Trivia for
Gattaca
The name "Gattaca" is composed entirely of the letters used to label the nucleotide bases of DNA. The four nucleotode bases of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) are adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine.
Public address announcements in the Gattaca Corporation headquarters building are in Esperanto, an artifical language invented in the 19th century.
The winding stairs in Jerome's apartment have a helical structure, like DNA.
Uma Thurman's character is named Irene Cassini. Cassini is the surname of the 17th century French-Italian astronomer, Jean Dominique Cassini, who discovered the prominent gap in Saturn's main rings, as well as the icy moons, Iapetus, Dione, Rhea, and Tethys. The space mission in Gattaca is destined for Saturn.
Jude Law's character asks to be called by his middle name, Eugene. "Eugene" comes from the Greek for "well born," which Jerome is. "Eugenics" (the science of improving the hereditary qualities of a race or breed) is the central theme of the film.
The Gattaca building (interiors and exteriors) is, in reality, the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, CA. It was designed by American star architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1957. The largest Wright design ever constructed, it was largely built after his death in 1959. The central dome (prominent in the roof-cleaning scene) contains the county library.
The FBI agents are called "Hoovers," a reference to legendary top-G-man J. Edgar Hoover, but also a clever reference to a vacuum cleaner brand. There are numerous shots of vacuums being used to gather DNA evidence.
The Marin County Civic Center, filming location of the Gattaca Corporation, was also used in George Lucas' THX 1138.
When Gattaca was first released, as part of a marketing campaign there were adverts for people to call up and have their children genetically engineered. Thousands of people called, wanting to have their offspring genetically engineered
The film's working title was "The Eighth Day", a reference to the Biblical creation story, which states that the earth was created in six days and on the seventh day, God rested. The original title implies the tampering of man with what God has already made, and "The Eighth Day" is still the name of the center in the movie where the children are engineered, as noted on the DVD deleted scenes.
The piece played by the six-fingered pianist is based on Impromptu in G Flat Major, Op. 90, No. 3. by Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828). However, the creators did a beautiful job embellishing the piece with additional notes/harmonies so that it "can only be played with twelve[fingers]," as the Uma Thurman character notes.
Vincent's car is a 1963 Studebaker Avanti.
The exterior shots of Ethan Hawke/Jude Law's apartment is actually the CLA (Classrooms, Laboratories, and Administration) Building of Cal Poly Pomona.