MARKED MOVIES

One of my favourite actors and, most certainly, one the very finest actors of his generation, Philip Seymour Hoffman is without doubt a true talent. His commitment to his craft was always plain to see as he threw himself into every role he played, no matter how small. His tragic and untimely death on February 2nd 2014, is a sore loss for cinema and theatre but we can at least be thankful that he’s left us with some legendary characters and performances. The following clips include a selection of some of his best moments.

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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: Matthew McConaughey was for some time strongly considered to play Jack Dawson in James Cameron’s “Titanic” until Leonardo DiCaprio decided to accept the part.

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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: Writer/Director Spike Jonze claimed in an interview that when he was shopping the screenplay “Being John Malkovich” around Hollywood, at least one unspecified producer asked if he could possibly rewrite the film as “Being Tom Cruise“.

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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…

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January 6th, 2012… This was the day that I shared my love of film with all you other film fantastics out there and ventured into the world of blogging. It’s been quite an experience and one that I do not regret in the slightest… Two years down the line and I’m still at it.

And why?… Some of you may ask!

Well, the answer to that is simple… It’s just too much damn fun interacting and discussing movies with you guys.

Without your support and enthusiasm, Marked Movies would probably have folded a long time before now. So for that, I want to thank you all. As do, some of my favourite actor friends who recently joined me in celebration of my anniversary – (I took the photo, by the way)

Last year, on my blog’s 1st Anniversary, I gave a particular shout out to my Top Five commenters and I’d like to do the same again. They are:

#1: Ruth from FlixChatter
#2: Eric from The IPC
#3: Chris from Terry Malloy’s Pigeon Coop
#4: Tyson from Head In A Vice
#5: Keith from Keith & The Movies

I’m sure these great bloggers are familiar to you all but if, for some odd reason they’re not, please give them some of your love too. You won’t regret it.

It’s always nice to celebrate milestones in blogging as I think we’re all aware of how much of a commitment it can be and how much work we put in but, ultimately, the intention of these few humble words is to thank all of you!

For those that visit, like, follow, comment or share, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. It means a lot.
I may be driving this site, but it’s all of you, who keep the wheels oiled.

Much obliged my friends and here’s to another year ahead!!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 57,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 21 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Hey folks, don’t know if you’ve noticed yet but it’s the festive season and something called “Christmas” is apparently upon us. During this time, gifts are supposed to be exchanged. As a result, I thought I’d gift you all with a Christmas themed trivia post as it’s been a while since I done some of these. So without further ado, this weeks Christmas Tidbits are…

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Hey everyone this is just a reminder that the long awaited De Niro Blogathon has finally begun. Tyson and myself have finally ironed out the creases, put the glut back in our strut and the glide back in our stride and the first post of ANALYZING DE NIRO is up. Head on over to our joint site You Talkin’ To Me? to witness the opening.

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: The “Alien” series has a continuing obsession with alphabetising their androids chronologically. In “Alien“, Ian Holm was Ash. “Aliens” had Lance Henriksen as Bishop. “Alien Ressurection” had Winona Ryder as Call and “Prometheus” had Michael Fassbender as David.

2: [Spoiler]
An original ending for the classic serial killer film “Se7en” saw Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) shooting John Doe (Kevin Spacey). This was followed with the cringeworthy kiss off line, “I’m retiring”. The scene was storyboarded but never filmed.

3: In 1986, a sequel to the Arnold Schwarzenegger film “Commando” was written by Steven E. de Souza, and revised by Frank Darabont, with an eye to having John McTiernan direct. The script was based on the book “Nothing Lasts Forever” by Roderick Thorp, but Schwarzenegger wasn’t interested in reprising the role. The script was then reworked with a new central character, eventually played by Bruce Willis, and became “Die Hard“.

4: Michael Fassbender was cast as Franck in Danny Boyle’s “Trance” but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. Colin Firth was briefly considered for the part before Vincent Cassel was cast.
While Scarlett Johansson, Mélanie Thierry, Eva Green and Zoe Saldana were considered for the role that went to Rosario Dawson.

5: In “Velvet Goldmine“, when Christian Bale and Ewan McGregor were filming their gay sex scene, the director cut without letting them know. As a result, the two continued to simulate the act until they realised the trick that had been played on them.

6: Producer Sam Spiegel sent the script of “On The Waterfront” to Marlon Brando and it came back with a refusal. Spiegel however had inserted small pieces of paper between the pages which were still in place when the script was returned to him, indicating that it hadn’t been read. While Spiegel continued to work on Brando, Frank Sinatra agreed to take on the role of Terry Malloy.

7: The brown Fedora worn by Henry Fonda in “On Golden Pond” belonged to Spencer Tracy and was given to Fonda by Katharine Hepburn on the first day on the set. Fonda, overwhelmed with the gesture, painted a still life watercolor of the three hats he wore in the film and gave the original to Hepburn as a gift. He had 200 lithographs made of the painting and sent one to every person who worked on the film. Each copy was numbered and personally signed by Fonda thanking each person by name. In her autobiography, Hepburn wrote that she gave the painting to screenwriter Ernest Thompson. After Fonda’s death, she found the painting to be a sad reminder of him and Spencer Tracy.

8: In “Ghostbusters“, the role of Louis Tully (played by Rick Moranis) was originally written for John Candy. The role of Peter Venkman (played by Bill Murray) was originally written for John Belushi and the role of Winston (played Ernie Hudson) was originally written for Eddie Murphy.

9: Robert De Niro lobbied for the role of Vincent Mancini (Andy Garcia’s role) in “The Godfather part III“. Director Francis Ford Coppola considered it, which would have included aging Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone even more, but eventually decided against the idea.

10: While vacationing in Ireland with then-girlfriend Jennifer Grey (“Dirty Dancing“) back in 1987, Matthew Broderick accidentally drove his BMW rental head-on into a Volvo, leaving its passengers – a mother and daughter – dead. Broderick had a broken leg while Grey was left with some of his blood stains on her clothes. This could have contributed to the disappearance of Jennifer Grey from cinema as she said “The juxtaposition of that deep sorrow, the survivor’s guilt, and then being celebrated as the new big thing just didn’t jibe. It didn’t feel good to be the toast of the town”.

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.)

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: “Toy Story” and “Galaxy Quest” star Tim Allen was once a coke dealer. Tim was busted at an airport with reportedly over a pound of cocaine in his possession. He would have received the maximum sentence of life but volunteered to snitch on other dealers as compensation for a shorter sentence. He still spent two years in a federal prison.

2: In the Stephen King novella for “The Shawshank Redemption“, Morgan Freeman’s character Red is described as a white Irishman. The film has Red sarcastically quip, “Maybe it’s cause I’m Irish” as a nod to the change.

3: According to John Carpenter and Kurt Russell in the DVD Commentary of “Big Trouble In Little China“, the story was originally written as a western but Carpenter decided to set it during modern times. They even mention that instead of Jack Burton’s truck being stolen, it was originally his horse.

4: While playing Al Capone in “The Untouchables“, Robert De Niro insisted on wearing the same style of silk underwear that Capone wore, even though it would never be seen on camera. The producers, knowing DeNiro’s reputation as a Method actor, gave in. De Niro tracked down Capone’s original tailors and had them make him some identical clothing for the movie.

5: Robert Downey Jr. and Keanu Reeves tested for the role of Brian McCaffrey in “Backdraft” before it eventually went to William Baldwin.
Val Kilmer and Johnny Depp actually turned it down.

6: Author Lorenzo Carcaterra has claimed that his book on which the film “Sleepers” is based was a true story of his childhood. When the New York legal community went on record stating that no cases resembling the events of his book could be found in any court records, Carcaterra refused to discuss the discrepancy. His claims have been neither proven nor disproven.

7: When filming “Chinatown” Jack Nicholson was dating Anjelica Huston, the daughter of his screen nemesis John Huston. She visited the set on the day that her father’s character asked Nicolson’s Jake Gittes, “Did you sleep with my daughter?”.

8: In the casino scene in “Swingers“, sirens can be heard in the background. This was actually the police on their way to stop the filmmakers who were shooting without a permit.

9: [Spoiler]
When Alan Rickman was filming his death scene in “Die Hard“, he was dropped a second early to get his true reaction to falling from the Nakatomi Plaza.

10: Among Patrick Bateman’s neighbours in the novel of “American Psycho” is one Tom Cruise. Added to which, Christian Bale based elements of his performance as Bateman on Cruise after seeing an interview with the star. According to director Mary Harron, Bale said he saw “this very intense friendliness with nothing behind the eyes”.

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.)

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: Before Martin Scorsese made “The Aviator” in 2004, many had tried to produce a Howard Hughes biopic before him. Among the failed attempts are:
• A companion piece to “Reds“(1981) planned by actor-director Warren Beatty.
• John Malkovich and partner Russell Smith attempt in 1993.
• The adaptation planned by Allen Hughes and Albert Hughes who wanted Johnny Depp in the lead.
• A Brian De Palma-directed biopic with Touchstone which fell through because of the $80 million price tag.
• In January 2000, it was announced that Milos Forman was to direct a biopic with Edward Norton as Hughes and a script by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski.
• In January 2002, Jim Carrey and director Christopher Nolan tried to start the project with Castle Rock Productions but it didn’t get off ground soon enough to beat Scorsese’s movie into production.

2: As David in “The Lost Boys“, Kiefer Sutherland was only meant to wear black gloves when riding the motorbike. However, while messing around on the bike behind-the-scenes, he fell off, breaking his arm so he had to wear the gloves through the whole movie to cover his cast.

3: In “Blade Runner“, Ridley Scott and Jordan Cronenweth achieved the famous ‘shining eyes’ effect by using a technique invented by director Fritz Lang known as the ‘Schüfftan Process’; light is bounced into the actors’ eyes off a piece of half mirrored glass mounted at a forty five degree angle to the camera.

4: While filming “The Last Samurai“, Tom Cruise narrowly escaped potentially fatal injuries after a sword was swung within one inch of his neck. He and his co-star Hiroyuki Sanada were acting out a sword fight scene when the incident happened. Sanada swung a sword at Cruise who was on an off-camera mechanical horse at the time. But the machine reportedly malfunctioned and failed to duck at the right moment. Sanada stopped the blade just one inch from his neck.

5: In preparation for his role in “Lawless“, Shia LaBeouf drank moonshine in order to gain as authentic an appearance as possible. By his own admission his drinking and over-aggressive attitude caused co-star Mia Wasikowska to try and leave the film.

6: Nicolas Cage was originally considered for the role of John Bender in “The Breakfast Club” but the production couldn’t afford his salary at the time. John Cusack was originally cast as Bender, but director John Hughes decided to replace him with Judd Nelson before shooting began.

7: Stanley Kubrick would reportedly call Stephen King at 3am to ask him questions about “The Shining“. According to King, one famous exchange had the director ask the author, “Do you believe in God?”. When he replied in the affirmative Kubrick yelled “I knew it!” and slammed the phone down.

8: According to Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis, in Dan Aykroyd’s original rough draft of “Ghostbusters“, the story was going to take place in the future and that there would be teams of Ghostbusters like there are paramedics and firefighters (thus explaining basing the Ghostbusters HQ in a fire station). According to Reitman, such a film would cost “at least $300 million in 1984 dollars”. So Harold Ramis was brought in to rewrite the script and bring it into modern times.

9: Singer and Actress, Courtney Love, insists that the role of the heroin dealer, Lance (played by Eric Stoltz) in “Pulp Fiction” was offered to Kurt Cobain. Quentin Tarantino has steadfastly refuted this claim, saying he never even met the late Nirvana singer. Kurt Cobain did thank Quentin Tarantino in the liner notes to “In Utero“, allegedly due to the musician’s love for “Reservoir Dogs“. QT returned the favour in the “Pulp Fiction” soundtrack notes by thanking Nirvana. Sadly, the timing of the release meant the thanks were followed by ‘RIP Kurt’.

10: According to Guy Pearce on the DVD commentary of “L.A. Confidential“, he attended a James Ellroy one-man show in his native Melbourne, Australia while the film was in pre-production. Pearce notes that during a Q&A session following Ellroy’s performance, an audience member asked if any of Ellroy’s books would ever be adapted into film. Ellroy replied that not only was L.A. Confidential in pre-production, but two Australian natives (Pearce and Russell Crowe) were cast in the film. The audience erupted into laughter, thinking that Ellroy was playing a wry joke on the audience by randomly naming two local actors and claiming they were cast in a big-budget Hollywood film. Pearce, who was sitting in the audience, was mortified. It was only a year later, that the audience learned that Ellroy was, in fact, telling the truth.

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.)

It’s been a while since I posted any of these but 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: When “Donnie Brasco” was in its first stages, Joe Pesci was the first and main choice for Nicky. But after the release of “Goodfellas“, the idea gradually faded. This is the second film where Joe Pesci was considered for a role that eventually went to Bruno Kirby. The first was “The Godfather: Part II“, the role in question being that of the young Clemenza.

2: Joel Schumacher was originally set to direct the film “Devil’s Advocate” in 1994 before Taylor Hackford took over. Brad Pitt was also set to star as Kevin Lomax. Christian Slater, John Cusack and Edward Norton were also considered for the role before it eventually went to Keanu Reeves.

3: In Peter Mullan’s “NEDS“, many of the film’s events parallels Mullan’s own experiences growing up in 1970’s Glasgow. Mullan was part of a street gang, and tried to kill his abusive father at 14, both of which the protagonist does in the film.

4: Originally Charlie Sheen was turned down for the main role of Chris Taylor in “Platoon” because it was felt he was too young for the part. His older brother Emilio Estevez was offered the part but the project fell apart due to financial problems. Two years later the project was given the go-ahead, but Estevez had already committed to other projects. Charlie Sheen again read for the part and won it.

5: In the Coen Brothers’ “Miller’s Crossing“, the character Eddie Dane (played by J.E. Freeman) was originally written for Peter Stormare and was to be named The Swede. Stormare had to decline as he was appearing as “Hamlet” in the Broadway production. The part was then re-written and re-cast, and became The Dane.

6: Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil” was apparently River Phoenix’s favorite movie, and while he was filming “Dark Blood” with it’s leading actor Jonathan Pryce, a gift was arranged. Pryce arranged for Phoenix to meet Gilliam, his hero. The meeting was set to happen the day Phoenix died outside the Viper Room. They never met.

7: In “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest“, most of Jack Nicholson’s scene with Dean R. Brooks upon arriving at the hospital was improvised – including his slamming a stapler, asking about a fishing photo, and discussing his rape conviction; Brooks’s reactions were authentic.

8: Paramount tried to go ahead with “The Godfather part III” for many years without Francis Ford Coppola who had refused to make another sequel. About twelve scripts were written. Most of the scripts included the Corleone family being led by Michael’s son Anthony, battling the CIA, Castro’s Cuban government, or South American drug cartels. A 1978 draft by Mario Puzo dealt with Anthony Corleone being recruited by the CIA to assassinate a Latin American dictator. Dean Riesner also wrote a draft based on Puzo’s ideas. Drafts were also written by Paramount producers Michael Eisner and Don Simpson. The film was scheduled for a Christmas 1980 release date. These scripts were discarded when Coppola decided to work on the script with Puzo. But Coppola eventually abandoned the project. Puzo wrote another script in 1986 with producer Nicholas Gage that featured Sonny Corleone’s illegitimate son Vincent Mancini while showing the early life of the young Sonny Corleone. Paramount considered directors Martin Scorsese, Sidney Lumet, Costa-Gavras, Alan J. Pakula, Robert Benton, Michael Cimino and Michael Mann. At one point they were even close to signing Sylvester Stallone to direct and star in the film.

9: In “Oldboy“, four live octopodes were eaten for the scene with Dae-su in the sushi bar, a scene which provoked some controversy abroad. Eating live octopus in Korea is commonplace although it is usually sliced first. When the film won the Grand Prix at Cannes, the director thanked the octopodes along with the cast and crew.

10: [Spoilers]
Throughout “The Departed“, Martin Scorsese used X’s mostly shown in the background to mark characters for death; examples include shots of Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) in the elevator before his death. Queenan (Martin Sheen) falling to his death (on the building’s glass windows as Queenan falls to the ground), and Sullivan (Matt Damon) in his office discussing the flow of information with Jack Nicholson’s Costello (the X is created by the light shining through the window). This is a homage to Howard Hawks’ classic film “Scarface” (1932).

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.)

Ever wondered how to respond to a question by a particular film character? Well, here’s your chance to find out what others have said. Inspired by a feature from Total Film magazine, I’ve decided to adapt some film quotes, that pose as questions to my fellow bloggers. This is my way of shedding some light on some great blogs out there and have a little fun at the same time. There are a different range of questions which will give the blogger the chance to either be offensive, defensive, serious, funny, surreal etc. It may prove difficult to come up with a answer but the whole point is to be as creative as possible.

In the crosshairs in this instalment is Tyson Carter, who runs the popular and involving blog: HEAD IN A VICE

Okay, let’s get started. The film quotes will be in bold with Tyson’s answers underneath.

You talkin’ to me?

Hello? Who’s there, I’m talkin? Hello? Who is this? Baxter… is that you? Baxter! Bark twice if your in Milwaukee… Is this Wilt Chamberlain? Have the courage to say something! Hello?

You’ve got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?

Gonna find my baby, gonna hold her tight / Gonna grab some afternoon delight / My motto’s always been, “When it’s right, it’s right” / Why wait until the middle of a cold dark night?

Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?

I’ll give this little cookie an hour before we’re doing the no-pants dance. Time to musk up.

My… my wi-, my wife, Bunny? Do you see a wedding ring on my finger? Does this place look like I’m fucking married? The toilet seat’s up, man!

Everyone just relax, all right? Believe me, if there’s one thing Ron Burgundy knows, it’s women.

Big Kahuna Burger. That’s that Hawaiian burger joint. I hear they got some tasty burgers. I ain’t never had one myself. How are they?

I love scotch. Scotchy, scotch, scotch. Here it goes down, down into my belly…

Do you see me holding up liquor stores with a born to lose tattoo on my chest?

You’re so wise. You’re like a miniature Buddha, covered in hair.

You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it’s me, I’m a little fucked up maybe, but I’m funny how, I mean funny like I’m a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I’m here to fuckin’ amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?

I will smash your face into a car windshield, and then take your mother, Dorothy Mantooth, out for a nice seafood dinner and never call her again.

Why don’t you try stickin’ your head up your ass? See if it fits.

Guess what? One day Veronica and I are gonna to get married on top of a mountain, and there’s going to be flutes playing and trombones and flowers and garlands of fresh herbs. And we will dance till the sun rises. And then our children will form a family band. And we will tour the countryside and you won’t be invited.

Alright, alright. Mickey’s a mouse, Donald’s a duck, Pluto’s a dog. What’s Goofy?

Discovered by the Germans in 1904, they named it San Diego, which of course in German means a whale’s vagina.

Are you telling me you built a time machine? Out of a Delorian?

What? You pooped in the refrigerator? And you ate the whole… wheel of cheese? How’d you do that? Heck, I’m not even mad; that’s amazing. How ’bout we get you in your p.j.’s and we hit the hay.

It’s quite a thing to live in fear isn’t it?

Tell me about it, this morning, I woke up and I shit a squirrel, but what I can’t get is the damn thing is still alive. So now, I’ve got a shit covered squirrel running around my office and I don’t know what to name it.

If you could fight any celebrity, who would you pick?

What’s that? Well if you were a man, I’d punch you. Punch you right in the mouth.

•••
Many thanks to Tyson for his involvement here and his clever use of Anchorman quotes. If you’ve not checked out his site please do so here. You’ll find a whole range of horror reviews, among other genres, as well as some very entertaining and involving features like Desert Island Films, Question Time and his ongoing Project: DeNiro. Thanks again Tyson and if anyone else would like a crack at these questions then let me know in the comments section and you could be in the crosshairs next.

Mark

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 will be posting weekly and info that I always find interesting. So without further ado, this weeks are…

1: Michael Douglas, Don Johnson and Mel Gibson were considered for the role of Eliot Ness in “The Untouchables” and rejected it. Jack Nicholson was also offered it and William Hurt was considered but was too busy with other projects. Director Brian De Palma also talked to Jeff Bridges and Gene Hackman about playing Ness and Malone. Harrison Ford was also offered but turned down the role before Kevin Costner was signed.

2: While preparing for his role as heroin addict Harry Goldfarb in “Requiem for a Dream“, Jared Leto lost 28 pounds, starved himself and denied himself the pleasure of then-fiancée Cameron Diaz’s bed for two months. Leto admits that playing the part was “sadomasochistic… the hardest thing I’ve done“.

3: In “Frankie & Johnny“, one scene called for Al Pacino to be surprised after opening a door. “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” was filming in a nearby studio, so director Garry Marshall arranged for Kirk and Spock to be on the other side of the door that Pacino opened.

4: Marlon Brando’s signature was considered so valuable to collectors, that many personal checks he wrote were never cashed because his signature was usually worth more than the amount on the check.

5: The longest film ever made is “The Longest Most Meaningless Movie in the World“, a British underground movie produced by Anthony Scott in association with the Swiss Film Centre, London. Directed by Vincent Patouillard and premiered at the Cinématheque de Paris in October 1970, it lasts exactly 48 hours.

6: Ryan Gosling was the first Canadian-born performer in over 60 years to be nominated for the best actor Oscar in “Half Nelson” in 2006. The last was Walter Pidgeon for “Madame Curie” in 1943.

7: At various points Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Andy Garcia were all previously attached to star in “Donnie Brasco“. Stephen Frears was also set to direct it before Mike Newell took over.

8: The six leads in “The Full Monty” did in fact perform a full-frontal strip-tease in front of 400 extras. Director Peter Cattaneo described it as “a one-take deal.”

9: According to Robert DeNiro, he and Billy Crystal briefly toyed with the idea of co-directing “Analyze This” before deciding to offer it to Harold Ramis. Martin Scorsese was first approached but turned it down.

10: In “Reservoir Dogs“, Quentin Tarantino originally wrote the role of Mr. Pink for himself. Michael Madsen also originally auditioned for it and Vincent Gallo turned it down. Steve Buscemi auditioned for the part of Mr. White. George Clooney read for the role of Mr. Blonde but was turned down, and Christopher Walken refused the same role. Samuel L. Jackson also auditioned for the role of Mr. Orange. Once Tim Roth was cast, Tarantino originally wanted him to play Mr. Blonde or Mr. Pink. Robert Forster and Timothy Carey auditioned for the part of Joe Cabot, and the film is dedicated to Carey.

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 week…

(For earlier editions of Trivia Tidbits click here.)

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 will be posting weekly and info that I always find interesting. So without further ado, this weeks are…

1: At one point during the casting of “Platoon“, director Oliver Stone wanted Mickey Rourke to play Sgt. Barnes (the Tom Berenger role) and Nick Nolte as the experienced Sgt. Elias (the Willem Dafoe role). Both were offered the parts, and both turned it down. Rourke was also offered the role of Elias.

2: In “Eyes Wide Shut“, according to writer Frederic Raphael, the final form of Bill’s family name (Harford, as opposed to Scheuer in the original story) was inspired by a debate about Bill’s character. Raphael felt Bill should be Jewish as in the original, but Stanley Kubrick insisted Bill (Tom Cruise) and Alice (Nicole Kidman) be “vanilla” Americans, without any details that would arouse any presumptions. Kubrick said that Bill should be a bit like Harrison Ford – hence the name Harford. Ironically, Ford himself is Jewish on his mother’s side.

3: After reading the script to “Backdraft“, Jennifer Jason Leigh reportedly told director Ron Howard that she wished she was the fire because it has the best part.

4: Matt Damon and Ben Affleck‘s original script for “Good Will Hunting” was originally a thriller. The characters were the same, but instead of becoming involved with a therapist, Will Hunting became an FBI agent. There were also rumours that Kevin Smith and Robert Towne were interested in rewriting the film.

5: Paul Newman was so ashamed of his performance in the “The Silver Chalice” in 1954 that he took out a large advert in Variety, the movie industry magazine, apologising for it.

6: In Mike Nichols’s “The Graduate“, there is one shot where Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) holds Mrs Robinson’s breast. She ignores him, rubbing at a spot on her clothes. He turns and bangs his head against the wall. The breast-touching was Hoffman’s spur-of-the-moment idea and he was laughing so much he banged his head against the wall, convinced the shot would be cut. It stayed in.

7: For the German TV version of “Die Hard“, the German terrorists Hans and Karl were been renamed, as the distinctly American-sounding Jack and Charlie.

8: When he got the lead role in “Trainspotting“, Ewan McGregor was open to injecting himself with heroin, to better understand Renton’s character. He later decided against it.

9: Director Brian De Palma met Bob Hoskins over a drink in Los Angeles to discuss playing Al Capone in “The Untouchables” if De Palma’s first choice Robert DeNiro were to pass on the role. Since DeNiro didn’t say yes, Hoskins told De Palma he would do it if he were available. When DeNiro finally took the role, De Palma sent Hoskins a thank you note, and the studio paid Hoskins, who had a “pay or play” deal, $200,000. Hoskins called De Palma and asked if there were any more movies the director didn’t want him to be in.

10: In “Devil’s Advocate“, Keanu Reeves played the character Kevin Lomax. The name Lomax may be a reference to being a “Low MACH.” This is a term used to describe those people scoring below 60/100 on the MACH-IV test used by personality and social psychologists to measure “Machiavellianism” which is a measure of a person’s tendency to manipulate and deceive others for personal gain. E.g. “Low MACHs” tend to agree with the following statements (taken from the test): No. 7.) “There is no excuse for lying to someone else.” No. 11.) “Most people who get ahead in the world lead clean, moral lives.” These are precisely some of the personal moral issues faced by the character in the film.

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 week…

(For earlier editions of Trivia Tidbits click here.)

Hello again my fellow bloggers. Some time has now passed since Tuesday’s Trivia Tidbits has featured here and I’d now like to announce it’s long-awaited return. You may notice that I’ve changed the title by omitting the day it would normally be posted. Time has been eating my arse of late and I want to take the pressure off a little by not having to keep to a specific day. Hopefully it can remain (mostly) on Tuesday’s but it should appear either way, give or take a day.
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: Indiana Jones was inspired by real-life academic and adventurer, Hiram Bingham III, who rediscovered Machu Piccu in 1911. Bingham’s book “Lost City Of The Incas” led to the Charlton Heston movie “Secret Of The Incas“, which, in turn, led to Indy.

2: According to director Derek Cianfrance, he met with Ryan Gosling at his agent’s home in 2007 while working on “Blue Valentine“. Apparently he asked Gosling what in life, he would want to do that he hadn’t already. Gosling responded that he has always wanted to rob a bank but didn’t want to get arrested. Cinafrance then asked how he would go about it. Gosling then described how he would rob a bank on a motorcycle because it is fast and agile, and the helmet would conceal his identity, then stashing the motorcycle in the back of a truck because the police would be looking for the motorcycle. Cianfrance them responded that he was actually writing a screenplay about a bank robber in exactly that way, and he felt that Gosling was meant to play this role. These are the events that led to “The Place Beyond The Pines“.

3: For her widely panned performance in “The Godfather part III“, Sofia Coppola not only “won” two Razzie Awards (for Worst Supporting Actress and Worst New Star) but also set a new record for the percentage of votes received by any actor up to that point in Golden Raspberry Awards history. In a field of five contenders, she took over 65% of Razzie members’ votes in both categories.

4: To make himself look like an average out of shape middle aged man in “Cast Away“, Tom Hanks didn’t exercise and allowed himself to grow pudgy. Production was then halted for a year so he could lose fifty pounds and grow out his hair for his time spent on the deserted island. During this hiatus, Robert Zemeckis used the same crew to film “What Lies Beneath“.

5: In “Gangs Of New York“, Bill the Butcher (played by Daniel Day-Lewis) is a great opposer of Abraham Lincoln and in one scene he’s seeing throwing a knife on a picture of the president. Ironically, Day-Lewis would later play “Lincoln” in Steven Spielberg’s film of the same name.

6: In Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby“, Ben Affleck was considered for the role of Tom Buchanan, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. After Affleck dropped out, Bradley Cooper and Luke Evans were considered before Joel Edgerton was eventually cast.

7: Before the publication of “The Andromeda Strain“, author Michael Crichton had written under many pseudonyms. One of these was Michael Douglas. The actor Michael Douglas would be directed by Crichton in “Coma” and go on to play a role in “Disclosure“, one of Crichton’s novels

8: An early title for Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil” was “1984 and a 1/2”, an ode to Federico Fellini and “8½“, but the film “Nineteen Eighty-Four” was released and the idea was scrapped, as there would have been legal trouble with the George Orwell estate.

9: While filming “The Score” Marlon Brando took to calling director Frank Oz, “Fozzy” and “Miss Piggy” during the movie. Oz is the voice of Fozzy Bear and Miss Piggy characters in “The Muppets“. Brando’s hazing of Oz over his work with the Muppets got so bad that Robert DeNiro was forced to direct Brando instead, with Oz giving him instructions via headset.

10: As a guest on “Inside the Actors Studio” (Oct. 2, 2006), Al Pacino recounted to host James Lipton how he’d had an embarrassing moment in a crowded elevator after winning his first Oscar for “Scent Of A Woman“. Unbeknownst to Pacino, was that the head of his statuette was poking a well-known actress in her posterior. When she turned around, Pacino quickly explained that his Oscar, not he, was to blame for her discomfort.

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 week…

(For earlier editions of Trivia Tidbits click here.)