Trailer
Plot summary
Walter Sparrow, an animal control officer, is given a blood-red-covered novel by his wife Agatha for his birthday. It is a murder mystery credited to Topsy Kretts, built on numerology and circling the number 23. Reading it, Walter finds his own life inside. Its detective, Fingerling, is fixated on the number, and Walter begins to notice 23 in the details around him. He dreams the story and searches for the author without success. His son Robin takes an interest too, while Agatha dismisses it as superstition. Walter checks into room 23 of the hotel where the novel's events take place, and comes to think the book is not fiction.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Number 23 (2007)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Jim Carrey was so captivated by the 23 enigma before he even read the script that he renamed his production company from Pit Bull Productions to JC23, then was "freaked out" when the script's first page had the lead character trying to capture a pit bull.
- Jim Carrey's behavior during filming was reportedly bizarre and upsetting to those on set; the tabloid Radar quoted a source saying Carrey "unzipped his fly and urinated as part of his improvisation."
- Screenwriter Fernley Phillips was destitute and planning to return to England before his script was picked up, and the film spent so long in development that he and associate producer Alissa Ferguson married in January 2005, more than two years before release.
- Virginia Madsen noticed that the parking space assigned to her during shooting was numbered 23, and Joel Schumacher had to redirect crew members distracted by filming the 23rd take of the 23rd scene on February 23, 2006.
- Elisabeth Shue was signed to play Agatha and scheduled to begin filming, but dropped out in January 2006 when she became pregnant; the next month Virginia Madsen was in negotiations for the part.
- Jim Carrey had been attached to voice the Bowler Hat Guy in Disney's 2007 animated film Meet the Robinsons, but turned the role down and left the project to work on The Number 23.
