FILM · 1996 · USA
The Fan
48 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (48)
- #001
Tony Scott turned down The Rock (1996) in order to direct this film.
- #002
Wesley Snipes initially wanted to play the role of Gil Renard (Robert De Niro).
- #003
Cal Ripken, Jr. served as Wesley Snipes's personal batting coach during filming.
- #004
Cal Ripken, who served as a consultant on the film, recalled in Sports Illustrated that he had lunch with Robert De Niro and that De Niro asked him questions about Red Sox fans. Ripken also said that meeting De Niro was a little unsettling at first, because when they met the method actor was listening to an audio tape of Robert Bardo, who had stalked and later killed Rebecca Schaeffer.
- #005
Robert De Niro took the Yankees bobblehead doll as a souvenir. The production company paid four hundred dollars to collector Anne Wells, who had lent the doll to the film, for the figure.
- #006
In the novel there is a scene in which Bobby Rayburn shoots a television commercial for Motrin. After the director gives his line, he says: "De Niro couldn't have done it any better."
- #007
Jack Nicholson turned down the role of Gil Renard.
- #008
Brad Pitt turned down the role of Bobby Rayburn, preferring to play Gil Renard.
- #009
Tony Scott turned down the directing offer twice because he did not like the script and had no interest in baseball at all. He changed his mind once Robert De Niro signed on, because he had always wanted to work with De Niro.
- #010
In the novel on which the film is based, Bobby Rayburn played for the Red Sox and the story took place primarily in and around Boston.
- #011
At the time of the film's production and release, it was expected that portraying Bobby Rayburn as an African-American playing for the San Francisco Giants would draw parallels with Barry Bonds. In the film, Gil pretends to confuse Bobby with Barry Bonds and then uses it as a joke.
- #012
Frank Darabont contributed to the script without appearing in the title credits.
- #013
Al Pacino was considered for the role of Gil Renard.
- #014
The remote beach house owned by Bobby (Snipes) is not in the (supposed) Bay Area but in a remote, private cove in Malibu. The owners did not want to be "put out" during the shooting of all the scenes, so the production put them up at the Beverly Hills Hotel… AND in addition to paying a very high temporary rental fee (Licensing Agreement), rather than bringing in temporary "Set Pieces" to be removed after filming was completed, the production hired licensed contractors to completely remodel the interior and exterior of the house… basically a renovation costing hundreds of thousands of dollars (all with City of Malibu Building Permits and strict Coastal Commission approval).
- #015
Former San Francisco Giant Mike Sadek served as a stand-in for Robert De Niro in the scenes where he throws a baseball.
- #016
Major League baseball player Mike Piazza was turned down for a role in this film.
- #017
Confirmed body count: three. The body count is assumed to be 5: at the end of the scene, after the fight, there is a baseball player lying face down on the field. It can also be assumed that Gil killed the umpire in order to take his clothes and impersonate him.
- #018
In the scene where Bobby Rayburn's (Snipes) son nearly drowns in the ocean while going for a swim and Rayburn goes into the ocean to try to save him, there is a long, moving shot of Rayburn's face as he swims, and it is very clear that it is the face of his stunt double, not the actor Wesley Snipes.
- #019
This is the second film in which Robert De Niro plays an excessively obsessive fan (after The King of Comedy (1982)).
- #020
This was Wesley Snipes's second role as a baseball player. He also played Willie Mays Hayes in Major League (1989).
- #021
The catcher for the San Diego Padres in the film was played by Eric Bruskotter, who also played catcher Rube Baker in Major League II (1994).
- #022
When Gil throws the ball to Bobby Rayburn's son, you can clearly see that it is a stunt double's face just as he throws the ball.
- #023
During production on The Fan at Warner Bros., Wesley Snipes signed a $10 million contract to star in Sandblast, an action-adventure thriller that was to be one of his future films. It was based on a 1993 spec script that Steven Maeda sold to them and producer Joel Silver for $750,000. Eddie Murphy was originally going to star in the film but resigned due to a scheduling conflict. Sandblast was to be about a former expert and demolitions man who joins a U.S. commando team to track down nuclear warheads lost somewhere in the deserts of post-war Iraq. The team would have had to deal with the dangers of the barren desert terrain as well as a villainous Green Beret team also searching for the warheads, all while contending with a massive sandstorm that made their search far more difficult. Jean Claude Van Damme was to play the chief villain and leader of the Green Berets. Although pre-production on Sandblast was nearly complete and production was about to begin, Warner Bros. cancelled the film due to the box office potential of Snipes and Van Damme and certain other problems.
- #024
In the novel the film was adapted from, baseball star Bobby Rayburn is white.
- #025
The knife Gil gives Bobby Rayburn's son to get an autograph with is a Gerber EZ-Out.
- #026
Although Gil and Bobby's paths cross and they speak on the phone several times throughout the film, they do not formally meet each other until one hour and fourteen minutes into the film.
- #027
The film was a flop at the box office and generally received bad reviews.
- #028
This was the second film Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo appeared in together within a year; both appeared together in To Wong Foo Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar in 1995.
- #029
Average Shot Length and Median Shot Length = three seconds.
- #030
The San Francisco Giants' number 11 was retired (Carl Hubbell). However, the retired number 11 was recently given to Omar Visquel from the Chicago White Sox (ironically), a number worn by shortstop Luis Aparicio.
- #031
In Brian De Palma's "The Untouchables", Al Capone, played by Robert De Niro, gives a magnificent speech about the importance of teamwork using a baseball player and his team as an analogy. In a rage, he beats one of his own capos to death with a baseball bat and declares that a man cannot get anywhere unless the whole team wins.
- #032
This is one of two sports-themed films directed by Tony Scott that also share top billing between a white actor and a black actor. The other was The Last Boy Scout (1991).
- #033
Robert De Niro turned down Matilda (1996) in favor of this film. Both films were distributed by TriStar Pictures.
- #034
Wesley Snipes played fictional characters in both the American League and the National League.
- #035
The film was released one day before Robert De Niro's fifty-third birthday.
- #036
At the end of the montage showing Rayburn's (Snipes) renewed success, a reporter asks him how he explains his statistics beyond the lists, and Rayburn replies: "I wish I knew". Snipes had used the same line in Demolition Man (1993).
- #037
Tony Scott was reportedly disappointed with the finished product.
- #038
The careers of the four most prominent actors intersect in other films. Robert De Niro worked with John Leguizamo in Righteous Kill (2008) and with Ellen Barkin in This Boy's Life (1993). Wesley Snipes appeared with John Leguizamo in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995) and Zig Zag (2002), and appeared with Ellen Barkin in Brooklyn's Finest (2009). De Niro, Leguizamo and Barkin each appeared with Al Pacino in Heat (1995), Carlito's Way (1993) and Sea of Love (1989), respectively.
- #039
Robert De Niro and Ellen Barkin played a husband and wife in Hand of Stone, a film about Roberto Duran.
- #040
Wesley Snipes played a fictional major league player in Major League (1989).
- #041
Eric Bruskotter was a catcher in Major League 2 (1994); Wesley Snipes appeared in the first film, but Omar Epps took his place in the sequel.
- #042
This was Fileena Bahris's debut.
- #043
Benicio Del Toro and Ellen Barkin appeared in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998).
- #044
Fileena Bahris is of Hungarian origin.
- #045
Robert De Niro and Ellen Barkin appeared in This Boy's Life (1993), which also featured Leonardo DiCaprio. John Leguizamo also appeared with DiCaprio in Romeo + Juliet (1996).
- #046
Charles Hallahan and John Leguizamo appeared in Executive Decision (1996) and The Pest (1997).
- #047
This was the second film released earlier that year after Executive Decision (1996), which featured John Leguizamo, Charles Hallahan and Richard Riehle.
- #048
John Leguizamo also appeared in Tony Scott's Revenge (1990).
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