Production was halted for a year so Tom Hanks could lose fifty pounds and grow out his hair for his time spent on the deserted island. During this hiatus, Robert Zemeckis used the same crew to film What Lies Beneath (2000).
The license plate on Chuck's car reads: KAZ 2AY
Virtually all the sound, including dialog, in the scenes on the island - about an hour and a half of screen time - had to be replaced in post-production. Sound man William B. Kaplan made a valiant attempt at getting usable sound on the island, but the nearby surf made it impossible, given that many of the scenes needed to be very quiet.
Actual lines of dialogue were written for Wilson the Volleyball, to help Hanks have a more natural interaction with the inanimate object.
Most of the nighttime scenes on the island (except the creation of fire scene) were shot during the daytime. The darkness and night sky effects were added in post-production.
Some of the 'desert island' footage was shot on the mainland with a highway in the background that had to be removed.
Alan Silvestri wrote less than ten minutes of music for the almost 3 hour long film. And (aside from the Russian chorus and the Elvis song from the beginning) there is not one single note of written musical score in the film until Noland leaves the island (1 hour and 43 minutes into the movie). Only then does the musical score come in: an oboe, piano and strings are all that Silvestri uses.
In the scene where Noland squats on the ground, contemplating an item that has washed up on shore, the shot is composed as an homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), reportedly Tom Hanks' favorite film.
When Noland reaches the top of the mountain, his stick and headgear is an homage to the The Ten Commandments (1956).
In the scene where Hanks' character builds a fire, he celebrates by setting a palm branch on fire. Upon seeing the "fireflies" that are created, Hanks quotes directly from a scene in The Right Stuff (1983) when Ed Harris' John Glenn sees similar "fireflies" from Freedom Seven.
Tom Hanks draws Helen Hunt's image on a cave wall. In _As Good As It Gets (1997)_ , Greg Kinnear says to Hunt, "You're why cavemen drew on walls".
The movie was produced by Image Movers and Playtone. Playtone is Tom Hanks' own production company and was the name of the record label that his character worked for in That Thing You Do! (1996).
Robert Zemeckis was asked at a Q&A session at USC what was in the unopened packaged. He replied that it was a waterproof, solar-powered, satellite phone. To hear him say it for yourself on the DVD, do this: Start at the Special Features Main Menu and enter the Video & Stills Galleries. When you see "Raft Escape" press left on your remote to highlight the "World Of Time" logo.
Early in the movie, we briefly see on Chuck's shelf a plaque which shows that he is a certified sailor. This would explain why, later in the film, he is so knowledgeable about rope, wind patterns, raft construction etc.
An early draft of the script had Chuck having two different personalities talking to each other, Good Chuck and Bad Chuck.
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