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: George Clooney has done three films under the direction of the Coen brothers. They are: “O Brother, Where Art Thou?“, “Intolerable Cruelty” and “Burn After Reading“. These three films have been dubbed Clooney’s “trilogy of idiots” by the brothers.

2: During the filming of “The Passion Of The Christ“, Jim Caviezel (Jesus) was struck by lightning while filming the sermon on the mountain scene. Extras say they saw an illumination around his whole body. Amazingly enough, he was not seriously injured.

3: In “Terminator 2: Judgment Day“, Arnold Schwarzenegger received a salary of $15 million. The 700 words he spoke translates to $21, 429 per word. Thus “Hasta la vista, baby” cost $85, 716.

4: In “Empire Strikes Back“, Han Solo was frozen in carbonite. This was (at least in part) due to the uncertainty of Harrison Ford returning for a third film. When the original “Star Wars” was made, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill were signed on for a three picture deal but Ford refused.

5: In the 1989 Kevin Costner baseball movie “Field of Dreams“, both Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are among the thousands of extras in the Fenway Park scene. Over a decade later, when director Phil Alden Robinson worked with Affleck on the production of “The Sum of All Fears“, Affleck said, “Nice working with you again.”

6: In 1992’s “Scent of Woman“, Al Pacino repeatedly shouts “Hoo-ah.” “Hoo-ah” comes from the military acronym “HUA” which stands for “Heard, Understood, Acknowledged.”

7: In all of Quentin Tarantino’s original screenplays, the name of a police detective named Scagnetti is referred to at least once. Most of the times the particular scene was cut out of the final versions but Tom Sizemore actually played the role of police detective Jack Scagnetti in “Natural Born Killers“.

8: Terry Gilliam’s first choice for the lead role in “12 Monkeys” was Jeff Bridges, whom he had enjoyed working with on “The Fisher King“, but the studio wanted a bigger star, so he cast Bruce Willis. Ironically, Willis had originally auditioned for “The Fisher King“, but lost out to Bridges. When Willis got the role Gilliam gave him a list of “Willis acting clichés” not to be used during the film.

9: Woody Harrelson was arrested in 1996 for planting 4 marijuana hemp seeds in rural Kentucky and in his defence he said he was challenging a state law that makes no distinction between marijuana and hemp, even though hemp contains little of the drug found in marijuana and can be used to make a variety of industrial products. The jury dismissed the marijuana possession charge against him.

10: Stanley Kubrick considered both Robert DeNiro and Robin Williams for the role of Jack Torrance in “The Shining” but decided against both of them. Kubrick didn’t think DeNiro would suit the part after watching his performance in “Taxi Driver“, as he deemed De Niro not psychotic enough for the role. He didn’t think Williams would suit the part after watching his performance in “Mork & Mindy“, as he deemed him too psychotic for the role. According to Stephen King, Kubrick also briefly considered Harrison Ford.

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: After Michael Madsen was found to be unavailable for the part, Daniel Day-Lewis tried to get the role of Vincent Vega in “Pulp Fiction“, one of the few times he actively pursued a part. However, by that point in the casting, Quentin Tarantino had John Travolta in mind.

2: Mark Ruffalo claims to be the only actor to date, to play both The Hulk and Bruce Banner in the same movie. Technically, both Eric Bana and Edward Norton have done motion capture work for their respective Hulks, but Ruffalo is the first actor to perform the Hulk live on set via performance capture.

3: When he did the Russian roulette scene in “The Deer Hunter“, Christopher Walken was remembering being sent to summer camp by his parents, which he hated. He felt betrayed, ostracized, alone – and felt the character was experiencing that at that point in the film.

4: Originally in “Rain Man“, Dustin Hoffman was to play Charlie Babbitt (the Tom Cruise character) and Bill Murray was to play the autistic savant Raymond (eventually Hoffman’s role). When Hoffman decided to switch roles, Murray dropped out – he didn’t want to play the straight role. The film also seen director’s Martin Brest, Steven Spielberg and Sydney Pollack attached at one point.

5: “Argo” is the title of the “movie” being filmed within the movie but it originates from Greek mythology. It was the ship Jason and the Argonauts sailed in to retrieve the Golden Fleece.

6: “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy were filmed simultaneously. The back-to-back shoot lasted a record-equaling 274 days, in 16 months – exactly the same time as taken for the principal photography of “Apocalypse Now“.

7: While filming “Awakenings” with Robin Williams and “Mad Dog and Glory” with Bill Murray, Robert DeNiro’s nose was apparently broken by both actors.

8: Matt Damon, along with Jake Gyllenhaal, was one of the studio’s first choices for the role of Jake Sully in “Avatar“, but director James Cameron chose the (back then) more unknown Sam Worthington in the lead role instead.

9: At one point in the movie “Ted“, Ted mentions 9/11. Mark Wahlberg and Seth MacFarlane both, apparently, narrowly missed being on the planes that hit the World Trade Center. Wahlberg was booked on American Airlines Flight 11 but decided to drive up to New York and fly to California later. McFarlane was scheduled on the same flight but arrived to gate ten minutes late and was unable to board. He was sitting in the airport when he saw that his plane had hit the North Tower of the World trade center.

10: In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, John Goodman stated that The Dude referring to “The Big Lebowski” as a “human paraquat” was one of the only improvised lines to make it into the final film. Virtually every other line, including every ‘man’ and ‘dude,’ was scripted – A ‘Paraquat’ is actually a herbicide. During the late 1970s, a controversial program sponsored by the US government sprayed paraquat on marijuana fields in Mexico.

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: There are an elite 10 actors to have been nominated for both a Supporting and a Lead Acting Academy Award in the same year. They are: Fay Bainter, Teresa Wright, Barry Fitzgerald, Jessica Lange, Al Pacino, Sigourney Weaver, Emma Thompson, Holly Hunter, Cate Blanchett, Julianne Moore and Jamie Foxx.

2: Robert De Niro’s thick Max Cady accent in “Cape Fear” reportedly gave Martin Scorsese the creeps, and as a joke, De Niro would call the director’s house, leaving messages as Cady.

3: Guillermo del Toro is famous for compiling books full of notes and drawings about his ideas before turning them into films, something he regards as essential to the process. He left years worth of notes for his film “Pan’s Labyrinth” in the back of a cab, and when he discovered them missing, he thought it was the end of the project. However, the cab driver found them and, realizing their importance, tracked him down and returned them at great personal difficulty and expense. Del Toro was convinced that this was a blessing and it made him even more determined to complete the film.

4: Tim Burton was slated to direct “The Fly” with Michael Keaton in the lead role, but he backed out and David Cronenberg took over.

5: Bill Murray has rubbed some collaborators the wrong way because he has a tendency to re-write and improvise his way through scripts until many of his scenes barely resemble the original versions. Most collaborators ultimately find though, it’s to the improvement of the films.

6: Michael J. Fox had always been the first choice for Marty McFly on “Back To The Future” but he was unavailable due to scheduling conflicts with his work on TV show “Family Ties“. Robert Zemeckis then cast Eric Stoltz as Marty based on his performance in “Mask“. After four weeks of filming Zemeckis felt that Stoltz wasn’t right for the part and Stoltz agreed. By this stage, Fox was allowed to leave temporarily from his TV commitments and make the film. Reshooting Stoltz’s scenes added $3 million dollars to the budget.

7: In Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Magnolia” there is a telephone number (1877) TAME-HER shown on the “Seduce and Destroy” infomercials within the movie. The character Frank T.J. Mackay is played by Tom Cruise and when dialling this number it used to give a recording of Cruise giving the Seduce and Destroy pitch.

8: Although he is barely interested in awards, Woody Allen is one of the Academy’s favorites – his 14 Oscar Nominations for Best Original Screenplay as of 2005 are a record for that category, and puts him ahead of Billy Wilder, who had 19 combined Oscar nominations for Writing and Directing. With 21 nominations in the combination of the top-three categories – acting, directing and writing – he holds the record there as well.

9: Peter Jackson’s first two choices for the role of Aragorn in “The Lord Of The Rings” were Daniel Day-Lewis and Russell Crowe. Crowe was excited about the prospect of being involved with a major motion picture in New Zealand, but couldn’t commit due to scheduling conflicts in America. Stuart Townsend was originally cast as Aragorn, but was replaced by Viggo Mortensen after four days of shooting because Peter Jackson realized that an older actor was needed.

10: “Reservoir Dogs” – In Mr. White’s (Harvey Keitel) flashback, Joe (Lawrence Tierney) asks him about a girl named Alabama. This is a reference to Patricia Arquette’s character from “True Romance“. Quentin Tarantino has stated that he originally intended this character to meet up with Mr. White and to become partners in crime. When “True Romance” was released a year after this film, the ending was changed and so this backstory became inconsistent because Alabama never went on to meet up with Mr. White.

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: 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…

With the release of The Expendables 2 upon us, I thought this would be a fitting time to turn two of cinema’s biggest macho personas on their heads. In this episode, 80’s and 90’s action stars Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger work out their aggressive homoerotic tensions and engage in some rough sexual activity. This may not be the ‘sit down‘ that most would expect from these two heavyweight action stars but I couldn’t resist twisting it about a little. Although it might not look like it, I assure you, that all words are spoken by them in character. I omitted some words to give it a different context but added absolutely nothing. Be aware, there may be a risk of the iconic characters and film’s used, never looking the same way again.

(Warning: there are some profanities included and some strong suggested sexual references but if you find it crude and insulting, then the mixed up wordplay has actually worked)

Stallone: Hey, Yo…

Schwarzenegger: Nice night for a walk.

Stallone: Do you like having a good time?…

Schwarzenegger: … you’re making a big mistake. You got me mixed up with somebody else.

Stallone: I been comin’ here for six years, and for six years ya been stickin’ it to me…

Schwarzenegger: If you’re not ready to act, give me a break and shut up.

Schwarzenegger: Your clothes… Give them to me now.

Stallone: I think my underwear is riding into my throat.

Schwarzenegger: Why are you being so immature about all this?

Stallone: Yeah, well… 500 times a night? It stings after a while, ya know.

Schwarzenegger: I’m the party pooper.

Stallone: It’s really hard to say this. I feel like, well… I’m thinking maybe it’s time that I should, uh, step down maybe…

Schwarzenegger: Well I’m sorry to disappoint you but you’re gonna… enjoy all the glorious fruits life has got to offer – acne, shaving, premature ejaculation…

Stallone: You know what the trouble with you is? You’re too violent.

Schwarzenegger: I know now why you cry but it’s something I can never do.

Stallone: Emotions… there ought to be a law against them.

Schwarzenegger: Why am I wasting time with a dime-store putz like you when I could be doing something much more dangerous, like re-arranging my sock drawers?

Stallone: Everybody needs something. And I think what YOU need is a whole lotta ME, wrapped around you on a cold winter night.

Stallone: Why don’t you screw…

Schwarzenegger: No problemo.

Schwarzenegger: My body. My choice.

Stallone: Your body has to be here, but your mind can be anywhere.

Schwarzenegger: Enough talk.

Schwarzenegger: Come on… just… put… in me and look me in the eye and see what’s going on in there when you turn it.

Stallone: You’re gonna regret this the rest of your life… both seconds of it.

Schwarzenegger: The… nine millimetre.

Stallone: I can’t hear you…

Schwarzenegger: Come on… Come on, Do it. Do it, Come on, Come on… I’m here I’m here… Come on… I’m here, Come on, Do it now…

Stallone: You’re a big man, but you’re out of shape. For me it’s a full time job.

Schwarzenegger: Who is your Daddy?…

Stallone: You’re the disease, and I’m the cure.

Schwarzenegger: My nipples are very sensitive.

Stallone: Y’know, sometimes charity really hurts.

Schwarzenegger: Cutie pie. One of us is in deep trouble.

Stallone: I’m taking care of business.

Schwarzenegger: Oh, you think you’re bad, huh? You’re a fucking choir boy compared to me. A CHOIR BOY!

Stallone: Yeah, to you it’s Thanksgiving; to me it’s Thursday.

Schwarzenegger: You Want to be a farmer? Here’s a couple of acres

Stallone: Stop or my… will shoot.

Schwarzenegger: Come with me if you want to live.

Stallone: You ain’t so bad, you ain’t so bad, you ain’t nothin’. C’mon, champ… in the face.

Stallone: You know, you got a big mouth, you know?

Schwarzenegger: Well… I’ve got to hand it to you. It’s the best… fuck yet.

Schwarzenegger: … I hope you leave enough room for my fist because I’m going to ram it into you… and break your god-damn spine.

Stallone: You can’t break me.

Schwarzenegger: Bleed, bastard.

Stallone: … somewhere between my vest and my pants.

Stallone: Don’t push it. Don’t push it… Let it go. Let it go.

Schwarzenegger: I’ll show you collateral damage.

Schwarzenegger: Now that hit the spot.

Stallone: I look at this… and I don’t like what I see.

Schwarzenegger: Consider that a divorce

Stallone: How do you think this makes me look?

Schwarzenegger: You’re one… ugly motherfucker.

Stallone: Well, we’re all a little freaky… It’s those straight ones you’ve got to worry about.

Schwarzenegger: I just had a terrible thought… what if this is a dream?

Stallone: I can’t get it out of my head. A dream of seven years. Everyday I have this. And sometimes I wake up and I don’t know where I am. I don’t talk to anybody. Sometimes a day – a week. I can’t put it out of my mind.

Schwarzenegger: If this is a dream then who the hell invited you?

Stallone: All right, just relax… You wanna talk – we’ll talk. I’m a sucker for great conversation.

Schwarzenegger: You gave me a Raw deal.

Schwarzenegger: No sequel for you.

Stallone: I feel like a Kentucky Fried idiot.

Schwarzenegger: You were never that smart.

Stallone: During this… I’ve seen a lot of changing, in the way you feel about me, and in the way I feel about you. In here, there were two guys… I guess what I’m trying to say, is that if I can change, and you can change, everybody can change.

Schwarzenegger: No more games.

Stallone: I’m expendable.

Schwarzenegger: Hasta la vista, baby

Stallone: You should finish what you start.

Schwarzenegger: I’ll be back.

Stallone: I’ll be the judge of that.