The Shadow/Trivia

• Actor Allusion: Peter Boyle as a Taxi Driver.
• As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Alec Baldwin doesn't speak Chinese but it doesn't stop him from ordering a Peking duck.
• Covered Up: The theme song "Original Sin" was originally the title track for a Pandora's Box album written and produced by Jim Steinman and was later more famously covered by his frequent collaborator Meat Loaf (with some lyrical alterations: only the movie version features lines about "who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men").
• Did Not Do the Research: Shiwan is "the last descendant of Genghis Khan." Genghis Khan has millions of living descendants. He's also a few Ming vases short of a dynasty.
• Fake American: Tim Curry as Farley Claymore.
• Fridge Brilliance: Shiwan stole Genghis' coffin and probably threw his remains out somewhere.
  • In one of the podcast reviews of the movie, I've heard another example of Fridge Brilliance: in the chinese restaurant scene Shiwan Khan wears a nice suit, very similar to Shadow's. That's because Shiwan Khan, being the Ying-Ko fanboy he is, tries to mimic him. And another moment: in the same scene bullets shot by Shadow and Shiwan Khan hit each other. Rule of Cool? Not only. They were trying to scan each other's minds, that's why their bullets ended up hitting each other.
• Fridge Logic: If Bronzium is believed to be a legend, how does Dr. Tam know exactly how to test for it, what it is capable of, and what would be needed to build an atomic bomb with it?
• Hey, It's That Guy!: Alec Baldwin. Ian McKellen. Tim Curry. Need I say more?
  • Yes, actually. Lamont's driver is Raymond's dad. The museum security guard is Neelix.
  • Al Leong (Die Hard/Lethal Weapon/Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure) helps kidnap Po's dad.
  • The hypnotized taxi driver is Carl.
  • Dr. Tam is Uncle. He was also Kenji, the man who designed Peepers and Zoom.
  • Margo Lane will later be known as Mary Kay LeTourneau, at least if a Lifetime Movie of the Week is anything to go by.
  • "Hey, Willie! Why are you working at a museum?"
  • Speaking of aliens on Earth, Lamont's uncle once had Mork from Ork as his fat-er, I mean mot-um, as his parent.
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Frank Welker as the Phurba.
• Mythology Gag: Shiwan asking where Lamont got his tie is a spoof of the product placement used in the radio show.
  • Mrs. Tam thinks The Shadow was made up to make people listen to the radio more. Well, it was a radio show...
• Prop Recycling: The Phurba is the same knife from The Golden Child. Replicas of the Phurba have been made as tie-ins to The Shadow.
• What Could Have Been: The shooting script had a longer chase scene in the Hall of Mirrors, including flashbacks and banter. However, an earthquake destroyed some of the mirrors, making the full scene too expensive.
  • Sam Raimi wanted to follow up Evil Dead II with this but was unable to get the rights. Instead, he directed Darkman, using some of the ideas he had for his version of the story.