how she had died.

In What Lies Beneath, what does Norman hit his head on, knocking himself out, as he attacks Claire?

The sink catches Norman as he stumbles back in shock, after the face of the paralysed Claire seems to turn into that of his dead victim.

In What Lies Beneath, what is hitched behind the truck in which Claire flees from Norman?

A boat rides behind the truck, and when both end up in the lake it punches through the roof of a sunken wreck and frees the body inside.

In What Lies Beneath, what does Claire lay on Madison Frank's gravestone in the final scene?

A red rose is Claire's offering on a winter visit to the cemetery, made once the dead woman has at last been given a proper grave.

In What Lies Beneath, what does Claire find Norman only pretended to do after his first confession?

Norman faked the call when asked to phone the police, and the discovery tells Claire she is alone in the house with a murderer.

Which actress, later Éowyn in The Lord of the Rings, plays neighbour Mary in What Lies Beneath?

Miranda Otto had been cast in the fantasy trilogy a year before the thriller opened, after Uma Thurman turned the part down.

Which 1990s supermodel made her first major film appearance as the ghost in What Lies Beneath?

Amber Valletta said the ghost was never written to resemble Michelle Pfeiffer; the director and producers noticed the likeness only after they had liked her audition tape.

Which actor, Miles Dyson in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, plays Dr. Drayton in What Lies Beneath?

Joe Morton plays the psychiatrist Claire is sent to when Norman dismisses her fears, in sessions one leading critic singled out for praise.

Which actor, later Dexter Morgan's father in Dexter, plays neighbour Warren in What Lies Beneath?

James Remar was known for menacing parts such as the gang member Ajax in The Warriors, a history that suits the red-herring suspect he plays.

Which composer of the scores for The Avengers and Predator wrote the music for What Lies Beneath?

Alan Silvestri has scored nearly every film by the same director since 1984, and this one's box-office takings earned him an industry award.

Which famous director commissioned the story of What Lies Beneath, then gave the script to a friend?

Steven Spielberg asked for an intimate tale of contact with an ordinary ghost, then decided the finished draft did not feel like one of his films.

What Lies Beneath was the first film from which company, later behind The Polar Express?

ImageMovers was the new name of the director's South Side Amusement Company, and it later moved into motion-capture animation.

Which studio co-founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg released What Lies Beneath in North America?

DreamWorks Pictures had also opened Saving Private Ryan and The Haunting at number one in the two summers before, each on the third weekend after Independence Day.

Which hit of summer 2000 did What Lies Beneath knock off the top of the US box office on opening?

X-Men lost the top spot after a single week, its takings falling by more than half while the ghost story opened to almost $30 million.

Harrison Ford turned down the lead in which George Clooney film released the same summer as What Lies Beneath?

The Perfect Storm was directed by Wolfgang Petersen, who had made Air Force One with him and wanted him back as its fishing-boat captain.

What Lies Beneath was Michelle Pfeiffer's biggest hit since which film of eight years earlier?

Batman Returns, in which she played Catwoman, was then the only film to have given her a bigger opening weekend, and the ghost story ended a run of box-office disappointments.

Michelle Pfeiffer took lessons in what to cope with the underwater scenes of What Lies Beneath?

Scuba diving lessons were her answer to feeling uncomfortable in water, though she still called the confined scenes, shot for five hours at a stretch, awful.

The two stars of What Lies Beneath each won an acting award from which video rental chain?

Blockbuster named them favourite actor and actress in a suspense film at its 2001 ceremony, which proved to be the last it ever held.

Which Chicago critic complained that the trailer for What Lies Beneath gave away its surprises?

Roger Ebert likened the trailer to a supermarket sausage sample that tells you all there is to know, and gave the film two stars out of four.

Which Oscar-winning documentary maker shares the story credit for What Lies Beneath?

Sarah Kernochan wrote it as a tale of wonder about a woman whose children had just left home, and reckoned about three quarters was later rewritten.

The houses in What Lies Beneath were built on location, but in which city were interiors filmed?

Los Angeles soundstages held a full copy of the house, inside and out, which gave the crew a controlled setting for night scenes and effects.