FILM · 2015
The Intern
32 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (32)
- #001
In one scene, Robert De Niro's character is confused about who Jay-Z is. This is a joke referencing the beef between Robert De Niro and Jay-Z that ran between 2012 and 2016.
- #002
Robert De Niro's daughter plays the hotel manager.
- #003
In the scene where Jules goes to the coffee shop to pick up Ben, two of the cups are labeled "Annie" and "Hallie." These are the names of the twins in the 1998 version of The Parent Trap, also directed by Nancy Meyers. Annie and Hallie are also the names of Nancy Meyers's daughters.
- #004
Quentin Tarantino named this film one of his favorite films of 2015.
- #005
Writer and director Nancy Meyers approached Jack Nicholson for the role of Ben Whittaker. Nicholson is mentioned in Jules's philosophical conversations at the bar.
- #006
When Ben tells Jules he knows a faster way to get to the office, Jules mentions that she used to take taxis. De Niro's breakout character, Travis Bickle, was a taxi driver.
- #007
Reese Witherspoon was initially cast as Jules but was dropped from the role.
- #008
Throughout the story, Ben asks his fellow interns why no one tucks in their shirt tails anymore, and singles out Davis as a clear example. He later gives Davis one of his old ties. At the end of the film, Davis is carrying a briefcase, wearing a tie, shirt, sport coat and trousers, with his shirt tail tucked in.
- #009
The interns who get in the car and go to Jules's parents' house to delete the email compare themselves and what they are about to do to the characters in Ocean's Eleven (2001). The music heard throughout the sequence is from that film.
- #010
The film contains at least three more references to other De Niro films. He talks to himself in the mirror as in Taxi Driver (1976). He does the double-fist punch from Raging Bull (1980), and there is a scene where he shaves like Al Capone in The Untouchables (1987).
- #011
The film Ben and Jules watch together in the hotel room is Singin' in the Rain (1952).
- #012
When Ben and his colleagues enter a house to delete an email, the alarm goes off and the sirens of approaching police cars are heard; Ben says they have at least thirty seconds to get out. This may be a nod to Robert De Niro's character in Heat (1995), who lives by the rule that if you want to survive as a criminal, you must be able to drop everything in your life within thirty seconds when the heat comes around.
- #013
Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway learned Tai Chi from Tiffany Chen, the daughter of Grand Master William C. C. Chen.
- #014
The market where Ben does his grocery shopping is a real market of the same name at 7th Avenue and Berkeley Place in Brooklyn.
- #015
The newel post on the staircase in Jules and Matt's house is a queen chess piece.
- #016
The color scheme of the About The Fit office is entirely black and white with splashes of red (flowers, a ringing bell, etc.). Jules's office wardrobe is likewise entirely black and white with occasional red, until the ending, when she decides to turn down Townsend's offer and her wardrobe becomes plainly casual.
- #017
The film was at one point set up at Paramount Pictures with Tina Fey in the lead role.
- #018
Ben tells Lewis that his briefcase is a vintage piece from 1973. He would have bought it when he was 28 years old, which would have made him only a few years older than his fellow interns at the time.
- #019
Ben's briefcase contains a calculator, two glasses cases, a small pocket watch (despite the fact that he wears a watch), a leather pen case, an appointment book, a notebook, a diary and a small packet of tissues.
- #020
Jason's speech to the new interns about how not even Jules, the company's CEO, has a private office is confirmed by the fact that office manager Cameron sits at a workstation alongside the other employees.
- #021
Ben tells Becky that he cannot hear anything, so that he can avoid telling her what is going on between Cameron and Jules regarding the CEO offer. She apparently believes him, since later in the film she refers to him as deaf twice.
- #022
In the opening scene, Anne Hathaway places a phone order for a bride named "Rachel." This recalls the title of her previous film Rachel Getting Married (2008), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
- #023
When Ben emerges from the conference booth in Jules's red jacket, the empty stretch of wall he walks past is where his own desk will soon appear, once Jules decides he matters to her.
- #024
One contradiction in the film was that, although the company About-The-Fit encourages its employees to dress informally for work, Ben stands out from the other interns because he insists on wearing a suit and tie every day, and Jules told him there was no need for it — yet Jules, the company's president, always wore formal clothes and high heels. Anne Hathaway considered making her character a little more casual by having her take off her shoes while working and walk around the building in her socks, making it a "trademark." The idea was rejected because shooting some scenes that way would not have been practical.
- #025
Robert De Niro and Rene Russo both appeared in The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000) and Showtime (2002).
- #026
Ironically, in a digital-based and digitally run business, Jules's assistant Becky is a sticky-note fanatic, sitting at a desk covered in paper and piled up to her shoulders in front of and behind her.
- #027
ATF's order fulfillment and customer service department uses Dell computers, but the creative and administrative departments all use Macs, which is standard for many companies.
- #028
While Jules and Ben are staying at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, CA, USA, they and the other hotel guests are evacuated after the fire alarm goes off. The scene of Jules, Ben and the other guests outside the hotel was actually shot in Lower Manhattan, New York City, NY, USA. The building on the left that is meant to be the hotel is actually the rear of the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, which houses the National Museum of the American Indian and other government offices.
- #029
When Ben crosses the street to confront Jules's driver Mike, his stance, his arms and his walk are an exact copy of De Niro's younger self in the role of Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976).
- #030
While reading his assignments, De Niro throws a double punch in a nod to Raging Bull (1980).
- #031
In this film Ben (Robert De Niro) went to Northwestern college, the same university Anne Hathaway's character attended in The Devil Wears Prada (2006).
- #032
At one point in the film, the interns imitate the Ocean's films in order to break in, each playing a character from the movies. Anne Hathaway starred in the all-female spin-off Ocean's Eight (2018).
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