National Treasure Trivias

As the scaffolding is falling, we see nails popping out. These are clearly manufactured nails and not cut nails of the type used in the colonial period.

Diane Kruger did most of her own stunt work in the car chase scene

When Riley is writing the letters that the kid has just brought him from the Silence Dogood letters, on the newspaper, a yellow piece of paper is visible with the letters T O and W on it. Since this is the type of paper that the kid is writing letters on, it has the same grid, and there are no other words with the letters T O and W in them this indicates that the paper was filled out before it was given to the kid.

Several times during the underground sequence, we see one character or another clear spider webs out of the way by pushing through them with a torch, causing them to melt and dissolve out of the way. Real spider webs burn when exposed to flame and webs as dense as those shown would have displayed considerable crackling and smoking as they burned up.

Along with the Gates family all being named after founding fathers, Ian's last name is Howe, the last name of two brothers who were a British general and an admiral in the Revolutionary War.

The characters coated the back of the Declaration of Independence with lemon juice and held it over heat to make the invisible ink visible. However, lemon juice is sometimes used as an invisible ink itself, and heat makes it reappear. The entire back of the document would've turned brown, obscuring the map they were trying to reveal.

Near the end, when Riley Poole is sitting in his Ferrari, several shots show the car wet, like it was just rained on. In other shots, it is perfectly dry.

Good guys in the movie use Google and bad guys use Yahoo! search engines.

The length (and even existence) of Riley's goatee varies throughout the movie.

The cities that the major action takes place in (Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City) are three of the nine capital cities the United States has had in its history.

The length of Abigail's hair changes throughout the movie. It's much longer at the beginning and end than it is during the middle when they are being chased and in the tunnels.

During a press junket, when asked if he believed the treasure existed, Sean Bean replied, "It's probably in Sheffield," (his home town).

When Ben visits his father after stealing the Declaration and they argue, there are reflections of video screens in his father's glasses.

On the DVD, director Joe Turtletaub says the initial rough cut was around four hours long.

In the tunnels below the church, Patrick Gates appears to be lit from the torch he is holding. When he turns toward the camera, a square diffused light is reflected in his glasses and is the source of the "torch" light.

The screenwriting team of Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott were hired by producer Jerry Bruckheimer to do an uncredited script polish for the movie.

In determining where the shadow from the tower fell, they compensated for daylight saving time, but in addition to failing to compensate for time of year, failed to compensate for offset from local time to standard time. Standard time (time zones) was not established in the USA until the 1880s, and clocks were normally set to local time, usually based on observing the local noon.

As the camera pans through the treasure room we can see a statue of a black bird - an homage to The Maltese Falcon (1941), which was another treasure hidden by a group of knights and sought after by several parties.

When Riley is first shown in the treasure room looking at the "big... bluish-green man with a strange looking goatee", there is already a smudge in the dust on the chest of the statue. The scene cuts to Riley, then back to the him and the statue. The statue now has an even layer of undisturbed dust with no smudge. Riley then hugs the statue and his cheek rests on the chest of the statue. He is not shown moving away from the statue, but the smudge could have only been left by his cheek.

Ben, Patrick, and John Gates were all named after founding fathers (Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, and John Adams). Abigail Chase is a combination of Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, and Samuel Chase, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and Supreme Court associate judge.

During the escape from the Intrepid, between the lack of visibility and the inability to determine sound direction underwater, it would be nearly impossible for a diver to quickly locate Ben Gates. Furthermore, they were using open circuit SCUBA, which would have left a trail of exhaust bubbles easily tracked on the surface.

When Sadusky and his men are arresting Ben, the back of Riley and Abigail's heads can be seen as they leave the scene, however, a moment later they come around the corner and witness Ben's arrest and then leave again.

The movie suggests that something is written on the back of the Declaration of Independence. It is true that something is written on its back. The writing on the back of the Declaration of Independence reads: "Original Declaration of Independence dated 4th July 1776" and it appears on the bottom of the document, upside down. While no one knows for certain who wrote it, it is known that early in its life, the large parchment document (it measures 29 3/4 inches by 24 ½ inches) was rolled up for storage. So, it is likely that the notation was added simply as a label.

When Ben has been captured by Sadusky, you can see Riley and Abigail coming around the corner, and then they disappear and come around again.

The postcard carousel in the gift shop as Ben Gates is hiding from Abigail.

After Ben has escaped the FBI and is driven to meet Ian, Ian puts the pipe and declaration on top of the car. Ben takes the declaration in his left hand and the pipe in his right in the next shot when he tries to walk away, the declaration is in his right hand and the pipe is hidden.

When Ben, Abigail, and Riley are at Urban Outfitters, Ben and Abby are getting new clothes. They are in changing rooms next to each other. When they come out, Abby has her hands on the top of the door. But in the very next shot, she has her arms folded across the top of the door.

When Riley goes down into the National Archives Metro stop to tap the security system, the train passing behind him is clearly a New York subway train and not a DC Metro train.

Many times throughout the movie, the Declaration of Independence is pulled from the black carrying case and is constantly being rolled and unrolled. The actual Declaration of Independence is in a glass case filled with helium - used to preserve the old document. If it were to be taken out of its case, exposed to air, and handled, it would fall apart.

Just after Ben mixes the fluorescent marker liquid, he reaches into the glass clearly holding the George Washington campaign button. The scene then cuts to him dipping his bare fingers and the button has vanished.

The last name on Security Guard Mike's jacket is Hawk.

When discussing the Pass and Stow riddle in Urban Outfitters, Abigail is clearly leaning on the counter with one hand as Ben says, "...the vision to see the treasure past must refer to a way to read the map". In the next shot, Abigail's arms are crossed and she is standing straight up.

When Abigail and Riley are running through the market, Abigail jumps over a low wooden counter but is shown finishing her "jump" behind a glass meat case far from the wooden counter which, incidentally, is being blocked by the waitress.

While explaining the importance of the lantern outside the treasure room Patrick Gates incorrectly states that a Thomas Newton hung the lanterns in the Old North Church for Paul Revere to see. The name of the church sexton that hung the two lanterns was Robert Newman.

When Abigail opens the box containing the campaign button, the bottom of the box falls on its side. In the next shot, the close-up of her hands holding the button, the box is right side up.

The back of Bens computer (during the security badge manipulation scene) shows the logo of (HP) Hewlett-Packard, but he runs Photoshop on Apple's Mac OS X, an operating system that doesn't run on HP computers.

When Ben at the computer entering in Abigail's password to get into the preservation room, He accidentally hits the "Caps Lock" button on the keyboard instead of the "A" button, but it still works.

Before the movie got its rating, it was under the Touchstone Pictures banner (which is part of Disney). When the film got its rating (which is PG), it was then put under the Walt Disney Pictures banner, as it is clear that it is a more family-friendly movie.

Ben Gates says that the Declaration was signed by 55 men. In actuality, it was signed by 56, including John Hancock.

Campaign buttons did not exist when George Washington was elected president. The first campaign button appeared in the 1824 election for Andrew Jackson.