FILM · 2010 · USA
Knight and Day
24 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
24 Interesting Facts About Knight and Day
Interesting Facts (18)
- #001
Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz did most of their own stunts; both are keen drivers who are comfortable with hairpin turns and 180s.
- #002
Tom Cruise did most of the running and jumping without wires, apart from Roy Miller's fall in the rooftop chase in Austria.
- #003
Tom Cruise wanted to do another spy thriller but felt Salt (2010) and The Tourist (2010) were too close to his Mission: Impossible (1996) films; he picked this one once it became a spy thriller with comedy.
- #004
All the car crashes were shot on studio lots and composited into the film digitally.
- #005
Tom Cruise left The Tourist (2010), which Christopher McQuarrie had heavily rewritten, to do this film instead.
- #006
The futuristic, manta-ray-shaped aircraft that attacks the island is entirely CGI and not based on any real plane; it's meant to be a cutting-edge unmanned fighter.
- #007
More than a dozen writers worked on the script, but the Writers Guild of America ruled that only Patrick O'Neill should be credited; uncredited contributors included Scott Frank, Laeta Kalogridis, Ted Griffin, Dana Fox and Simon Kinberg.
- #008
An extended cut putting more focus on June's work as a car mechanic came out soon after the theatrical release.
- #009
In the chase scene, Cameron Diaz drives a 1966 Pontiac GTO in Martinique Bronze with a Parchment interior.
- #010
Later on, the film hints that Tom Cruise's character's real surname is "Knight," but there's no matching link between Cameron Diaz's character and "day"; coincidentally, "Diaz" sounds like "días," Spanish for "days."
- #011
Roy's private island is in the Azores, an archipelago in the Atlantic and an autonomous region of Portugal about 900 miles (1,448 km) west of Lisbon, at roughly the same latitude as Philadelphia. Temperatures range from the fifties (10 C) to the seventies (21-26 C), and since June is comfortable in a bikini, the scenes probably take place around August, when the water would be in the low seventies (21 C).
- #012
Throughout the film, June (Cameron Diaz) wears a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date Submariner with a black dial and black bezel.
- #013
On 15.09.2009, Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise filmed a spot for The Jay Leno Show (2009) at Worcester Regional Airport in Worcester, Massachusetts, which doubled for Wichita, Kansas, in the film.
- #014
At the end, June (Diaz) and Roy (Cruise) head for Chile on the Pan-American Highway, which they could only do by taking a ferry around the 90-mile Darién Gap between Panama and Colombia, since no road links the two countries.
- #015
The title Knight & Day plays on "night and day," the phrase for two complete opposites, which is what the leads are; Cruise drops hints that his real name is Knight, spelled differently, of course.
- #016
Tom Dey was the project's first director.
- #017
Zephyr is also the name of an old Ford model sold from the 1950s to the 1970s, and in the film June (Cameron Diaz) restores classic cars.
- #018
At 1:28:40 and 1:30:44, Tom Cruise's character lowers his sunglasses Risky Business (1983)-style.
Production Story (1)
- #019
Production partners New Regency and Dune Entertainment kept costs down by paying Tom Cruise a smaller upfront fee than usual: according to the Los Angeles Times, he got $11 million for Knight and Day (2010) instead of his usual $20 million-plus.
Behind the Scenes (1)
- #020
In the warehouse shootout, Roy tells June to run on 3; she bolts on 1, and he sits and watches her until she comes back. It was based on something that happened to Tom Cruise on the first Mission: Impossible. The stunt coordinator told him to run on 3, when the aquarium above him burst and water poured out, but as soon as he started counting down from 3, Tom stopped him and asked whether he should go on 1 or on 3, since he was meant to start on 3. The baffled coordinator admitted he didn't know. In the end they agreed Tom would run as the countdown from 3 began, along with the pyrotechnic blast, and they got the shot.
Characters & Cast (3)
- #021
The 18-wheeler driver was actually played by a member of the lighting crew: once the actor originally hired had finished his work for the day, the director asked the crew member if he'd take over the part.
- #022
While promoting the film, Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz appeared on the BBC's Top Gear in the episode Volkswagen Touareg vs Swedish Snowmobiles - Reach 258mph (415 km/h) The Bugatti Veyron Super Sport (2010) and did the traditional lap in the "reasonably-priced car," clocking 01:44.2 and 01:45.2 respectively.
- #023
When Chris Tucker was attached, Eva Mendes was picked as the female lead.
Easter Eggs & References (1)
- #024
When Roy, running late, finds Simon's hidden message in the shipping container, you can briefly see more hidden messages reading 'URLATE' on both sides of the container wall.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- IMDb
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