MARKED MOVIES

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: Bill Murray was considered and tested for the role of Sulley in “Monsters Inc.” but the director, Pete Docter, said that when the filmmakers decided to offer it to Murray, they were unable to make contact with him and took that to mean “no”.

2: Daniel Radcliffe, Shia LaBeouf, James McAvoy, Erryn Arkin and Tobey Maguire were considered for the role of Bilbo Baggins in “The Hobbit“. However, Peter Jackson has said that his first choice was always Martin Freeman. Freeman was initially unable to accept the role, due to scheduling conflicts with “Sherlock“, but Jackson reworked the entire shooting schedule for the Hobbit films to accommodate him.

3: According to Naomi Watts, the producers of the film “The Impossible” heard an interview on Spanish radio where the real family told their story of surviving the Tsunami and decided from then to adapt the story into a film.

4: Originally, Richard Donner directed “Superman” and “Superman II” back to back, then cut back on filming the sequel to focus on finishing the first one for a Christmas release. A clash with producers Alexander Salkind and Ilya Salkind over the material led to Donner being fired before he could finish filming the second one and he was replaced with Richard Lester. Donner later estimated that he had directed 80% of the sequel and saw about 50% of his work in the theatrical film.

5: To enhance the scale of the Space Jockey in “Alien“, Ridley Scott actually filmed his kids in miniature space suits.

6: “Manhattan” is Woody Allen’s least favorite of the movies he has directed. However, it was the most commercially successful film of his career. He said years later that he was still in disbelief that he “got away with it”. He disliked it so much that he offered to direct another film for United Artists for free if they kept “Manhattan” on the shelf for good.

7: Edward Norton was originally offered the role of Pvt. Ryan in Steven Spielberg’s World War II film “Saving Private Ryan” but he turned it down and it eventually went to his “Rounders” co-star Matt Damon.

8: Author William Peter Blatty once won $10,000 on the Groucho Marx show “You Bet Your Life“. When Groucho asked what he planned to do with the money, he said he planned to take some time off to “work on a novel.” The novel turned out to be “The Exorcist“.

9: Viggo Mortensen was originally cast to play John Dunbar (Kevin Costner’s role) in “Dances With Wolves“. Mortensen was also supposed to play the character in a proposed sequel called “The Holy Road“. Costner stated he didn’t want to reprise the character but the sequel has yet to see the light of day either.

10: Francis Ford Coppola was in the early stages of developing a script for a fourth “Godfather” film with Mario Puzo which was to tell the story of the early lives of Sonny, Fredo and Michael. After Puzo’s death in July of 1999, Coppola abandoned the project, stating that he couldn’t do it without his friend.

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.).

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: In the graveyard scene in “Seven Psychopaths“, the grave that the Jack of Diamonds killer is hiding behind is named “Rourke”. Mickey Rourke was initially cast in the movie as Charlie (eventually played by Woody Harrelson) but dropped out after disagreements with the director.

2: Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro were Michael Mann’s first choices for the roles Hanna and McCauley in “Heat” but Nick Nolte and Jeff Bridges were discussed as a possible alternative for the two leads.

3: Terrence Malick wrote a ‘treatment’ for the Clint Eastwood classic “Dirty Harry” but none of his material was used for the final film.

4: Both Warren Beatty and Kevin Costner were considered for the role of Bill in “Kill Bill“. Both turned it down and it was Beatty who suggested that Tarantino use David Carradine instead.

5: 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.

6: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito and Hulk Hogan have all revealed in interviews that Schwarzenegger and DeVito were given the option of doing “Twins” or “Suburban Commando“; had the two chosen Suburban Commando, Hogan and Christopher Lloyd would have done Twins.

7: John Travolta, Tom Hanks, and Tom Cruise where among the actors that were considered for the role of Sheriff Freddy Heflin in “Copland“. Sylvester Stallone eventually got the role and gained 40 pounds for it by sticking to a diet of giant pancakes.

8: As roommates, Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman would often go to their apartment rooftop and play the drums. Hoffman played the bongo drums while Hackman played the conga drums. They did it out of their love for Marlon Brando, who they had heard played music in clubs. They wanted to be like Brando and were big fans of his.

9: Director Darren Aronofsky originally envisioned telling the story of “Black Swan” as part of the plot of “The Wrestler” and was actually developing a project that was about a love affair between a ballet dancer and a wrestler, but he realized pretty quickly that taking two worlds like wrestling and ballet was much too much for one movie.

10: In an interview with ‘Entertainment Weekly‘, Christopher Nolan explained that he based roles of the “Inception” team similar to roles that are used in filmmaking – Cobb (DiCaprio) is the director, Arthur (Gordon-Levitt) is the producer, Ariadne (Page) is the production designer, Eames (Hardy) is the actor, Saito (Watanabe) is the studio, and Fischer (Murphy) is the audience. “In trying to write a team-based creative process, I wrote the one I know,” said Nolan.

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.)

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: Woody Harrelson, Demi Moore and Robert Redford were the cast of “Indecent Proposal” but it was originally designed as a star vehicle for Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, with Warren Beatty taking the part of the millionaire.

2: After “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade“, Harrison Ford and Sean Connery passed up three subsequent opportunities to work together. Connery accepted a role in “The Hunt for Red October“, while Ford declined the role of Jack Ryan, which went to Alec Baldwin instead. (Ford later took over the role in “Patriot Games“). Ford and Connery both declined the roles of Alan Grant and John Hammond, respectively, in “Jurassic Park” and Connery declined to return to the role of Henry Jones in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull“.

3: After playing Al Capone in “The Untouchables“, Robert DeNiro was looking for some lighter material to do next. Initially, he wanted to play the lead in Penny Marshall’s “Big“, but the studio wasn’t interested in having DeNiro play the role, and it ultimately went to Tom Hanks. He then became involved in “Midnight Run“.

4: For the Spike Jonze film “Adaptation“, Donald Kaufman was nominated for a Golden Globe with writer Charlie Kaufman, despite being a fictional character. They were also both nominated for an Academy Award and the Academy made it known that, in the event of a victory, the two brothers would have to share one statue.

5: After she just won her Oscar for “Kramer vs. Kramer” in 1979, during the festivities, Meryl Streep left the statuette on the back of a toilet.

6: At one point, George Lucas had planned the character of Han Solo to be a huge green-skinned monster with no nose and gills. Then Lucas changed the idea of Han Solo to a black human. He auditioned several black actors and even musicians (including Billy Dee Williams) until finally settling on Glynn Turman. But after this he decided to make the role white. Kurt Russell, Nick Nolte, Christopher Walken, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Bill Murray, Robert Englund, Sylvester Stallone, John Travolta and Perry King were all candidates for the role of Han Solo. George Lucas also wanted to stay away from any actors he had previously used in his films. James Caan, Jack Nicholson, Robert DeNiro and Burt Reynolds turned down the role. Harrison Ford (who had played Bob Falfa in Lucas’s “American Graffiti“) read the part of Han Solo for screen tests of other characters but wasn’t originally considered for the part. During these tests Lucas realized Ford was perfect for the role.

7: Before becoming an actor Russell Crowe tried a music career as a rockabilly singer sporting a large pompadour hairdo, playing under the name Russ Le Roq. He titled his first single “I Want to Be Like Marlon Brando” but later admitted that he had never even seen a Brando movie when he wrote and recorded the song.

8: When Steven Spielberg first showed composer John Williams a cut of the film “Schindler’s List“, Williams was so moved he had to take a walk outside for several minutes to collect himself. Upon his return, Williams told Spielberg he deserved a better composer. Spielberg replied, “I know, but they’re all dead.”

9: In 1969, Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Jay Cocks met author Philip K. Dick to discuss the possibility of adapting his novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” into a film, but they never optioned the novel, and the project fell through. Ridley Scott would, of course, turn it into “Blade Runner” in 1982.

10: There have been many speculations as to the nature of the mysterious glowing contents of the briefcase in “Pulp Fiction” – The most persistent theory is that it is Marcellus Wallace’s soul. The story goes that when the Devil takes a person’s soul, it is removed through the back of the head (this isn’t part of any known religion, though). When we see the back of Marcellus’s head he has a Band-Aid covering the precise spot indicated by his soul removal. Perhaps Marcellus sold his soul to the devil which would also explain why the combination to open the briefcase is 666.

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.).

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: According to a biography of Jack Nicholson, producer Robert Evans suggested Nicholson to Roman Polanski for the part of Guy Woodhouse (played by John Cassevetes) in “Rosemary’s Baby” but, after their meeting, the director stated that “for all his talent, his slightly sinister appearance ruled him out“.

2: During the filming of “The Hurt Locker“, three, four or more hand-held super 16mm cameras were used to film scenes in documentary style. Nearly two hundred hours of footage was shot at a 100:1 shooting ratio – a higher ratio of expended film than the notorious Francis Ford Coppola epic, “Apocalypse Now“.

3: For the first four days of production on “The Dark Knight“, Christopher Nolan put cast and crew under a movie boot camp comprising eight films whose tone he wanted to emulate. In chronological order, these were: “King Kong“, “Citizen Kane“, “Cat People“, “Stalag 17“, “Black Sunday“, “A Clockwork Orange“, “Heat” and “Batman Begins“.

4: When the rights for “Life Of Pi” were optioned in 2002 several directors had been attached to direct including M. Night Shyamalan, Alfonso Cuarón and Jean-Pierre Jeunet before Ang Lee took over.

5: Screenwriter Nora Ephron, who was married to “Goodfellas” writer Nicholas Pileggi, used Henry Hill’s experiences in witness protection as the basis for the Steve Martin comedy “My Blue Heaven” – released only a month after Scorsese’s film. In some ways, it could be considered a tenuous sequel.

6: Charlie Sheen stayed awake for 48 hours to achieve a suitably wasted look for his cameo as a drugged-up felon in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off“. (There’s no evidence to suggest he was drinking tiger blood, though) 😉

7: In “Aliens“, Hicks was originally played by James Remar, but Michael Biehn replaced him a few days after principal photography began, due to “artistic differences” between Remar and director James Cameron. However, Remar still appears in the finished film – but wearing the same armor, and shot from behind, it’s impossible to tell the difference between the two actors.

8: Billy Crystal was originally offered the role of Woody in “Toy Story” and he accepted. After Tom Hanks expressed a desire to voice the role, they offered Crystal a future role in a Pixar film that they would tailor to his talents. Crystal told them to “do what’s best for your movie and don’t forget me when something good comes around.” They didn’t and offered him the role of Mike in “Monster Inc.”

9: Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall” was intended to be a much darker drama called “Anhedonia” (named after the psychological condition of being unable to experience pleasure). One subplot later became the basis for Allen’s “Manhattan Murder Mystery“.

10: Throughout the films of John Landis are posters of fictional film “See You Next Wednesday“. The director uses the in-joke from an unfilmed screenplay he wrote as a teenager. We finally see the film – a British porno – in “An American Werewolf In London“.

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.)

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: The Wachowski’s were two brothers that were responsible for “The Matrix” trilogy. One was Andy Wachowski and the other was Larry Wachowski. When you see their names on their most recent film “Cloud Atlas“, you’ll notice that Larry has now become Lana. After receiving hormone therapy for 10 years Larry became a female.

2: The film “American Gangster” was wrought with production problems. The original director was to be Antoine Faqua (“Training Day“) with Denzel Washington and Benicio Del Toro as the leads. Faqua also wanted Ray Liotta and John C. Reilly in supporting roles before Terry George was set to direct the film with Don Cheadle and Joaquin Phoenix. Eventually, Ridley Scott took over and Washington was reinstated as Frank Lucas alongside Russell Crowe as Richie Roberts.

3: Adolf Hitler grew a Chaplin moustache because he was well aware of how beloved Charlie Chaplin was throughout the world at the time and the reason he grew it was because he thought it would endear him to the people. As it was, Hitler was not at all a fan, he had been misinformed that Charlie was Jewish, and therefore despised him.

4: Oliver Stone believes he was one of the models for Travis Bickle in “Taxi Driver“, pointing out that he was being taught by Martin Scorsese at NYU film school at the time, and like Travis he was a Vietnam veteran turned N.Y.C. cabdriver and wore his olive drab army coat while on duty.

5: Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman were once roommates together in Hackman’s one-bedroom apartment. Hoffman slept on the kitchen floor. Originally, Hackman had offered to let him stay a few nights, but Hoffman would not leave. Hackman had to take him out to look for his own apartment.

6: There is a great deal of confusion regarding “The Shining” and the number of retakes of certain scenes. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the scene where Wendy is backing up the stairs swinging the baseball bat was shot 127 times, which is a record for the most takes of a single scene. However, both Steadicam operator Garrett Brown and assistant editor Gordon Stainforth say this is inaccurate – the scene was shot about 35-45 times. Brown does say however that the scene where Hallorann explains to Danny what shining is was shot 148 times, which is a world record.

7: Although Steven Spielberg wanted Charlton Heston to play Brody (the Roy Scheider role) in “Jaws“, the main reason he decided against casting him was because of Heston’s “saving the day” role in his previous movies, “Airport 1975” and “Earthquake“. Spielberg reasoned that if Heston would have been cast, it signifies to the audience that the shark has virtually no chance against the hero.

8: The last movie “Nirvana” frontman Kurt Cobain watched before he died was apparently Jane Campion’s “The Piano“.

9: The first-ever male to hold Jolie in his arms was Charley Boorman. He’d earlier served as a pageboy at the wedding of Jolie’s parents Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand during the “Deliverance” shoot (directed by his father John Boorman) and later happened to be present during the delivery of Jolie. Boorman was just 8-years-old and Jolie was but an infant. Today Boorman quips that his epitaph should read: “I was the first man to get his hands on Angelina Jolie“.

10: Before Al Pacino was eventually cast as Michael Corleone in “The Godfather“, it nearly went to numerous other actors; Martin Sheen and Dean Stockwell auditioned for the role. Oscar-winner Rod Steiger campaigned hard for it, even though he was too old for the part. Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson and Dustin Hoffman were all offered the part but all refused. Suggestions of Alain Delon and Burt Reynolds were rejected by Francis Ford Coppola. Paramount production chief Robert Evans wanted Robert Redford to be cast but Coppola wasn’t keen on the idea. Ryan O’Neal also became a front-runner, as did James Caan who went on to play Sonny and Robert DeNiro also tested for the role.

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.)

Well, the time has come to mark the one year anniversary of my humble blog. I only started this as I became disillusioned with Flixster (Rotten Tomatoes) who changed their format and ripped the heart out of it’s film going community; something that I, quite simply, wanted to continue. As a result, Marked Movies was born. I struggle to think of the exact date but I think it was January 6th and I also considered many different names for the blog. All of which, I can’t recall as I didn’t really take it seriously to begin with and certainly didn’t expect the blog to take off as well as it has. Over the course of the last year it’s been great getting to know so many likeminded people who share my passion for film and also seem interested in what I have to contribute. For that I have to thank everyone who has paid a visit to my site. I don’t like to single anyone out but I do feel a special thanks has to go to my top five commenters over the past year. They are:

#1: Fernando from Committed To Celluloid.
#2: Ruth from Flixchatter
#3: Andy from Andy Watches Movies.
#4: Eric from The IPC.
#5: Tyson from Head In A Vice.

Many thanks guys and thanks to Dan at Fogs’ Movie Reviews for his generous Follow Friday’s post on me earlier in the year and to Joel Burman at The Lamb for choosing me as Lamb of the Month for October.
With the help and continued support of you all, hopefully I can make this site even more successful and more fun to stop by. I can’t thank everyone enough, who follows, comments, provides links, shout-out’s and feedback. It really has taken me aback and I appreciate it very much.
Onwards and upwards my friends.

Mark Walker

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: (Courtesy of Tyson at Head In A Vice) There is a legend that Elvis Presley (who died in 1977) makes a cameo in “Home Alone“. Many of those who believe that Elvis is still alive maintain that, the heavily bearded man standing in the background of the scene where Mrs. MacCallister is shouting at the desk clerk (just before she meets John Candy) is Elvis.

2: Matthew Broderick was offered the role of Johnny Utah in “Point Break” before Keanu Reeves was eventually cast. Others who auditioned were Johnny Depp and Charlie Sheen .

3: Director Jason Reitman stated that if George Clooney had passed on the role of Ryan Bingham in “Up In The Air“, he would have rewritten the part for Steve Martin. Reitman claimed that the movie would have become “much more like “Lost in Translation” was for Bill Murray.”

4: Terrence Malick originally worked on a screenplay for “Che” which was limited to Che Guevara’s attempts to start a revolution in Bolivia. When financing fell through, Malick left the project, and subsequently Steven Soderbergh agreed to direct the film.

5: Quentin Tarantino wanted James Woods to play a role in “Reservoir Dogs” and made him five different cash offers. Woods’ agent refused the offers without ever mentioning it as the sums offered were well below what Woods would usually receive. When Tarantino and Woods later met for the first time, Woods learned of the offer and was annoyed enough to get a new agent. Tarantino avoided telling Woods which role he was offered “because the actor who played the role was magnificent anyway”. It is widely accepted that the role that Tarantino was referring to was Mr. Orange (played by Tim Roth).

6: At the age of 10, Leonardo DiCaprio was advised by his agent to change his name to a more American-friendly one. ‘Lenny Williams’ was the suggestion. Needless to say, he did not follow that advice.

7: “Die Hard” was based on a book by Roderick Thorp entitled “Nothing Lasts Forever” – a sequel to another book entitled “The Detective“, which in 1968 was made into a film starring Frank Sinatra. Because of a clause in Sinatra’s contract for “The Detective” which gave him the right to reprise his role in a sequel, he was actually the first person offered the role of John McClane, even though he was 73 years old at the time.

8: Christoph Waltz was originally cast as Sigmund Freud in David Cronenberg’s “A Dangerous Method“, but dropped out of the project in order to film “Water for Elephants“. Viggo Mortensen was later cast instead.

9: The original version of Stanley Kubrick’s “Spartacus” included a scene where Marcus Licinius (Laurence Olivier) attempts to seduce Antoninus (Tony Curtis). The Production Code Administration and the Legion of Decency both objected. At one point, the censors suggested it would help if the reference in the scene to a preference for oysters or snails was changed to truffles and artichokes. In the end the scene was cut, but it was put back in for the 1991 restoration. However, the soundtrack had been lost in the meantime and the dialogue had to be dubbed. Curtis was able to redo his lines, but Olivier had died. Joan Plowright, his widow, remembered that Anthony Hopkins had done a dead-on impression of Olivier and she mentioned this to the restoration team. They approached Hopkins and he agreed to voice in Olivier’s lines in that scene. Hopkins is thanked in the credits for the restored version.

10: Samuel L. Jackson had just undergone treatment for drug addiction and had only two weeks from his discharge from rehab to the start of filming his role as Gator Purify in Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever“. Jackson has gone on record as saying that Gator’s ravaged look was not make-up, but actually the result of his own detoxification. As a result of his performance, the Cannes Film Festival introduced the Best Supporting Actor Award specifically to honour Jackson.

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.)