Tidbits

1. S.I.M.O.N ~ A little puzzle acronym for the audience to guess, given by Simon West, the director.
2. Lara's Holsters ~ Lara's holster consists of one strap around each thigh. However right at the start of the film, just as Lara descends from the rope, two straps are around each of her thigh. In the next shot when the camera focuses on her legs, it has reverted back to one strap. This could be due to the safety harness that Angelina had to wear for that scene.
3. The Little Girl ~ In the film, Lara sees a little girl in Cambodia and then later in Siberia. She helps guide Lara and then later warns her of the danger of the triangle. The girl is in fact played by two different girls as the Cambodian girl's visa ran out.
4. Alex West was originally called Alex Mars but Paramount Pictures called days before end of filming and informed him that they couldn't get legal clearance on that name. Simon West then used his father's name as he knew that he could get clearance.
5. Clock ~ The set creators actually made several versions of this clock and one 4ft sized clock for close ups. It actually works. To get the centre to glow, they had to find a special paper that when a current passes through it, it glows- like electric light.
6. The UK video and DVD versions are 4 seconds shorter than the uncut US and international versions, due to BBFC cuts. Compulsory cuts were required to what the BBFC called "glamorising shots" of a flick knife, including the sight and/or sound of the knife opening. A close shot of the knife covered in blood was removed in the final fight scene, as was the sight of the knife being twirled by Powell. Also, the head butt delivered by Lara Croft in the end brawl was completely removed and substituted with a punch.
7. A possible missing scene featured Lara standing on top of a planet in the Orrery room in Siberia and she was going to dive off from it into the waters below.
8. The original title for this film was Tomb Raider: The Achilles Shield.
9. The phone that Lara uses is an Ericsson R310.
10. The actor Martin Clunes was originally offered the part of Hillary but turned it down due to it clashing with his wedding anniversary.
11. Chris Barrie originally auditioned for the part of Alex West but instead got the role of Hillary.
12. Angelina Jolie wore pads to make her breasts look bigger and more Lara like.
13. In the movie, Lara sleeps with a knife under her pillow. Angelina has admitted to also doing this. She is skilled in spinning knives around.
14. Angelina is left handed so her dual H&Ks had to be customised to suit her.
15. Angelina's tattoos had to be covered up in the movies but in the scene where Lara is canoeing and in a scene in the Orrery room, her tattoo can be partially seen.
16. Despite playing the role of the geek Bryce, Noah Taylor has admitted that he dislikes technology.
17. When Lara meets Alex West at the auction house, she isn't very pleased to see him. This is because in the past, he stole her prayer wheels. It is a connection to fans with the prayer wheels in Tomb Raider 2.
18. There are many deleted scenes featured in a trailer for the movie, including footage not even included on special edition DVDs.
19. Lara listens to Piano Concerto in F Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach whilst performing bungee ballet.
20. The costume designer Lindy Hemming had said that Manfred Powell was the most expensive character to dress. He wore a "$7000 Prada curly lamb grey coat, shoes and knitwear, Issey Miyake sportswear, Yohji Yamamoto and Kenzo suits and Gucci sweaters".
21. There are several instances where you can notice the difference between Angelina and the stunt double. One scene is where Lara jumps to the swinging log. The person who acts that bit is the stunt double, as they are noticeably more muscular than Angelina.
22. About half of the TRM1 footage was stolen in October 2000 from Simon West's 1.1 million three-bedroom home in Notting Hill, London. He told the newspaper 'Sunday Express' that he heard a crash at about 2am, and after running downstairs, he only saw the front door swinging. He noticed that his wallet and his rucksack containing two or three tapes of film were missing.
23. Filming took place from July 31st 2000 to Christmas 2000, with a return for one week in January and some special effects shooting.
24. The helicopter scene in Siberia featured Chinooks from the British Royal Air Force. The interior shots were filmed at RAF Odiham, Hampshire which is also the home of the Chinooks from the Joint Helicopter Command. Exterior shots were filmed on the Salisbury Plain Training Area.
25. Lara's garage ~ Simon West, the Director said that he filled Lara's garage with all his favourite British sports cars.
26. McLaren ~ Came from private owner as the company wouldn't lend it to them. The insurance to also have the private car was so expensive that they could only have it for one day, so the set creator produced a polystyrene double so the wideshots are just the polystyrene model.
27. Dagger of Xian ~ When Lara is talking with Alex, it can be heard in the background that the Dagger of Xian is up for auction. Whether Lara is the owner of the Dagger at this stage and is selling it is unknown.
28. Mini ~ The scene where the Mini was crushed was filmed on the last day of the mini's production.
29. Chemical Flares ~ For the first movie, they went through thousands of chemical flares as they only lasted 15 seconds at maximum brightness.
30. There is a hidden message in the knife throwing scene in Siberia.
31. The photo of Lara's mother in the pocket watch is actually a photo of a woman who worked in the art department.
32. There is a mix up on the labelling on the movie's official score CD. This is because the composer Graeme Revell was brought in just weeks before the film headed to cinemas. He had ten days to produce a score. The album was sent to mastering studio while Revell was still mixing the movie track.
33. In an interview with http://www.soundtrack.net, composer Graeme Revell suggested that director Simon West wanted the movie to be filled with mostly songs and that he had a friend who could compose small pieces of music to fill any remaining gaps. West soon realised that this was impossible and so called upon Michael Kamen, an American composer. However due to disagreements between Karmen and the new editor Stuart Baird, Karmen left. They called in Revell.
34. In an interview with http://www.soundtrack.net, composer Graeme Revell suggested that the ending of the film was changed at last minute. There were at least 4 minutes of film taken out and a whole section put in which he never saw until the premiere a week later.
35. Nicola Berwick, Eunice Huthart and Jo McLaren were all stunt doubles for Angelina Jolie in both Tomb Raider movies.
36. Huskies ~ The huskies used in the movie belonged to the UK company 'Finnegan's Siberian Huskies'. The dogs on Lara's sleigh are called Zak, Bowie, Dylan, Odin, Ollav, Luther and Lacey. More information can be found at the website 'http://www.finneganshuskies.com/tomb.html'.

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Sources

No. 08
​Original Movie Title
http://web.archive.org/web/20010609124425/http://www.calendarlive.com/top/1,1419,L-LATimes-Sneaks-X!ArticleDetail-17872,00.html
 
No. 20
Manfred Powell’s Expensive Outfits
’20 Years of Tomb Raider’ by Meagan Marie
 
No. 22
Stolen Footage
http://www.tombraiderchronicles.com/headlines72.html
 
No. 24
Helicopter Scene in Siberia
http://web.archive.org/web/20010330054853fw_/http://www.tombraidermovie.com/production/index.html

No. 32 & 33
Graeme Revell Interview with Soundtrack.net
http://www.soundtrack.net/content/article/?id=79