Movie Trivia

This is the 2nd time a movie has featured both Abraham Lincoln and Napoleon. The first was Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989).

Hank Azaria had previously worked with Ben Stiller in Mystery Men (1999). Azaria also made cameo appearances in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004) and Along Came Polly (2004), both of which also starred Stiller.

Director Shawn Levy told a National Public Radio interviewer that once the Smithsonian Institution agreed to lend their name to the film, their curators were very helpful and willing to share information about the real-life characters represented in the movie, but Levy had more trouble with the intellectual property-holders for the fictional characters represented. For instance, for a scene in which Darth Vader interacts with the pharaoh played by Hank Azaria, there was a person on the set who came from LucasFilm and whose job it was to observe all scenes filmed that involved Darth Vader and to tell the filmmakers what Vader would or wouldn't do.

Cameo: [Jonah Hill] Uncredited cameo as the Smithsonian guard 'Brandon'.

Writers Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon make cameos as Wilbur & Orville Wright.

Robin Williams's character of Teddy Roosevelt is briefly seen as a holographic tour guide who will ask any question given to him. Williams played a similar character, "Dr. Know," in Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001).

In the Air and Space Museum, Larry meets the Wright Brothers. Steve Coogan and Owen Wilson previously appeared together in Around the World in 80 Days (2004), in which Wilson and his brother Luke Wilson played the Wright Brothers.

Jedediah refers to himself as a "midnight cowboy," no doubt a reference to Midnight Cowboy (1969), a film about a cowboy (of sorts) in New York City.

The "mysterious" theme from the Indiana Jones films is heard several times while Larry is exploring the crated treasures in the Smithsonian vaults.

Hank Azaria's performance is a nod to Boris Karloff because Karloff played Im-Ho-Tep in the Universal film The Mummy (1932) and Karloff had a distinct English accent with a slight lisp.

The first movie ever filmed in the Smithsonian Institution.

Cameo: [Clint Howard] Ron Howard's brother makes a cameo like a flight commander in the Aeuronautic Center. He did the same role in Apollo 13 (1995), directed by his brother.

It's the ninth film with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson after The Cable Guy (1996), Permanent Midnight (1998), Meet the Parents (2000), Zoolander (2001), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Starsky & Hutch (2004), Meet the Fockers (2004) and Night at the Museum (2006).

Most of the artworks shown are not part of the Smithsonian's collection. "American Gothic" and "Nighthawks" are located at the Art Institute of Chicago, "The Thinker" at the Musee Rodin in Paris, "Venus Italica" at the North Carolina Museum of Art, and the Degas ballerina at the Royal Academy in London. The organization of the collection actually suggests a very small museum, as pieces from such different genres would ordinarily be grouped with similar pieces.

Reese Witherspoon was originally set to play Amelia Earhart.

The motorcycle that Larry uses as a getaway vehicle is a rare 1942 Harley Davidson XA Military Side Valve 750cc Flat Twin with attached sidecar. This was Harley's copy of the German BMW/Zundapp military motorcycles.

Additional comic relief is added in the German version due to the fact that the Einsteins are dubbed by Jean Pütz, a famous science journalist and TV host.

Multiple actors in this movie have connections to "The Office" (2005): Ricky Gervais (Mr. McPhee) is a writer and star of the original British series. 'Mindy Kaling' (who appears as a tour guide at the Smithsonian) plays "Kelly" on the US version. Amy Adams appeared in a few episodes as Katy in the US version. Craig Robinson (who appears as one of the Tuskeegee Airmen) stars as Daryl in the US version. Ed Helms (who plays an employee of Larry's) is Andy Bernard in the US version.