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: Leonardo DiCaprio has stated that the characters of Drexl Spivey (Gary Oldman) from “True Romance” and Doc Holiday (Val Kilmer) from “Tombstone” were the main influences on his performance as Calvin Candie in Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained“.
2: Early in his acting career, Al Pacino considered changing his name to “Sonny Scott” to avoid being typecast by his Italian name. “Sonny” was his childhood nickname.
3: The “You think I’m funny?” scene in “Goodfellas” was based on a story that Joe Pesci acted out for Martin Scorsese. While working in a restaurant as a young man, Pesci once told a mobster that he was funny and the mobster became very angry. Scorsese allowed Pesci and Ray Liotta to improvise the scene. He did not tell the other actors in the scene what would happen because he wanted their genuine surprised reactions.
4: When it was initially released in the summer of 1975, over 67 million Americans went to see “Jaws“, making it the first ever summer “blockbuster”.
5: Film an TV star (better known for “Frasier“) Kelsey Grammer has had some serious personal bad luck. His father was murdered in the Virgin Islands. His sister was murdered while finishing a shift working at a Red Lobster in Colorado Springs and his two stepbrothers (from his father’s second marriage) were killed in a shark/scuba accident.
6: Like most films, James Cameron’s “Aliens” wasn’t shot in sequence. For added realism, Cameron filmed the scene where we first meet the Colonial Marines (one of the earliest scenes) last. This was so that the camaraderie of the Marines was realistic because the actors had spent months filming together.
7: Actress Zooey Deschanel suffers from an allergy to gluten, dairy, and eggs but also suffers from ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).
8: Mick Jagger supposedly tried out for the role of Dr. Frank N’ Furter in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” before Tim Curry was cast.
9: All the actors playing vampires in “Interview With The Vampire” were required to hang upside down for up to thirty minutes at a time during the make-up application. This would force all the blood in their bodies to rush to their heads, causing the blood vessels in their faces to bulge out. The make up artists would then trace over the swollen veins creating the eerie translucent-skinned vampire look. Unfortunately for the actors, they would have to repeat the process several times over, as the blood would quickly drain from their heads. This, in part, accounts for the lengthy make-up process.
10: Most of the solo shots of Rod Steiger during the famous taxicab scene in “On the Waterfront” were done after Marlon Brando had left for the day. Brando had it in his contract that he could finish shooting before the normal quitting time so that he could make his daily session with his psychiatrist. Steiger was deeply hurt and annoyed at Brando’s rudeness and lack of courtesy to a fellow actor, as it was customary, in a two-shot, for an actor in close-up to be fed his lines by the other actor or for the other actor to just be there so the first actor would have him or her to play to. Steiger used his negative emotions to enhance his performance, and though he paid tribute to Brando as a great actor, he personally loathed him thereafter. Director Elia Kazan stood in for Brando in the back of the cab so Steiger would have someone to emote to.
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 
May 20, 2014 at 3:17 pm
Nice work as always Muckers!
Brando sounds like a real Fuckface.
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May 20, 2014 at 7:50 pm
Cheers Amigo!
Brando does sound like a bit of a tit doesn’t he?
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May 20, 2014 at 3:18 pm
Fabulous brother! Love these tidbits. So Jaws was the first summer blockbuster? It also has to be one of the very best! So many today are lame and dumbed down. Jaws is still absolutely brilliant. Also didn’t realize that about Zoey. I think my favorite is the On the Waterfront tidbit. VERY interesting.
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May 20, 2014 at 7:52 pm
Good stuff, bro. Glad you enjoyed them. Yeah, Jaws was the first blockbuster. I didn’t know this myself until recently but it makes sense that Spielberg would be the first director to achieve this.
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May 20, 2014 at 3:25 pm
Nice job mate, interesting as always! That Aliens cast shot looks like it’s straight out of a 1980s music video – replace Sigourney with Michael Jackson and boom!
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May 20, 2014 at 9:43 pm
Haha! I can see Jacko leading that deal. “Shamon Muthafucker” 😉
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May 20, 2014 at 3:46 pm
Nice trivia Mark.
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May 20, 2014 at 9:44 pm
Cheers Vinnie. Glad you enjoyed them, man.
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May 20, 2014 at 3:52 pm
Had no idea that the tremendous Pesci-Liotta Goodfellas scene was improvised by the pair! I’ll take Al Pacino over Sonny Scott any day. More enlightening tidbits Mark.
Adam.
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May 20, 2014 at 9:46 pm
Cheers Adam! Glad to be of service, my man. I can’t see Sonny Scott working for Pacino. I also posted a while ago that DiCaprio’s stage name was suggested as Lenny Williams. Obviously, he refused that as well.
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May 20, 2014 at 10:57 pm
Lenny Williams? Hmm, doesn’t quite have the same ring to it! Though knowing his luck he probably would’ve won three Oscars by now with that name.
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May 20, 2014 at 3:55 pm
It’s here again! The Zooey Deschanel/ADHD thing makes total sense. What a kooky chick she is.
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May 20, 2014 at 9:48 pm
Haha! It does make sense doesn’t it. Totally fitting for Zooey. Cheers Mark!
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May 20, 2014 at 4:44 pm
Fascinating 😀
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May 20, 2014 at 9:48 pm
Cheers Tim 🙂
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May 20, 2014 at 5:18 pm
This was great to read! Well done man, only knew a few such as DiCaprio and Jaws! Really interesting stuff 🙂
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May 20, 2014 at 9:49 pm
Happy to hear you enjoyed them Liam. Thanks for reading and commenting, my man. 🙂
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May 20, 2014 at 5:51 pm
Some interesting stuff here. That makeup process for Interview just seems bizarre. And jeez, the stuff with Kelsey Grammer’s family? Eerie…
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May 20, 2014 at 9:50 pm
Cheers Chris! Yeah, poor Kelsey, man. That’s some serious bad luck.
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May 20, 2014 at 7:07 pm
This Interview With The Vampire trivia is insane! They must have had such headaches.
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May 20, 2014 at 9:52 pm
It does seen a little extreme doesn’t it? Maybe this is why Cruise and Pitt didn’t really get on during filming? Can’t be easy walking around with your head splitting. Cheers Sati.
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May 20, 2014 at 8:53 pm
Such cool facts! Thanks for sharing!
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May 20, 2014 at 9:55 pm
Your very welcome, Abbi. The pleasure is all mine. Thanks for dropping in and checking them out.
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May 21, 2014 at 1:19 am
Fantastic, this time around, Mark. I loved all the points and didn’t know much of them, so it was quite interesting. Don’t know where you find this stuff, but keep it coming! 🙂
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May 21, 2014 at 10:48 am
Thanks Cindy. Happy to share the knowledge. I find these little titbits all over the place. The Internet is full of them. 🙂
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May 21, 2014 at 6:41 am
Love that Interview with a Vampire trivia, it’s pretty extreme. It brings to mind a Star Trek trivia but instead of hanging the actors upside down during the sky diving scene the director used mirrors.
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May 21, 2014 at 10:49 am
Nice one! Didn’t know about the Star Trek one. You have educated me there. Cheers 🙂
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May 21, 2014 at 8:01 am
Imagine Al Pacino as “Sonny Scott”… that would have been awesome. Brando sounds like a serious tool. I love DiCaprio, just amazing. LOL that Goodfellas one is a goodie! As always, what fun! Just what I needed between studying! 😛
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May 21, 2014 at 10:50 am
Glad to be able to take your mind off your studies, Zoe. If only for a short time 🙂
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May 21, 2014 at 10:51 am
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it!
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May 21, 2014 at 10:52 am
Ha! I can imagine. All that studying can get in the way of movies 😉
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May 21, 2014 at 10:52 am
YOU KNOW?! I am going into withdrawals and crap!
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May 21, 2014 at 11:04 am
Man, that’s a bummer! I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy 😉
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May 21, 2014 at 11:44 pm
Awesome piece as always Mark. That make up process for Interview with a Vampire must have been horrific.
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May 22, 2014 at 8:45 am
Cheers Tim. It sounds pretty horrendous doesn’t it. I think I’d grow tired of that very quickly.
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May 22, 2014 at 2:57 pm
Great choices, Mark!
The cast for ‘Aliens’ also went through a six week physical training course between the Royal Marines and 22 Regiment, SAS at Hereford before the first scene was shot.
Wish that Warren Oates had lived long enough to reprise his character from ‘Mandingo’ for ‘Django Unchained’.
Surprise is one of hardest sensations to bring across in film. Hence, Scott not talking about the Chest Burster in ‘Alien’. Didn’t work badly for Liotta in ‘Goodfellas’, either.
I don’t think having Mick Jagger as Dr. Frank N’ Furter would have helped his career. David Bowie would have been a better, though lesser fit than Tim Curry.
Rod Steiger was a solid, courteous brick. Also taught himself to juggle and enhance his role as W.C Fields in the 1980s bio-pic.
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May 23, 2014 at 8:54 am
Hey Jack,
Thanks for your input, man. The element of surprise in a scene seems to work more often than not. I wasn’t aware that Scott done if for Alien but it makes entire sense to do so for that scene.
Can’t say Mick Jagger would have done himself any favours either in Rocky Horror. Tim Curry was spot on anyway.
A W.C. Fields biopic with Steiger. Didn’t know that either. This I have to see.
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May 23, 2014 at 4:43 pm
Hi, Mark:
A neat, well executed flick from 1976. Directed by Arthur Hiller.
W.C. Fields and Me:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075409/combined
Sorry I was off by a few years.
Elvis Presley auditioned for the role Meatloaf made famous in ‘Rocky Horror’, while the project was still a traveling stage play.
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May 28, 2014 at 3:38 pm
Nice one Jack. I’ll add it to my list. Sorry for the late reply, by the way, been taking a little break from blogging.
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May 23, 2014 at 12:38 am
Wow, some really interesting tidbits this week. Sonny Scott, eh? I just can’t picture him as that.
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May 23, 2014 at 9:04 am
Cheers Eric! Yeah, I can’t see our Al with that name either. I reckon he choose wisely on that one.
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May 23, 2014 at 5:35 pm
Great tidbits. 5 is just horrible. Oh, and poor Zooey is allergic to everything! That must be a pain.
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May 28, 2014 at 3:41 pm
Cheers Fernando! Yeah, Kelsey Grammer has had enough back luck to last a lifetime. Sorry for the late reply, man.
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May 28, 2014 at 7:24 pm
It’s all good, Mark. Hope Grammer’s luck changes.
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May 25, 2014 at 4:18 pm
Good thing Pacino didn’t change his name. It’d be hard to take him seriously. Nice trivia as always.
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May 28, 2014 at 3:57 pm
Thanks Charles. I think everyone is in agreement about Pacino’s possible name change. It’s hard to imagine.
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June 2, 2014 at 8:45 pm
You should release this as a book. Perfect to dip into on the train. I should have known that scene in Goodfellas was based on a true story.
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June 5, 2014 at 8:12 am
Haha! Not a bad idea. Glad to hear that these can be read while commuting or possibly when you get 5 minutes to go for a crap? A read for all occasions!! 😉
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December 9, 2016 at 2:28 pm
On television and movies, women are portrayed as voluptuous vixens that need to be adored for their beautiful and
sexy body. She loves to watch her favorite television soaps and talks to her pet monkey doll.
Are they telling me I can eat all the ice cream I want and not go up a dress size.
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