FILM · 2014 · USA
I Origins
18 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
18 Interesting Facts About I Origins
Interesting Facts (13)
- #001
Sofi's eyes belong to Astrid Bergès-Frisbey; they were digitally added to Kashish, who plays the brown-eyed Salomina in real life.
- #002
The famous National Geographic cover of the Afghan girl whose eyes captivated the world and who was found years later plays a small role in the film.
- #003
For a brief moment in the opening title sequence, only the letters I and O are shown in the film's title. This gives "IOII". In binary, the number 1011 means eleven, a number that is significant throughout the film.
- #004
In the end, Salomina completed the test and scored 44%. The test contained 25 questions from A to Y. 44% of 25 is 11. The number that brings Ian and Sofi together at the start of the film is 11.
- #005
The date on which Salomina's eyes were scanned into the system at the community center was 11-3-2013, which also corresponds to 11.
- #006
Ian shares his name with Prof. Ian Stevenson (1918-2007), who was known for his scientific research on reincarnation.
- #007
In one minute of the film, Ian sits in front of his computer. An image that somewhat resembles an eye is shown on the screen. It is in fact a very well-known image of what is called the Cat's Eye Nebula, taken by NASA with the Hubble Space Telescope.
- #008
Director Mike Cahill's brother, Hugh Cahill, is a molecular biologist.
- #009
Salomina's score of 44% is 11 points above the average score of 33%, another example of "11" in the story.
- #010
The giant billboard for rent in the Okhla market has the phone number 737634548, which adds up to 47, and 4+7 again comes to 11. This is the billboard Ian eventually rents.
- #011
In the scene where Ian and Karen eat Chinese food, Ian wears a T-shirt with a giant eyeball in the middle, from Pink Floyd's live album Pulse.
- #012
The song playing in the final scene is from Radiohead's album "Kid A".
- #013
In one scene, Ian tells Sofie that he has started seeing 11s everywhere and that they led him to her (the eyes on the billboard allowed him to search on Google and find her again). "I know, I sent them to you," she said.
Easter Eggs & References (1)
- #014
The book Ian reads in the cafeteria is Richard Dawkins's The Blind Watchmaker.
Deeper Meaning (4)
- #015
Resurrection is one of the main themes throughout the film; Ian does not believe in it, while Sofi does. The eye necklace Sofi wears is the Eye of Horus, a symbol of healing and resurrection in Egypt.
- #016
In the closing title sequence, the irises of many world and historical figures are scanned into a database (for example, JFK, Hitler, MLK, Mandela), and most of them turn out to have the same irises as people living all over the world. The meaning is that the afterlife is usually earthly rebirth, and thus parallels Hindu (and other) religious beliefs (as exaggerated by Kierkegaard).
- #017
Before Tobias is born, there is a scene in which the pregnant Karen talks to him in his soon-to-be room; on the wall are 4 basic symbols: T, O, Bi and As (added to make Tobias). T is known as tritium, or hydrogen-3; O is known as oxygen and has the atomic number 8 (8+3=11); Bi is bismuth with the atomic number 83; and As is arsenic with the atomic number 33.
- #018
In the scene that begins at seven eleven and then continues on the bus, 11s are shown everywhere and the scene ends with two eyes. Since the word "eye" is pronounced like the word "I" and II can be read as 11, this may also be a reference to 11.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- IMDb
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work