Duel: trivia
All 5 facts
- 1
The right man
When Carey Loftin, playing the truck driver, asked Steven Spielberg what his motivation was for tormenting the car's driver, Spielberg told him, "You're a dirty, rotten, no-good son of a bitch." Loftin replied, "Kid, you hired the right man."
- 2
Inspiration
According to Richard Matheson, he was inspired to write the original short story "Duel" after an encounter with a tailgating truck driver on November 22, 1963, the day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
- 3
The killer
Steven Spielberg said that the multiple license plates on the front bumper of the truck suggested that the truck driver is a serial killer which "ran down other drivers in other states".
- 4
Prefix
The phone number Dennis Weaver dials to call his wife at the gas station is not the standard "555" movie prefix but, at the time, a valid number.
- 5
His Godzila
Steven Spielberg stated that he approached this movie in the manner of a Toho monster movie, replacing Godzilla with an 18 wheeler tanker truck.