Fun Facts About Mad Money
Film Production Information on Diane Keaton Heist Comedy
Enjoy some weird and wonderful trivia about the making of Overture Films' Mad Money starring Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah, and Katie Holmes as novice bank robbers.
About the Film
- Mad Money is based on the British TV film Hot Money in which three cleaning women figure out how to steal cash scheduled for destruction by the high-security Bank of England.
- The screenwriter for Mad Money, Glenn Gers, wrote episodes of the television comedies Cybill, The Jeff Foxworthy Show, and Becker, and co-wrote the acclaimed feature film thriller Fracture, starring Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling. He was called in to rewrite the script for an American audience.
- In Mad Money director Callie Khouri’s screenwriting debut, Thelma and Louise (which introduced audiences to Brad Pitt in his first major film role), she won an Academy Award for best original screenplay, a Writers Guild of America prize, a Golden Globe, and a PEN Literary Award.
- Although most heist films, such as Ocean’s Eleven and After the Sunset, focus on male protagonists planning and executing a crime, Mad Money concerns the lives of three average (and very dissimilar) women before, during, and most importantly, after the theft from the Federal Reserve Bank.
- Actor Stephen Root, who portrays Glover, the bumbling head of security for the Kansas City branch of the Federal Reserve Bank, won the part over nearly 80 other actors who auditioned for the role.
About the Money
- The Federal Reserve System is the central bank of the United States, and destroys old, damaged, and worn paper money (about $10 billion each year) by shredding it in twelve different branches around the country.
- In the United States old, damaged money is shredded, while in Great Britain, it gets burned.
- The film was shot entirely on location in and around Shreveport, Louisiana, and The Louisiana Exhibit Museum doubles for the lobby of the Kansas City branch of the Federal Reserve Bank.
- The millions of dollars seen throughout the film are a mixture of real money and prop money, which includes carefully crafted fake bills in the foreground to Styrofoam blocks with photographs of money wrapped around them for the deep background.
- The average life span of a one dollar bill and a ten dollar bill is about 18 months. A five dollar bill lasts about 15 months, and a twenty dollar bill may last up to two years. The average life of a coin is 25 years.
- Although in Mad Money the emphasis is on stealing the money earmarked for destruction, the Federal Reserve Bank does far more than merely destroy old money. It sets interest rates, supervises and regulates banking institutions, and watches over financial markets among other duties.
- Mad Money
- Director: Callie Khouri
- Run time: 104 minutes
- Rating: PG-13
To learn more about Mad Money, read Mad Money Movie Review and Clothing in the Movies and on TV.
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