Trivia for
Beowulf (2007) More at IMDbPro »

• Screenwriters Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary began writing the script in May 1997.
  
  
• Paramount Pictures hired Knott's Berry Farm in Orange County, California, to produce a walk-through maze based on the new "Beowulf" movie for its 35th Annual Halloween Haunt, held every October at the theme park. Sony Pictures The Grudge 2 (2006) was the only previous maze produced at the Haunt by a major movie studio.
  
  
• According Ray Winstone, he and his fellow cast spent days filming in blue skintight suit, "showing up all your lumps and bumps in all the wrong places. Which can be hard when you're standing in front of Angelina, who looks stunning in hers."
  
  
• According to visual effects supervisor Jerome Chen, close to 300 cameras were used, compared with 64 to 72 for The Polar Express (2004).
  
  
• In some areas, release prints were delivered to theaters with the fake titles 'Epic' or 'Sally'.
  
  
• Most of the time when Grendel is talking in the movie, he is not speaking in Modern English but in Old English, the language in which the original poem was written, which in sound resembles modern Swedish.
  
  
• Roger Avary had originally intended to direct. Robert Zemeckis' friend and partner Steve Bing, who produced The Polar Express (2004), purchased the script for $2 million so Zemeckis could direct
  
  
• The name "Beowulf" is a kenning of the Anglo-Saxon words for "Bear." A kenning is a phrase that is substituted for the usual name of a person or thing. It is typically comprised of two terms, with the first word added to the second in a way that conveys a meaning neither word has alone. Therefore "Beowulf" comes from "Bee-Wolf," meaning "Bear."
  
  
• Grendel's dialogue is entirely in Old English. Interestingly, he never speaks in the original poem. He only sings a song of sorrow (which most people take to be a wail) when Beowulf rips off his arm.
  
  
• Model Rachel Bernstein (uncredited) was the body double for Angelina Jolie in the film's nude scenes.
  
  
• Crispin Glover's first project with director Robert Zemeckis since Back to the Future (1985).
  
  

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