TRIVIA TIDBITS
Welcome back to Trivia Tidbits. For those of you out of the loop, this is a little compilation of 10 movie related facts that I always find interesting. So without further ado, this weeks are…
1: After watching his earlier short films, executive producer Steven Spielberg considered Tim Burton to direct “Gremlins“. But decided against it because at the time Burton had never directed a full feature length film.
2: Carey Mulligan and Jodie Foster were originally cast in Park Chan Wook’s “Stoker” but both dropped out and were replaced by Mia Wasikowska and Nicole Kidman, respectively. Colin Firth, James Franco, Joel Edgerton, and Michael Fassbender were considered for the role of Uncle Charlie. Firth was actually cast, but he dropped out and was replaced by Matthew Goode.
3: Before his debut in “Quest For Fire” in 1981, Ron Perlman had acted on stage for seven years, including a stage version of “A Few Good Men” as Col. Nathan R. Jessup (the role later made famous by Jack Nicholson).
4: Michael Mann was originally going to direct “The Aviator“, but having directed back-to-back biopics “The Insider” and “Ali“, he decided to produce instead, and offered the script to Martin Scorsese.
5: Robert Blake appears in the film “Lost Highway“, about a man who murders his wife. It was inspired, according to David Lynch, by the O.J. Simpson case. Blake later became the centre of another high-profile wife-killing case in real life. Over a year after his wife Bonnie Lee Bakley’s death, Blake was arrested for her murder. He was acquitted on 16th March 2005. Eight months later, however, a jury in a civil suit brought on behalf of her children found Blake liable for the murder and ordered him to pay over $30 million in damages.
6: In Tony Scott’s “The Fan“, Brad Pitt turned down the role of Bobby Rayburn (played by Wesley Snipes) wishing rather to play the role of Gil Renard. Snipes also wanted that role but it eventually went to Robert DeNiro. Al Pacino was also considered.
7: “The Deer Hunter” director Michael Cimino was originally hired to do “Footloose“. However, he was fired when he asked for a $250,000 advance for re-writing the entire screenplay prior to shooting.
8: Because of the popularity of the two earlier Godfather movies, Frank Sinatra reversed his anti-Godfather stance and expressed interest in playing Don Altobello in “The Godfather part III“. He lost interest because of the size of the paycheck for the role, and it went to Eli Wallach. Sinatra got his role in “From Here to Eternity” when Wallach backed out because of the low pay for that movie. Although it was wisely rumoured that Sinatra used his mobster friends’ influence to get that Oscar winning part which was depicted in the first Godfather movie through the character Johnny Fontane.
9: As Stanley Kubrick refused to travel his last film “Eyes Wide Shut” was filmed in England. In a few shots of Tom Cruise walking through the city, background plates of actual New York streets were rear-projected behind the actor walking on a treadmill.
10: Actor John Kapelos jokingly warned the young actors of “The Breakfast Club” not overdo their intensity, laughingly noting that Martin Sheen once suffered a serious heart attack while filming “Apocalypse Now“. Emilio Estevez was enraged by the remark, and Kapelos was then stunned to learn that Martin Sheen was Estevez’s father. While Estevez accepted Kapelos’ apology and filming was unaffected, Kapelos said years later he still felt terrible about what he said, even though he hadn’t had any idea about the connection between Sheen and Estevez and had offended Estevez completely inadvertently. When Kapelos guest-starred on “The West Wing” in 1999, he told Martin Sheen this story. Sheen thought it was very funny, which provided Kapelos a small amount of relief from the chagrin he had felt about the incident since it happened.
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…
(For earlier editions of Trivia Tidbits click here.)
MARKED MOVIES 
January 15, 2014 at 3:54 pm
Very nice, Muckers!!
Boat Drinks!
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January 16, 2014 at 10:00 am
Thank you sir!
Boat Drinks!
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January 15, 2014 at 3:56 pm
Always interesting to read these little tidbits, happy to see another installment 🙂
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January 16, 2014 at 10:01 am
Thanks Nostra! I’ve been a bit lazy with them recently but I’m hoping to make them regular again.
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January 15, 2014 at 4:05 pm
Cool bits, Mark! Love 8 and 10; I would love to see a version of Stoker with Firth, Foster and Mulligan!
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January 16, 2014 at 10:02 am
Yeah, I think Stoker could have worked just as well, if not better, with that cast, Fernando. Thanks, man.
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January 16, 2014 at 5:54 pm
Yes, not that I dislike the cast (they were all pretty good) but I’m very intrigued about what could’ve been.
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January 15, 2014 at 4:44 pm
Love these, Mark.
And that last one is especially interesting. Now it’s such common knowledge that Sheen and Estevez are connected that it seems odd someone wouldn’t have known once upon a time.
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January 16, 2014 at 10:04 am
Cheers man! Yeah, all you have to do is look and listen to Estevez and you could see a resemblance. Looks like Kapelos put his foot right in it there.
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January 15, 2014 at 4:49 pm
Cool trivia, Mark. Nice job.
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January 16, 2014 at 10:04 am
Thanks Vic. Nice to see you stopping by, man.
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January 15, 2014 at 5:42 pm
I particularly like the tidbit about Cimino being down to direct Footloose. Now that’s a film I would have loved to see!
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January 16, 2014 at 10:05 am
Yeah, man! Cimino and Fooloose. It doesn’t quite sound right but I would have been very interested to see that myself.
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January 15, 2014 at 6:16 pm
Love the Breakfast Club story! It took me forever as well to know Emilio and Sheen were related. Once I found out though it was just too obvious. Duh!
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January 16, 2014 at 10:06 am
You never caught on to that? I can’t ever imagine that they’re not related. I reckon Emilio and Charlie are their fathers double.
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January 16, 2014 at 8:03 pm
I was young when Mighty Ducks came out. Emilio was Emilio. Not Little Sheen.
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January 17, 2014 at 1:21 pm
Teeny Weeny Sheeny?
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January 15, 2014 at 6:16 pm
Fun tidbits as always Mark! I didn’t know any of these before. I’m curious to see Carey Mulligan and Jodie Foster in Stoker, I sometimes felt that Kidman might’ve been miscast.
I LOVE Michael Mann, I’d love to see his version of The Aviator!
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January 16, 2014 at 10:08 am
I Remember saying to you before, Ruth, that I’ve still not finished my review of Stoker (and I still haven’t) lol
But that is something I want to mention in my write-up… I loved the film but I don’t think Kidman worked in that role.
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January 15, 2014 at 7:41 pm
Some awesome bits this time. I love the one from The Breakfast Club. Also very interesting to see the casting options that were thrown out there for Stoker. I thought that was a good film and Matthew Goode was a big reason why.
Fun stuff Mark!
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January 16, 2014 at 10:10 am
I really enjoyed Stoker, man, and like you say, Matthew Goode was a big reason for that. I thought he was excellent and can’t really imagine Firth doing any better. I’d like to have seen Foster and Mulligan cast, though.
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January 15, 2014 at 7:58 pm
False.
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January 16, 2014 at 10:10 am
True… 😉
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January 15, 2014 at 9:09 pm
I love the idea of a Gremlins movie directed by Burton. But preferably not starring Johnny Depp because that relationship has become stale.
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January 16, 2014 at 10:11 am
Johnny Depp as Gizmo, maybe?
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January 15, 2014 at 9:15 pm
Great trivia as always. I’ve heard number nine and five before. What’s really interesting about Blake’s casting is that he tried out to play Frank Booth in Blue Velvet before he discovered Dennis Hopper got the part.
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January 16, 2014 at 10:12 am
Thanks man. Now that is interesting! I had no idea that Blake was up for Frank Booth. As good as Hopper is, Blake might have worked quite well there.
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January 15, 2014 at 10:36 pm
I cannot imagine Colin Firth as Uncle Charlie.
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January 16, 2014 at 10:13 am
Nor I, Abbi. I was happy with Goode’s performance and I’m not Firth’s biggest fan anyway.
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January 16, 2014 at 3:17 am
Man I really enjoy this feature Mark. Great stuff here, and I think my favorite of the bunch (probably going to be a common one) is the Breakfast Club bit. That’s too funny!
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January 16, 2014 at 10:15 am
Cheers Tom. Glad to hear your enjoying these. The Breakfast Club one is a beauty isn’t it? Talk about foot in mouth. 😉
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January 16, 2014 at 3:42 am
Huh, I loved Stoker as is, but man those woulda been some interesting casting choices. I can only imagine how different the movie coulda been…
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January 16, 2014 at 10:16 am
Likewise Chris. I like Stoker as it it, too but those casting choices would have been interesting. I’m not that keen on Firth but Foster and Mulligan could have been a winner.
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January 16, 2014 at 6:10 am
Ah Mark, bags of fun as always! I enjoyed the Eyes Wide Shut tidbit! It’s pretty interesting!
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January 16, 2014 at 10:17 am
Thanks Zoe. Yeah, Tom Cruise on a treadmill. The magic of cinema.! 😉
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January 16, 2014 at 10:53 am
The things that studios do to get things to work are pretty cool sometimes!
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January 16, 2014 at 10:55 am
Indeed they are. That’s why we love movies so much. It’s pure escapism!
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January 16, 2014 at 11:02 am
You’ve hit the nail on the head right there with that one!
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January 16, 2014 at 7:14 am
“Hey guys, I just threw out everything that was already written and did my own script. Can I get a quarter-million in advance?” Yeah… that’s not going to fly for many people.
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January 16, 2014 at 10:18 am
Haha! Especially when you’re responsible for bankrupting a whole production company with Heaven’s Gate.
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January 16, 2014 at 12:32 pm
Top stuff man! Love that Eyes Wide Shut fact, you genuinely would never know it’s a projected image.
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January 16, 2014 at 2:21 pm
Cheers Chris! Yeah, you really can’t tell at all. That being said, it’s put me in mind to watch it again. A very underrated, Kubrick masterpiece.
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January 16, 2014 at 4:27 pm
Hi, Mark:
Great accumulation of trivia here!
Being a long time Gary Busey fan. I’ll toss out a bit regarding the Laurence Fishburne, Charley Sheen, early stateside Vietnam (1965) Army film, ‘Cadence’.
Busey was lined up to play Drill Sergeant McKinney just before his no helmet motorcycle accident. Caught in a lurch. Martin Sheen volunteered to take up the role as well as direct.
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January 16, 2014 at 9:38 pm
Hi Jack
Great to see you stop by.
Yeah, I remember that film Cadence. I think it was actually renamed Stockade in the Uk. Loved the scenes when they were singing Chain Gang.
Great piece of trivia on Gary Busey there. I had no idea he was involved in that at one point. Thanks man!
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January 17, 2014 at 6:10 pm
Am I the only one that thinks that Emilio was maybe a little over sensitive? Even if John Kapelos had known Martin Sheen was Emilio’s dad, what’s there to get offended about? Especially since it’s the truth. “Don’t push it too hard, son, you don’t want to give yourself a heart attack like your old man!” There. Nothing offensive there. And especially since Martin himself laughed it off, Emilio had nothing to be upset about. Ah teenagers. Little drama queens :-p
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January 17, 2014 at 8:38 pm
Yeah, I’d have to agree with you there. I don’t reckon it’s that big of a deal. I just thought it was fun for Kapelos putting his foot right in it but Emilio needn’t have acted as he did. Still, he did accept the guys apology and seemingly moved on from it.
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January 18, 2014 at 10:41 am
Interesting trivia yet again Mark. I always thought there was something off by that Lost Highway guy, lol.
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January 18, 2014 at 6:40 pm
LOL! Yeah, he never seemed too stable did he? 😉
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January 18, 2014 at 5:49 pm
Good stuff. Especially #10.
I always thought Eyes Wide Shut had a weird feel being shot in London for New York City.
Michael Cimino’s “Footloose”. Do you think he would have been able to get the film in under three hours? Mark, check out the book Final Cut if you havent read it. Essential reading for film buffs. http://www.amazon.com/Final-Cut-Making-Heavens-Artists/dp/1557043744
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January 19, 2014 at 3:00 pm
Cheers Dave. I didn’t really notice the Eyes Wide Shut deal. It wasn’t until afterwards that I realised I couldn’t have been NY.
3 hours of Footloose? Man, I don’t think I could have taken that. I’m not a big fan of the film and Bacon twinkling his toes for 3 hours would have killed me.
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