10 Pageant-Perfect Facts You Never Knew About Miss Congeniality

Steve Schnur, music supervisor, told People in 2019 that he has a video of Sandra Bullock playing tambourine for the song “Mustang Sally” when they recut it for the film. It was the song used for the makeover reveal and Schnur said the track needed a little something extra for the movie, so they recut the original, and Bullock played the tambourine for the soundtrack version.

Sandra Bullock is all about the comedy. She said in an on-set interview with ET in 2000 that she had been searching for a movie that would allow her to be funny and real. She said, “Through the years I’d always looked for something that had a lot of physical comedy and sort of the great fish-out-of-water story and having to do something that they would never normally do. . . . I didn’t read a lot of scripts for women that had that sort of humor. It was always sort of like we’re supposed to keep it together and look relatively attractive. . . . This is sort of nice because it takes a person from one end to the other end and it just shows a side to women and men – it shows the men what women really go through and it shows women what they really don’t have to go through.”

In a behind-the-scenes video with the cast and crew, director Donald Petrie revealed that when Michael Caine would mess up his scenes with Sandra Bullock, she would jokingly say someone should take his Oscar away. You can even see a few outtakes from the movie where she does just that in the behind-the-scenes video. He had won the statue that year for best supporting actor for his role in The Cider House Rules and won in 1987 for best supporting actor for his role in Hannah and Her Sisters.

The line “You think I’m gorgeous, you want to kiss me” that Gracie (Sandra Bullock) sings to Eric (Benjamin Bratt) was a riff that Bullock said she just came up with. She said in a 2000 interview that she used Eddie Murphy as inspiration, combined with her own obnoxiousness.

To get the big explosion of the Statue of Liberty’s head in the finale of the pageant, production made four heads. Peter Larkin, production designer, said in a behind-the-scenes video, “We’ve made four heads: one good one and three filled with sawdust and dynamite, and we’ll have to probably have to clean it up after each explosion.”

Sandra Bullock may have not been a Star Trek fan before working with William Shatner on the film, but she said after the fact that she started watching the show and started to get why it and he are so popular. She also revealed in that same 2000 interview that he went by Bubba on set. “For some reason he was touted Bubba, which I kinda like for him,” she said.

Edward Herrmann was originally in the film as Gracie’s dad but was ultimately cut in the final movie. However, you can still catch a glimpse of his role in the original trailer. He was in a scene that was seemingly his wedding, where he asks Gracie if she’s a lesbian.

Executive producer Marc Lawrence called on his musically talented 6-year-old son Clyde to pitch a version of the “Miss United States” song for producers to choose from. Despite going up against other songs written by musical professionals, Clyde’s song was chosen and used for the film.

The lavender Herve Leger bandage dress Sandra Bullock wears as the new-and-improved Gracie walking out of the airplane hanger is actually off the rack. The film’s costume designer, Susie DeSanto, told People that she wanted to put Bullock in something to show off her figure because the makeover was all about making your jaw drop.

Sandra Bullock definitely didn’t want the swimsuit competition to be included in the pageant, but she lost the battle with production. When asked by ET on the set of the film if she’d be participating, she said “reluctantly, yes.” She went on to say it was a “huge bone of contention” with her, but it stayed in the script.