Fun Facts: Amadeus
• When shooting the scene in which Salieri is writing down the death mass under Mozart's dictation, Tom Hulce was deliberately skipping lines to confuse F. Murray Abraham, in order to achieve the impression that Salieri wasn't able to fully understand the music he was dictated.
• Only four sets needed to be built: Salieri's hospital room, Mozart's apartment, a staircase, and the vaudeville theatre. All other locations were found locally.
• Entire film was shot with natural light. In order to get the proper diffusion of light for some scenes, the cinematographer's covered windows from the outside with tracing paper.
• The music was pre-recorded and played in the background as scenes were filmed. Tom Hulce practiced four hours a day at the piano to appear convincing.
• In preparation for some aspects of the title role, actor Tom Hulce studied footage of John McEnroe's on-court tennis tantrums.
• Originally, a very young Kenneth Branagh was cast as Mozart, but Milos Forman changed his mind and decided to go with American actors for the principal roles.
• Tom Hulce and F. Murray Abraham had a deliberately distant working relationship during the making of the film, much as Mozart and Salieri had in real life.
• Vincent Schiavelli was informed by director Milos Forman after one take of him walking that, "Television is ruining you".
• Amadeus joins a select group of other Best Picture Academy Award winners never to crack the box office top 5.
