Your Favourite Crazy Film Fact

speedboatchase

In my mind nothing beats the fact that Beverly Hills Cop was originally meant for Sylvester Stallone Or that Harrison Ford turned down George Clooneys role in Syriana to star in Firewall!

What's your favourite? If its less well known the better!

L31mr0d

it might seem obvious to people in here, but most people I talk to think you're lying when you say Meg Ryan was in Top Gun.

Predhead

speedboatchase wrote: »

In my mind nothing beats the fact that Beverly Hills Cop was originally meant for Sylvester Stallone Or that Harrison Ford turned down George Clooneys role in Syriana to star in Firewall!

What's your favourite? If its less well known the better!

Holy missed opportunities Batman....

..can't think straight right now but I know Die Hard was originally offered to Richard Gere, among others!!

Also, there was only one guy who 'starred' in both Predator movies (not Kevin Peter Hall) - you'd know him as 'guy who jumped into moving truck with bomb' or El Scorpio in Predator 2!

Duggy747

In Terminator 2 the sound the T-1000 makes when transforming was made by putting a condom over a microphone and dipping it in oatmeal :pac:

Where did that idea come from?

Vic Vinegar

Duggy747 wrote: »

In Terminator 2 the sound the T-1000 makes when transforming was made by putting a condom over a microphone and dipping it in oatmeal :pac:

Where did that idea come from?

Someones bizarre sexual practices? James Camerons maybe......

stereoroid

If Harrison Ford doesn't seem to take acting seriously, it may be because he basically gave up on acting after a few minor roles and became a carpenter. Then he put up some cabinets in George Lucas' house, while Lucas was making American Graffiti...

One of my favourite films was originally titled Anhedonia, which means "inability to feel pleasure". The studio made the director change it to something that audiences would understand:

Annie Hall

.

Creature

Michael Keatons' s real name is Michael Douglas

Bill Paxton is the only actor to have played a character killed by a Terminator (a punk at the beginning of Terminator), Aliens (Pvt. Hudson - Aliens) and Predator (Jerry - Predator 2). Lance Henrikson doesn't count as technically he wasn't killed by the Alien queen .

Gillie

The "backstory" of Apocalypse Now. Mad stuff!

The Bollox

Creature wrote: »

Bill Paxton is the only actor to have played a character killed by a Terminator (a punk at the beginning of Terminator), Alien (Pvt. Hudson - Aliens) and Predator (Jerry - Predator 2)

that's an interesting one. I only saw Predator 2 once and can't remember anything except that it's rubbish so I didn't remember Bill was in that. and for a long time I was trying to put my finger on who that punk is (checking IMDB for this stuff is cheating) but it eventually clicked about 2 months ago while watching it

BopNiblets

The Tie Fighter flying noise is an elephant mixed with car tyres screeching.

How'd they teach the elephant to drive AND fit him in the car?!

JangoFett

I love those!!

I dunno if this really counts, but I love when actors really get into roles, like Brad Pitt actually hangin out with travellers before snatch so he could perfect the accent and the way he moved!

And anything Christian Bale does, the man is a lunatic. I love method actors

Dont be at yourself

The "backstory" of Apocalypse Now. Mad stuff!

Yep! Particularly that two of the most iconic scenes, of Martin Sheen throwing a wobbler at the start in his hotel room, and the ending with Kurtz were largely improvised. Apparently, Sheen was drunk and actually did throw a wobbler. Brando turned up to the set overweight and he hadn't even read the script. Hence it was shot in low light, with most of his lines improvised!

Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks have starred in three films together. Everyone knows Sleepless in Seattle, most remember You've Got Mail, but who still remembers

Joe Versus The Volcano

?

BOHSBOHS

cecilia ahern ripped off the whole story for "ps i love you " from an asian film

Galvasean

Die Hard is loosely based on an unused script for Commando 2

The Bollox

Galvasean wrote: »

Die Hard is loosely based on an unused script for Commando 2

Thank God they did't get John Matrix in that film, it would have been bollox and made a farce of the classic Commando film. gotta love those one-liners.

the script for Die Harder was originally a stand alone film, but slightly altered for the Die Hard franchise

magnia

While filming Troy. In a twist of irony, Brad Pitt tore his left Achilles tendon during shooting. Tragically, actor George Camilleri, a bodybuilding extra, severely broke his leg in a scene. He was treated at the hospital, but days later suffered a heart attack from a blood clot in his leg. He was treated once again and released only to have another heart attack which lead to his death.

Dont be at yourself

To continue the Die Hard theme...

Die Hard With A Vengeance was originally written as a Lethal Weapon film.

And Die Hard 4.0 was presumably written as a cruel joke.

Whyner

Colin Farell is in my building now, I work in Eircom - Phone Box 2?

Bit off topic, sorry...

Whyner

Back on track......

Brandon Lee being shot dead by brass capped bullets filming The Crow.

Loomis

Face Off originally wanted Stallone and Schwarzenegger instead of Cage and Travolta - God that could have been painful.

Since I love the movie scream:
Wes Craven, as the janitor, is dressed up like Freddy Krueger; that's why his name is Fred. This is a tribute to the Nightmare on Elm Street films, which Wes Craven also directed.
The cast never met actor Roger Jackson (the phone voice) on request of Wes Craven- so as to keep tension in the phone voice scenes.
At the beginning when Casey Beckers mom finds her in the tree hung the dad tells the mom to run down to the mecenzies, which is what Jamie lee Curtis tells the kids she is baby sitting after she sees Michael in Halloween 1 (the writer is Kevin Williamson who loves the movie Halloween). Similarly Billy Loomis is a reference to Sam Loomis from Halloween. In the beginning where Billy sneaks into Sid's room there is a song playing on her stereo that says "Don't Fear The Reaper". This original version is first heard in the first Halloween on Laurie's radio in her car.
When Randy (Jamie Kennedy) is on his own shouting at the film (Halloween) he is saying "Jamie, he's behind you!" as in Jamie Lee Curtis and his own name.
In Gale's van right above the little T.V. if you look real carefully you can see a "Happy Days" bumper sticker. A reference to Henry Winkler who played the principal who also played Fonzie on Happy Days. In the scene where the killer is knocking on the principal's office door. He looks in his little closet with his jackets in there. Well look real carefully and you'll actually see his "Fonzie" leather jacket in there as well.
In the final scenes Matthew Lillard improvised most of it and a few lines were left in - Sydney has escaped and hides in the house and calls them up: Lillard says shall I let the machine get it?
When Billy answers and Sydney riles him he throws the phone but because of the fake blood on his hands it slipped and hit Lillard in the back of the head to which he said '****in hit me with the phone, dick!'
When Stew is on top of Sydney near the Tv he says I always had a thing for ya Sid.
Drew Barrymore was supposed to be cast as Sidney Prescott, but something else "came up" and she couldn't film the part. So she talked to Wes Craven and the producers to give her the role of the second victim, Casey.
The masks that are worn in Scream closely resemble the face in Edward Munch's famous painting 'The Scream'.

I have more but I'm sure I'll bore people

Duggy747

Minority Report was supposed to be Total Recall 2, possibly another decent flick in Arnie's hit & miss arsenal?

The slime on the xenomorphs from the Alien series is KY jelly (Again with Cameron's strange sexual practices!)

The Alien Queen in Aliens was made of black bags.

James Cameron was writing a script for Alien 5 when he heard they were making AVP. He urged Fox not to release it but they did so he subsequently binned his script. Urgh, himself and Ridley Scott actually talked to each other about a collaboration on a sequel.

They originally wanted Stallone for Die Hard.

faceman

Interesting list thread, must be first of its type in the forum?

+1 for the heart of darkness documentary on Apocolypse Now. was made by Coppola's wife too.

Final scene of the Exorcist, when Father Dyer is shaking while reading the last rites. Reason he is shaking was because the director slapped him across the face beforehand for not getting the previous repeated takes as convincing as he wanted it. Dyer was a real priest.

Barbarella, the cross/cruxifix light effect seen over the shoulder of Christ on the cross is not a camera trick nor was it visible during shooting.

grames_bond

american psycho fact:

the studio actually wanted leo decaprio to play patrick bateman, bret easton ellis (the writer of the book) wanted christan bale.....bale was cheaper, BEE got his way!

humanji

The huge alien ship in Alien was actually just a slightly large alien ship. It was made bigger by having the crew members played by children in space suits. Actually, there's a load of great trivia for Alien, so if anyone gets a chance to look at any documentaries on the dvd's about it, I recommend you do. They're incredible!

In the scene in Soylent Green where Charlton Heston is crying when Edward G. Robinson died, he was really crying as he was the only person on the set who knew that Robinson was really dying of cancer and that he didn't have long to live (he died a week or two after the film finished shooting).

Steven Speilberg wanted to shoot Pirates of the Carribean in the 90's with either Robin Williams, Bill Murray or (I think) Steve Martin as Jack Sparrow. Also Christopher Walken was also slated at one point to play him.

BlitzKrieg

Alien:

they built the nostromo out of star wars models

johnny_ultimate

The story of Terry Gilliam's Don Quixote epic is fascinating, as documented in the film Lost in La Mancha. The flooding sequence is insane, and the descent into utter destruction makes for one hell of a crazy story.

Also any off screen stories involving Klaus Kinski and Wener Herzog tend to be crazy: death threats and all.

Annie Hall was originally going to be a thriller, but in the editing room Woody decided he liked the romance more: a wise decision I think, based on the fairly mediocre Manhattan Murder Mystery, a revisitation of some of the original ideas.

Finally, I love the fact that the parade sequence in ESOTSM was completely random: when it was passing by, the crew just grabbed the cameras and started shooting.

monkeyfudge

Mr. Anderson wrote: »

The cast never met actor Roger Jackson (the phone voice) on request of Wes Craven- so as to keep tension in the phone voice scenes.

Cool.. I never realised that was Roger Jackson.. he's also the voice of Mojo Jojo in the Power Puff Girls.

humanji

Esotsm?

BlitzKrieg

eternal sunshine of the spotless mind?

humanji

Cheers

Black Swan

Is it true that in the old series of Pink Panther films, the last one that was released (after Peter Sellers had died) was mostly filled with out-takes cut from previous ones, along with a sub to fill in the screenplay gaps?

faceman

Francis Ford Coppolla cant speak italian yet directed entire italian dialogue sequences in Godfather part II.

The scene in Jaws where the shark swims on top of the cage with Dreyfuss in it wasnt intentional. When the B camera unit were filming the shark scenes a real shark attacked the cage so they included it in the film.

humanji

Blue_Lagoon wrote: »

Is it true that in the old series of Pink Panther films, the last one that was released (after Peter Sellers had died) was mostly filled with out-takes cut from previous ones, along with a sub to fill in the screenplay gaps?

Yeah, it's absolutely shocking to watch.

Sad Professor

Everything about the making of Brazil and Gilliam's battle with Universal exec Sid Sheinberg over the edit is fascinating.

SP

Nolanger

Less than 20% of Irish Film Board-funded feature films from the '90s are available on DVD.

faceman

This is more an urban legend so im not sure how true it is. Apparantely when David Lynch's Eraserhead was screened in the IFC as it was known at the time, reel 2 was shown before reel 1 and no one in the audience was any the wiser until the opening credits rolled!

Indie18

the mirror scene from the marx brothers duck soup only took one take to shoot it. if you have never seen that scene look at it. it cracked me up years ago and even when i see now its halairious infact the whole movie is quality.

monkeyfudge

A subtle one in Back to the Future.

At the beginning of the film they are conducting the time travel experiment in the parking lot of the Twin Pines Shopping Mall, but when Marty returns from the past it is called the Lone Pine Shopping Mall on account of Marty knocking over one of the pine trees during his trip to the past.

faceman

monkeyfudge wrote: »

A subtle one in Back to the Future.

At the beginning of the film they are conducting the time travel experiment in the parking lot of the Twin Pines Shopping Mall, but when Marty returns from the past it is called the Lone Pine Shopping Mall on account of Marty knocking over one of the pine trees during his trip to the past.

Jaysus, well spotted, didnt know that!

on the BTTF theme. Originally the time machine was going to be a fridge.

Galvasean

The Spinosaurus in Jurassic Park 3 was storyboarded as a Baryonx. The species was not changed until production began.

...and yet, no one cares..

Indie18

Galvasean wrote: »

The Spinosaurus in Jurassic Park 3 was storyboarded as a Baryonx. The species was not changed until production began.

...and yet, no one cares..

thats because jurassic park 3 was a terrible movie.

Duggy747

The scene where Sarah removes the chip from Arnie's head is an interesting one.

In the shot you can see Arnie looking into a mirror as Sarah is opening the capsule in his head. Thing is, though, that's not a mirror Arnie's looking into but is him looking out of the "mirror". Linda Hamiliton and her twin sister was used in the shot to give the illusion that it was a mirror.

Y'see, simple ideas like that traded in for CGI.

paulizei

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Also any off screen stories involving Klaus Kinski and Wener Herzog tend to be crazy: death threats and all.

During filming for either Fitzcarrald or Aguirre, Wrath Of God, the normally pacifist indians offered to kill Kinski for Herzog and he considered it. Found out recently that Jason Robards was the original choice for the lead in Fitzcarraldo with Mick Jagger in supporting role. Kinski replaced Robards and Jagger dropped out.

Robards/Jagger v Kinski doing same scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTgDXu_Nhys

Lulz @ Jagger.

BlitzKrieg

that was Aquiree, wrath of god I believe, the indians offering to kill him thing.

Galvasean

Terminator 2 Judgment Day was the most expensive film ever made at the time. It was also an independent production.

BlitzKrieg

teenage mutant turtles was the most successful independent film before terminator 2.

Sinfonia

Will Ferrell turned down the role of John Beckwith in Wedding Crashers and it went to Owen Wilson instead

Galvasean

The recent Rambo was an independent production. Juno was not.
Go figure.

monkeyfudge

Galvasean wrote: »

The recent Rambo was an independent production. Juno was not.
Go figure.

How exactly are you defining 'independent production' there?

Both were produced by LA based production companies... Rambo even had the Weinsteins behind it.

ThOnda

The paralyzing drug used at the end of the movie "The Audition" does not exist. But it would be very hard to end the film in other way...

Galvasean

monkeyfudge wrote: »

How exactly are you defining 'independent production' there?

Both were produced by LA based production companies... Rambo even had the Weinsteins behind it.

Rogue Marble were the main contributors to Rambo. The vast majority of funding came from independent companies, making it technically an independent film.