What's with the opening butt shot? It's based on a painting by American painter John Kacere, who liked painting women’s butts and painted many, many of them. Seriously. He painted so many of them that we don’t know which particular work of art inspired that opening shot (source).

Sofia Coppola wrote the screenplay with Bill Murray in mind, and said she wouldn’t have made the movie if she couldn’t have gotten him to play Bob for the measly amount of money she could afford to pay him. She called up everyone she knew to try to reach him and persuade him to talk to her about it. It worked. Murray figured if she was so committed, he’d give it a go (source).

Don't tell the Japanese police, but most of the street and subway scenes were shot without a permit. We're no Japanese lawyers, but we're pretty sure the statute of limitations is up anyway (source).

No matter what anybody says, the character of Kelly is not based on Cameron Diaz (source).

The actress who voiced Lydia was actually the production’s costume designer, Nancy Steiner (source).