Trivia for
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) More at IMDbPro »

• Alexandra Palace, London, was built in 1873 as a "pleasure palace of the people" and named after the then-Princess of Wales. It was destroyed by fire a fortnight after opening. The present building was built in 1875 and lasted a bit longer. It was gutted by fire in 1980 and the roofless shell provided the structure for the rallies in Victory Square.
  
  
• Scenes were shot on the actual days noted in Winston Smith's diary (The scene where Smith writes in his diary, dating the entry April 4, 1984, was shot on April 4, 1984).
  
  
• Richard Burton was fourth choice for his role. Paul Scofield, Sean Connery and Anthony Hopkins were also considered.
  
  
• This film was dedicated to the memory of Richard Burton.
  
  
• Executive Producer Marvin J. Rosenblum, a Chicago lawyer, secured the film rights to the novel from Orwell's widow, Sonia Brownell, shortly before she died in 1980. It took a lot of persuading on Mr. Rosenblum's part before Mrs. Orwell eventually agreed to allow him to produce the film only under the stipulation that no futuristic sci-fi special effects be used to tell the story. Mrs. Orwell was said to have hated the 1956 version of "Nineteen Eighty-four" starring Edmond O'Brien and Jan Sterling. She was also appalled when David Bowie proposed turning "Nineteen Eighty-four" into a rock musical in the mid-1970s.
  
  
• Richard Branson's Virgin Films, the production company bankrolling the movie, had wanted a commercially viable pop act to compose the music for the film to increase its market potential. Originally they approached David Bowie, who had used Orwell's novel as inspiration for some songs on his 1974 album, "Diamond Dogs", but he demanded too much money for the job. They opted instead for Eurythmics, who had initially turned down the offer but later accepted. The director Michael Radford was unaware of this plan and had already hired Dominic Muldowney to compose the entirety of the film's musical score. Virgin Films exercised their right of final cut and dubbed in some of the Eurythmics score for the film's theatrical release. Radford was displeased with this development and retaliated by withdrawing the film for consideration for BAFTA award for Best Picture. When the film did win the Evening Standard award for Best Film of the Year, Radford took the opportunity to denounce the Eurythmics involvement in his acceptance speech at the nationally televised ceremony.
  
  
• The actors who play the roles of Parsons (Gregor Fisher) and the Telescreen Announcer (Phyllis Logan) also appeared in Michael Radford's first feature film, Another Time, Another Place (1983).
  
  
• In the 2006 film adaptation of V for Vendetta (2005), John Hurt played the High Chancellor Adam Sutler, who appeared Big-Brother-like on a massive television screen in several scenes.
  
  
• The film features a salute which never was used in the novel. It is done by holding one's arms up and making the wrists cross each other in the shape of a small V. A similar salute is seen in the film, Pink Floyd The Wall (1982).
  
  
• In the film, Inner and Outer Party members call each other "brother" or "sister" instead of "comrade" like in the novel.
  
  
• In the book, the Ministry of Plenty is called mini-plenty in the Newspeak; in the film its Newspeak name is mini-prod, which suggests that its full name is "Ministry of Production". Also, Winston's working place, which is called the Records Department in the novel, is referred to as mini-rec in the Newspeak language of the film.
  
  
• The Oceanian soldiers in the film are wearing Soviet Red Army helmets, painted black.
  
  
• Richard Burton had great difficulty remembering his lines and sometimes had to film a scene dozens of times before he could get it right.
  
  
• Michael Radford was initially strongly opposed to the casting of Richard Burton.
  
  
• Paul Scofield was unable to play O'Brien because he had broken his leg.
  
  
• Christine Hargreaves who plays the minor role of Soup Lady died before the film was released.
  
  

• SPOILER: In the final scene when Winston is playing chess in the Chestnut Tree Cafe, he picks up a white piece from the board and contemplates a move. The arrangement of the pieces on the chess board suggests that he is considering a tactic of going around and hitting the opposing black army from behind. Only minutes later, the telescreen announcer reports that the Oceanian forces had just defeated the Eurasian enemy in Africa by using the same tactic.
  
  
• SPOILER: Cyril Cusack had also played an O'Brien-type character - the captain of the fire brigade - in François Truffaut's 1966 film of Ray Bradbury's dystopia science fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451 (1966).
  
  

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