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50 free Crash Movie trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Crash trivia quiz covers Paul Haggis's 2004 ensemble drama, the surprise Best Picture winner of the 78th Academy Awards. It moves through the interlocking Los Angeles stories: Detective Waters and Ria's fender-bender, Anthony and Peter carjacking the district attorney, Sergeant Ryan's traffic stop and the rescue that follows, Officer Hansen's fatal misreading of a hitchhiker, and the van full of Cambodian immigrants. Then it goes behind the camera to the real 1991 carjacking outside a Blockbuster that inspired the script, the actors who dropped out, the three mortgages Haggis took on his house, the 32-day shoot and the heart attack that paused it. A final round covers the Oscars: the win over the heavily favoured Brokeback Mountain, Jack Nicholson's 'whoa', Jon Stewart's first hosting gig, and the critics who have since named it the worst Best Picture winner of the century, plus the Starz series that followed. Note: this page is about the 2004 Haggis film, not the 1996 Cronenberg movie or the video game. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries before publishing.
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Q 01Who directed Crash (2004)?
Paul Haggis
It was his first time directing a major feature, straight after writing Million Dollar Baby.
Q 02What real event inspired the film?
Haggis's Porsche being carjacked in 1991
It happened outside a Blockbuster on Wilshire Boulevard as he drove home from the premiere of The Silence of the Lambs.
Q 03In which city is Crash set?
Los Angeles
LA Weekly called it one of the finest portrayals of contemporary LA life.
Q 04Who plays Jean Cabot, the district attorney's wife?
Sandra Bullock
Some critics called it the best performance of her career to that point.
Q 05Who plays her husband, DA Rick Cabot?
Brendan Fraser
His casting came last and was pivotal in getting the film green-lit.
Q 06Who plays Detective Graham Waters and also co-produced the film?
Don Cheadle
He was the first actor cast, which helped attract the rest of the ensemble.
Q 07Which actor plays Sergeant John Ryan, the cop who molests Christine at a traffic stop?
Matt Dillon
He was the film's only acting nominee at the Oscars, for Best Supporting Actor.
Q 08Who plays Christine Thayer?
Thandiwe Newton
She won the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress for the role.
Q 09Which rapper plays the carjacker Anthony?
Ludacris
He shared the ensemble Screen Actors Guild Award with the cast.
Q 10What figurine does Peter place on the dashboard of the stolen car?
St. Christopher
Reaching for the same statuette later gets him shot.
Q 11What does Detective Waters discover at the crime scene in the opening?
An unidentified corpse
The film then jumps back 48 hours to explain how it got there.
Q 12What is locksmith Daniel Ruiz suspected of being by Jean Cabot?
A gang member
She demands the locks be changed again after he leaves.
Q 13Who plays Daniel, the locksmith?
Michael Peña
It was one of his two breakthrough Haggis-written Best Picture winners, along with Million Dollar Baby.
What does Lieutenant Dixon demand in exchange for Officer Hansen's transfer?
Q 21Who plays Farhad, the Persian shopkeeper?
Shaun Toub
He went on to play Yinsen in Iron Man.
Q 22Which actress made her breakthrough as Farhad's daughter Dorri?
Bahar Soomekh
She later appeared in the Saw franchise and then became a real estate agent.
Q 23Which actor was originally attached to Terrence Howard's role before dropping out?
Forest Whitaker
Howard plays Cameron Thayer, the TV director humiliated at the traffic stop.
Q 24Which actor was attached to play Officer Tom Hansen but left after production delays?
Silence about Ryan's conduct
Dixon says a racism complaint would hurt his own career.
Q 15How does Ryan encounter Christine for a second time?
He pulls her from a burning car after a crash
Recognising him, she frantically resists his help at first.
Q 16What does DA worker Flanagan promise Waters if he goes along with the Conklin case?
A promotion and his brother's record expunged
Waters reluctantly tells a press conference the homicide was racially motivated.
Q 17Why does Hansen shoot the hitchhiker he picks up?
He thinks the man is reaching for a gun
Peter was reaching for his statuette; Hansen dumps the body and burns his car.
Q 18The corpse from the opening scene turns out to be whom?
Waters's brother Peter
Waters's mother disowns him over the death.
Q 19What does Anthony find inside the white van he steals?
Chained Cambodian immigrants
The chop shop offers $500 a head; he frees them in Chinatown instead.
Q 20How much does the chop shop owner offer Anthony per immigrant?
$500
Anthony refuses and drives them to Chinatown.
Heath Ledger
John Cusack was likewise attached to John Ryan; Ledger's exit cut the budget by $1 million.
Q 25Which film did the actor playing Waters consider leaving Crash to make?
Hotel Rwanda
He ended up doing both and got a Best Actor nomination for Hotel Rwanda the same year.
Q 26How did Haggis make up for the reduced budget?
He took out three mortgages on his house
The principal cast also took pay cuts and deferred salaries.
Q 27What halted production for a week?
Haggis had a heart attack
He defied medical advice to bring in a replacement director.
Q 28How long was the shoot?
32 days
It ran from December 8, 2003 to January 31, 2004.
Q 29Haggis first tried to sell the script to whom?
Television producers
Producer Bob Yari then offered $7.5 million on condition he assemble an all-star cast.
Q 30Which studio bought the film after its Toronto premiere, for $3.5 million?
Lions Gate Films
It went on to gross $98.4 million worldwide on a $6.5 million budget.