On February 21, 2010, when he won a BAFTA for Best Actor, Colin Firth's list of people to thank included the man who repaired his refrigerator. Firth explained that he'd decided to turn down the part, and had an email to director Tom Ford in his outbox, waiting to be sent. Then a man arrived to repair his refrigerator, and Firth had time to reconsider.
Colin Firth's character mentions in a conversation with Nicholas Hoult that he once took mescaline and ended up shaving off one of his eyebrows. That actually happened to director Tom Ford. He was taking the drug with Stephen Spender when he went home, looked in the mirror, and "thought it was taking over my face".
The glass-and-wood home that George and Jim shared is The Schaffer Residence, a real house built in 1949, in Glendale, California, by mid-century Modernist architect John Lautner.
Jon Hamm: the uncredited voice of Hank Ackerley, the man who calls Colin Firth's character at the start of the film.
Don Bachardy: In the English Department staff room. According to Tom Ford, in a December 14, 2009 interview with Terry Gross, Bachardy is wearing a pair of lucky red socks that belonged to Isherwood.