Projects » The Faculty

Production Year: 1998
Directed by: Robert Rodriguez
Genre: Comedy / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller
Tagline: Six students are about to find out their teachers really are from another planet
Rating: 6.1/10 (13,816 votes)
Runtime: 104 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Certification: Argentina:16 / Australia:M / Canada:14A / Chile:18 / Finland:K-16 / France:-12 / Germany:16 DVD version / Hong Kong:IIB / Netherlands:12 / Norway:15 / Peru:18 / Portugal:M/16 / South Korea:18 / Spain:18 / Sweden:15 / Switzerland:18 (canton of Geneva) / Switzerland:18 (canton of Vaud) / UK:15 / USA:R (certificate #36445) / Germany:18

Plot Outline: Students suspect that their teachers are aliens after bizarre occurances.

Awards: 5 nominations

ALMA Awards 1999 - Nominated
Outstanding Latino Director of a Feature Film, Robert Rodriguez.
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA 1999 - Nominated
Best Horror Film.
Best Performance by a Younger Actor/Actress, Josh Hartnett.
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards 1999 - Nominated
Favorite Actor - Horror, Elijah Wood
Favorite Female Newcomer, Clea DuVall

Cast

Jordana Brewster .... Delilah Profitt
Clea DuVall .... Stokely 'Stokes' Mitchell
Laura Harris .... Marybeth Louise Hutchinson
Josh Hartnett .... Zeke Tyler
Shawn Hatosy .... Stan Rosado
Elijah Wood .... Casey Connor
Salma Hayek .... Nurse Rosa Harper
Famke Janssen .... Miss Elizabeth Burke
Piper Laurie .... Mrs. Karen Olson
Christopher McDonald .... Mr. Frank Connor
Bebe Neuwirth .... Principal Valerie Drake
Usher Raymond .... Gabe Santora
Robert Patrick .... Coach Joe Willis
Jon Stewart .... Prof. Edward Furlong
Daniel von Bargen .... Mr. John Tate

Trivia

When Casey nurses his wounds in the bathroom at the beginning of the movie, graffiti above his head reads, Tito and Tarantula. This is the band of Tito Larriva, who has composed music and acted in director Robert Rodriguez's other movies, Desperado (1995) and From Dusk Till Dawn (1996).
Near the end, Marybeth refuses to take the alien drug test by saying she's allergic. Jordana Brewsters character Delilah says, Yeah, and I'm Portuguese. In real life, Brewster can speak fluent Portuguese.
Jon Stewart plays Prof. Edward Furlong in this movie. Actor Edward Furlong played John Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), chased by the T-1000 Terminator played by Robert Patrick (Coach Joe Willis).
At one point, the principal suggests saving money by reusing the set from Our Town. The joke in this is that Thornton Wilder's ;Our Town; has no set.
In a scene where students are being called to the principal's office, one name called is Thomas Nix. In reality, Tommy Nix is one of director Robert Rodriguez's friends from college. He helped Rodriguez write his second feature Roadracers (1994) (TV).
The high school band in the football scene is from Austin High School in Austin, Texas, which is the high school that President George W. Bush's daughters, Barbara and Jenna attended.
The car Zeke drives is a 1970 Pontiac GTO.
In one scene, Marybeth asks a girl punk where the office is. This girl is director Robert Rodriguez's sister.
The role of Delilah was originally written for Charisma Carpenter. She turned it down because she felt the role was too similar to her character Cordelia on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997).
In exchange for product placement in this film for clothier Tommy Hilfiger's fashion line, the teens from the movie's cast appeared together in a TV commercial print ad campaign for Tommy Jeans throughout 1998.
A lot of the filming was done at the High School in Lockhart Texas. The football team was used and the city was told to show up for the football game and were given fake t-shirts to wear in the stands.

Goofs

Continuity: The strap on Casey's bag as he's walking up to the school in between the shots of Coach Willis talking to his dad and him looking back at them.
Continuity: In Zeke's garage, his glasses jump around his head between shots.
Continuity: The position of Stokely in between shots after Marybeth punches her to the gym floor. (Watch the black line.)
Continuity: The amount of blood on the floor in between shots after the alien trips Stokely.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The controls for folding bleachers could be located in the gym if they are operated by a key; Casey does in fact turn a key before pushing the button.
Continuity: Marybeth (the Queen-Alien) explains she could pass Zeke's Skat test by quickly removing the blue cap on the pen, making the drug fall on the floor. However, the pen is empty but the blue cap is still on the pen.
Continuity: When the main characters gather around the fish tank in the science room after they discover the creature missing the tank goes from half full to full and so on during the entire scene.
Continuity: The position of the soap on a string in the shower scene with Stan and Mrs. Brummel.
Continuity: Nurse Harper puts the lid on her medicine twice before she is attacked.
Crew or equipment visible: While the students are walking toward the fish tank to examine the creature, if you look at the fish tank, there is a reflection of a crew member in a blue shirt.
Continuity: In the faculty lounge near the beginning of the film, when Mr. Tate has the line Can we say retirement? Mr. Furlong's green jacket can be seen next to him. However, at that point, Mr. Furlong is actually talking to Nurse Harper and her patient by the table. Furlong doesn't move next to Tate until later in the scene.
Factual errors: Near the end of the film, Marybeth tells Stokely that in the novel, The Invasion of the Body Snatchers the aliens win. This is not true; in Jack Finney's original book (which is what Stokely is referring to, according to the movie), the aliens give up in the end because humanity is too determined to survive. This was changed in subsequent film adaptations of the story.
Audio/visual unsynchronized: While Marybeth is walking naked through the locker room and her shadow shows her tentacles, in the shots from behind and the shots from her sides she is not actually talking, and it's clearly only a voiceover.
Continuity: When Zeke hands Marybeth the pen Scat, he keeps the blue top in his hand. When we cut from him to Delilah back to Marybeth, the top is on again.
Continuity: Zeke places a paper towel over Oscar vertically, but when seen from another angle, he is placing the towel horizontal.
Continuity: Zeke leaves the room twice after they kill Mr. Furlong.
Continuity: Stokely's hair when she and Casey are talking in the library.
Continuity: When the gang is walking out of the school heading towards Zeke's car, you see a girl in a green shirt walking by, and then, in another shot, standing up on the park bench staring at them.
Continuity: When Zeke is in the bathroom in the beginning when he is introduced, he gives two boys free "scat", he hands it to them and both pens are facing the same way, but when his name appears, one is facing one way and the other is facing another.
Continuity: When Zeke and Miss Burke are in the car near the end of the film we see Zeke putting on his seatbelt. Then we see Zeke's hands on the steering wheel. In the next shot he is still doing his seatbelt up.
Factual errors: When Casey's dad took away his internet privileges, he never took away any type of modem, it was his ZIP drive.
Continuity: After being trapped in the bleachers, the Queen spits several slugs at Casey in a final death throe. The one on his right cheek enters his face twice in subsequent shots.
Continuity: When Zeke gives the pen drugs to Maybeth and Delilah, Maybeth's has no cap, but when she snorts it, there is a cap.

Quotes

Coach Willis: "You're not much into sports."
Casey: "I don't think that a person should run unless he's being chased."
Coach Willis: "Being chased." I like that".

Casey: "Everyone's been acting really weird, especially the faculty."
Stokely: "Tell me about it, it's like they've all turned into fucking pod people or something."
Casey: "Into what people?"
Stokely: "Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Small town gets taken over by aliens... That was a joke."

Stokely: "So they've just been setting us up over the years with their E.T.'s and their Men In Black movies, just so no one would believe it if it ever happened."
Casey: "I think so."

Casey: "It must really blow being you."
Stan: "You have no idea."

Zeke: "Stan, take it".
Stan: "No way, you're takin' it!"
Casey: [Laughing and obviously high] "You're takin' it!"
[Stan picks up gun and points it at Casey] Stan: "What the hell is wrong with him?"
Zeke: "He's tweaking you asshole! Let him fucking tweak!"
Casey: "Tweak! Tweak!"

Casey: "If you were going to take over the world, would you blow up the White House 'Independence Day' style, or sneak in through the back door?"

Zeke: "Here take this".
Casey: "Now Marybeth."
Zeke: "Sniff it".
Casey: "You're out of your fucking mind!"
Zeke: "I'm about to take my chances. I leave for five minutes, and when I come back everyone's a fucking alien. Now, If I have to Men In Black your ass, you're gonna fucking take it!"
[Casey sniffs it hasefuly] Casey: "Happy now?"

Casey: "I say we go for the coach. He turned Stan. He's the one. Or do you want to wait for them to come to us?"
Marybeth: "Either way we're completely unarmed."
Zeke: "Maybe not. I might have some more skat. In my trunk. "
Casey: "In your trunk? In your car? Amongst the aliens? Oh, that's convenient."
Zeke: (Holds up his car keys) "You got a better idea?"

Nurse Harper: "I'm saving my sick-days till when I'm feeling better.

Zeke: "Look, you both take it".
Marybeth: "I can't. I'm allergic."
Delilah: "Yeah, and I'm Portuguese, so what?"

Delilah: "Your fanclub is here."
Casey: "Network or local?"
Delilah: "Both."

Gabe: "Hey yo, pisswad, you're in my way".
Casey: "I'm sorry. I was breathing here."
Gabe: "Yeah, that's the problem, you're occupying my air, anal probe."

Zeke: "Not today, Miss Burke. It's too damn hot and I got zero fucking tolerance."
Miss Burke: "Eat me, you asshole! I'm the one with no tolerance, you pathetic little runt".
Zeke: "What are you going to do? Are you going to call my mother?"
Miss Burke: "And how am I going to do that, little Zekey boy? Do you even know where she is? Europe, Sri Lanka, Japan? I wonder what remote location she went to this week... to hide from her great, big bastard mistake. I've taken your shit for TOO FUCKING LONG! You dickless, drug-induced excuse for a human being."
Zeke: "Whoa, woman. What are you on?"
Miss Burke: "Woman"? Did you just say "woman"? I'm sick of you, little boy. And if I have to see you peddling your little "Wonder Dust" again, I'm gonna shove my foot so far up your ass, you'll be sucking my toes 'till graduation."
Zeke: "She got some bad shit!"