FILM · 2005 · USA
Munich
28 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (28)
- #001
Avner is called a "sabra" more than once. It is an Israeli term for a child born in Israel to immigrant parents. Sabra originally referred to the fruit of a cactus (the Opuntia cactus), known as the prickly pear, which grows in the desert. The idea was that they are prickly, dangerous and tough on the outside but sweet on the inside.
- #002
In the scene where Avner's team joins up with Israeli commandos in Beirut, one of the commandos introduces himself as Ehud Barak. Before becoming a politician and eventually prime minister of Israel, Barak was a member of Sayeret Matkal, the Israeli military's most elite commando unit.
- #003
Actor and director Mathieu Kassovitz had left strict instructions with his agent not to take on any acting jobs, as he wanted to focus entirely on directing. This film, however, was an exception. He accepted the role of Robert because, in his view, he would have missed the chance to work with Steven Spielberg.
- #004
As Avner and Steve approach the dead Hans sitting on a bench after calling him, the lights on the bridge and the shoreline in the background go out, greatly heightening the scene's bleak mood. The producers had not known this would happen, so it was entirely unexpected.
- #005
Less than six months passed between the start of production and the premiere date in December 2005.
- #006
Director Steven Spielberg decided to cast Eric Bana as Avner after seeing his performance in Hulk (2003).
- #007
The film is based on George Jonas's book "Vengeance." Jonas is said to have told the true story of the revenge taken against Black September terrorists using a purported former Mossad agent named Yuval Aviv as his main source. The Israeli intelligence community rejected Aviv's claims, saying he was a fraud. Aviv counters their denial by saying they would deny it anyway.
- #008
The canes Avner, Steve and Hans use at the scene in the Netherlands are homemade weapons also known as zip guns. They can fire only one shot at a time and must be unscrewed to load the next cartridge. They used them because each cost only a fraction of the price Louis would demand for a pistol, and they wanted to keep costs low so that the case officers would not find out.
- #009
Two days before shooting his final scene, Ossie Beck discovered that his grandfather had been in the Mossad.
- #010
The role of Avner was written with Eric Bana in mind.
- #011
One of the posters in the athletes' apartment is of Masada (written in Hebrew letters). Masada holds great significance in Jewish history, as it was a fortress the Hebrew rebels defended against Roman troops. Most of the rebels were killed or committed suicide, which ties into the themes of death and resistance in this film.
- #012
After acquiring the rights to George Jonas's book "Vengeance," Steven Spielberg commissioned three screenplays: one from David Webb Peoples and Janet Peoples, one from Charles Randolph, and one from Eric Roth. Roth's screenplay was chosen and then revised by Tony Kushner, after Kushner initially declined to co-write the script. Kushner felt it was too controversial and complex to be his first screenplay for a feature film.
- #013
The film's ending contradicts the real-life finale, in which Mossad agents successfully bombed the planner of the Munich killings along with four of his bodyguards and three innocent bystanders. They also wounded sixteen innocent people in the surrounding area.
- #014
Special Fuji film stocks were used to create a blue pastel effect in the Beirut scenes. The notable difficulty was that this had to be processed at a Fuji laboratory (in this case in France), because most Technicolor laboratories use Kodak calibrations and a print made to the wrong specifications would have to be reprinted.
- #015
In the film's opening section there is a short shot in which two Israeli girls watching television appear twice. The one on the left is Steven Spielberg's daughter Sasha Spielberg.
- #016
The role of Ephraim was intended for Ben Kingsley, but he stepped back because of a change at the end of The Terminal (2004). This caused the start of production to be postponed by several weeks, which conflicted with Kingsley's schedule for Oliver Twist (2005).
- #017
The quote Avner's father shares with him while telling him that he is being hunted is taken broadly from Ecclesiastes 9:11: "I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all."
- #018
The film features the future James Bond (Daniel Craig), former Bond villain Michael Lonsdale and future Bond villain Mathieu Amalric.
- #019
A crew truck imported from Germany and loaded with heavy equipment mysteriously caught fire during the Malta shoot, raising fears of a possible terrorist attack. Local police stated that the fire was caused by generators overheating in the Maltese summer heat.
- #020
Avner asks the German contact Andreas (played by Moritz Bleibtreu) whether he and his girlfriend are affiliated with the Baader-Meinhof, also known as the Red Army Faction. Bleibtreu would later play RAF co-founder Andreas Baader in The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008).
- #021
After their collaboration on this film, director Steven Spielberg and writer Tony Kushner went on to work together on Lincoln (2012), West Side Story (2021) and The Fabelmans (2022). All four films earned Oscar nominations for both Kushner and Spielberg.
- #022
As of 2026, this is Steven Spielberg's most recent R-rated film. Overall, it is the fifth of his films to receive that rating, after Amblin' (1968), Schindler's List (1993), Amistad (1997) and Saving Private Ryan (1998).
- #023
Avner's father is in prison, while Avner spends the first year of his life away from his wife and newborn child.
- #024
The car Avner's father sent to collect his son was a late-1960s Citroen DS 21 Pallas, the first hint of the father's wealth and status. The French and Italian cars and trucks in this film are impressive; many classic cars of the period are in very good condition.
- #025
Mosko Alkalai shot the scenes in which he plays Avner's (Eric Bana) father.
- #026
Mathieu Amalric would once again appear alongside Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace (2008).
- #027
Michael Klesic had a small role in the film as a Russian athlete, but it remained in the cutting room.
- #028
Although they do not share any scenes and did not record their lines together, Eric Bana and Geoffrey Rush both appeared in Finding Nemo (2003).
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