Halle Berry refused to bathe for two weeks (!!) in preparation for a role as a crack addict.
Samuel L. Jackson had just undergone treatment for drug addiction and had only two weeks from his discharge from rehab to the start of filming. Jackson has gone on record as saying that Gator's ravaged look was not make-up, but actually the result of Jackson's own detoxification.
The Cannes Film Festival introduced the Best Supporting Actor Award specifically to honor Samuel L. Jackson.
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Marisa Tomei turned down the role of Angie Tucci because of scheduling conflicts with _My Cousin Vinny (1991)_(elle a bien fait !! My Cousin Vinny est très bon)
John Turturro wrote much of his own lines which Lee incorporated into the script.
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Spike Lee has mentioned several times in interviews that he used The Marvin Gay shooting incident in which Marvin's father shot him as an inspiration for The Good Reverend Doctor shooting Gator.
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Spike Lee has said in interviews that he was almost denied three songs for Jungle Fever by Frank Sinatra because of Franks picture being burned on the Italian Hall of Fame in Do the right thing.
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During a scuffle in Paulie's store, a man can be seen reading a newspaper with a front headline that reads "Doin' The Right Thing." Most likely this is a reference to one of Spike Lee's earlier films, Do the Right Thing (1989).
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When Angie is cooking dinner for her father and brothers, she is seen wearing a Kearney Tigers sweatshirt. The Kearney Tigers are a basketball team belonging to a popular all girls high school in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.
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According Bill Lee, Spike Lee's father, the film is a result of Spike's anger at Bill for remarrying to a white woman shortly after Spike's mother died.
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Flippard not Gator's clothes are being thrown out of the window by his wife.
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Cameo
Giancarlo Esposito: A homeless man picking up Gator's belongings while his wife throws them out of the window. This cameo role also serves as another reference to 'Do the Right Thing (1989)' as the homeless man is in fact the very same Buggin' Out character that protested Sal's lack of African-Americans on his wall of fame.