Cinema has always been full of surprises, particularly when it comes to the creation of certain projects, as fascinating stories often occur during the pre-production, production and post-production stages of iconic films (some intentional, others happy accidents), with many of these happenings eventually making it onto the silver screen or the furthest reaches of the internet, remaining a sheltered piece of film history. So, here are ten film facts you should know to expand your cinephile knowledge and triumph over your family and friends at your next trivia night.
A Ghost Story (2017)
During the production of the indie drama; A Ghost Story, for the prolonged shot in which her character eats a pie, several variations of pies were baked and tested in preparation for the scene. Actress Rooney Mara, a self-confessed picky eater, ultimately opted for a reduced-sugar, gluten-free vegan chocolate pie. Writer-director David Lowery claimed it was delicious, but Mara disagreed, declaring it tasted vile.
Jurassic Park (1993)
Following the end of production on the iconic blockbuster; Jurassic Park, all the cast were given a Velociraptor model, signed by director Steven Spielberg, as a gift. The model looked rather frightening, so actress Ariana Richards positioned her model in her house to startle arriving guests. Actress Laura Dern, however, placed her model in her son’s room near his crib. But, when her son was older and witnessed it looking over him, he grew terrified of the model, forcing Dern to put the Velociraptor model into storage.
Shrek (2001)
Originally, comedian Chris Farley was cast as the voice of the titular character in the animated smash-hit; Shrek, recording almost all of the character’s dialogue. However, after his sudden death in 1997, the role was given to his then-fellow Saturday Night Live performer, Mike Myers. As such, Shrek’s air quotes in the film are a homage to one of Farley’s most well-known characters, Bennett Brauer, who commonly used air quotes. A story reel featuring a sample of Farley’s recorded dialogue was eventually leaked to the public in 2015.
Toy Story 2 (1999)
Whilst working on the sequel to the cherished animated flick; Toy Story, released in 1995, one of the animators accidentally entered the code; “rm *,” which, when entered, deletes everything on the computer as fast as possible. As a result, the team behind Toy Story 2 lost roughly 90% of the film. Fortunately, supervising technical director, Galyn Susman, had recently had a child, so she took a copy of the film home with her so she could work from home, allowing the team to cover the extra copy in blankets and drive it back to Pixar Animation Studios, where they were able to recover the majority of the film.
Halloween (1978)
In the original screenplay for the horror classic; Halloween, then-titled; The Babysitter Murders, the events of the story took place over several days. Due to the filmmakers only possessing a budget of around £260,000, however, it was ultimately a budgetary decision to change the screenplay to have everything occur on the same day, reducing the number of costume changes and locations required. Furthermore, it was decided that Halloween, the scariest night of the year, was the perfect night for Michael Myer’s teenage massacre, hence the title change.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Forming an interesting link between two quintessential crime-thrillers, Mr. Blonde, a.k.a. Vic Vega, portrayed by Michael Madsen in 1992’s Reservoir Dogs, is actually the brother of Vincent Vega, portrayed by John Travolta, from Pulp Fiction. At one point, the director of both films, Quentin Tarantino, even had a spin-off in development titled; Double V Vega, which would’ve served as a prequel to both films. However, the film was eventually scrapped because both actors were too old to portray younger versions of themselves.
Oculus (2013)
Although the film wasn’t released until 2013, had co-writer and director Mike Flanagan agreed to develop his supernatural horror flick; Oculus, in a found-footage style similar to Paranormal Activity, released in 2007, the film would’ve been released much earlier as a number of production companies were interested in the project, even preparing to back the film as early as 2006. Flanagan, however, refused to do so.
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
After the release of the treasured British horror-comedy; Shaun of the Dead, in 2004, duo Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright considered writing a sequel to the film that would’ve replaced zombies with another monster. But, they ultimately decided against it, as they thought too many characters perished in the original to continue the narrative. The proposed title for this sequel was; From Dusk Till Shaun. Humorously, a mocked-up poster can be seen for the film in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, released in 2018, a film that takes place in an alternate reality.
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
All of the visual effects throughout the critically acclaimed, universe-hopping comedy-drama; Everything Everywhere All at Once, were completed by nine people (including the two directors), with most of the visual effects accomplished by a core group of only five individuals. Moreover, none of the visual effects team academically learnt visual effects, they were all friends who simply taught themselves how to create convincing effects with tutorials they found online for free.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
In the swashbuckling blockbuster; Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Johnny Depp’s beloved character, Captain Jack Sparrow, is shown to have gold teeth, these gold teeth were actually Depp’s idea. However, Depp predicted that the film’s executives would desire fewer gold teeth, so he instructed his dentist to implant more gold teeth in his mouth as a bargaining tool. Jack’s final number of gold teeth in the film was what Depp had envisioned all along for the money-hungry pirate.
Joe Baker - Film Reviews 