Movie Newsletter Vol. 22This is volume 22 of what we hope will be interesting bits of motion picture trivia, legend and other useless stuff brought to you by Movie Time! the board game of memorable movie quotes. This information is compiled from numerous sources and is offered to customers and supporters of Movie Time! to make their game playing more enjoyable. If you like receiving this information, please forward it to your e-mail friends. If you prefer not to receive these offerings, just send a reply message and ask to be taken off the list. Announcement!!!! Lets hear the trumpets!!! Check out our new website. new graphics, new on-line game, message forum. Let us know what you think, send your questions through the forum. You can also get copies of all these tidbits in the archives. Since we have been sending these tidbits, we have added many names to the mailing list. Therefore, we have decided to recycle some of the earlier bits of movie trivia along so we will include several older items with the new stuff. Recycle Items George Lucas and Brian DePalma held dual auditions for “Carrie” and “Star Wars” and it was decided that Carrie Fisher would star in “Carrie” and Sissy Spacek would be Princess Leia. However, Fisher refused to do a nude scene in "Carrie" so the actresses’ roles were switched when Spacek agreed to do the scene.
“Star Wars” was such a departure of the standard sci-fi fare that 20th Century Fox came within days of selling their stake and taking a tax loss. When the movie previewed to audience delight, the studio changed their mind. It was released and made a zillion dollars. That movie probably saved the studio from bankruptcy. In another ill-fated decision, the studio executives saw little or no value in the sale of “Star Wars” merchandise so they let Lucas have the rights for nothing. How things have changed. Now, merchandising is a major part of movie contracts. Movies and popcorn are like beans and franks; they just go together. Here are some popcorn facts: Americans consume 1.1 billion pounds of popcorn annually. That’s 58 quarts of popped corn consumed by every American man, woman and child each year. About 1,600 kernels of popcorn will fit in a cup. The oldest ear of popping corn was found in a cave in New Mexico. It was 5,600 years old. We spend $1.7 billion on popcorn annually with microwave corn accounting for $1.1 billion of that. New (old) Trivia We are all familiar with the giant "HOLLYWOOD" sign that adorns the hills of the film capitol of the world. Most of you probably know, but some may not, that the sign originally read "HOLLYWOODLAND" and was the advertisement for a housing development. It was erected in 1923 and the "LAND" part of the sign fell down during WWII. For a fictionalized account of what happened to that part of the sign, check out the entertaining "Rocketeer" (1991) starring Bill Campbell and Jennifer Connelly. Next time "The Wizard of Oz" (1939) comes on television, check out a few bloopers. First is Dorothy's hair. It keeps changing length. Because this, and most movies are filmed out of sequence, hair length has to be closely monitored. Dorothy's changes from mid length to long to short as the movie progresses. Also, in one scene, a crew member can be seen in the trees in the background. It was rumored for years in Hollywood that a crew member had hung himself from a tree and he was inadvertently caught in a scene. This is not true, just another filmdom legend. In the 1960 film "Spartacus", there is a scene where Peter Ustinov is getting off his horse. His jockey shorts are visible under his tunic as he descends. There are several scenes in "Children of a Lesser God" (1986) where Marlee Matlin (who is deaf and portrayed a deaf character in the movie) had sign language conversations with co-star William Hurt. The signing has nothing to do with the story. It is about Matlin's and Hurt's private life. The stars were having an affair during the making of the movie. "Rambo III" (1988) has hero John Rambo stealing a Russian helicopter. The chopper's rotor hosing has a small American flag decal." Citizen Kane" (1941) is generally considered one of America's greatest movies. It was ranked #1 by the American Film Institute in 1998. RKO Studios hired 25 year old Orson Welles to direct this movie of newspaper mogul Charles Foster Kane whose life is destroyed in an endless quest for power. While the characters were fictional, everyone believed the inspiration was newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst. When Hearst heard the film was being made, he tried to bribe the RKO president with $800,000 (the cost of the film's production) to destroy the negative. When this was rejected, Hearst threatened litigation, and editorials attacking the industry. The latter tactic was so effective that the movie opened only in smaller, independent theaters since the major studios owned most of the major theaters in the country. Hearst newspapers also refused advertising for the movie. As a result, the movie was a box office flop. In the El Rancho scene, the camera appears to go right through a neon sign. A specially designed breakaway sign was constructed for this effect. Also, at El Rancho, there is an unknown pianist who later achieved great success as singer Nat King Cole.There is picnic scene towards the end of the movie. Rather than do an expensive on-location shoot, Welles used rear projection of stock footage from an RKO monster film (probably "Son of Kong" (1933)). In the scene, there are four birds flying around. Actually, they're prehistoric pterodactyls. RKO wanted Wells to re-shoot and get them out but he liked them and left them in. Great Lines In what movie will you hear Mae West say, "Why don't you come up sometime and see me."? In what movie will you hear Kim Novak say, "I get so tired of being told I'm pretty."? In what movie will you hear Richard Gere say, "Hey, don't knock drunks in bars. It means they're not out driving."? In what movie will you hear Marisa Tomei say, "You think I'm hostile now, wait 'til you see me tonight!"? |