Fun and Random Trivia of the Day

Trivia Of The Day (4/9/2009)

Aladdin

Robin Williams provided the voice for the Genie, at union scale rate (the lowest legal pay rate a studio can give an actor), on the provisos that his voice was not used for merchandising (i.e. toys and such) and that the Genie character not take up more than 25% of the space of a poster, ad, billboard, or trailer. When these wishes were not granted, he withdrew his support for Disney and the film. As a result, his name was not included in "The Art of Aladdin" book (it makes constant references to "the voice of the Genie"), and he was not available for the direct-to-video sequel The Return of Jafar (1994) (V) or the "Aladdin" (1994) TV show (Dan Castellaneta filled in as the voice of the Genie for these productions). In an attempt to get back on good terms with Williams, Walt Disney Co. CEO Michael Eisner apologized to him with a peace offering of an original Pablo Picasso painting. Still angered and feeling betrayed by Disney, Williams would not accept the gift. It was not until Jeffrey Katzenberg was fired and a new producer hired did Williams return to Disney. Through this new producer, a public apology was given (by the producer). Promises were made to right wrongs, and Williams was so touched that he came back as the Genie for the second direct-to-video sequel, Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1995) (V). Disney was so thrilled that they threw out the previously completed recording sessions with Castellaneta.

In short: never piss off Robin Williams.

Trivia Of The Day (4/10/2009)

The Lion King

The premiere for the IMAX version of the movie in New York had a strange request on the invitations: "No nannies." (In other words, "You are more than welcome to bring your children to this movie, but we sent the invitation to you and not to them for a reason.")

Trivia for "Life Stinks":

(which, by the way, had it's name changed by studio insistence from "Life Sucks")

When *name removed* dies, his friends cremate him and scatter his ashes. The wind blows the ashes back on the mourners and they have to brush it off. This really happened to actor Howard Morris when he was scattering his father's ashes, according to Mel Brooks

Read some cool ones about one of my favorite movies.

Trivia for 4-10-09 is from In the Heat of the Night. Location, location, location.

Mississippi was eventually ruled out as a location due to the existing political conditions. Sparta, Illinois, was selected as the location, and the town's name in the story was changed to Sparta so that local signs would not need to be changed. The greenhouse was added to an existing home and filled with $15,000 worth of orchids.

Set in a hot Mississippi summer but filmed during Autumn in Illinois, many of the actors had to keep ice chips in their mouths (and spit them out before takes) to prevent their breath from appearing on camera during the night scenes.

That is badass low fi FX there. BTW this movie is awesome and should be seen by everyone.

This really doesn't fit the type of trivia I usually find interesting but this is great.

Trivia for Saturday, 4-11-09, (information day! LOL) is from Casino.

Concerning the casting of Casino;

When James Woods heard that Martin Scorsese was interested in working with him, Woods called Scorsese's office and left the following message: "Any time, any place, any part, any fee."

Now that is respect for a director's body of work. "Any time, any place, any part, any fee."

Trivia for Sunday, 4-12-09 is from an infamous movie that single-handedly destroyed a few careers and caused UA to be sold to MGM. The director, Michael Cimino, was unable to find work for over 5 years and never regularly. That movie is Heaven's Gate. Here are a few of the reasons why.

At one point during filming, Michael Cimino decided that the spacing of the buildings on one of the sets didn't look right, despite it having been built to his exact specifications. He ordered both sides of the street razed and rebuilt, at a cost of $1.2 million over the objections of his crew, who reasoned that it would be easier and cheaper to knock down one side of the street and rebuild it twice as far away.

The original cut was 5 hours and 25 minutes long.

The final battle sequence featured in the original cut film that Michael Cimino had screened for United Artists executives is rumored to have been the length of a full length motion picture.

Michael Cimino was reportedly such a perfectionist that by the fifth day of filming they were already four days behind schedule.

After directing The Deer Hunter, United Artists was willing to allow him anything he wanted. Cimino got $11.6 million to make his next project, which was initially budget at $7.5 million (according the Steven Bach's "Final Cut"). The film was to be a simple lower-budget western about a land war in Johnson County, Wyoming, featuring a first-rate cast. The film went over budget almost immediately, mostly due to Cimino's insistence on absolute perfectionism. Stories abounded that Cimino was tearing down sets for no reason and hiring and firing crew members almost weekly. Many of the stories were exaggerated, but the film ballooned to a then-astronomical sum of $40 million. When Cimino presented the film to United Artists, it ran well over 5 hours. After some squabbling, Cimino agreed to trim it down to less than 3 hours. The film was a commercial and critical disaster that destroyed Cimino's career as a director and nearly caused United Artists to file bankruptcy.

Wow that dude makes Kubrick look sane.

My film teacher also told us that during filming of that movie, he would only shoot his exterior shots at "magic hour." Which is basically dusk, the period of time where natural sunlight matches studio lighting. So they could only shoot exteriors for an hour every day. No wonder they went over budget.

This is probably one of the best bits of trivia out there, from Caligola (1979):

After the film was released, Anneka Di Lorenzo (aka Marjorie Lee Thoresen, a 1975 Penthouse Pet of the Year), who played Messalina, sued Bob Guccione, saying that his handling of the film, mainly his adding of the hardcore sex inserts, had damaged her acting career by associating her with a hardcore porno film. She won her case, but was awarded only $4.06 in damages.

Four dollars? How did the producer/director ever live off his money again?

hahaha

"Your career is irrevocably damaged. You deserve an equivalent amount of money for your pain and suffering. How does 4 bucks sound?"

"No way I could settle for 4 bucks! How about 4 and a quarter?"

"Ok, 4.25 is right out. $4.06 and not a penny more!"

"Shucks, I guess. Thanks judge."

If that's not a slap in the face i don't know what is.

"Yes, we agree you career will now go to shit. We therfore grant you $4.06, exactly what we think your career is worth"..

They could have at least provided her with free STD check-ups for the next few years since she has no choice now but to suck dick for her blow habit.

The funny thing is that Bob Guccione is now in the poorhouse as well. Karma is such a bitch.

Trivia from 'A Night To Remember' (1958):

Lots of good ones here, but I'll show some restraint.

"It was only after seeing this film that James Cameron decided to make Titanic (1997). In fact, James Cameron was so taken by this film that he lifted ideas, plot lines, conversation, and characters, including a minor character similar to the one played by Leonardo DiCaprio."

also

"The character shown reading quietly in the first class lounge as the ship sank is William Thomas Stead, a respected editor and writer who was seen reading in the First Class Smoking Lounge as the boat went down. On March 22, 1886 Stead wrote an article titled "How the Mail Steamer Went Down in Mid-Atlantic, by a Survivor," in which a steamer collides with another ship and due to a shortage of lifeboats many people die. Stead wrote "This is exactly what might take place and will take place if liners are sent to sea short of boats."

Keep your eyes open if you're watching this one. You might spot a young bearded Sean Connery loading passangers into lifeboats. Great film!

Trivia Of The Day (4/11/2009)

Lilo and Stitch

The original version of the flying chase scene at the end of the film involved Stitch and Jumba hijacking an airplane and chasing Gantu's spaceship through Honolulu, crashing into buildings. The sequence was already animated and completed, but the whole chase was cut following the terrorist attacks on the USA of 11 September 2001. The chase had to be re-written and drawn again (this time with spaceships flying through mountains and less populated vegetation), and the second version of the chase was is what is seen in the theatrical version.

And for the same reason, this alternate ending was not released onto DVD until this year.

Trivia Of The Day (4/12/2009)

The Muppet Movie

Jim Henson spent an entire day in a 50-gallon steel drum submerged in a pond for the opening scene of Kermit in the swamp.

Henson must have had balls to do that kind of thing.

Trivia Of The Day (4/13/2009)

Footloose (1984)

'Michael Cimino' was originally hired as director. He was fired when he asked for a $250,000 advance for re-writing the entire screenplay prior to shooting. (The movie's total budget was only $7.5 million.)

Cimino. What a perfectionist.

And here's an updated list of films covered.

The Abyss
The Adventures Of Robin Hood
Aladdin
Amelie
American Graffiti
Anchorman
The Apartment
Army Of Darkness
Audition
Back To The Future
Bambi
Barfly
Batman
Batman Returns
Batman Forever
Beetlejuice
Big Fish
The Black Cauldron
Bloodsucking Freaks
Breakfast At Tiffany's
Caddyshack
Caligula
Cape Fear (1991)
Carrie
Casino
The City Of Lost Children
Clerks
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
Cobra
Commando
Conan The Barbarian
Constantine
Darkman
Demolition Man
The Descent
Dumb and Dumber
Eagle Eye
Evan Almighty
Excalibur
Fame (1980)
Fast Times At Ridgemont High
Fight Club
Flashdance
48 Hrs.
Footloose
Freddy vs. Jason
From Hell
Full Metal Jacket
Friday the 13th (1980) (twice)
The Green Mile
Gone In 60 Seconds (2000)
Gremlins
Halloween (1978)
A Hard Day's Night
Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle
Heaven's Gate
Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer
Hotel Rwanda
Hot Fuzz
House Of 1,000 Corpses
The Hunted (2003)
The Incredibles
In The Heat Of The Night
Judge Dredd
Jungle Fever
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
Knocked Up
Last Action Hero
Let The Right One In
Life Stinks
Lilo and Stitch
The Lion King
The Lost Boys
Mad Max
Monsters, Inc.
The Mosquito Coast
The Muppet Movie
Natural Born Killers
The NeverEnding Story
A Nightmare On Elm Street
The Night Of The Hunter
Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
A Night To Remember
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Over The Hedge
Pan's Labyrinth
Pi
Pinata: Survival Island
Pineapple Express
Platoon
Predator
Pulp Fiction
Rambo
Raw Deal
Red Heat
The Return Of The Living Dead
Road To Perdition
RoboCop (twice)
Rocky III
Rollerball (1975)
Rollerball (2002)
The Running Man
Schindler's List
Shark Tale
The Shining
The Silence Of The Lambs
Sleeping Beauty
Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs
Soldier
Straw Dogs
Super Troopers
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Top Gun
Total Recall
Twins
2001: A Space Odyssey
Ultimate Avengers: The Movie
Waking Life
The Way Of The Gun
The Wrestler

Nice job putting that list together Buscemi. Must have been a bit time consuming though!

Trivia for 'The Adventures of Robin Hood' (1938):

"James Cagney was the studios original choice to play Robin Hood."

Cagney was pretty cagey about his contract with Warner Bros because he was as big a draw as there was. He hated the studio system and constantly held out for (and got) more money since his presence in a film guaranteed great box office. Hal Wallis decided he didn't want to play ball this time and hired on a virtual unknown named Errol Flynn to take over. I can't even imagine Cagney playing the part now!

Bonus trivia:

"Heavily padded stunt players and actors were paid $150 per arrow for being shot by professional archer Howard Hill, who also played the captain of the archers, whom Robin Hood defeats in the tournament by splitting his own arrow. Splitting the arrow was Hill's feat, too, done in one take with no trick photography."

wow, that is impressive!

Don't know if you've seen the movie or have the dvd Geezer, but they've included a bunch of bonus footage and one of them is something like 'The World of Archery with Howard Hill.' It's him doing all kinds of trick shots. I seem to recall him shooting gradually smaller and smaller items off the top of someone's head. Pretty awesome stuff!

Nice finds Roodey.

I wonder if Flynn ever sent Cagney a thank you card for being a greedy prick?

Thanks for the list Busci.

Trivia for Monday, 4-13-09 is from one of the greatest movies ever filmed according to geniuses like me AND normal people. This is also dedicated to director's with morals.

Schindler's List.

Martin Scorsese turned down the chance to direct the film in the 1980s, as he felt he couldn't do as good a job as a Jewish director. He agreed to swap films with Steven Spielberg, taking over Cape Fear (1991) instead.

Steven Spielberg was not paid for this film. He refused to accept a salary citing that it would be "blood money".

At his insistence, all royalties and residuals from this film that would normally have gone to director Steven Spielberg instead are given to the Shoah Foundation, which records and preserves written and videotaped testimonies from survivors of genocide worldwide, including the Holocaust.

Thanks for the movie and the integrity Steve...

Trivia Of The Day (4/14/2009)

Fame (1980)

Original title for the movie was to be "Hot Lunch," but because an X-rated movie on release at the time had the same title, the production opted for "Fame" instead.

Either way, do you think anyone would even remember the movie had they called it that?

I would have because I would have said;

"Hey this retarded dancing movie has the same title as a porno. I wonder if I swapped out the soundtracks, if anybody would notice?"

"FAME! I'm gonna live forever..." as a dude gives a chick a facial.

Scene of dancers in leotards and singlets. They start dancing in the rehearsal studio. Sweat glistens on their foreheads. Cue music. Bwa chick a bow. Chick a bow wow. Bump chika bump chika bow.

Trivia for 4-14-09 is from The Way of the Gun, as an homage to a movie that inspired a generation.

The names of the main characters, Parker and Longbaugh, are the real last names of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

The final shootout scene in the brothel is the same location where the final shootout scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) occurs.

Trivia for 4-15-09 (since I am traveling to a rally in southern Louisiana and may not be online) is from Jungle Fever. Talk about Method...

Samuel L. Jackson had just undergone treatment for drug addiction and had only two weeks from his discharge from rehab to the start of filming. Jackson has gone on record as saying that Gator's ravaged look was not make-up, but actually the result of Jackson's own detoxification.

Halle Berry refused to bathe for two weeks in preparation for a role as a crack addict.