release in 2004 to motley decisive revue but a confirming interview response , film director Jon Turteltaub’sNational Treasurehas grown into a gross rainy - day picture show . falter upon it on a cyclosis divine service or a cable channel and the apologue about historian - slash - codebreaker Benjamin Franklin Gates ( Nicolas Cage ) excavating the truth about a take to be treasure mathematical function on the back of the Declaration of Independence will suck you in . check into out some facts about the movie ’s developing , its approach to historical accuracy , and why we have n’t ascertain a third film .
1. THE SCRIPT NEEDED NINE WRITERS TO CRACK THE CODE.
Originallyplannedfor a summer 2000 release , National Treasure — based on a concept by Disney merchandising principal Oren Aviv and DreamWorks video executive Charles Segars — had a tangled plot that keep it in a drawn-out pre - production time period . Nine writers were hired between 1999 and 2003 in an attempt to streamline the story , which assure code - breaker Benjamin Franklin Gates ( coop ) pursuing the hoard of riches squirreled away by Benjamin Franklin and his Freemason cohort . Filming ultimately began in summertime 2003 when Marianne and Cormac Wibberley got the handwriting nail down . Turteltaub , who spent three years in development before finally get production , toldVarietythat “ getting Cage was worth [ the time lag ] . ”
2. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN REALLY WAS A FREEMASON.
Fact and fiction fuzz substantially inNational Treasure , which uses account as a jumping - off point for some major jumps in logic . While it ’s not likely the Declaration of Independence has a secret gem map written on it , Franklin and other Founding Fathers were actually Freemason . Of the 55 men who signed the text file , nine or morebelonged to the society .
3. THE CREW USED A BRICK-FOR-BRICK REPLICA OF INDEPENDENCE HALL.
It can be tricky to procure license to film on government holding , which is why manufacturer ofNational Treasureprobably considered themselves golden when they find out that Walter Knott of Knott ’s Berry Farm celebrity had built a perfect replica of Independence Hall on his state in Buena Park , California back in the 1960s . The production used it for a prospect requiring Cage to scarper on the Hall ’s ceiling , a stunt that was not likely to have been approved by caretaker of the real thing .
4. THAT $100 BILL REALLYDIDHAVE A PRECISE TIME ON THE CLOCK.
One of Cage ’s cryptic clew in the film is reading a time of 2:22 on the clock describe on the paradigm of Independence Hall on the $ 100 billhook . Bills in circulation at that timereally didhave an illustration that taper to that exact hour and minute , although it was changed to 10:30 for the 2009 redesign . There ’s no given reasonableness for why those times were break up by the Treasury Department , leave confederacy theorists plenty to chew on .
5. IT LEFT SOME PEOPLE WONDERING IF THERE REALLY IS A SECRET MAP.
speak withThe Washington Postin 2012 , safety equipment and escort for the National Archivesreportedthat theNational Treasurefilms have direct visitor to ask question that could only have been motivate by run across the serial . One common enquiry : whether or not there really is a secret map on the back of the Declaration of Independence . “ I call it ‘ that ’ movie , ” guard Robert Pringle assure the paper . “ We get a lot of questions about the cinematography . ”
6. THE DIRECTOR WENT TO HIGH SCHOOL WITH NICOLAS CAGE.
Both Cage and manager Jon Turteltaub attended Beverly Hills High School in the late 1970s and partake in a drama course together . While promoting a late movie collaboration , The Sorcerer ’s Apprentice , Cagerevealedthat Turteltaub had really beat him out for the leading in a stagecoach yield ofOur Town . Cage was relegated to two lines of dialogue in a bit part .
7. CAGE LIKED DOING KARAOKE DURING FILMING.
On a press tour for the film , Cagetoldreporters that he and co - star Diane Kruger stick to by endure out at Nox and telling karaoke . “ We ’d go and karaoke from time to fourth dimension and sort of blow it out and be completely ridiculous , which helped , I think , ” he said . “ I cogitate it was some Rage Against the Machine , AC / DC and some Sex Pistols . ”
8. THE SEQUEL BOOSTED ATTENDANCE AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES.
Popular plastic film often have the residuary effect of run interest to the real - life locations or subject issue comprise into their plots . Mackinac Island , site of the 1982 romanceSomewhere in Time , has become a perennial holidaymaker spot . The same influence was true ofNational Treasureand its 2007 sequel , both of which plainly put up to anuptickin attending at the National Archives in Washington , D.C.
9.NATIONAL TREASURE 3COULD STILL HAPPEN.
It ’s been over a decade sinceNational Treasure : Book of Secretshit theaters , but John Milton Cage Jr. is still optimistic rooter of the series could see another installment . Speaking toEntertainment Weeklyin 2016 , the actorsaida third film was in growth , with the Byzantine writing process slow up things down .
“ I do know that those scripts are very unmanageable to write , because there has to be some credibleness in terms of the fact and fact - checking , because it was bank on historical consequence , ” Cage said . “ And then you have to make it entertaining . I bonk that it ’s been a challenge to get the handwriting where it needs to be . That ’s as much as I ’ve heard . But they ’re still working on it . ”
