Battle Royale (live-action movie)

Kill Bill Vol 1 does have a small homage to Battle Royale. The scene where Go-Go stabs a man in the crotch and asks him if he still wants to "penetrate her" is a homage to Chiaki Kuriyama's (aka Takako Chigusa) infamous scene in Battle Royale.

The painting in the movie was painted by Takeshi Kitano.

When Quentin asked Fukasaku-san about the stabbing scene in the beginning of the film, Fukasaku said he got it from Reservoir Dogs, which itself copied scenes from Ringo Lam's City on Fire.

While the novel the film is based on is recent, the perspective used in the film has to do with Fukasaku's memories being forced to assist the war effort in Japan as a youth.

The actress who plays the tv/video announcer in military fatigues is Asuka from Evangelion.

The super-deformed characters inserted into the computer when it gets hacked are from Slam Dunk. That is also the manga Shuya is reading in his room. Fukasaku was a fan of the series.

US Distribution is hindered by Toei's unrealistic demands of the movie in the NA market. Some of Toeis demands are a release on-par with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, thereby skipping art house runs, and having it shown uncut. This is often assumed by some that BR is banned in the USA due to it not being marketed here.

Ai Iwamura, the "smiling winner" from the beginning of the movie, was brought in as a double for the classroom scenes when some of the actresses were unavailable for filming.

Nanahara's father hung himself in the month of April, which jives with Nanahara's statement that his father killed himself on his first day of seventh grade (the Japanese school year begins in April).

Battle Royale takes place on May 21 (the day they go on their trip), May 22 (Day 1), 23 (Day 2), and 24 (Day 3). The computer displays reveal the dates when future danger zones are identified by flashing numbers. (In the novel, the year is given as 1997).

The name of the school and town the kids hail from is "Shiroiwa," which translates to "Castle Rock." Author Koushun Takami chose the name as a tribute to his favorite author Stephen King (whose novels 'The Long Walk' and 'The Running Man' seem to have influenced Battle Royale). King sets many of his stories in a fictional town called Castle Rock. In turn, King chose the name "Castle Rock" as an homage to William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies', whose kids-stranded-on-an-island premise parallels that of Battle Royale itself.

The restaurant that Nanahara and his father (almost) dine at is called "La Voglia Matta", an Italian-themed restaurant.