FILM · 2003 · USA
Timeline
24 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (24)
- #001
Michael Crichton, the author of the novel on which Timeline is based, disliked the film so much that he refused to license any more of his novels for film adaptations. Until Steven Spielberg, a longtime friend of Crichton, bought the rights to Pirate Latitudes after Crichton's death, no one could acquire the film rights to a Michael Crichton book.
- #002
A group of medieval reenactors was used as soldiers in the battle scenes.
- #003
The Battle of Castlegard is not a real historical event. However, to make the castles and towns look as realistic as possible, the film's crew visited various European castles from that period (the late 1300s).
- #004
In this film, which features a French-speaking character, the language problem is ignored. In the novel, however, it is stated that in 1357 people did not speak modern English or French, as in reality, but rather the Occitan language, in which Andre Marek (Gerard Butler) is fluent according to the book. The novel also describes certain high-tech translator devices the characters wear in their ears, which are likewise absent from the film.
- #005
Michael Crichton took the unusual step of offering the film rights for free on the condition that the film go into production immediately. Crichton had made a back-end deal based on his screenplay being used for this film. Ironically, Crichton came to hate the finished film.
- #006
Producer and director Richard Donner was one of four directors who bid to direct the film adaptation of Jurassic Park (1993) before Michael Crichton chose Steven Spielberg.
- #007
This film made many changes regarding Doniger's company and the time-travel device. In the novel, unlike the film, people and objects can be sent to any place and time from "locked" up to 1357 Castlegard. Doniger is also much darker, and it is implied that unwanted or cheating employees could be given "markers" sending them to places such as Pompeii or the Great Kanto earthquake so that they would die in their own time.
- #008
Robert Doniger's death is much darker in the book. He is sent to Castlegard during the Black Death, and the chapter ends with him finding some corpses and beginning to cough.
- #009
David Thewlis met his partner Anna Friel during the making of this film, and they were together for nearly ten years afterward. They are the second couple to meet on the set of a Michael Crichton adaptation; the first were Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum.
- #010
During the siege of La Roque Castle, a full moon can briefly be seen in the sky. April 4, 1357 was indeed a night of a full moon.
- #011
Pierce Brosnan turned down the role of Andre Marek before Gerard Butler joined.
- #012
Twice in the film, first when Lady Claire (Anna Friel) reunites with the French knights and later on a French knight's shield in the final battle, the flag of Québec is painted. These scenes, along with every fourteenth-century France scene, were shot in Québec.
- #013
Although the Battle of Castlegard is fictional, the film takes place during the Hundred Years' War, which lasted 116 years with intermittent fighting between the kingdoms of England and France. Edward III was king of England in 1357, the year in which the film is set, and he had started the war twenty years earlier in 1337.
- #014
In the DVD special features, a young and unremarkable John Cena can be seen before his big break as a professional wrestler.
- #015
In the book, the characters Kramer and Gomez were both women. Also, the book character Robert Decker's name was changed to William in the film.
- #016
Andre Marek is stated to have been born in 1971. Marek travels through time to 1357 and lives in that period until he dies in 1382. Since the film is set in 2003, the year of its release, Marek is 57 years old at the time of his death.
- #017
Greek fire was an incendiary weapon system used by the Byzantine Empire from the seventh century to the fourteenth century. The recipe for Greek fire was a closely guarded state secret.
- #018
This film was originally scheduled to be released in the fall of 2002. However, Paramount Pictures was unhappy with producer and director Richard Donner's cut, which included a prologue depicting the disappearance of Professor Edward Johnston (Sir Billy Connolly) and Jerry Goldsmith's original score for the film. Donner was then forced by Paramount Pictures to recut the film and asked Goldsmith to rework his score to match the recut version, which led the studio to push another premiere date to March 2003. Paramount Pictures, and especially studio chief Sherry Lansing, was once again unhappy with Donner's second cut of the film, which had completely removed the Sir Billy Connolly prologue so crucial to Michael Crichton's novel and to this film's backstory. It was originally noted as a cue titled "The Dig" by Goldsmith and music recording list number 1M1. Donner had to recut the film once more, and it was again postponed to an unspecified date, and Goldsmith was once again asked to return to the project. By this point Goldsmith's health was deteriorating due to cancer, and he had recently begun scoring Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) for his friend Joe Dante, which required the help of composer John Debney and would also be his last score, as he died on July 28, 2004. Donner really wanted Goldsmith to stay, but for these reasons he could not, and he liked the music Goldsmith had written for the film's first cut. Paramount Pictures then hired composer Brian Tyler, who had scored The Hunted (2003), which was released in March in this film's place. Tyler recorded almost all of the scenes Goldsmith had originally scored, and every score recorded by Goldsmith and Tyler was the same length, one hour and fourteen minutes. The final cut of this film was one hour and fifty-six minutes, down from its original two-hour and sixteen-minute cut; chiefly, Sir Billy Connolly's prologue was clearly absent from the recut version and the final cut, proving clear studio interference in this film. Goldsmith's and Tyler's scores were released by Varese Sarabande Records, respectively.
- #019
Rossif Sutherland is the son of Donald Sutherland, who appeared in two adaptations of Michael Crichton novels: Disclosure and The Great Train Robbery, the latter directed by Crichton himself.
- #020
The final battle takes place ten years apart in the book (1347) and in the film (1357).
- #021
More than a decade before Timeline, Richard Donner had not only been offered the chance to direct Jurassic Park (1993) but was also a friend of director Steven Spielberg from their work together on The Goonies (1985). Spielberg visited the set of Radio Flyer, where he met Joseph Mazzello, who went on to appear in Jurassic Park. In this film, the villain Dennis Nedry dresses like a Goonie: a Hawaiian shirt (like Chunk), a grey jacket (like Mouth) and a yellow raincoat (like Mikey).
- #022
Frank A. Cappello wrote a piece that did not appear in the title draft of the screenplay, and his name appeared alongside writers George Nolfi and Jeff Maguire on several original teaser posters and in the trailer.
- #023
David Thewlis and Neal McDonough appeared together in RED 2 (2013).
- #024
Gerard Butler and Billy Connolly also appeared together in "Mrs. Brown."
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