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: Initially Russell Crowe turned down “L.A. Confidential” because he doubted whether he could convincingly play such a tough character. Once he was cast as Bud White he read in the book that his character was the largest cop on the police force, off-putting for him due to his medium-sized frame (just under 6 feet). To capture a “big guy” presence, Crowe lived in a tiny flat in which he could barely fit through any of the doors. This experience, he said, made him come to the set feeling like a giant.

2: Ewan McGregor originally auditioned for the role of Mercutio in the 1996 film “Romeo + Juliet“. Harold Perrineau Jr, got the part but McGregor later got his chance to work with director Baz Luhrmann when he was cast as Christian in “Moulin Rouge“.

3: Nicole Kidman Has appeared in “My Life” with Michael Keaton, “Batman Forever” with Val Kilmer, “The Peacemaker” with George Clooney and “The Portrait of a Lady” with Christian Bale. All four actors have played Batman in a movie.

4: While making “The Godfather“, Paramount senior management were dissatisfied with the early rushes and considered replacing Francis Ford Coppola with Elia Kazan with the hope that Kazan would be able to work with the notoriously difficult Marlon Brando. Brando announced that he would quit the film if Coppola was fired and the studio backed down. Paramount brass apparently did not know of Brando’s dismay with Kazan over his testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s – naming names of those thought to be involved in Communist activities.

5: Meryl Streep was romantically involved for 7 years with actor John Cazale, whom she worked with in “The Deer Hunter“. He died in 1978 age 42 from bone cancer and ever since, Streep has been very reluctant to discuss the relationship with anyone.

6: George Clooney sought the role of Jack in “Sideways“. However, the film’s director, Alexander Payne, felt that he was too big a star, and turned him down in favor of Thomas Haden Church. Clooney would later work with Payne on “The Descendants“.

7: The characters’ names in “Inception” were not chosen by chance. They actually contribute to the story itself. DiCaprio’s character is Dom Cobb and Dom literally means ‘home’ in Polish. The root word “dom” comes from the Latin word “Domus”. Words like ‘Domesticated’ and ‘Domicile’ all share the same root and in the film he just wants to go home; Marion Cotillard’s character is called ‘Mal’, short for name ‘Malorie’, a name derived from French word ‘malheur’, meaning misfortune or unhappiness. The shorter version ‘mal’ means wrong/bad or evil (when a noun) in French, as well as some other Latin-based languages. Mal is of course, a disturbed character in the film; Ellen Page’s character is Ariadne and she makes her first appearance where she is called upon to create mazes. She is named after a character in Greek mythology who helped Theseus find his way out of the Labyrinth after killing the Minotaur. The name is also a reference to the opera “Ariadne auf Naxos“. The opera is a play within a play, just as the movie is a dream within a dream; Tom Hardy is an archtitect named Eames after Charles Eames and Ray Eames, a married couple well known in the fields of furniture design, buildings and architecture; Cillian Murphy’s character was named Robert Fischer as a tribute to champion chess player Bobby Fischer, his father’s (Pete Postlethwaite) character is named Maurice Fischer as an homage to artist M.C. Escher (full name Maurits Cornelis Escher), whose art was clearly an inspiration for many of the special effects in the film.

8: There are only six actors to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for their first screen appearance. They are: Orson Welles, Lawrence Tibbett, Alan Arkin, Paul Muni, James Dean and Montgomery Clift.

9: Martin Scorsese’s “Mean Streets” was originally titled “Season Of The Witch“. The change was inspired from a Raymond Chandler line, “Down these mean streets a man must go.” Film critic Jay Cocks suggested the change to Martin Scorsese, who thought it pretentious at first but eventually came to agree it was effective.

10: Courtney Love and Winona Ryder were both initially considered for the role of Marla Singer in “Fight Club“, but in the end, it came down to Helena Bonham Carter and Reese Witherspoon. Director David Fincher wanted Bonham-Carter, but the studio wanted a bigger name and chose to go with Witherspoon. In the end however, the decision was taken out of their hands when Witherspoon turned down the role as being “too dark”, and Bonham-Carter was cast.

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.)

My good friend Ruth who runs the marvellous site Flixchatter has started a very interesting blogathon called “Small Roles… Big Performances” where I have been kindly asked to be involved. (As are you, dear readers). The aim is to highlight a specific performance by a lesser known actor that you feel deserves mention. To find out more about Ruth’s blogathon, or to get involved, go here.
In my contribution to this, I’ve chosen the very underrated actor Robert Carlyle and his iconic portrayal of Francis Begbie from Danny Boyle’s “Trainspotting“.

By his own admission, Carlyle never wanted to move to L.A. and become embroiled in the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. He wanted to stay in his home town of Glasgow, Scotland and continue his work on more ‘authentic’ film’s and on his theatre company “Raindog” (named after the Tom Waits album). This type of integrity has to be admired amongst actors these days. As a result, Carlyle remains less known and under appreciated despite possessing a vast range beyond most UK actors.

Francis Begbie is, quite simply, a highly volatile and unpredictable sociopath. In a film filled with detestable characters, Begbie is, without doubt, the film’s most terrifying and Carlyle delivers an inspired and virtuoso performance in capturing his arbitrary acts of sickening violence.

However, despite his alpha-male status Carlyle himself believes that this was down to Begbie’s repressed homosexuality and his “fear of being outed”. As a result, Carlyle personally chose to dress in Pringle sweaters and stay-pressed trousers. It was a decision that, a surprised, Danny Boyle agreed to go with and even Irvine Welsh (the author of the novel) agreed that Begbie could be viewed in this way; Carlyle’s understanding of this volatile character seemed to be spot on.

The skill in Carlyle’s performance though, is his ability to be malevolent yet do in it such a way, that his portrayal of this character also contains a lot of humour. All be it, in a nervous laughter kind of way. He manages that rare ability, to be both frightening and fun and he creates a genuine sense of unease and unpredictability whenever he’s onscreen.

The entire cast of the film are on top of their game and it projected the careers of Ewan McGregor, Kelly Macdonald, Peter Mullan and to some extent Kevin McKidd, so for Carlyle to outshine them all is testament alone. He doesn’t exactly elevate this film from a poor standard (it’s already a brilliant film) but what he does do is add an extra dimension to it. He brings a volatility and sense of immediate danger that cannot be denied. He has been likened to a Scottish Joe Pesci who turns scary and violent at the slightest provocation. I couldn’t single out one particular scene with Begbie as whenever Carlyle appears onscreen, he’s outstanding in all of them.

I’ve seen the film an abundance of times but no matter how often, I’m always gripped by the presence of Begbie and by that, I think there is no bigger compliment to an actor.

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: After “Once Upon a Time in America“, director Sergio Leone planned on casting Robert De Niro in a film he was working on about the siege of Leningrad in World War II, but that project never came about due to Leone’s death in 1989.

2: Edward Norton was considered for the role of Andy Kaufman in “Man on the Moon“. Director Milos Forman could not decide between him and Jim Carrey and left the decision up to the studio. The studio decided to go with Carrey.

3: All three lead actors in “Rebel Without A Cause“; James Dean, Sal Mineo, and Natalie Wood, died young under tragic circumstances: Dean died in a car accident, Mineo was stabbed, and Wood drowned.

4: In “The Hunger Games“, the name of the main character, Katniss, is derived from the name of a group of edible plant species, genus “Sagittaria”, commonly known as “arrowhead”. This is a reference to the character’s archery skills.

5: Arrested for trashing a New York hotel room. Johnny Depp claimed that an armadillo was responsible, saying that he had found the animal hidden in a closet and it had gone crazy, wrecking the hotel room before leaping out the window.

6: In “Drive“, there are three hidden scorpions in the film: – When Driver is in the car right before the scene in the coffee shop where he tells the guy he is going to kick his teeth in. It is reflected in the window and makes a shape like a scorpion. – The second is when he goes to meet Bernie at the Restaurant. It is in the bottom right corner of the painting as he walks up to the table. – The third is when the Driver takes Irene and Benicio to the pond; they play with scorpion claws.

7: A teaser trailer for the Coen brothers’ debut film “Blood Simple” was shot long before the movie was in production. It featured Bruce Campbell (filling in for the role later played by Dan Hedaya) bloody and crawling down the road, just like the movie.

8: In “Inception“, If you take the first letters of the main characters’ names – Dom, Robert, Eames, Arthur, Mal and Saito – they spell “Dreams”. If you add Peter, Ariadne and Yusuf, the whole makes “Dreams Pay”, which is what they do for a mind thief – the very profession of the characters.

9: Keanu Reeves’ first name is Hawaiian and means “cool breeze over the mountains”. When he first arrived in Hollywood, his agent thought his first name was too exotic, so during the early days of his film career he is sometimes credited as K.C. Reeves, Norman Kreeves or Chuck Spadina.

10: There are only Nine male actors to ever have won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice; they include Fredric March (1932, 1946), Spencer Tracy (1937, 1938), Gary Cooper (1941, 1952), Marlon Brando (1954, 1972) Jack Nicholson (1975, 1997), Dustin Hoffman (1979, 1988), Daniel Day-Lewis (1989, (2007), Tom Hanks (1993, 1994) and Sean Penn (2003, 2008). Only five of them remain working today.

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 “Interview With The Vampire“, Christian Slater was given the role of Daniel the interviewer upon the death of River Phoenix, who was originally supposed to be Daniel. Slater donated his $250,000 salary to two of Phoenix’ favorite charities.

2: There are only five performers to be nominated for an Oscar twice for playing the same role in two separate films: Peter O’Toole as Henry II in “Becket” and “The Lion in Winter“, Al Pacino as Michael Corleone for “The Godfather” and “The Godfather: Part II“, Bing Crosby as Father O’Malley in “Going My Way” and “The Bells of St. Mary’s“, Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth I in “Elizabeth” and “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” and Paul Newman as ‘Fast Eddie’ Felson in “The Hustler” and “The Color of Money“.

3: Humphrey Bogart was involved in a serious automobile accident late in the production of “Beat the Devil“. Several of his teeth were knocked out in the accident, hindering his ability to speak clearly. Director John Huston hired a young British actor noted for his mimicry skills to re-record some of Bogart’s dialog during post-production looping. And although the talent of the young impersonator is such that the difference is undetectable while viewing the film today, it is a young Peter Sellers who provides Bogart’s voice during some of the scenes.

4: Brad Pitt owns the rights to the Hong Kong thriller “Infernal Affairs“. He wanted it to be remade with he and Tom Cruise in the leading roles. The movie was eventually remade as “The Departed” and originally he was part of the cast as Colin Sullivan (the Matt Damon role). He later dropped out but continued to produce the film under his (and his then wife Jennifer Aniston’s) production company, Plan B.

5: In “The Wizard of Oz“, at the end of the sequence in which Dorothy and the Scarecrow first meet the Tin Man, as the three march off singing “We’re Off to See the Wizard“, there is a disturbance in the trees off to the right. There was a long rumour that it was one of the crew committing suicide by hanging himself and that it could actually be seen in the film. It is in fact, a large bird stretching its wings.

6: Steve McQueen was first offered the role of Capt. Willard in “Apocalypse Now” but he turned it down and Harvey Keitel was then cast. Two weeks into shooting, director Francis Ford Coppola replaced Keitel with Martin Sheen, stating he was not happy with Keitel’s take on the character and that the actor “found it difficult to play him a passive onlooker“. To make matters worse, Sheen had a heart attack during the filming and some shots of Willard’s back are of doubles, including Sheen’s brother Joe Estevez who was flown out specially. Coppola was so worried that backing would be withdrawn by the studio and distributor if news of Sheen’s heart attack leaked out, that he kept it quiet, even to the extent of explaining Sheen’s hospitalization as being due to “heat exhaustion”.

7: In “Easy Rider“, Rip Torn was originally cast in the role of George Hanson (eventually played by Jack Nicholson). According to Torn, Dennis Hopper pulled a knife on him during a pre-production meeting. On “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”, Hopper claimed it was Torn who pulled the knife. Torn sued Hopper for defamation and won.

8: When engaged to Winona Ryder, Johnny Depp had “Winona forever” tattooed on his arm. After they broke up, he had the n and a surgically removed to simply say “Wino forever“.

9: In 1996, during a traffic stop for speeding, Robert Downey Jr was arrested for drunk driving, possession of heroin, and possession of an unloaded pistol in his pickup truck. This was his first reported brush with the law at age 31. He was given a suspended sentence of 3 years, and granted probation with requirements of random drug testing and drug counselling. In 1999, he violated his probation with further drug and alcohol abuse and he eventually received his sentence of 3 years in prison.

10: Roderick Jaynes, who is credited with editing most of the Coen brothers’ films, does not, in fact, exist. The name is a pseudonym for Joel and his brother Ethan.

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: Michael Clarke Duncan did bodyguard work for Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Jamie Foxx, LL Cool J, and The Notorious B.I.G.; he let a friend take over for him the night Notorious B.I.G. got shot, which prompted him to quit that line of work.

2: In “Lawless” Ryan Gosling, Amy Adams, Scarlett Johansson, and Michael Shannon were originally slated to top line the project together with Shia LaBeouf. After the movie was shut down, recasting was required.

3: Bruce Willis was chosen to play John McClane in “Die Hard” because the producers felt he brought warmth and humor to an otherwise cold and humorless character. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone had turned down the role.

4: Louise Fletcher who played Nurse Ratched in “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” was so upset with the fact that the other actors could laugh and be happy while she had to be so cold and heartless that near the end of production she removed her dress and stood in only her panties to prove to the actors she was not “a cold-hearted monster”.

5: Brian De Palma liked Oliver Stone’s script of “Scarface” so much that he dropped out of directing “Flashdance” to direct the film.

6: Joaquin Phoenix was in car accident January 2006 on a winding canyon road that flipped his car over. Shaken and confused, Phoenix heard a tapping on his window and a voice say, “Just relax”. Unable to see the man, Phoenix replied, “I’m fine. I am relaxed”. Then managed to see that the man was famed, eccentric German auteur Werner Herzog, and Herzog replied, ‘No, you’re not’. After helping Phoenix out of the wreckage, Herzog phoned an ambulance and vanished.

7: “Moon” and “Source Code” director Duncan Jones was offered the recent film “Dredd 3D“, but turned it down. Not because he didn’t like the Alex Garland script (Jones said it was great), but because he had such a strong idea of what he wanted to do with a Dredd movie, that he felt he could not bring himself to take it on and not do it his way.

8: In “The Shawshank Redemption“, Tim Robbins’ role of Andy Dufresne was originally offered to Tom Hanks but he turned it down because he was committed to “Forrest Gump” at the time – Hanks did, however, work on Frank Darabont’s next film, “The Green Mile“. Others considered for the role where Kevin Costner, Tom Cruise, Nicolas Cage, Johnny Depp and Charlie Sheen.

9: Early in his acting career, Paul Newman was often mistaken for Marlon Brando. He claims to have signed around 500 autographs reading, “Best wishes, Marlon Brando.”

10: “Blade Runner” is, of course, loosely based on Philip K. Dick’s novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” but the title itself comes from a book by Alan Nourse called “The Bladerunner“. William S. Burroughs wrote a screenplay based on the Nourse book and a novella entitled “Blade Runner: A Movie.” Ridley Scott bought the rights to the title but not the screenplay or the book. The Burroughs composition defines a blade runner as “a person who sells illegal surgical instruments”.

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…

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 “Goodfellas“, Tom Cruise and Madonna were the producers’ first choice for the roles of Henry Hill and his wife Karen. Ray Liotta and Lorraine Bracco were subsequently cast in those parts. Al Pacino was also offered the role of Jimmy Conway but he refused with the concern of being typecast. Robert DeNiro took over the role and it’s a decision that Pacino now admittedly regrets.

2: As the shoot of “Jaws” ballooned from 55 days to 159, with the budget likewise spiraling, the film earned the nickname amongst the crew as “Flaws“.

3: For “The Thin Red Line“, Billy Bob Thornton recorded a narration under the supervision of director Terrence Malick. However, the final print of the film has voice-overs by eight of the main characters in the film; none of the narration from Thornton is in the final print. In addition, several other stars who filmed scenes were left on the cutting-room floor, including Bill Pullman, Gary Oldman, Lukas Haas, Viggo Mortensen, Martin Sheen and Mickey Rourke.

4: John Travolta’s role of Vincent Vega in “Pulp Fiction” was written for Michael Madsen but due to scheduling conflicts Madsen couldn’t do it. He did, however, play Vic Vega, in “Reservoir Dogs“. The characters are brothers and at one point Tarantino considered making a film about the Vega brothers with the intended title “Double V Vega“.

5: In Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Drive“, the driver references the fable of The Scorpion and The Frog: the frog agrees to carry the scorpion across the river; the scorpion stings the frog, saying “it’s my nature” and both drown. Driver can be seen as The Frog of the story – he drives/carries criminals (scorpions) around in his car, but is inevitably dragged into their destructive world (stung) leading to everybody’s downfall. Driver’s jacket has a scorpion on the back, just as the frog carried the scorpion on its back.

6: In “The Big Lebowski“, the $0.69 check The Dude writes at the beginning of the film is dated September 11, 1991, exactly ten years before the 9/11 attacks. While he is writing the check, George Bush can be heard on the television railing against Saddam Hussein. This film preceded 9/11 by 4 years.

7: In 2007, Ernest Borgnine became the first male Oscar winner for Best Actor to still be alive on his 90th birthday, and in 2012, Ernest became the first male Oscar winner for Best Actor to still be alive (and working) on his 95th birthday. He recently died on 8th July this year.

8: In “Toy Story“, the carpet designs in the evil kid Sid’s hallway is the same as the carpet designs in “The Shining“.

9: Keanu Reeves was originally signed to play Chris Shiherlis in “Heat” but he lost the part when Val Kilmer was able squeeze it into his schedule while making “Batman Forever“.

10: “Rosemary’s Baby” was released in 1968 and directed by Roman Polanski. Polanski’s pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate, was murdered in 1969 by Charles Manson and his followers, who titled their death spree “Helter Skelter” after the 1968 song by The Beatles. One of that bands members, John Lennon, was murdered in 1980 outside the Manhattan apartment building where Rosemary’s Baby had been filmed.

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…

As everyone seems to have a recurring feature going on, I thought I’d add a little something too. I do have my “Let’s Have A Sit Down” feature but that takes ages to compile so I thought I’d contribute a little something easier every week. This little something will consist of interesting facts that have been attached to certain movies. I’m a sucker for behind the scenes movie info so I will deliver 10 facts each week in the hope that you enjoy these bits of info as much as I do. So without further ado, here are the first 10 of “Tuesday’s Trivia Tidbits”

1: In the forthcoming Steven Spielberg film “Lincoln“, Liam Neeson was originally attached to play the former president before Daniel Day-Lewis. He decided to drop out though as, according to Neeson, he felt he was too old to play the part after waiting so many years for the project to get the go-ahead.

2: “First Blood” was released in 1982 with Sylvester Stallone in one of his most iconic roles as John Rambo but beforehand there were other considerations for the role. Al Pacino was one but he refused it when his request that Rambo be more of a madman was rejected. Others included; John Travolta, Nick Nolte, Michael Douglas, James Garner, Jeff Bridges and Robert DeNiro. Kris Kristofferson was also considered as he was a former Airborne Ranger and some hoped that good friend Sam Peckinpah would direct. Initially Mike Nichols was interested in directing and wanted Dustin Hoffman to play the lead. Hoffman wasn’t interested, however, as he thought it was too violent.

3: Despite all the publicity, “Citizen Kane” was a box office failure and was quickly consigned to the RKO vaults. At 1941’s Academy Awards the film was booed every time one of it’s nine nominations was announced. It was only re-released for the public in the mid-1950s before being heralded as one of the finest cinematic achievements.

4: Colin Farrell previously appeared in “Minority Report“, which was also adapted from a Philip K. Dick short story, and had originally been developed as a sequel to the original film version of “Total Recall“.

5: In 1958, Alfred Hitchcock was embittered at the critical and commercial failure of his film “Vertigo“. He blamed this on James Stewart for “looking too old” to attract audiences any more. Previously one of his favourite collaborators, Hitchcock never worked with Stewart again.

6: O.J. Simpson was considered for the role of “The Terminator” but the producers feared he was “too nice” to be taken seriously as a cold-blooded killer. In 1990 – only 6 years later – Simpson’s stood trial for the murder of his wife.

7: In Tony Scott’s “Crimson Tide“, Quentin Tarantino was brought in to do uncredited “punch-ups” of the dialogue. His major contribution was the comic book bickering.

8: There are only two actors in the history of the Oscars who have won the award for playing the same character. Marlon Brando is one for playing Vito Corleone in “The Godfather“. Robert DeNiro the other, for doing the same in “The Godfather part II“.

9: In “The Dark Knight Rises“, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling and Mark Ruffalo were considered to play John Blake before Joseph Gordon-Levitt was ultimately cast. DiCaprio was also one of the actors considered to play Robin in “Batman Forever” before Chris O’Donnell got the part.

10: “It Happened One Night” in 1934, “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” in 1975 & “The Silence Of The Lambs” in 1991 remain, to this day, the only three film’s to win all top five Oscar awards – Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Picture and Best Screenplay (Adapted).

So there you have it. 10 completely useless 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…