FILM · 2013 · UK
Filth
30 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (30)
- #001
James McAvoy is able to vomit on command. The scene in which Bruce is sick featured real vomit.
- #002
The street scene after the Christmas party had no direction in the script at all; it was simply titled "Shit Reservoir Dogs."
- #003
In the source novel, Bruce's biological father was a schizophrenic man who sexually assaulted his mother, which partly explains his mental problems. The same man is "The Beast" that Bruce mentions using to pressure his and Ray's informants.
- #004
In an interview, James McAvoy explained that he drank up to half a bottle of whisky every night to make his character look rough and hungover.
- #005
In the hallucination scene featuring Jim Broadbent's character, every capsule in the giant pill jar is marked with the code CRM-115. That code is one digit off from CRM-114 in Dr. Strangelove and Serum 114 in A Clockwork Orange. Earlier scenes in the film contain references to both Stanley Kubrick films.
- #006
The closing cartoon includes a mountain range painted to resemble the profile of James McAvoy's face.
- #007
The female suspect terrorizes and harasses Sergeant Robertson because he is overweight. She is played by James McAvoy's younger sister.
- #008
In the first draft of the car singing scene, the song was Foreigner's "I Wanna Know What Love Is." Irvine Welsh chose "Silver Lady."
- #009
Despite the cheerful theme of the cartoon at the end of the film, several dark elements are hidden in the short sequence: a noose hangs from the tree behind the wolf; the trees in front of the witch's house are shaped like nude female figures; a woman's feet stick out from under the pile of logs beside the house; a crow eats a worm that emerges angrily from its anus; a pig draws a stream of milk along the ground like cocaine; and one of the mother pig's nipples is briefly visible. (The briefly seen pile of coal is a reference to the death of Bruce's brother.)
- #010
The film contains several references to the book it is based on: the pig Bruce sees in his hallucinations closely resembles the pig on the book's original cover design; the man with Carole and Stacey in the supermarket; and the tapeworm in the painting in Bruce's hallucinated consultation room. Much of the book is narrated by the tapeworm growing inside Bruce.
- #011
An orange object appears in almost every scene.
- #012
Bruce's first hallucination involving Dr Rossi takes place in a white room similar to the one in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dr Rossi presents Bruce's pills, labeled with the code Litio Crm 114, the same code seen on the EVA pod in that film. The CRM 114 code also appears in Dr Strangelove, referring to a machine that prevents aircraft from receiving "miscommunications." Early in the film, Bruce does not take his real-life medication and is consequently vulnerable to the "miscommunication" of hallucinations and paranoia.
- #013
The mask in the hallucinations is Frank Sidebottom, the character portrayed in the film "Frank." Little known in the US, Frank is based on a real person, Chris Sievey, who died on 21 June 2010 at the age of 54. Frank Sidebottom's legacy still lives on.
- #014
Shirley Henderson plays Bunty in this film. Henderson also played the character Gail in Trainspotting (1996) and T2 Trainspotting (2017), both of which are based on works by Irvine Welsh.
- #015
At around the 50th minute of the film, Bruce takes a photograph of his wife and daughter. Next to him is a picture of David Soul on a CD cover.
- #016
Bruce appears resolute at the end of the film. In the book, however, Bruce wants revenge on his wife. She cheats on him with a black man, and in revenge he kills a random black man. Going one step further, he plans to hang himself as his wife walks in to witness it. Instead, it is his daughters who walk in. As he does so, his vision begins to darken and he regrets his choice.
- #017
In the book the film is based on, it is told that while Bruce was near the coal heap with his brother, he pushed him to the edge of the slag. Bruce then fell. Dave died but Bruce was saved. Their father takes his dead son in his arms. It is later revealed that the man Bruce believed not to be his father appears. Bruce was the result of a sexual assault. His biological father had been called the Monster by the newspapers because of his brutality.
- #018
Gary Lewis and Jamie Bell played father and son in Billy Elliot (2000).
- #019
When Bruce stops watching a porn film, the TV is showing Frank Sidebottom's Fantastic Shed Show (1992), based on the character of the same name who is the focus of the film Frank (2014). Michael Fassbender plays Frank in the film. James McAvoy and Fassbender are Professor X and Magneto, respectively, in X-Men: First Class (2011), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and X-Men: Apocalypse (2016).
- #020
In prison, Bruce frightens a suspect by telling stories about the Monster. Several years later, James McAvoy played a character named The Beast in Split.
- #021
It is a film with one of the highest ratios of star actors; more than a quarter of them could be considered top stars in the United Kingdom.
- #022
At 44:55, Nena's 99 Luftballons can be heard. This was the original German version of 99 Red Balloons, which appeared on the 12" version of the UK number one single.
- #023
The soundtrack features 99 Luftballons, which also stands out in Atomic Blonde, in which James McAvoy also starred.
- #024
James McAvoy, Jamie Bell and Iain De Caestecker appeared in the Marvel Comics film series. McAvoy played Charles Xavier in X-Men: First Class (2011), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and X-Men: Apocalypse (2016). Bell played The Thing in Fantastic Four (2015). DeCaestecker played Agent Leo Fitz in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013).
- #025
Eddie Marsan and Joanne Frogatt appeared in Still Life, which was also released in 2013.
- #026
There is a poster for 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) in Chief Toal's office.
- #027
Jamie Bell and Jim Broadbent had previously appeared in Nicholas Nickleby (2002).
- #028
Jim Broadbent and James McAvoy had previously appeared together in Bright Young Things (2003).
- #029
Jim Broadbent (Dr. Rossi) and Shirley Henderson (Bunty) also appeared in the Harry Potter series. In both films, they never share a scene with each other.
- #030
Bounty and Carole had appeared together in Wedding Belles five years earlier.
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