** Random Movie Trivia Thread **

[Guerrilla]

The film was shot opportunistically, with little to no outline of scenes and their direction. The 2 actors were given a general outline of scenes and simply interacted with one another and the other cast members, all which are not actors. All the scenes and shots were opportunistic as well.

Gore Verbinski pushed production back a few months because Leonardo DiCaprio had to re-shoot scenes for Gangs of New York, The delay led to James Gandolfini's withdrawal, because he had to go back to work on The Sopranos. He was replaced by Tom Hanks. David Fincher, Cameron Crowe and Lasse Hallström were asked to direct before Steven Spielberg, who only wanted to produce the movie, took over.

Bill Murray, John Travolta and Chevy Chase turned down the role of Forrest Gump. Travolta later admitted that passing on the role was a mistake.

David Alan Grier, Ice Cube and Dave Chappelle turned down the role of Bubba. Chappelle thought the movie would bomb, and has since admitted to deeply regretting not taking the role.

Mark Wahlberg based his performance on the police officers who'd arrested him about two dozen times in his youth, and the reactions of his parents who had to come bail him out with their grocery money.

The scene where Frank Costello throws cocaine on hookers was one of many bizarre ideas contributed by Jack Nicholson, who also suggested wearing a strap-on for the scene with Matt Damon in the porn theater.

 

[Nitefly]

Caine bases this belief on a scene where the Joker pays a visit to Bruce Wayne's penthouse. He'd never met Ledger before, so when Ledger arrived and performed he gave Caine such a fright he forgot his lines.

But he didn't speak after the joker showed up....

I guess it isn't always filmed chronologically

 

[Marky]

The big fight filmed in Lowell at The Tsongas Arena had over 200 "dummies" (props - not people) in the audience to help fill up the stands.

Christian Bale reportedly lost weight to achieve the very thin frame of Dick Eklund by eating very little. He even went missing for hours at a time in preparation for his role.

Micky Ward's real life trainer Mickey O'Keefe was asked to appear as himself in the film, but turned the role down since he had never acted before. Mark Wahlberg told him he would be able to since he was a cop and therefore he has to act and think fast on his feet. This was convincing enough and he took the role.

The interviews in the beginning and the end were improvised by Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg, while in-character. They were done late night with only Bale, Wahlberg and director David O. Russell present. Bale actually became emotional and left the couch.

 

[xBLiNG]

When the shark attacks Hooper's cage, there's live footage of a real Great White with a rope hanging from its mouth. This shark's mouth is clearly much smaller than the shark's mouth when it attacks the boat moments later. These scenes were filmed by noted shark photographers Ron Taylor and Valerie Taylor with the help of shark expert Rodney Fox specifically for the movie. Because the Great White sharks they filmed would be smaller than the mechanical shark in the movie, they constructed a smaller version of Hooper's shark cage. Inside the cage they alternately used a small mannequin or a little person. One of the sharks they attracted got caught in the cage's cables and tore it apart trying to escape. The footage was so good that they changed the script to reflect the destroyed cage and Hooper escaping by hiding on the ocean floor. However, the small person used in the scene refused to go back in the miniature cage, which was damaged in the incident.

During pre-production, director Steven Spielberg, accompanied by friends Martin Scorsese, George Lucas and John Milius, visited the effects shop where "Bruce" the shark was being constructed. Lucas stuck his head in the shark's mouth to see how it worked and, as a joke, Milius and Spielberg sneaked to the controls and made the jaw clamp shut on Lucas' head. Unfortunately, and rather prophetically, considering the later technical difficulties the production would suffer, the shark malfunctioned, and Lucas got stuck in the mouth of the shark. When Spielberg and Milius were finally able to free him, the three men ran out of the workshop, afraid they'd done major damage to the creature.

 

[xBLiNG]

In the asteroid scene, one of the asteroids is actually a shoe. The rumor is that George Lucas asked the SFX people to redo the scene so many times that they got annoyed and one of them threw in their shoe.

Another of the asteroids is actually a potato. It appears just as the Millennium Falcon first enters the field. Two asteroids travel from the top left to the bottom right corner of the screen. Just after the second asteroid leaves the screen a third one appears in the top left corner. This is the potato.

 

[Vonhelmet]

Here's one I like...

During the filming involving all of the police cars on the street, a man ran from a store he had just robbed. When he encountered the movie set by accident, he saw all of the "police" and gave himself up to a bunch of uniformed extras.

 

[VaderDSL]

Didn't know this :

Peter Cullen (the voice of Optimus Prime) did the voice of Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh and the Predator in the film Predator.

In fact he did most of the voices in a whole host to TV shows that I grew up watching without realising.

 

[Marky]

Some from 50/50...

James McAvoy was cast as Adam, but had to drop out due to personal conflicts. Joseph Gordon-Levitt replaced him after being called by Seth Rogen less than a week before shooting was scheduled to start. He accepted the role just two days before.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt actually shaved his head during filming. Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen were improvising in character while the cameras kept rolling since the scene was not in the script.

Adam is based on writer Will Reiser, who was diagnosed with cancer and later recovered. Seth Rogen, who plays Kyle, helped Reiser cope with his disease and convinced him to write a screenplay during their early 20s together.