Trivia for For Whom the Bell Tolls
- Shot on a GL1 Cannon Video Camera.
- Death's costume was inspired by styles of the 1930s. I redesigned the Grim Reaper's look because I felt that the Grim Reaper in the black robe was no longer relevant. I to put him in clothes that looked sinister, but that a person might wear.
- The music in the movie is taken from Batman Returns and Corpse Bride. Both movies were scored by Danny Elfman.
- The hiding of Death's face was achieved by taking a black beanie and rolling the brim down so that it covered Ryan's face.
- The main reason that Drew Boshears was cast as the man to die was because he had a beard and looked old enough to possibly die.
- When Death opens the door without actually pushing it open, I am actually on the ground, out of frame, pulling the door open.
- The entire movie was completely inspired by the track Birth of a Penguin 1 from the Batman Returns soundtrack. Over time I would listen to the score and see many of the images that appear in final film.
- Death's skeleton hand had to be ordered from a medical website and arrived in the mail on the day of filming. It cost around $30 and appears in the movie for 5 seconds.
- Drew caught a cold as result of filming this movie and running around without any shoes on.
- Death's watch is my wide-band Fossil watch. It was originally scripted and story boarded that Death had a pocket watch, but I was unable to find one so it was changed to my wristwatch on the night of filming.
- Filmed during the Christmas season. If you look closely into the lobby of the building that the man stops in front of you can see a Christmas tree.
- Ryan Lay had no visibility through the mask. As result the only way Ryan could move was in a straight line or risk tripping.
- The area that the condemned man is running through in the second act of the film is the Letterman Digital Arts center where Lucas Film Ltd., Lucas Arts, and Industrial Light and Magic are located.
- A jogger was digitally removed from the shot where the Grim Reaper is pulling his notebook out of his pocket.
- The original idea was to have death walking through a sprawling city making his way to an enormous mansion. The film was originally supposed to end with Death killing the man in his bed, with the man not trying to get away.
- Death's hat is a hat that Ryan Lay actually wears on a regular basis.
- At one point I considered putting digital snow all through the film. I decided against it since it would'nt be believable because you would never see it collecting on the ground.
- I would continually lie to the actors to keep them on set for filming. Whenever Ryan would ask "How many more shots do you have to shoot?" I would reply "Oh only about 3 more." when in reality I had about 40 more shots to shoot.
- The dead man's room is in fact my room. If you look closely you can see a Aqua Teen Hunger Force poster and a Nightmare Before Christmas poster on the wall.
- Death wears no socks.
- The clock wipe was achieved by first filming Ryan walking past the clock and wiping his hand across it. Then the clock was filmed alone for 20 minutes. The two shots were put in top of each other with the shot with Ryan in it getting the background cut out and the shot with the clock alone sped up and reversed at the instant that Death wipes the clock.