Trivia for
Ask the Dust (2006) More at IMDbPro »

• Val Kilmer was originally involved but dropped out for unspecified reasons.
  
  
• Idina Menzel had to leave her starring role in the Broadway show "Wicked" for a few weeks to film in South Africa.
  
  
• Willie the Dog is played by Danny Finn, whose owner had to stand in for the film company's dog-handler, who could not get Danny pay attention. (Danny is not a professional actor.)
  
  
• Robert Towne finished the script in the early 1990s but couldn't find financial backing. Even with Johnny Depp interested in the project, the script bounced around from studio to studio.
  
  
• In the early stages of development, Johnny Depp was attached to the project for a year.
  
  
• The rights to the novel once belonged to Mel Brooks. However, the rights had lapsed.
  
  
• Writer/director Robert Towne became interested in the project when he met John Fante, the author of the novel, while doing research for Chinatown (1974).
  
  
• When Robert Towne first approached Salma Hayek for the role of Camilla Lopez, she turned it down because she didn't want to be typecast as a Mexican. She accepted the role eight years later.
  
  
• Justin Kirk replaced Charlie Hunnam.
  
  
• Before Salma Hayek accepted the role, Eva Mendes was attached to play Camilla.
  
  
• The very first actor Robert Towne considered for the lead was Al Pacino back in 1971, when Pacino was about the right age for the role.
  
  

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