Will Ferrell was the voice of American President George W. Bush when speaking to Kelly Robinson (Eddie Murphy) over the telephone. Ferrell impersonated Bush on Saturday Night Live (1975).
At the request of director Betty Thomas, Darren Shahlavi lost thirty pounds so as to be the same size as Eddie Murphy during the boxing scenes.
Initially, Owen Wilson admitted he was a little nervous about performing opposite comedy legend Eddie Murphy, who was one of his comic idols. Wilson said: "This is the first time I've had to work with someone who is so incredible at improvisation. At first, it was difficult to keep up with Eddie. But slowly I started playing off his riffs. I don't know if that's what people mean by on-screen chemistry. To me it's a feeling that you are really in a groove with what the other guy is doing."
The grounds of the Buda Castle were so extensive that the production's first and second units were filming on either side of the castle at the same time. Producer Mario Kassar said: "It was an amazing feat. In some ways it was surprising that we didn't trip over each other. Action is taking place on one side, and on the other, Betty is tackling all the great character stuff."
Like Owen Wilson, Famke Janssen got to spar with Eddie Murphy on-screen, a process Janssen, like Wilson, also found daunting at the outset. She said, "There's a scene in which Eddie and I first meet and he just kept tossing lines at me and I kept going with it. It was really scary, but once I got used to it, a lot of fun as well."
Will Ferrell: Uncredited, as the voice of the American President when speaking to Kelly Robinson (Eddie Murphy) over the telephone.
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