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Here's the straight poop from imdb.com:

Trivia for
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Anthony Michael Hall was originally set to play Pvt. Joker, but was fired for objecting to Stanley Kubrick's perfectionist style of directing. He was replaced by Matthew Modine.

Former US Marines Drill Instructor R. Lee Ermey was hired as a consultant on how to drill USMC style. He performed a demonstration on videotape in which he yelled obscene insults and abuse for fifteen minutes without stopping, repeating himself, or even flinching - despite being continuously pelted with tennis balls and oranges. Director Stanley Kubrick was so impressed that he cast R. Lee Ermey as Gunnery Sergeant Hartmann.

Vincent D'Onofrio gained 70 pounds for his role as Pvt. Lawrence, breaking Robert De Niro's movie weight-gain record (60 pounds) for Raging Bull (1980).

Michael Herr, a very close friend of Stanley Kubrick, helped write much of the screenplay, particularly the part set in Vietnam. His contributions to the script are based largely on his own experiences as a reporter covering the war. Like Joker and Rafterman he was essentially freelance and allowed to travel anywhere in the country. Additionally, the scene where Joker and Rafterman watch the crazed gunner in the chopper shoot civilians is taken directly from "Dispatches", Michael Herr's memoir of his experiences.

R. Lee Ermey was involved in a jeep accident during the making of the movie. At 1am he skidded off the road, breaking all of his ribs on one side. He refused to pass out, and kept flashing his car lights until a motorist stopped. In some scenes, he does not move one of his arms at all.

The scenes of the ruined city of Hue were shot at a dockyard on the Isle of Dogs, London that was scheduled for demolition. In some shots there is a rock in the background that looks very much like the monolith from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Stanley Kubrick says it wasn't intentional, but was noticed while watching the rushes.

Mickey Mouse is referred to at the end of both segments: when Hartmann enters the head to confront Joker and Pyle, he cries "What is this Mickey Mouse shit?"; and Joker and co. sing the theme from the Mickey Mouse Club as they march through the burning city. A third Mickey Mouse reference is in the press room: a Mickey Mouse figure can be seen near the window behind Private Joker.

R. Lee Ermey hardly blinks at all in any scene.

As Joker prepares to kill the sniper, his chest turns as he raises the gun - hiding his peace symbol button from view.

The inscription "I Am Become Death" is written on Animal Mother's helmet. This is a quotation from the Bhagavad-Gita, spoken by J. Robert Oppenheimer after the explosion of the first atomic bomb at Alamogordo.

Toward the end of the movie, when "Cowboy" uses the radio to request tank support, the voice of Murphy, to whom he is speaking, is probably none other than Stanley Kubrick.

Stanley Kubrick's daughter Vivian Kubrick makes a cameo appearance during a scene in Vietnam where Joker and Rafterman encounter a mass open grave. Vivian Kubrick can be seen wielding a motion picture camera, shooting into the open grave for a few moments.

Director Trademark: [Stanley Kubrick] [faces] Private Pyle during the scene when all Marines are being pumped up to kill, and when he is in the head.

Gustav Hasford began working on "The Shortimers" (the book which Full Metal Jacket is based upon) while serving in Vietnam, and based many of the characters (and names) off of those he served with.

According to director John Boorman, Stanley Kubrick wanted to cast Bill McKinney in the role of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. However Stanley Kubrick was so unsettled after viewing Bill McKinney's performance in Deliverance (1972) that he declined to meet with him, saying he was simply too frightened at the idea of being in his presence.

Mike Allred tried out for the lead role in this film, but was turned down.

The entire film was shot in England (Pinewood studios and military barracks).

When telling the recruits about Christmas services, Sgt Hartmann calls the clergyman "Chaplain Charlie". In Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971) Alex refers to the prison chaplain as the "prison Charlie".

In several of the Vietnam scenes a Red Ryder B.B. gun can be seen in the squad leaders pack, and in the scene where "Vietnam: The Movie" is being filmed he is holding it in his hand as the camera crew goes by.

Except for the title cards "A Stanley Kubrick Film" and "Full Metal Jacket", there are no opening credits.

The siren heard at the Da Nang base during the Tet Offensive is the same as heard at Burpelson AFB in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964).

Director Trademark: [Stanley Kubrick] [zoom] The opening shot of the scene by the open mass grave

Much, if not all, of R. Lee Ermey's dialogue during the Paris Island sequence was improvised. While filming the opening scene, where he disciplines Pvt. Cowboy, he says Cowboy is the type of guy that would have sex with another guy "and not even have the goddamned common courtesy to give him a reach-around". Stanley Kubrick immediately yelled cut and went over to R. Lee Ermey to ask him, "What the hell is a reach-around?" R. Lee Ermey politely explained what it meant. Stanley Kubrick laughed and re-shot the scene, telling R. Lee Ermey to keep the line.

The only shot that actually shows Parris Island is when the platoon graduates and another shot of video is imported into the movie showing the graduation location on Parris Island by First Battalion.

Advertisements for this film were censored in some parts of Canada due to the tagline "In Vietnam the wind doesn't blow, it sucks." At that time, Canadian censors had not yet decided whether the phrase "it sucks" (or "this sucks") was obscene.

To make Gunnery Sergeant Hartman's performance and the recruits' reactions as convincing as possible, Matthew Modine, 'Vincent D'Onofrio (I)' and the other actors playing recruits never met R. Lee Ermey prior to filming. Stanley Kubrick also saw to it that R. Lee Ermey didn't fraternize with the actors between takes.

According to his shirt on Parris Island, Pvt. Joker's real name is J.T. Davis.

The term "full metal jacket" refers to the type of small arms ammunition used in warfare, as heard in Private Pyle's famous line spoken on the toilet, "7.62 millimeter, full... metal... jacket." Full metal jacket ammunition has a copper coating covering the lead core of its projectile.

One of the scenes cut from the movie was a scene that showed a group of soldiers playing soccer. The scene was cut because a shot revealed they were not using a soccer ball, but a human head.

Another cut scene involved a sex scene between Pvt. Joker and the Vietnamese prostitute. According to the actress, Stanley Kubrick cut the scene because it detracted from the cold mood of the film.

In the first part of the movie, in the sequences inside the dormitory during the drill, a special lens was design to keep every single soldier in focus. Kubrick intended that no one was special and they all had the same treatment.