Brick Trivias
The first sequence in the movie that was filmed was the chase scene between Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Chuck "The Lug" Burns (Cody Lightning).
In the Halloween in January scene, a girl in a red dress briefly walks across the shot. She is dragging a cooler, a reference to May, another movie Rian Johnson worked on.
The movie contains a number of references to Dashiell Hammett stories. For instance, at the end of the film, the antagonist whispers "a dirty word" to the protagonist. A similar occurrence can be found in the Hammett story "The Girl With The Silver Eyes". References to The Maltese Falcon include Brendan's request of Laura to honk her car horn four times – long, short, long, short – to communicate with him. Also, earlier in the film, Brendan remarks to Laura "Now you are Dangerous", a line lifted directly from the The Maltese Falcon (Chapter 4 - The Black Bird).
The majority of the film was shot at existing locations. One of the few sets used for the film was The Pin's basement. The Pin's study was filmed in first, then the set was painted black and dressed to look like the musty storage room located opposite the study.
The telephone booth seen throughout the film is a non-functioning set piece.
Speaking on the Brick Forum, Rian Johnson cited the cult Japanese animé series Cowboy Bebop as being influential in his visualisation of the movie.
To cheaply create the effect of something coming out of the tunnel and jumping up in the observer's face, the dream sequence in which Brendan sees Emily coming out of the tunnel is shot in reverse. You can see this because the water appears to be flowing out of the tunnel, while in all the other shots, it's flowing in.The newspaper that shows "Local Girl Missing" includes an article to the left that gives a plot summary for the pilot episode of Pamela Anderson's "V.I.P." (1998).
The film was shot in Rian Johnson's home town, and the high school featured is the one he attended himself.As Brendan enters the Halloween in January party, a girl with long hair passes by with a cooler on wheels. This is the main character from the movie "May", which director Rian Johnson edited.
The horn signal Brendan instructs Laura to give him (long, short, long, short) is the same as the doorbell signal Sam Spade tells Brigid O'Shaughnessy he'll use in The Maltese Falcon (1941). Brendan's earlier line to Laura, "Now you are dangerous," is taken from the film as well.In his meeting with Trueman, Brendan refers to a teacher "Kasprzyk" as being "tough but fair". Mrs. Kasprzyk was an actual teacher of English (including Advanced Placement English) who was largely known as being tough but fair at San Clemente High School, the school where the movie was shot.
According to the review in "The New Yorker", this film was edited on a home computer.When Brendan is talking to Assistant Vice Principal Trueman in his office, a reflection of the boom mike can be seen in a picture on his desk.
When Brendan and The Pin are talking on the beach, the sun goes back and forth from being totally above to partially below the horizon.The second time that Brendan and The Brain meet at The Brain's spot. As Brendan asks The Brain about the words that Emily spoke on the phone, two students walk behind them. A few moments later, the exact same pair of students walk behind Brendan, going in the same direction.
When Brendan confronts Kara for the third time, she is wearing a choker with a huge flower on it. The flower keeps moving from the side of her neck to the center of her neck between shots.After Brendan's confrontation with Dode in the football field, he falls on the grass and briefly passes out. When he wakes up and hears Laura's horn, his clothing is dirty. When he reaches the tunnel to meet with Tug, The Pin, and Dode, his clothing is clean.
When meeting Dode on the football pitch, Brendan falls over, and gets his jacket covered in mud. He wakes up, meets Pin, Tug and Dode at the tunnel, but now with a clean jacket.After his first encounter behind the Coffee and Pie, Brendon is seen hiding behind a bush as he follows someone. As he gets up to walk away, you can clearly see a large red abrasion on the left side of his face that isn't in the previous or following shots.
