TUESDAY’S TRIVIA TIDBITS
Welcome back to Tuesday’s Trivia Tidbits. For those of you out of the loop, this is a little compilation of 10 movie related facts that I will be posting weekly and info that I always find interesting. So without further ado, this weeks are…
1: After “Once Upon a Time in America“, director Sergio Leone planned on casting Robert De Niro in a film he was working on about the siege of Leningrad in World War II, but that project never came about due to Leone’s death in 1989.
2: Edward Norton was considered for the role of Andy Kaufman in “Man on the Moon“. Director Milos Forman could not decide between him and Jim Carrey and left the decision up to the studio. The studio decided to go with Carrey.
3: All three lead actors in “Rebel Without A Cause“; James Dean, Sal Mineo, and Natalie Wood, died young under tragic circumstances: Dean died in a car accident, Mineo was stabbed, and Wood drowned.
4: In “The Hunger Games“, the name of the main character, Katniss, is derived from the name of a group of edible plant species, genus “Sagittaria”, commonly known as “arrowhead”. This is a reference to the character’s archery skills.
5: Arrested for trashing a New York hotel room. Johnny Depp claimed that an armadillo was responsible, saying that he had found the animal hidden in a closet and it had gone crazy, wrecking the hotel room before leaping out the window.
6: In “Drive“, there are three hidden scorpions in the film: – When Driver is in the car right before the scene in the coffee shop where he tells the guy he is going to kick his teeth in. It is reflected in the window and makes a shape like a scorpion. – The second is when he goes to meet Bernie at the Restaurant. It is in the bottom right corner of the painting as he walks up to the table. – The third is when the Driver takes Irene and Benicio to the pond; they play with scorpion claws.
7: A teaser trailer for the Coen brothers’ debut film “Blood Simple” was shot long before the movie was in production. It featured Bruce Campbell (filling in for the role later played by Dan Hedaya) bloody and crawling down the road, just like the movie.
8: In “Inception“, If you take the first letters of the main characters’ names – Dom, Robert, Eames, Arthur, Mal and Saito – they spell “Dreams”. If you add Peter, Ariadne and Yusuf, the whole makes “Dreams Pay”, which is what they do for a mind thief – the very profession of the characters.
9: Keanu Reeves’ first name is Hawaiian and means “cool breeze over the mountains”. When he first arrived in Hollywood, his agent thought his first name was too exotic, so during the early days of his film career he is sometimes credited as K.C. Reeves, Norman Kreeves or Chuck Spadina.
10: There are only Nine male actors to ever have won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice; they include Fredric March (1932, 1946), Spencer Tracy (1937, 1938), Gary Cooper (1941, 1952), Marlon Brando (1954, 1972) Jack Nicholson (1975, 1997), Dustin Hoffman (1979, 1988), Daniel Day-Lewis (1989, (2007), Tom Hanks (1993, 1994) and Sean Penn (2003, 2008). Only five of them remain working today.
So there you have it. 10 esoteric 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…
(For earlier editions of Trivia Tidbits click here.)
MARKED MOVIES 
September 25, 2012 at 10:03 am
Favourite so far dude! De Niro & Drive, you have done me proud! Didn’t know that about the scorpions, requires another watch now 🙂
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September 25, 2012 at 11:11 am
Glad to hear you’re pleased my man. The DeNiro and Drive ones were just for you. You did request them afterall. 🙂
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September 25, 2012 at 11:40 am
I appreciate you giving in to my requests. Next week some Danny Dyer trivia please! 😉
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September 25, 2012 at 11:42 am
I don’t give in that easily 😉
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September 25, 2012 at 12:21 pm
Great post, love the trivia on The Hunger Games and Inception. Really interesting stuff.
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September 25, 2012 at 1:21 pm
Thanks Vinnie. I also found the Inception one really interesting. Each of there names actually mean more to the story as well but I’ll leave that info for another post.
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September 25, 2012 at 12:27 pm
Next time i trash a hotel room, im using the armadillo excuse – genius. Once again a good post: will have to check out that blood simple teaser. Cheers man
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September 25, 2012 at 1:35 pm
Genius indeed Henry. That’s one of the best excuses I’ve ever heard. As for the Campbell trailer, I’ve not actually seen it yet myself but I just came across this info the other day. I must hunt it down.
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September 25, 2012 at 12:52 pm
BRice Campbell and a rabid armadillo!!! Love it! Good stuff Mark.
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September 25, 2012 at 1:35 pm
Cheers Keith. Stranger than fiction eh?
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September 25, 2012 at 1:16 pm
I’ve HAD that armadillo thing happen to me when I was on the road. It’s no joke. Those little bastards get ornery!
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September 25, 2012 at 1:37 pm
Haha. Sorry hear that relations between yourself and Armadillo’s are not quite what they could be Fogs. 😉
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September 25, 2012 at 2:10 pm
Always good to see some Drive-related trivia! And I love that fact about Inception. Between this fact about Johnny Depp and that one about his tattoo you did, he’s coming across as rather unhinged!
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September 25, 2012 at 2:30 pm
It’s always nice to see Drive enthusiasts Chris 😉
The Depp ones I came across together but decided to post separately. He does sound like a bit of a character though and I’ll do more on Inception at a later date.
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September 25, 2012 at 2:13 pm
Great stuff – as always!! Not that I needed any excuse to watch Drive again but there it is : )
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September 25, 2012 at 2:32 pm
Do we ever need excuses to watch Drive again? A rewatch should be part of everyone’s weekly film diet. Anyway, I agree. If there ever was a reason, there it is 🙂
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September 25, 2012 at 2:37 pm
Amen Brother!!
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September 25, 2012 at 2:45 pm
Hallelujah! 😉
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September 25, 2012 at 3:58 pm
Another great set here Mark! Ha..ha.. that one about Depp and armadillo is a hoot! What a dope, he’s definitely VERY high that night.
Whoah, I didn’t know that about the names forming the word DREAMS in Inception. But Dom and Mall are such odd names, ahah.
I LOVE Keanu’s name, I like him too as an actor as you already know 🙂
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September 25, 2012 at 4:04 pm
Thanks Ruth. Yeah, the Depp one’s great isn’t it? And I think you may be right with his partaking in some substances that evening.
As for Inception, I’ll post another next week where some of their names actually contribute to the story itself.
I know you already like the lovely Keanu but personally I like the name Chuck Spadina. 😉
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September 25, 2012 at 4:08 pm
Ahah, I can’t imagine Keanu being called Chuck. It just doesn’t fit his persona somehow. That’s a good one, Mark!
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September 25, 2012 at 4:12 pm
His middle name is Charles though. No kidding.
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September 25, 2012 at 4:15 pm
Oh that’s right I forgot about that. But still I don’t see him as Chuck, that just makes me giggle! 🙂
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September 25, 2012 at 4:17 pm
I’m going to refer to him as Chuck from now on in Ruth. 😉
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September 25, 2012 at 4:23 pm
Ahah, right on Mark. I think it makes me like Keanu even more 😉
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September 25, 2012 at 4:41 pm
You mean Chuck? 😉
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September 25, 2012 at 4:35 pm
Good stuff as usual, Mark! I wonder if Daniel Day-Lewis has another Oscar in him this year…
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September 25, 2012 at 4:43 pm
Cheers Eric. It could well be the case this year for Day-Lewis. If so, then he’ll hold the record amount and an actor of his calibre is certainly deserving of such a record.
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September 25, 2012 at 9:46 pm
Great post! I love TTT 🙂 The inception one is craaaazy!
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September 26, 2012 at 12:38 am
Haha! Thanks Fernando. I’m feeling the love for TTT 😉 Yeah, the Inception one I like too. There’s even more to it than that which I’ll hopefully get together for next weeks post.
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September 26, 2012 at 2:29 am
Didn’t know #4 – cool! Love #5, lol.
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September 26, 2012 at 10:38 am
Cheers Misty. What? No love for the Drive post? 😉
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September 26, 2012 at 7:26 am
I do love these posts… plus you have given me an excuse to watch DRIVE again!! (like I needed one)
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September 26, 2012 at 10:43 am
Cheers Scott. Glad to be of service. Your also not the first (not) to need an excuse to watch Drive again. There are many of us.
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January 22, 2014 at 4:04 pm
Never a bad reason for watching Inception again 😉
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January 22, 2014 at 10:04 pm
Haha! There never is a bad reason to see Inception. Glad to see you working your way through all these. I wish others would be as generous as yourself and do the same thing. Although, there are avid readers who don’t miss a post.
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