11/28/20: A Whole Bunch Of Movie Trivia

By Fred Muenz

• The dinosaur noises in JURASSIC PARK (1993) were made from recordings of tortoises having sex.
• Over 90% of all American movies made before 1929 are lost, no copies are known to exist.
• The word “mafia” in never mentioned in THE GODFATHER (1972) due to threats from the real mafia.
• Movie “trailers” were originally shown after the film.
• The movie PARANORMAL ACTIVITY (2007) cost only $15,000 to make but grossed over $193,000,000.
• It cost more to make the movie TITANIC (1997) than to build the actual ship.
• Bruce Lee’s martial arts moves were so fast that the film had to be slowed down so they could be seen.
• Movie theater popcorn cost more per once than Filet Mignon.
• Nigeria makes more movies every year than the U.S.
• The time traveling machine in BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985) was originally supposed to be a refrigerator.
• Sylvester Stallone was so broke that he had to sell his dog for $50. A week later, he sold the script for ROCKY (1976) and bought the dog back for $3,000.
• Richard Gere’s middle name is Tiffany.
• The movie industry moved away from New York to avoid Thomas Edison’s patents.
• Yoda from the STAR WARS movies was modeled after Albert Einstein.
• In the 1920’s and 30’s, most screen writers were women.
• A movie about the Titanic sinking was released only 29 days after the actual event and featured an actress who had survived the sinking.
• After seeing STAR WARS (1977), James Cameron quit his truck driving job to go into the movie business.
• James Cameron was homeless when writing the script for THE TERMINATOR (1984). He sold the script for $1 on condition that he could direct the film.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger was paid $21,429 for every word he uttered in THE TERMINATOR 2 (1991).
• Charlie Chaplin made THE GREAT DICTATOR (1940), mocking Hitler, with his own money because Hollywood studios were afraid to take a stand.
• Before becoming an actor, Bruce Willis was a private investigator.
• Daniel Radcliffe’s stunt double for the first six HARRY POTTER films was paralyzed in an accident on the set of the 7^th film.
• In October, 1994, JURASSIC PARK, PULP FICTION, FORREST GUMP and THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION were all in theaters at the same time.
• Charlie Chaplin received the longest standing ovation in Oscar history, 12-minutes.
• The script for FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF (1986) took only six days to write.
• In the movie BORAT (2006), the character’s Kazakh lines were actually spoken in Hebrew.
• Actor Sean Bean has died in 32% of his movies.
• Stephen Spielberg declined an offer to direct the HARRY POTTER movies because he felt that they offered “no challenge”.
• The “No Animals Were Harmed…” disclaimer applies only while film is actually being shot.
• The movie TITANIC (1997) won 11 Oscars…none for acting.
• The script for BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985) was rejected by every major studio, some several times.
• LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING (2003) has the highest body count of any movie ever made. 836 on-screen deaths.
• The man who co-wrote and co-directed CARS (2006), died in an auto accident while the film was still in production.
• THE POWER OF LOVE (1922) was the first ever 3D movie.
• The first color movie was made in 1901.
• The “Here’s Johnny” scene from THE SHINING (1980) took three days to film and used 60 doors.
• Donald Trump was the inspiration for the bully Biff Tannen character in the BACK TO THE FUTURE trilogy.
• A two-hour movie, plus five minutes of previews uses 2.1 miles of film.
• Charlie Chaplin’s real-life daughter, Geraldine, portrayed Chaplin’s mother in the biopic CHAPLIN (1992), based on his life.
• The man who inspired the Tom Hanks movie THE TERMINAL (2004), spent 18 years living in the departure lounge of the Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris.
• The STAR WARS Wookie suits were made from Yak fur.
• The original raw footage of APOCALYPSE NOW (1979) consisted of 1,250,000 feet of film (over 230 hours).
• Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO (1960) was the first American film to show a toilet flushing.
• The Michael Myers mask in the HALLOWEEN films was a Star Trek Captain Kirk mask which was slightly altered and painted white.
• CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1980) was so gory that the director was forced to prove in court that the actors were still alive and had not been harmed during the filming.
• The director of the movie DRIVE (2011) failed his driver’s license test eight times.
• The floating pen in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968), was not done with computers. The pen was taped to a sheet of glass.
• In 2002, Stephen Spielberg finally finished college after a 33-year hiatus. He turned in SHINDLER’S LIST (1993) as his student film project.
• The movie SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998) was so realistic that it triggered episodes of PTSD in some World War II veterans.
• FANTASIA (1940) was supposed to be a short subject called The Sorcerers Apprentice, but Walt Disney overspent on the musical score and decided to make it a full-length feature film rather than waste money.
• Dan Aykroyd’s first script for GHOSTBUSTERS (1984) was set in the future and the Ghostbusters were completely normal, like paramedics or firemen.
• The deadliest James Bond was Pierce Brosnan, who killed an average of 33.8 people per film. Brosnan was contractually forbidden from wearing a tuxedo in any non-James Bond movie from 1995 to 2002.
• Director Sam Raimi has a lucky car that has appeared in all of his films, including the pre-automobile western THE QUICK AND THE DEAD (1995).
• Actor Peter O’Toole was nominated for eight Oscars, without winning a single one.
• To be legal in movies, prop money can only be printed on one side.
• To prepare for his role in THE MASK OF ZORRO (1998), Antonio Banderas practiced with the Spanish Olympic Fencing Team for four months.
• Michael Jackson tried to buy Marvel Comics so he could play Spiderman.
• In different STAR WARS movies, Yoda has a different number of toes.
• The light saber sound in the STAR WARS movies is the mix of the audio feedback of a film projector and old TV set.
• From DR. NO (1962) to QUANTUM OF SOLACE (2008), James Bond has killed 352 people and slept with 52 women.
• In FIGHT CLUB (1999), there is a Starbucks Coffee cup placed in every scene.
• The childish snickering during the iconic line-up scene in THE USUAL SUSPECTS (1995) was genuine, caused by Benicio De Toro’s persistent flatulence.
• 20^th Century Fox was contractually obligated to offer the lead role in DIE HARD (1988) to 72-year old Frank Sinatra. He turned it down.
• In Israel, the title of CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS (2009) was translated to “It’s Raining Falafel”.
• Time travel depictions in movies and TV are banned in China.

MORE SILVER SCREEN MEMORIES NEXT WEEK.

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