FILM · 2002
Orange County
24 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (24)
- #001
Before jumping into the pool to save Shaun (Colin Hanks), Lance (Jack Black) takes off his socks. This was not in the script but was the idea of Jack Black's wardrobe assistant. Black found the idea funny and the gag stayed in the film.
- #002
Jack Black is the next-door neighbor of screenwriter Mike White. The role in the film was written specifically for him. Surprisingly, very little of it was improvised.
- #003
The screenwriter appears as an English teacher.
- #004
Whenever someone is seen with a copy of Shaun's story, it is only a copy of the film's screenplay.
- #005
In the scene where the dog bites Schuyler Fisk's face, the dog actually bit her nose. Her reaction and the scene were kept in the film. She said she was not upset and that the dog, Andy, had had long days and was held in her lap throughout the day, so it understood.
- #006
Jack Black wore a wig throughout the film.
- #007
Despite the film's title and subject matter, no part of the film was actually shot in Orange County.
- #008
John Lithgow was to play Leslie Mann's father in This Is 40 (2012). In this film they play a married couple.
- #009
Phantom Planet's "California" appears in the end credits. The song was to be the opening title song of the Orange County-based series The O.C. (2003). Colin Hanks also guest-starred in an episode of The O.C.
- #010
This is the first of four collaborations with Jack Black and Colin Hanks; the two also appear together in King Kong (2005), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019), though they do not share any screen time in the last two films, and all except King Kong were directed by Jake Kasdan.
- #011
John Lithgow and Colin Hanks were to play villains in Dexter (2006), in the fourth and sixth seasons respectively.
- #012
Jack Black's character gives Ben Stiller's firefighter a fake name: "Joe Johnston." The real Joe Johnston worked with director Jake Kasdan's father, Lawrence Kasdan, on the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films, and later directed the original Jumanji (1995), which would have two sequels directed by Jake Kasdan.
- #013
The entire film revolves around a book titled Straight Jacket. When Lance takes off his jacket and gives it to Ashley, events spiral out of control. Illegal drugs are accidentally distributed, Lance breaks down and enters a school, seduces a secretary, burns down the school, loses his pants and lies to the first responders. He had kept the madness contained by wearing the jacket as if it were his own plain jacket. Once it is removed, its chaotic properties spread to everything he interacts with, just like a mental patient. While wearing Lance's jacket, Ashley's love for Shaun diminishes and she sees him as annoying and self-centered. In moments of clarity she discovers a school party and talks to different men to see what her options might be. When she takes the jacket off, she falls in love with Shaun again, proving that while wearing the jacket she thought logically rather than emotionally.
- #014
Mike White (Mr. Burke) and Jack Black (Lance) appeared together in many films besides this one: School of Rock (2003), Nacho Libre (2006) and The D Train (2015).
- #015
Justin Long was considered for the lead role.
- #016
Colin Hanks's father, Tom Hanks, appeared in Apollo 13 (1995). The disaster led to extensive use of the abort-guidance system that allowed the route to be corrected manually. It was also invented by Jack Black's mother, Judith Love Cohen.
- #017
Jack Black, Leslie Mann and Ben Stiller had previously appeared in The Cable Guy (1996).
- #018
Catherine O'Hara and Harold Ramis were stars of SCTV (1976).
- #019
The VHS release of this film includes a preview of Forrest Gump, which stars Tom Hanks and features his son Colin Hanks, who appears in this film.
- #020
Catherine O'Hara and Dana Ivey also appeared in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992).
- #021
Throughout the entire film, the names of Shaun and Lonnie's two other friends are mentioned only once, in the final ten minutes. Their names turn out to be Chad, the blond boy played by RJ Knoll, and Arlo, the boy with spiky black hair and a goatee played by Kyle Howard. The name of Bud Brumder's young wife, played by Leslie Mann — Shaun and Lance's stepmother and Jake's mother — is also mentioned only once in the film: Krista.
- #022
Chevy Chase, Schuyler Fisk and Carly Pope appeared two years earlier in Snow Day (2000).
- #023
On Shaun's keyboard there is a sticker containing the URL of Thrasher magazine's website.
- #024
John Lithgow and Jack Black had both appeared in Star Wars media.
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