Screenplay Games: Movie Newsletter Vol. 16

This is volume 16 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.

We hope everyone had happy holidays. Thanks to all of you who gave Movie Time! as a gift. It helped us have a merrier Christmas. 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 with the new stuff so beginning today several older items will be added to the new stuff.

Movie Trivia

Did you know that Nick Nolte and Kurt Russell were considered for the role of Han Solo in "Star Wars". Harrison Ford was not originally considered because director, George Lucas, did not like to use actors he had cast in previous films. Ford played cool guy, hot-rodder Bob Falfa in Lucas' "American Graffiti".

"My Big Fat Greek Wedding" was originally developed by Nia Vardalos as a one person stage show. Rita Wilson (Mrs. Tom Hanks) saw the show and approached Tom about making it into a movie. According to the story, Vardalos hung up on Hanks when he called about the idea because she didn't believe that it was really him.

Austin , TX  radio personality 'Cactus' Pryor has appeared in two John Wayne films. He played Collier in "The Green Berets" and Chance's doctor in "Hellfighters", both released in 1968. By the way, his first name is Richard.

Lord of the Rings

I must admit that I am not a big fan of the "Lord of the Rings" movies. I just cannot seem to get into the whole Middle Earth thing. I am however, a fan of good movie making and film lore and there is a ton of it in the making of these three films. Here's some interesting stuff. Director Peter Jackson worked on the planning of this project for three years before filming began. He was a big fan of the books so he wanted movie that were true to the novels. Miramax studios originally sponsored the project which was supposed to be two, 2 hour movies but backed out when told the cost would be $75 million. The project could have died there but Jackson persisted in shopping for a studio. The president of New Line Cinema entertained the idea but questioned why two movies when the books was a trilogy. Why not three movies? Jackson agreed that it really should be three and New Line ponied up $300 million. New Line saw filming of three movies at one time was a smart business move. Many movie sequels have been difficult because the stars demand too much and are hard to get them back together so constant filming seemed to be a better approach.

When Elijah Wood heard about the project he knew he wanted to be involved. He was also a big fan of the Tolkien books. In order to get an audition, he went to a costume shop, fashioned a Hobbit like costume, went into the forest and had his friend writer/director George Huang direct a video. When Peter Jackson saw the video, he knew he had his Frodo Baggins.

The three-film shoot lasted 274 days over a sixteen month period. Hobbiton was constructed, foliage and trees were planted a year prior to shooting so that the village would look authentic and old.

More than 1600 pairs of latex ears and feet were used in the film. The feet could only be used once since it destroyed the latex to remove them. An oven operated 24 hours/day, 7 days a week during the entire shoot to produce enough ears and feet for all those Hobbits. The used feet were shredded to prevent them being sold on the black market (or is that eBay?). Liv Tyler left a pair of pointy ears on the dashboard of her car and they melted.

The producers did not want to rent or buy the arms and armor so they manufactured all of the swords and suits of armor.

Christopher Lee had actually met Tolkien (the only one involved who had) and is such a fan of the LOTR books that he reads them once a year. He was often called on the make technical recommendations.

Eight of the nine Fellowship members went to a local tattoo parlor in New Zealand to get an elfish symbol for "9" tattoo to commemorate the experience. The only abstaining member was John Rhys-Davies who sent his stunt double in his place.

Great Movie Lines

    In what movie will you hear Marilyn Monroe say, "Oh, do you feel the breeze from the subway? Isn't it delicious?"?

    In what movie will you hear Jane say, "You're screwing up your whole life!" and Robert Redford responds, "Lady, I'm trying to unscrew it."?

    In what movie will you hear Alexa Vega say, "Never send an adult to do a kid's job."?

    In what movie will you hear Marsha Mason say, "I thought you said you were decent!" and Richard Dreyfuss replies, "I am decent. I also happen to be naked."

For the answers to these lines go to www.screenplaygames.com and play the on-line game. Have fun!!