M. Night Shyamalan wrote the screenplay of “The Happening” with Mark Wahlberg specifically in mind for the lead role.
The movie “The Forbidden Kingdom” marks the very first collaboration between martial arts masters Jet Li and Jackie Chan.
In “Sex and the City” , the tutu outfit that Carrie models for the girls is the same outfit she wears on the HBO show's opening credits.
In an interview in Newsweek Magazine in May 2008, Patrick Dempsey mentioned shooting a nude locker-room scene for "Made of Honor". Unfortunately for his female fans, that scene was cut from the release print in order to preserve the PG-13 rating.
In “88 Minutes” when Jack Gramm is first told he has only 88 minutes to live, the remaining running time of the motion picture, including final credits, is 88 minutes.
Did you know? - September
In the movie “Speed Racer”, Milka Duno, who plays Kellie Gearbox, is an actual professional race car driver in the Indy Racing League.
Also in “Speed Racer”, all the driving sequences were shot in a "gimble", a cockpit of car attached to a hydraulic system that had the race sequences programmed into them.
With his death coming approximately one month before the release of “Stargate: Continuum”, this is the final appearance of Actor Don S. Davis as General George Hammond.
For “The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior”, Dwayne Johnson turned down the chance to reprise his role.
In “Doomsday”, two DDS soldiers sent into Scotland are named "Miller" and "Carpenter". George Miller directed the "Mad Max" trilogy and John Carpenter directed “Escape from New York” and “Escape from L.A.”, all heavily influential to this film.
Did you know? - August
For the movie “College Road Trip”, no less than 11 pigs played Albert.
In the movie “21”, Jeff Ma, the real life Ben Campbell, has a small role as a Planet Hollywood blackjack dealer.
To avoid any bad reviews before its release, “Superhero Movie” was not screened for critics.
For his role of Jake Tyler in the movie “Never Back Down”, Sean Faris gained 15 lbs of muscle.
During pre-production of the movie “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”, Brad Pitt reportedly left the project after Nicole Kidman dropped out and her replacement had not yet been found. Once Angelina Jolie signed on, he returned to the project.
Director Michael Haneke also directed the Austrian original of the movie “Funny Games”. The film is a shot-by-shot remake of the original and the production crew even used the blueprints from the 1997 original. The set of the house in the 2007 American remake has the same proportions as that of the 1997 set.
Did you know? - July
For the movie “Jumper”, the crew was allowed to film inside the Colosseum for three days under the condition that no equipment could be placed on the ground. Shooting was allowed only between 6.30 and 8.30 am and again at 3.30 pm to 5.30 pm to avoid disturbing tourists. The only lighting allowed was natural sunlight.
In the film “Semi-Pro”, Jackie Moon states that he has never vomited before, claiming that not even as a baby did he once vomit. In fact, as a baby Will Ferrell suffered from pyloric stenosis, a condition that causes frequent vomiting. A surgical scar on his upper right abdomen from the surgery he had to treat this condition is evident in this and many other films.
To prepare for her role in the movie “The Eye”, Jessica Alba took violin lessons for 6 months. She also learned basic Braille.
At the outset of their relationship with Henry, the movie “The Other Boleyn Girl” characterizes Mary as being innocent and morally upright. Actually, she had spent time in France, was reputed to have had several affairs. One of Henry's reasons for not wanting her except as a consort is that she was regarded as a "whore".
'Steven Spielberg shot the film “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” in chronological order to invoke a real response from the actors (mainly the children) when E.T. departed at the end. All emotional responses from that last scene are real.
Also in “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial”, Harrison Ford played the school principal, but his only scene was cut as Steven Spielberg considered his presence would be too distracting.
Did you know? - June
Towards the end of the movie “Charlie Wilson’s War”, Charlie Wilson is presented with one of the Stingers he helped provide to the Afghans. In an interview, the real Charlie Wilson states that he still has the Stinger as it's one of his most prized possessions.
For the movie “The Bucket List”, both director Rob Reiner and actor Morgan Freeman independently thought of Jack Nicholson to play the role of Edward Cole while screenwriter Justin Zackham wrote the script with Morgan Freeman in mind to play Carter.
The most difficult challenge for the visual effects department that worked on the movie “10,000 B.C.” was creating a computer generated wet saber-tooth tiger since it required several of the most challenging elements of visual effects to be combined; fur, wet fur, water and creature animation.
The movie “Rambo” has a kill count of 236 during the 92 minutes movie runtime. An averages 2.57 killings per minute, the most for any Rambo film.
Also for “Rambo”, Julie Benz was cast as Sarah because Sylvester Stallone was a big fan of the TV show Dexter in which she stars.
In the movie “Untraceable”, the site used by the killer (www.killwithme.com) actually exists. It's owned by the movie studio and it's used to promote the movie. In it, users are taken to a replica of the FBI computer used by the character Jennifer Marsh. We dare you to try it…
Did you know? - May
In the movie “Juno”, the pregnantly rounded minivan driven by Juno is a Toyota Previa. These were last manufactured in 1997, but are still quite common in Vancouver where the film was shot.
“Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem” is the first movie in both the Predator and the AVP-based movies that actually feature scenes of the Predators' home planet.
For the movie “The Golden Compass”, all the scenes shot in Oxford were filmed at night using artificial light, because the local council did not permit the director to shoot during the daytime.
According to People magazine, Jeffrey Dean Morgan had to learn to play the guitar for his part in the movie “P.S. I Love You” in a very short time. His guitar instructor was Nancy Wilson of the band Heart. Morgan was thrilled to take lessons from her because, in his own words, "I had such a crush on her as a kid".
The photograph on the original poster for the movie “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” is based on the famous Joel Brodsky photo of the late Jim Morrison, which was used for the Best of The Doors album cover.
John Hughes wrote the screenplay to the 80’s cult classic movie “The Breakfast Club” in just two days (4 and 5 July 1982).
Did you know? - April
While filming on-location in the Chiang Mai province of Thailand for “American Gangster”, Ridley Scott hired many extras from the local villages, some of whom were actual participants in the drug-running operation of Frank Lucas during the Vietnam War. Also, The real Richie Roberts and Frank Lucas were major consultants to director Ridley Scott on the New York set of the movie.
Looking at its weirdness after getting the hair cut for his role in “No Country for Old Men”, Javier Bardem said: "Oh no, now I won't get laid for the next two months". It eventually paid off when on Oscar’s night, he became the 1st Spanish actor to win an Oscar.
For the movie “I Am Legend”, an estimated $5,000,000 was spent for a 6 night shoot in New York involving the Brooklyn Bridge. To film in this location, the producers needed the approval of up to 14 government agencies. The producers had to bring in a crew of 250, plus 1,000 extras, including 160 members of the National Guard in full combat gear and various military vehicles and aircraft.
In one scene of “I Am Legend”, Will Smith's character holds up a CD calling it "...the best album ever made." The album is Bob Marley's "Legend." It is a greatest hits compilation that was released after Marley's death.
In the movie “Atonement”, the celebrated 5 minutes Dunkirk beach scene was the toughest portion of shooting. It was done in four takes (the third one was used) since the crew only had a day to film and had limited time with the 1,000 extras and had to shoot before the tide would come in and wash away the set.
According to some sources, In the cult-classic film “Scarface”, the word "fuck" and its variants is used 223 times (for an average of 1.33 "fucks" per minute) and a total of 2,048 shots were fired.
Did you know? - March
The UK release of “Gone Baby Gone”, scheduled for 28 December 2007, has been postponed indefinitely because of the film's similarity to the real-life case of four-year-old Madeleine McCann who disappeared from the holiday apartment where she and her family were staying in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on 3 May 2007.
Broadway actress Amy Ryan looked and sounded so convincing as a low class Dorchester mom in “Gone Baby Gone” that a security guard mistook her for a fan on the first day of location filming, and wouldn't let her on the set. One of the producers finally noticed her on the other side of one of the barricades, and said she should be let through. The incident made Ryan twenty minutes late, but convinced her the Boston accent she'd prepared was realistic.
Events in the movie “Across the Universe” actually occurred in the 1960s, such as the violent student protest at Columbia University, and the explosion at the New York townhouse that killed three radicals who were making bombs. The Beatles were also stopped by police while playing a rooftop concert in London.
The title of the movie “Across the Universe” and many of the characters are named after various songs by The Beatles: Lucy, Jude, Sadie, Mr. Kite, Dr. Robert, Prudence, JoJo, Rita.
For the movie “Becoming Jane”, Kate Winslet, Natalie Portman and Keira Knightley were also considered for the role of Jane Austen.
In the animated feature “Lilo and Stich”, many of the aliens are inspired by Disney characters including Piglet and Tigger from “Winnie the Pooh”.
Did you know? - February
Jennifer Garner collapsed twice on the set of “The Kingdom” in Phoenix due to the extremely high temperature, over 46 degrees Celsius.
As seen in the movie “The Game Plan” there are a lot of references to Elvis Presley, including songs and posters. Those were added by director Andy Fickman and Dwayne Johnson who both are huge Elvis fans.
For the movie “3:10 to Yuma”, even if Russell Crowe was director James Mangold's very first choice for the role of Ben Wade, it’s only after Tom Cruise dropped out of talks that Crowe was cast for the role.
For the crow attack scene in “Resident Evil: Extinction”, only two crows were used for the entire sequence. The rest of the crows were entered with special effects.
According to USA Weekend, Catherine Zeta-Jones worked for one evening as a server at a restaurant in New York in preparation for her role in the movie “No Reservations”. When customers remarked on how much their server resembled Catherine Zeta-Jones, she would reply, "I hear that all the time."
The Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan that is blown up in the movie “Michael Clayton” was first used in filming of “The Devil Wears Prada”. For the earlier film it was cut in two for use in process shots featuring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway It was then welded back together and repainted in order to be blown up in Michael Clayton.
Did you know? - January
In “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”, during the breakfast scene in the Great Hall, a box of cereal can be seen with the name Cheeri-Owls with a color scheme similar to that of a Cheerios box.
“The Simpsons movie debuted in Springfield, Vermont on 21st July 2007. 20th Century Fox held a contest to select 1 of 16 possible Springfields (spanning from Oregon to Nebraska to Massachusetts) to decide which city would host the premiere. Springfield, Vermont won, just beating out Springfield, Illinois.
During “The Bourne Ultimatum” shooting, the film crew were unable to shut down Waterloo station, so pedestrians in the station can be seen looking and pointing at the camera.
The writers of “Superbad” Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg started this script when they were just 13 years old citing the reason as being "we just wanted to see if we could write a movie."
During the shooting of “Rush Hour 3”, Jackie Chan had a cracked sternum and bruises to his shins from his stunts. Watch the credits, for an outtake where Jackie accidentally throws a table backwards with his legs into himself.
Did you know? - December
Jessica Simpson auditioned unsuccessfully for the role of Bruce Willis daughter in “Live Free or Die Hard”. She can be seen on the way to the audition and coming out of the audition in an episode of "Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica".
“Spider-Man 3” $59.8M take (on its opening Friday) at the box-office was the biggest single day of all time but it was also the most expensive film ever made in U.S. dollars, with a budget of $250 million, until “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End” broke that record with a budget of $300 million.
For his role in “Hairspay”, it took John Travolta four hours to put on the 30 pounds fat suit and 5 gel-filled silicone prosthetic appliances for the make-up required for him to become Edna Turnblad.
Rowan Atkinson announced that “Mr. Bean’s Holiday” would be the last story of the character, Mr. Bean.
In “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”,the Griswold's neighbor's house is the same house Murtaugh and his family lived in all the Lethal Weapon movies. The houses on this street are on the Warner Brothers Studios back lot.
Did you know? - November
In “Ocean’s Thirteen”, Scott Caan co-stars with Al Pacino. His father, James Caan, played Sonny Corleone in The Godfather, which was Pacino's breakthrough role in Hollywood.
In “1408”, There are many references to the number "13" throughout the movie. The room is numbered "1408", add each number together equals 13. The room's key lock also has "6214" etched into it, which adds up to 13. And the first death was in the year 1912, which adds to 13.
When “Jaws” was initially released in the summer 1975, over 67 million Americans went to see the movie, making it the first summer "blockbuster".
For the movie “Reign Over Me”, director Mike Binder wrote the lead role with Tom Cruise in mind, who turned it down before Adam Sandler accepted it.
Rose McGowan is germaphobic so for her role in “Grindhouse Presents: Planet Terror”, she had to have the stripper pole sanitized before doing her go-go dance routine.
