Trivia for
Executive Decision (1996)

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• Don Burgess reportedly stepped in as cinematographer when producer Joel Silver thought Alex Thomson was working too slowly.
  
  
• Messages are received on the F-14 on a device called the CRM-115, obviously a reference to the CRM-114 in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964).
  
  
• Like Stargate (1994), this movie features a small military team sent into a dangerous and unprecedented situation along with a small number of civilian specialists. In that movie, Kurt Russell was the military team leader; this time he's a civilian.
  
  

• At the end of the movie, David Grant (Kurt Russell) asks Jean (Halle Berry) if she likes hockey, and Jean replies, "Hockey? No, I only like baseball." At the time, Halle Berry was married to then-Atlanta Braves outfielder David Justice.
  
  
• The passenger manifest that is seen by Halle Berry is an American Airlines manifest.
  
  
• The face of Steven Seagal was added on German cinema posters/VHS covers to attract more viewers, as he is quite popular there.
  
  
• When it is time for Dr. Grant - a student pilot who has not yet soloed - to try landing a 747, he does several things extraordinarily correctly. He recognizes that he does not know the limitations of his plane, and asks for the Pilot Operating Handbook. Also correct is the federal requirement to have the POH available on the flight deck at all times. He understands that every plane has an approach & landing speed or it will pancake on touchdown. He almost stalled the plane by slowing with out extending the flaps but he worked it out as a competent person would and he figured out the next alarm quickly about the landing gear. Finally, when faced with an obviously too-high approach, he realized that he did not have the expertise to turn around as the flight attendant suggested, but he got his bearings and located the small field that he was taking lessons at and set the plane down there even though he ended up off the end of the runway. His knowledge of this complex airplane is probably because he took his flying lessons in a plane with a powerful engine and retractable landing gear, which is the only truly unrealistic aspect - 99% of student pilots will learn to solo in the smallest, cheapest, and least complex trainer available.
  
  
• Originally Halle Berry refused the part in this movie, but said yes when she was offered $1million for the job. This was her first $1million payment for a film.
  
  
• The F-14 Tomcats that intercept the 747 are actual US Navy Tomcats that the Navy agreed to use in the movie. The aircraft were from the squadron VF-84 Jolly Rogers, and the filming of this movie was one of the squadron's last official duties before being disbanded.
  
  
• According to John Leguizamo in his autobiography, Steven Seagal physically attacked him during filming in an effort to scare the cast and crew.
  
  
• The name of Steven Seagal's character, Austin Travis, is derived from the city of Austin, Texas, which is located in Travis County.
  
  
• Baker (Whip Hubley) mentions his erstwhile distaste for Navy pilots (and the Navy in general). Hubley played a Navy pilot in Top Gun (1986).
  
  
• Stuart Baird's directorial debut.
  
  
• In the scene with Kurt Russell and John Rixey Moore in the straight tail Beeechcraft Bonanza, the plane's tail number is N2TS. This is John Rixey Moore's personal airplane. Both actors are shown in the actual plane's interior.
  
  
• According to John Leguizamo in his autobiography, his frequent improvisation angered Kurt Russell so much that they got into a shoving match. Leguizamo's improvised line "Hope the smell doesn't give us away." started the fight.
  
  

• SPOILER: Steven Seagal originally refused to shoot his death scene for fear his fans would not like it. Director Stuart Baird insisted he must do it as scripted, though Seagal held up filming for a few days and suggested that the manner in which it happened wouldn't realistically cause him to die. Finally after threat of contractual breach, Seagal acted the death scene as scripted.
  
  

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