TUESDAY’S TRIVIA TIDBITS.
As everyone seems to have a recurring feature going on, I thought I’d add a little something too. I do have my “Let’s Have A Sit Down” feature but that takes ages to compile so I thought I’d contribute a little something easier every week. This little something will consist of interesting facts that have been attached to certain movies. I’m a sucker for behind the scenes movie info so I will deliver 10 facts each week in the hope that you enjoy these bits of info as much as I do. So without further ado, here are the first 10 of “Tuesday’s Trivia Tidbits”
1: In the forthcoming Steven Spielberg film “Lincoln“, Liam Neeson was originally attached to play the former president before Daniel Day-Lewis. He decided to drop out though as, according to Neeson, he felt he was too old to play the part after waiting so many years for the project to get the go-ahead.
2: “First Blood” was released in 1982 with Sylvester Stallone in one of his most iconic roles as John Rambo but beforehand there were other considerations for the role. Al Pacino was one but he refused it when his request that Rambo be more of a madman was rejected. Others included; John Travolta, Nick Nolte, Michael Douglas, James Garner, Jeff Bridges and Robert DeNiro. Kris Kristofferson was also considered as he was a former Airborne Ranger and some hoped that good friend Sam Peckinpah would direct. Initially Mike Nichols was interested in directing and wanted Dustin Hoffman to play the lead. Hoffman wasn’t interested, however, as he thought it was too violent.
3: Despite all the publicity, “Citizen Kane” was a box office failure and was quickly consigned to the RKO vaults. At 1941’s Academy Awards the film was booed every time one of it’s nine nominations was announced. It was only re-released for the public in the mid-1950s before being heralded as one of the finest cinematic achievements.
4: Colin Farrell previously appeared in “Minority Report“, which was also adapted from a Philip K. Dick short story, and had originally been developed as a sequel to the original film version of “Total Recall“.
5: In 1958, Alfred Hitchcock was embittered at the critical and commercial failure of his film “Vertigo“. He blamed this on James Stewart for “looking too old” to attract audiences any more. Previously one of his favourite collaborators, Hitchcock never worked with Stewart again.
6: O.J. Simpson was considered for the role of “The Terminator” but the producers feared he was “too nice” to be taken seriously as a cold-blooded killer. In 1990 – only 6 years later – Simpson’s stood trial for the murder of his wife.
7: In Tony Scott’s “Crimson Tide“, Quentin Tarantino was brought in to do uncredited “punch-ups” of the dialogue. His major contribution was the comic book bickering.
8: There are only two actors in the history of the Oscars who have won the award for playing the same character. Marlon Brando is one for playing Vito Corleone in “The Godfather“. Robert DeNiro the other, for doing the same in “The Godfather part II“.
9: In “The Dark Knight Rises“, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling and Mark Ruffalo were considered to play John Blake before Joseph Gordon-Levitt was ultimately cast. DiCaprio was also one of the actors considered to play Robin in “Batman Forever” before Chris O’Donnell got the part.
10: “It Happened One Night” in 1934, “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” in 1975 & “The Silence Of The Lambs” in 1991 remain, to this day, the only three film’s to win all top five Oscar awards – Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Picture and Best Screenplay (Adapted).
So there you have it. 10 completely useless Tidbits to masticate on. Some you may know. Some you may not. If you have any thoughts, stick your donations in the comment box.
See you next Tuesday…
MARKED MOVIES 
August 28, 2012 at 10:33 am
Useless? I say awesome tidbits!! HEHHE
Nicely done Sir
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 1:53 pm
Thanks Scott! Nice to see you back bud. These will be a weekly deal from now on in.
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 1:24 pm
NICE! That’s some really fun stuff. I’m gonna look forward to reading these bro.
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 1:54 pm
Cheers bro. Every forthcoming Tuesday is tidbit day. 😉
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 1:39 pm
I’m with Scott, awesome tidbits, Mark. Well done.
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 1:57 pm
Thanks Michael. I love these little pieces of info so it’s a pleasure to put a few together every week.
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 2:28 pm
Good stuff!
In fairness to Citizen Kane though, there’s a LOT of backstory to all of that. I’m sure you’re aware of the feud between Welles and William Randolph Hearst, right? It really damaged the movie, especially at the box office.
http://fogsmoviereviews.com/2012/03/04/movies-that-everyone-should-see-citizen-kane/ Should you not know, yet be interested. 😉
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 6:06 pm
Cheers Fogs. Yeah, Citizen Kane is loaded with stuff and some that I may well visit again in future posts. I found it most interesting that it was booed at the oscars though. The film is just genius.
Once I’ve tied up a few things, I’ll swing by on your link.
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 2:46 pm
Annie Hall just missed winning all 5 top Oscars. Woody Allen was nominated for best actor but failed. That’s the only other film I can think of that came close to all 5. Let me be the first to dub this feature “Triple T”, Although I think it’ll be called other names. LOL
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 6:09 pm
“Triple T”? Nice one Ray.
There’s another film that came close as well but for the life of me, I can’t remember what it was. I must do more digging. I think it might have been American Beauty but Annette Bening didn’t get anything.
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 10:26 pm
Rain Man was another I think. It won 4 of the top 5 but again no actress.
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 3:23 pm
Very nice. Loving the new feature!
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 6:10 pm
Cheers Fernando. You an expect more next week.
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 3:44 pm
Love this! I knew none of those facts so thank you! 🙂
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 6:10 pm
My pleasure Misty. This is a post I had fun doing. Glad to share a trivia on occasion.
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 3:50 pm
this new feature is fantastic! Can you imagine Jimmy Garner as Rambo??
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 6:12 pm
Cheers man! The most surprising for me was Dustin Hoffman. Can you imagine?…
“I’m a very good fighter”.
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 6:14 pm
lol
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 3:54 pm
Great new feature – I learned something today!
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 6:12 pm
Glad to be of service my man. I’m a sucker for these little bits of info. Cheers Andy.
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 6:13 pm
So this is going to be weekly then?
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 6:15 pm
It is that Andy! This will be my new weekly running feature.
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 6:17 pm
Woohoo!
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 6:22 pm
Yeehaa! 😉
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 4:19 pm
Awesome!
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 6:13 pm
Thanks Ryan. Every week! 😉
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 6:17 pm
Hell ya! You know… there are some really GOOD trivia bits in horror films *wink wink*
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 6:21 pm
Haha. Hint taken my friend. I’ll look into that more but there will be room for loads in due time.
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 4:32 pm
Nice one buddy! Seeing Pacino in a headband is wrong on so many levels……
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 6:14 pm
It just doesn’t look right does it? I was hoping for a better pic than that one but that’s all I could find. Cheers Tyson.
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 5:45 pm
Great post and great trivia.
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 6:14 pm
Thanks as always for stopping by Vinnie. 🙂
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 6:20 pm
Wow the Rambo trivia really surprised me. The film just works perfectly with Stallone. Good trivia…
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 6:23 pm
Always nice to see you Mithil. Thanks for stopping by again. Yeah, can you imagine how different Rambo could have been? I’d loved to have seen Pacino or even DeNiro. It would have been a completely different film.
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 8:04 pm
Great idea for a recurring feature, Mark. Lots of interesting tidbits, and a few funny ones.
I think maybe the funniest part is how both Citizen Kane (which I knew about) and Vertigo had such poor initial receptions, and now are constantly considered the two greatest films of all time. Perhaps in 50 years we’ll find that people have finally warmed up to Catwoman. Nah…..
I’m also having fun picturing Dustin Hoffman as Rambo. That just doesn’t work. 😀
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 9:34 pm
Thanks Morgan. Yeah, both not well received upon release. It just goes to show. Maybe Catwoman is a misunderstood masterpiece after all 😉
I stuck those and a few others in as they were relevant. It will not always be possible but in forthcoming weeks I’ll try and post bits that reflect what movie news we’re hearing about at that time.
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 9:41 pm
Great idea for a weekly feature, Mark! I LOVE movie trivia, can’t get enough of ’em! I did read about the Total Recall one when I was reviewing the movie. WOW, I did not know that about #10, I still want to see “It Happened One Night” so bad!
Btw, about Leo in the Gordon-Levitt role, I doubt that’d happen. I don’t think Bale thinks very highly of him after Leo almost ‘stole’ his role in American Psycho.
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 9:48 pm
Glad to hear of another trivia fan Ruth. I had a feeling you’d like this.
I still haven’t seen It Happened One Night Either but certainly don’t think The Silence Of The Lambs deserves to be part of this record.
As for Leo. I forgot all about that. I remember hearing of him regarding American Psycho, were Bale finally broke through I think. Still, these little bits of info always through up some surprises.
So I take it, you’ll be returning next week for further additions? 😉
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 10:06 pm
No I don’t think so either about Silence of the Lambs. I much prefer Brian Cox’ performance anyway, he’s sooo underrated.
Yeah, and did you know that Leo also took Ewan McGregor’s role in The Beach, I think Danny Boyle was going to cast him originally but of course Leo was far more bankable. I think Boyle and McGregor had a rift about it.
Oh yeah, for sure I’ll be back 🙂
LikeLike
August 28, 2012 at 10:16 pm
I’m with you on Brian Cox. I prefer him also. It’s a shame he never got the chance again.
Yeah apparently McGregor was all set for The Beach until DiCaprio snuck in there. He and Boyle never spoke for a while after that but I’m hoping they get together again for an often rumoured film version of the sequel to Trainspotting. Apparently Boyle wants to adapt the book by Irvine Welsh but wants the original cast members to have aged naturally as the story is set a good bit after Trainspotting.
LikeLike
August 29, 2012 at 8:58 am
Great stuff Mark! Certainly has got a bit of discussion going already, which is great. I love movie trivia, i look up every single movie i watch to see what i can find out about it. I love that OJ Simpson was considered as The Terminator!
LikeLike
August 29, 2012 at 9:29 am
Cheers Chris. I’m the same. I always check the trivia which makes this new feature a pleasure to do and something I’d naturally be doing anyway. The O.J. One is a beauty though isn’t it? How ironic.
LikeLike
August 29, 2012 at 2:45 pm
Great stuff. I love movie trivia, so I welcome this weekly post.
LikeLike
August 29, 2012 at 3:12 pm
Good man. Always glad to have visitors. Every Tuesday is trivia day around these here parts 😉
LikeLike
August 29, 2012 at 8:40 pm
Cool, Mark, I dig this. Good idea. So Neeson as Lincoln, eh? Hard to imagine anyone other than DDL now, but I could see it.
LikeLike
August 29, 2012 at 9:40 pm
Cheers Eric. Happy to hear you dig it man. This will be a regular deal from now on in.
Yeah, Neeson as Lincoln. I could see it as well but I’m glad it’s Day-Lewis. The an acting masterclass every time.
LikeLike
August 29, 2012 at 10:32 pm
Late to the party, just wanted to chime in and say that this was a fun little thing. Like a bag of mixed candy. Yummie!
LikeLike
August 29, 2012 at 10:56 pm
Haha. that’s why I added Tidbits to to the title Jessica. Always a pleasure to see you stopping by. Every week there will be more candy on offer. Bring your sweet tooth with you 😉
LikeLike
August 30, 2012 at 7:29 am
Fun new feature Mark!
LikeLike
August 30, 2012 at 7:33 am
Cheers Sam. Glad you stopped by to check it out.
LikeLike
August 31, 2012 at 1:10 pm
Some really interesting trivia here man. I think mike nichols doing rambo with dustin hoffman has to be my favourite, while the thought of OJ playing a cyborg is truly bizarre. Nice post.
LikeLike
August 31, 2012 at 1:14 pm
Cheers Henry. Yeah, I wonder what type of film that would have been with Nichols and Hoffman? It probably could have worked with Kristofferson and Peckinpah though. As for O.J. thats just a straight case of irony man.
These will be every week Henry. Stop by any time.
LikeLike
September 1, 2012 at 3:24 pm
I’m not quite sure which of your two recurring features (excited to find forthcoming tidbits!!) I enjoy more. I’ll reply to each factoid individually:
1. I keep forgetting about this one. Guess I’m not too excited for it, perhaps because it’s not Steven Spielberg’s usual work. But hey, neither was Schindler’s List, which gets my vote for the best of his career. I’d say both Day-Lewis and Neeson are phenomenal actors (though some won’t agree with me on the latter :/) but I can imagine DDL doing a better Lincoln. I guess 2012 is the year filmmakers try to compete with classic characters. We’ve had two Snow White movies AND two Abe Lincoln movies!
2. I haven’t seen any of the Rambo movies (nor do I plan on it, to tell you the truth), but I know the character well enough to say I can imagine everyone on that list except Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman playing the title character. I associate Pacino with gangster flicks and Hoffman with melancholic pictures.
3. I discovered this fact a short while ago and was genuinely appalled. I really, really, really love Citizen Kane. I believe it’s #13 on my top 100. But I guess (unlike nowadays, especially when we look at the James Holmes/TDKR association) back then audiences reacted to such controversy by just not watching the movie.
4. Several Philip K. Dick stories intertwining…a Dick within a Dick within a Dick…Dickception!!!
5. Aw, darn! Vertigo was commercially AND critically unsuccessful too?! Who would have guessed…
6. Oh, yes, I knew this fact very well haha. My friends HATE it when I make jokes about it, i.e. “O.J. Simpson requested to be cast in the sequel as the Terminator. He got the part briefly, but was dismissed when he was found improvising with lines such as, ‘Are you Sarah Connor or are you my wife? Either way you’re dead, so don’t try to run and hide.'”
7. Please tell me you’re kidding…comic book bickering written by Tarantino? I still haven’t seen any of his films, but from what I’ve heard, it seems terribly odd.
8. I knew this, I just never came to that conclusion. Like I knew Marlon Brando had won Best Actor for his role as Vito and then Robert De Niro won Best Supporting Actor for his role (the ONLY Oscar-winning performance delivered without a word of English–might be a neat fact for next time)–I just never put two and two together.
9. What a relief that Leonardo DiCaprio wasn’t cast as Robin in Batman and Robin. His career would be dead and James Cameron would have never cast him for Titanic.
10. The only one of those I haven’t seen is the oldest.
LikeLike
September 2, 2012 at 6:06 pm
Thanks Alexander. I appreciate you taking the time to answer each one individually. I’m also glad you’re enjoying both features. Yeah, more will be happening in future. The Tidbits one, will be every week.
That’s interesting you mentioning DeNiro’s non-English language Oscar. I was aware of this but I’m now wondering if Benicio Del Toro done the same with Traffic. I can’t remember him speaking English but that something I should look into. You may well see this info appear in a forthcoming post. Thanks again my friend.
LikeLike
September 2, 2012 at 7:43 pm
Yep!
LikeLike
September 2, 2012 at 6:56 pm
These are so interesting! If Leo got cast as Robin or any part in Batman, his career would have been nonexistent. And the part about OJ Simpson being too nice…LOL. Thanks for sharing these 🙂
LikeLike
September 2, 2012 at 8:01 pm
Your the second person to mention Leo’s career had he done these roles and I totally agree Alley. As for O.J. That’s just too funny man. Thanks for stopping by. Glad you liked them. There will be more in a couple of days.
LikeLike
January 21, 2014 at 6:36 pm
Not useless. Useful. I shall have to steal them ha. Sad about Vertigo. Dustin Hoffman in Rambo haha
LikeLike
January 21, 2014 at 11:20 pm
Yeah, I’ve since changed the word “useless” to “estoteric” as a few folk kept saying that they didn’t see them as useless. They seem to go down with people. Thanks again, man.
LikeLike