FILM · 2013
White House Down
27 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (27)
- #001
Channing Tatum was initially not interested in making the film because he had decided not to play any character who holds a gun throughout an entire movie, but he liked the script and decided to meet with Roland Emmerich to discuss the role of John Cale; the meeting went so well that Tatum agreed to take the role immediately afterwards.
- #002
The White House Tour Guide played by Nicolas Wright briefly shows the group the White House movie room and mentions that they appeared in the scene that was blown up in Independence Day. This film's director, Roland Emmerich, also directed Independence Day (1996) and attended a screening of that film in the same movie room at the White House during Bill Clinton's presidency. Wright would later play Floyd Rosenburg in Independence Day: Resurgence (2016), just three years later.
- #003
Tatum's T-shirt in the film is a direct homage to John McClane in Die Hard (1988).
- #004
The film shown in the White House's private cinema while the terrorists are hiding there is Lawrence of Arabia (1962).
- #005
This is one of two films released in theaters in 2013 with the same premise: the White House being taken over by criminals holding the President hostage. The other is Olympus Has Fallen (2013). Both films reference the 1814 burning of the White House.
- #006
The production team built two Oval Office sets, one for the show and one for dialogue.
- #007
Because of the rushed production schedule, 45 sets were built in 10 weeks, including a large portion of the White House, the Pentagon, the Capitol, tanks, planes, Marine One and Black Hawks.
- #008
Some members of the production team and Roland Emmerich met with John McCain and toured the Capitol.
- #009
The ringtone on Richard Jenkins's phone was "Spanish Flea," performed by Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass. It is also the theme of The Dating Game (1965).
- #010
The last black-and-white image that appears on screen while the people at the Pentagon discuss Stenz's covert operations in Pakistan is the cover art of the Medal of Honor video game series.
- #011
While on top of the elevator, Tatum's character states that Javelin missiles are surface-to-air, but the Javelin is mostly used as an anti-tank missile, although it is possible to use it as surface-to-air. The US military has never accounted for an aircraft being shot down by a Javelin.
- #012
Needing a vehicle he and Cale could escape in, President Sawyer takes a set labeled "Ground Force One." The Presidential Limousine is actually referred to as "The Beast." Ground Force One is the unofficial code name for the armored buses used by the President and other dignitaries. Cale could not drive a bus in circles, but calling it Ground Force One lets the audience know that Sawyer plans to escape specifically in the President's Limousine, not a random Secret Service car.
- #013
Jamie Foxx based his performance on Barack Obama, who was President when the film was released.
- #014
When President Sawyer opens the nightstand drawer to get his satellite phone, several packs of Nicorette gum are visible. It is a reference to Barack Obama's smoking habit.
- #015
It was initially rated PG in the Canadian province of Ontario, but the Ontario Film Review Board decided to raise the rating to 14A on August 21, 2013, even though the film had been in release for nearly two months by that point.
- #016
Roland Emmerich's influences on the film include Die Hard (1988), Man on Fire (2004) and many of Tony Scott's films.
- #017
The events take place on October 4, 2014.
- #018
When the tank is fired upon, a lock-on warning is heard. RPG-7s, or any RPG model, have no lock-on capability; this fictional lock-on was added for the film.
- #019
At 55:05, the Vice President is being briefed by the military and the Secret Service on camera. In the lower left of the screen you see "Air Force One," but since he is the Vice President it should read "Air Force Two."
- #020
While briefing his team on the day's events, Martin Walker refers to the President as "Eagle." All presidents and their families have Secret Service code names; the First Lady was given the name "Empress."
- #021
Like Olympus Has Fallen (2013), this other 2013 action film about a hostile takeover of the White House features the killing of the Vice President. In Olympus Has Fallen, the Vice President was shot and killed in a televised execution while held hostage in the underground Presidential Emergency Operations Center. In this film, the Vice President dies when Air Force Two is hit by a missile.
- #022
Laeta Kalogridis, who also served as a producer, did an uncredited pass on the final shooting draft.
- #023
This is the second film in which Jamie Foxx appears alongside James Woods, as the two had previously worked together on Any Given Sunday (1999).
- #024
The cast includes Oscar winner Jamie Foxx and three Oscar nominees: Richard Jenkins, James Woods and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
- #025
This marks the third time Roland Emmerich has directed a film in which the White House is completely destroyed or heavily damaged, after Independence Day (1996) and 2012 (2009). Major events in all three films take place in DC and at the White House, but this is the only one of Emmerich's films in which it is the main setting.
- #026
US nuclear submarines must receive authorization from the National Command Authority to launch nuclear weapons and cannot be launched remotely. As a safeguard, they must be launched with the order of the boat's Captain and the concurrence of the Executive Officer. This makes the Captain of a US nuclear submarine a very powerful individual, but it also means that Director Walker's (James Woods) plan to launch a nuclear weapon from the USS Albuquerque using President Sawyer's (Jamie Foxx) biometrics is impossible.
- #027
As President Sawyer (Jamie Foxx) and Agent Cale (Channing Tatum) try to survive in the presidential limousine, the Beast, and the National Guard maneuvers an Abrams tank to breach the fence and affect their escape from the White House grounds, terrorists on the roof of the White House stop the tank with an RPG-7, a Soviet-designed rocket launcher popular with rebels and terrorists worldwide. The Abrams tank is specifically armored against this weapon, so some viewers may find it doubtful that such an old, smaller weapon could stop a piece of advanced modern armor, but the rocket specifically damaged the tank's treads, immobilizing it and making it ineffective at opening an escape route for the President and his protector.
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