Fun Facts of the Day

Fun Facts of the Day!

Since I can't get on every day, I'm going to post a couple fun movie trivia facts every day I'm on. I enjoy filling my head with some random, possibly useless, little notes from movies. You may or may not learn something new or interesting, and I think it could stimulate some discussion as well. I'll be back in a bit with the first batch.

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FUN FACT #459:
Walter Matthau smelled exactly like he looked.



FUN FACT #204:
For a two-week period in 1956, thanks to a bout with
conjunctivitis, Frank Sinatra was briefly known as "Old
Pinkeyes".

__________________
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Fun Fact #1
From Charade (1963)

According to Audrey Hepburn, the scene where Regina spills ice cream on Adam's suit is based on a real-life accident where Hepburn spilled red wine over Cary Grant's suit at a dinner party.





Fun Fact #2
From The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

Because of Chief Dan George's age, he would have trouble remembering his lines so during takes, Clint Eastwood would begin to mouth his lines without realizing it and had to be told to stop because it would ruin the take.





Fun Fact #3
From The Bourne Identity (2002)

Brad Pitt was offered the role of Jason Bourne, but turned it down to do Spy Game (2001). Matthew McConaughey was also considered for the role.





Fun Fact #4
From Cool Hand Luke (1967)

Luke's prison number (37) is a reference to the Bible - Luke 1:37. ("For with God nothing shall be impossible.")





Fun Fact #5
From Adam's Rib (1949)

In her early monologue scene with Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday can be seen trembling. This was not acting, but nervousness. The inexperienced Judy Holliday was terrified of performing with Katharine Hepburn.



Source: IMDB

FUN FACT #613:
In China, John Steinbeck's title The Grapes of Wrath is
translated as Angry Berries.


FUN FACT #977:
In 1955, Time's Man of the Year was Moe Howard.


FUN FACT #260:
Due to cost-cutting measures, Silly Putty is 23% less silly
than it used to be.


FUN FACT #601:
Beyoncé is so hot that her normal body temperature is 98.7º.


FUN FACT #13:
Governor Schwarzenegger devotes an hour each Wednesday
to helping California residents with jars they can't open.


FUN FACT #781:
China's revered General Tso was known to batter-fry his
enemies in a tangy orange sauce.


FUN FACT #890:
Mr. T's name is short for "Tannenbaum".


FUN FACT #522:
89% of parents who bring children to PG rated movies fail to
provide any guidance whatsoever.


FUN FACT #923:
Not until March of 2027 will North America witness a total
eclipse of the heart.


FUN FACT #293:
In 2005, Don Johnson legally changed his name to Nash Bridges.


FUN FACT #46:
Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. album included a warning to
fans to be careful when dancing in the dark.


FUN FACT #557:
Until 1958, people dreamed in black and white.


FUN FACT #350:
Near Nevada's Area 51 is an equally secret Area 31 where
Baskin-Robbins tests ice cream flavors.


FUN FACT #86:
Redd Foxx gave generously to the American Heart Association
to find a cure for fake heart attacks.


FUN FACT #712:
Lemonade and iced tea is called an "Arnold Palmer". Vodka,
rum, tequila, cigarette ashes and rubbing alcohol is called a
"John Daly".


FUN FACT #242:
The two most popular boy baby names in the 12th Century
were Genghis and Kyle.


FUN FACT #4:
Since the terrorist attacks of 2001, comedian Jimmy Walker
has been strip-searched over three-hundred times by TSA
personnel looking for DYN-O-MITE.

Fun Fact #6
From The Fortune Cookie (1966)

This was director Billy Wilder's second film in a row in which one of his lead actors suffered a heart attack. In preceding film, 1964's Kiss Me, Stupid (1964), Peter Sellers' health problem forced Wilder to replace him with Ray Walston. In Fortune Cookie, Walter Matthau suffered attack midway through production but shooting was postponed until he recovered; his drastic weight loss from scene to scene is noticeable.






Fun Fact #7
From Kindergarten Cop (1990)

The section where Phoebe pretends to be Austrian by sprouting random phrases in German (the language spoken in Austria) was unchanged when the film was dubbed into German. This caused confusion in Germany.





Fun Fact #8
From Gone with the Wind (1938)

In the scene where Rhett pours Mammy a drink after the birth of Bonnie, for a joke during a take, Clark Gable actually poured alcohol instead of the usual tea into the decanter without Hattie McDaniel knowing it until she took a swig.





Fun Fact #9
From The Goonies (1985)

When rocks are falling from the cave ceiling, Jonathan Ke Quan (Data) screams "Holy S-H-I-T!" He said he spelled the expletive because his mother made him promise not to use any bad language in the movie. "*****" or "bullsh!t" is uttered 19 times, not counting the line "Holy S-H-I-T!"





Fun Fact #10
From The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

The character of Daisy was named Hildegarde Moncrief in F. Scott Fitzgerald's original short story. The name change is likely a nod to the female lead in Fitzgerald's best-known work, The Great Gatsby.



Source: IMDB

FUN FACT #44:
Harpo Marx's production company was called
Oprah Productions.


FUN FACT #679:
Until a 1960 Supreme Court ruling, the artificial
sweetener Equal was called Separate but Equal.


FUN FACT #606:
Nobody has ever TiVo'd "According to Jim".


FUN FACT #130:
Houdini's first escape in 1891 was from a snug-
fitting sweater vest.


FUN FACT #271:
Following the death of Rodney Dangerfield,
his widow filed a malpractice lawsuit against
Dr. Vinnie Boombatz.


FUN FACT #717:
Thanks to a sophisticated robot developed by
the Japanese, it now only takes one to tango.


FUN FACT # 119:
Actor Wesley Snipes withheld millions of dollars
in state income tax by claiming his primary
residence was in New Jack City.


FUN FACT #452:
In the late 1970s, "Family Feud" host Richard
Dawson was responsible for passing a commun-
icable influenza that killed nearly one thousand
Americans.


FUN FACT #965:
During the 1970s, the Nobel Committee handed
out awards for Best R&B or Funk Album.


FUN FACT #521:
Orville and Wilbur's cousin, Duane Wright, invented
the baggage carousel.


FUN FACT #692:
Though a virulent anti-Semite, Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has seen Woody Allen's
Annie Hall over twenty-five times.


FUN FACT #202:
The only song by another artist Bob Dylan ever
wished he'd written is "Kung Fu Fighting".


FUN FACT #834:
Despite the name, the vast majority of Good Humor
men are miserable sons of bitches.

Fun Fact #11
From Space Cowboys (2000)

Tommy Lee Jones is seen wearing a "Cowboy Bar" shirt which is from the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson, Wyoming. This was a favorite bar for Clint Eastwood and where he shot one of his last scenes in Any Which Way You Can.





Fun Fact #12
From Titanic (1997)

On the set of Titanic, Leonardo DiCaprio's pet lizard was run over by a truck, but with some TLC, Leo nursed him to health.





Fun Fact #13
From JFK (1991)

Dean (John Candy) Andrews' sweaty face during his talk with Garrison is real. Candy was petrified at the idea of appearing in a dramatic film with professional actors like Gary Oldman and Donald Sutherland. He sweated profusely throughout all his scenes.





Fun Fact #14
From Casablanca (1942)

To prepare for working with Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman watched The Maltese Falcon many times.





Fun Fact #15
From The Firm (1993)

Holly Hunter' is on screen for a total of 5 minutes, 59 seconds; one of shortest performances ever nominated for an Oscar. She is in 20 scenes, for an average of 18 seconds per scene.



Souce: IMDB

Fun Fact #16
From Glory (1989)

This film may hold a record for the longest end credits ever. They run a full ten minutes. The names of the cast are displayed three times in differing formats. When the prints were delivered to the theaters the credits were on a separate thousand foot reel.





Fun Fact #17
From The Usual Suspects (1998)

Kevin Spacey had the fingers on his left hand glued together to make his character's disability more realistic, and filed down his shoes to make them look worn by his character's gimp.





Fun Fact #18
From The Apartment (1960)

Wilder directed Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch (1955) and Some Like It Hot (1959). He grew to despise her demands for star treatment and her poor work ethic, and thus included the party-girl Monroe-esque character in this film.





Fun Fact #19
From The Pink Panther (1963)

The film was intended to have David Niven's character Sir Charles Lytton as the main character. However, Peter Sellers' portrayal of Inspector Clouseau was so loved by the crew (and later by the audience) it became his character this film and the sequels focused on.





Fun Fact #20
From The Searchers (1956)

In the climactic scene, John Wayne and Natalie Wood run up the side of a hill in Monument Valley, Utah... and come down the other side of the hill in the Bronson Canyon area of Griffith Park, Los Angeles (647 miles away).



Source: IMDB

Fun The Exorcist Facts:



- Jane Fonda and Shirley MacLaine were approached to play the role of Chris MacNeil. Geraldine Page turned down the role.Audrey Hepburn was also approached and only agreed to do it if it was filmed in Rome. Anne Bancroft was another choice but she was in her first month of pregnancy and was dropped. Ellen Burstyn agreed to doing the movie only if her character didn't have to say the scripted line: "I believe in the devil!" The producers agreed to eliminate the utterance.




- Stanley Kubrick wanted to direct the film, but only if he could produce it himself, but the studio was worried that he would go over budget and over schedule. John Boorman had been offered the chance to direct but declined because he felt the storyline was "cruel towards children". He did, however, accept the offer to direct the sequel, Exorcist II: The Heretic. Other directors that Warner had approached included Arthur Penn (who was teaching at Yale), Peter Bogdanovich (who wanted to pursue other projects, subsequently regretting the decision) and Mike Nichols (who didn't want to shoot a film so dependent on a child's performance). The studio actually hired Mark Rydell but author/scripter/producer William Peter Blatty insisted on William Friedkin. After a standoff with the studio, which initially refused to budge over Rydell, Blatty eventually got his way.



- Linda Blair is actually not in most of the most repulsive and "blasphemous" scenes in the movie, although she does say the F-word. Most all of the explicit language was uttered by Oscar-winner Mercedes McCambridge and acted out by stunt double Eileen Dietz.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

Love this thread. The Bourne trilogy would've failed so hard if they cast Mathew McConaughey.

A Kubrick Exorcist? I wouldn't have minded taking a look at that. That's right. I said that.

Fun Fact #21
From Back to the Future (1985)

A persistent myth is that Michael J. Fox had to learn to skateboard for the film. In fact, he was a reasonably skilled skateboarder, having ridden throughout high school. However, Per Welinder acted as a skateboarding double for the complex scenes, and Tony Hawk (who had originally been cast as a double when Eric Stoltz was playing Marty, but was too tall to double for Fox) helped choreograph and coordinate the skateboarding action.





Fun Fact #22
From Breakfast at Tiffany's(1961)

Audrey Hepburn hated Danish pastries, making filming the famous opening scene a bit of a chore for her.





Fun Fact #23
From Sneakers (1992)

Mother, Dan Aykroyd, wears a T-shirt bearing the name "Aleka's Attic", a band formed by co-star River Phoenix. Robert Redford's jacket is the same one he wears in The Natural.





Fun Fact #24
From Vertigo (1958)

The Empire Hotel where James Stewart eventually finds Kim Novak is today (2009) the Hotel Vertigo ( formerly the "York") located at 940 Sutter Street in the heart of San Francisco. Kim Novak's character lived in room 501, which still retains many of its aspects captured in the film.





Fun Fact #25
From Up (2009)

Carl Fredricksen's face and gruff personality are based on Spencer Tracy and Walter Matthau.



Source: IMDB

I knew it!!

Fun Fact #26
From Jaws (1975)

During pre-production, director Steven Spielberg, accompanied by friends Martin Scorsese, George Lucas and John Milius, visited the effects shop where "Bruce" the shark was being constructed. Lucas stuck his head in the shark's mouth to see how it worked and, as a joke, Milius and Spielberg sneaked to the controls and made the jaw clamp shut on Lucas' head. Unfortunately, and rather prophetically, considering the later technical difficulties the production would suffer, the shark malfunctioned, and Lucas got stuck in the mouth of the shark. When Spielberg and Milius were finally able to free him, the three men ran out of the workshop, afraid they'd done major damage to the creature.





Fun Fact #27
From Toy Story (1995)

Whenever a character's eyes blink, they never blink together, but one at a time.





Fun Fact #28
From Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

This film originated as a project for Mick Jagger and David Bowie, after the success of their popular "Dancing in the Street" video in 1985. Studio bosses were anxious to put them in a movie together. Screenwriter Dale Launer was brought in based on the success of Ruthless People (1986) and asked to submit ideas. Launer had seen the original film, Bedtime Story (1964) (which starred Marlon Brando, David Niven, and Shirley Jones) on TV once before and suggested a remake. During development, however, Jagger and Bowie dropped out of the project. Steve Martin and Michael Caine were brought in as replacements.





Fun Fact #29
From Psycho (1960)

Alfred Hitchcock bought the rights to the novel anonymously from Robert Bloch for only US$9,000. He then bought up as many copies of the novel as he could to keep the ending a secret.





Fun Fact #30
From The Odd Couple (1968)

Walter Matthau, who played Oscar in both the original Broadway play and the movie, asked the play's author, Neil Simon, if he could play Felix instead. This was because Matthau thought Oscar's personality was too similar to his own and the role would be too easy; whereas playing the persnickety Felix would be a real acting challenge. Simon replied, "Walter, go and be an actor in somebody else's play. Please be Oscar in mine." Matthau finally agreed to it.

Thank god!

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Fun Fact #31
From Some Like It Hot (1959)

Marilyn Monroe wanted the film to be shot in color (her contract stipulated that all her films were to be in color), but Billy Wilder convinced her to let it be shot in black and white when costume tests revealed that the makeup that Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon wore gave their faces a green tinge.





Fun Fact #32
From The Longest Day(1962)

Former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower was considered for the role of himself in the film, and he indicated his willingness. However, it was decided that makeup artists couldn't make him appear young enough to play his WWII self.





Fun Fact #33
From Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

Michael Palin plays the most characters (12).





Fun Fact #34
From The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

The plot calls for a man (Daniel Gélin in the role of Louis Bernard) to be discovered as "not Moroccan" because he was wearing black makeup. The makeup artists couldn't find a black substance that would come off easily, and so they painted the fingers of the other man (Jimmy Stewart) white, so that he would leave pale streaks on the other man's skin.





Fun Fact #35
From Lolita (1962)

Peter Sellers modeled the voice of his character Clare Quilty on that of his director, Stanley Kubrick.



Source: IMDB

Wonder who came up with that obscure reference--the writer, director, surely not Newman, I've never heard of him being particularly religious ( I did read that his superstition ran to the letter H after Hud was such a big hit, thus changing the Archer in the original book to Harper for that film, and also Hombre, neither of which were all that big a success.) Could this just be a coincidence after the fact?

Maybe the reference was really to Luke's ma, as in Luke 2:37 "And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day" trying to get her boy outta jail.

OK, if you say so. But I'm surprised that someone who got started in a nightclub act that played some of the top New York clubs and later made such a big hit on Broadway in Born Yesterday would be that intimidated by another actress, especially when Hepburn and Tracy got her the role in Adam's Rib to prove to the studio heads that Holiday was good enough to recreate her starring role in the film version of Born Yesterday. Seems unusual to me to be scared of acting a scene with someone who is trying to help you break into the movies. I would have thought she and Hepburn would have met and talked about the role many times before shooting that scene. Also, other actors tell stories of how helpful and supportive Hepburn was to other actors, especially those just getting a start.

Fun Fact #36
From To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

The watch used in the film was a prop, but Harper Lee gave Gregory Peck her father's watch after the film was completed because he reminded her so much of him.





Fun Fact #36
From The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three (1974)

One of Robert Shaw's favorite pastimes during downtime of filming was playing ping-pong on tables set up on the station's concourse. He reportedly badly beat all challengers.





Fun Fact #38
From The Caine Mutiny (1954)

This film gave aspiring actor (and Humphrey Bogart fan) Maurice Micklewhite an idea for his screen name, Michael Caine.





Fun Fact #39
From Freedom Writers (2007)

At the hotel dinner for the kids, after their trip to the Holocaust museum, all of the Holocaust survivor characters are played by actual Holocaust survivors.





Fun Fact #40
From Spaceballs (1987)

The song the Dinks are singing when they first appear on screen, is The "Colonel Bogey March", most associated with the film The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), which starred Alec Guinness. Incidentally, Guinness's character in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), Obi-Wan Kenobi, wasn't parodied in Spaceballs, even though Obi-Wan is one of the best known characters in Star Wars, even by those who have never seen the films.



Source: IMDB

Fun Fact #41
From Air Force One (1997)

Harrison Ford told Gary Oldman to actually hit him during the filming of the fight scenes.





Fun Fact #42
From Dances with Wolves (1990)

Two of the domesticated buffalo used in the production were borrowed from singer Neil Young. During the scene where the buffalo is charging at the young Indian, the buffalo is actually charging at a pile of its favorite treat: Oreo cookies.





Fun Fact #43
From Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)

Near the end of the film when character Earl Devereaux jumps through a tortilla chip, a giant letter T is left behind, resembling the voice actor Mr. T. Earl Devereaux has the exact opposite hairstyle his voice actor, Mr. T. Instead of a T-shaped mohawk, Earl sports a T-shaped bald patch.



To Be Continued

Source IMDB

Fun Fact #44
From The Terminator (1984)

As of January 2010, the only feature film directed by James Cameron that is less than two hours in running time. The sunglasses worn by the Terminator were Gargoyles.




Fun Fact #45
From Speed (1994)

Sandra Bullock actually learned to drive a bus for the film, passing her test on her first attempt.



Source: IMDB