MARKED MOVIES

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: Following J.R.R. Tolkien’s sale of the film rights for “The Lord of the Rings” to United Artists in 1969, The Beatles considered a corresponding film project and approached Stanley Kubrick as a potential director. However, Kubrick turned down the offer, explaining to John Lennon that he thought the novel could not be adapted into a film due to its immensity. The eventual director of the film adaptation, Peter Jackson, further explained that a major hindrance to the project’s progression was Tolkien’s opposition to the involvement of The Beatles.

2: Matthew McConaughey states that the line “Alright, alright, alright!” in the scene at the Top Notch drive-in in “Dazed and Confused” was his first line ever spoken on camera in the first scene of his entire film career. The infectious line was hence repeated during production by the entire crew and has been one of McConaughey’s trademark slogans, even using it during his Academy Award acceptance speech for best actor in “Dallas Buyers Club”. He says that he ad-libbed the line from Jim Morrison, who exclaimed it during a performance on the album “The Doors Live”.

3: Michael Fassbender is only the fifth actor to have received more than one Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor since their inception in 1975. The other four actors are Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, Robert Duvall and Daniel Day-Lewis.

4: Jeff Goldblum appeared opposite his then-girlfriend Geena Davis in “The Fly” in 1986 and future girlfriend Laura Dern in “Jurassic Park” in 1993. In both films, each actress’s character remarks that “Something went wrong.”

5: Before Christopher Reeve took on the role of “Superman” it was first offered to Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood and James Caan. All three turned it down, though: Redford wanted too much money; Eastwood said he was too busy; Caan said, “There’s no way I’m getting into that silly suit.”

6: In 1992, not long after playing a young John Connor in “Terminator 2: Judgement Day”, Edward Furlong launched a successful music career in Japan and is still extremely popular with Japanese girls today. His debut song “Hold on Tight” even beat Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” to #1 on the Japanese charts.

7: Although collaborating most recently on “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, both J.J. Abrams and Harrison Ford started their acting careers with roles as delivery/messenger boys. JJ’s first appearance was 25 years after Ford’s, but it was in “Regarding Henry” in 1991 where he made a delivery to Harrison Ford’s character. Abrams, incidentally, also wrote the film.

8: “Shutter Island” is the only film of the partnership between Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio that failed to receive any Oscar nominations. “Gangs of New York” (2002), “The Aviator” (2004), “The Departed” (2006) and “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2013) all received Oscar nominations – including Best Picture.

9: In “Forrest Gump”, when Forrest calls security to report a burglary, the security guard who answers says his name is Frank Wills. This is the actual name of the security guard on duty who discovered the Watergate burglary the day after it happened in 1972.

10: Quentin Tarantino actually had plans for a third instalment to “Kill Bill”. In No. 3 of the Bride series, there promised to be more epic fight scenes and gore. The sequel’s premise follows Fatale (Julie Dreyfus), O-Ren Ishii’s (Lucy Liu) lawyer as she raises Vernita Green’s (Vivica A. Fox) daughter to seek revenge on the Bride (Uma Thurman). Production plans eventually collapsed, however, and Tarantino put plans on hold indefinitely.

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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)

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