FILM · 2015 · USA
The Stanford Prison Experiment
21 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (21)
- #001
Although the film never mentions it, the real-life experiment was funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research and drew the interest of both the U.S. Navy and the Marine Corps as a study of the causes of conflict between military guards and prisoners.
- #002
According to Zimbardo's book, he invited his girlfriend to the observation room to show how well the experiment was going. She was the one who said he had stopped seeing the subjects as real people and had clearly gone too far, and she demanded that he stop the experiment immediately.
- #003
The $15 a day offered to all students would equal $94.11 a day in 2016 when adjusted for inflation, or $1,317.54 over two weeks. In the real-life 1971 experiment, students were paid $20 a day, which comes to $125.48 in 2016 dollars, or $1,756.72 over two weeks.
- #004
In 2018, it emerged that unpublished recordings of the study and interviews with participants offered convincing evidence that the guards in the experiment had been trained to be cruel. Zimbardo's claim that the guards suddenly began abusing the prisoners therefore appears to be false.
- #005
During the real experiment, the prisoners were "arrested" at their homes and "charged" with armed robbery. The local Palo Alto police department assisted Zimbardo with the arrests and carried out full booking procedures on the prisoners, including fingerprinting and mugshots. The prisoners were then transferred from the police station to the mock prison, where they were strip-searched and given new identities.
- #006
Dr. Zimbardo had all the "prison guards" wear mirrored sunglasses as part of their uniforms. The look was inspired by the sinister Boss Godfrey in Cool Hand Luke. Zimbardo believed the mirrored sunglasses would further separate the "prisoners" from the "guards" and add indifference and coldness to their appearance.
- #007
Almost all of the dialogue between the "guards" and "prisoners" in the film is taken verbatim from actual footage of the real-life experiment. One exception is the conversation depicted at the end of the film, which actually took place between the "guard" nicknamed John Wayne and prisoner 416, not 8612.
- #008
The German film The Experiment (2001), starring Moritz Bleibtreu, and the American production The Experiment (2010), starring Adrien Brody and Forest Whitaker, are also based on the Stanford prison experiment, though far more loosely.
- #009
The film is based on PhD Philip Zimbardo's book 'The Lucifer Effect'.
- #010
In the film's final scene, when Dr. Zimbardo tells the students the experiment is over, none of them reacts or looks at him as if he were crazy. But when he tells them the prison is closed and they are free to go home, they finally express their emotions and begin talking normally. The reason is that by this point they were so caught up in the experiment that it was no longer an experiment for any of them but had become their new reality. Zimbardo himself concluded that the experiment had gone off the rails because everyone, including himself, had internalized their roles.
- #011
A film project about the Stanford prison experiment was first announced in 2002, when producer Brent Emery hired Tim Talbott to write the screenplay. Problems including financing and the 2007 writers' strike delayed the project for twelve years.
- #012
It is based on Dr. Zimbardo's real-life psychological study, 'The Stanford Prison Experiment'.
- #013
In the scene where prisoner 819's mother raises her concerns about her son's health with Dr. Zimbardo, it is clear that Dr. Zimbardo is annoyed by this woman's investigation. To end the conversation, he cunningly uses his psychological expertise to question the boy's resilience and endurance, specifically targeting the father's ability to raise a sturdy, masculine son. The father responds as he hoped and removes himself and his "overly-cautious" wife from the conversation.
- #014
In some scenes, the prisoners and guards stand in front of a wooden door. The door is subtly marked with a large "Z" for Zimbardo.
- #015
Ezra Miller, Nicholas Braun and Johnny Simmons appeared in The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012).
- #016
Ryan Phillippe was attached to star but was replaced after production was delayed.
- #017
The actor pairs Michael Angarano and Nicholas Braun, Ezra Miller and Johnny Simmons, Ki Hong Lee and Chris Sheffield, and Keir Gilchrist and Thomas Mann had each appeared together in a film before The Stanford Prison Experiment. Those films are, respectively, Sky High (2005) (and Red State (2011)), The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), The Maze Runner (2014) and It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010).
- #018
The project was first announced in 2006 with Christopher McQuarrie set to write and direct.
- #019
Tye Sheridan and Logan Miller also appear together in Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015).
- #020
Billy Crudup plays Ezra Miller's father in Justice League (2017).
- #021
Keir Gilchrist and Logan Miller appeared together in The Good Neighbor (2016).
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