31 Lynn Cartwright Plays Older Dottie
At the end of A League of Their Own (1992), the older version of Dottie is not Geena Davis in age makeup but actress Lynn Cartwright, who naturally looks strikingly similar to her. The production cast Cartwright for the closing Hall of Fame scenes and then dubbed Geena Davis’s voice over her performance. The seamless blend of Cartwright’s face and Davis’s voice convinces many viewers that they are still watching Davis under heavy prosthetics.
32 Brando Revenge Feeds Frank Sinatra
During the filming of Guys and Dolls (1955), Frank Sinatra reportedly needled Marlon Brando by repeatedly calling him “Mumbles” to mock his acting style. What began as a mild feud escalated as Brando grew to hate the nickname and the constant jabs. To get back at Sinatra, Brando deliberately pretended to forget his lines in a scene that required Sinatra to eat each time they restarted, forcing him to keep eating over and over as the takes piled up.
33 Grinch Tablecloth Gag Happy Accident
During the famous tablecloth gag in Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Jim Carrey was supposed to yank the cloth and send all the dishes crashing to the floor. Instead, he accidentally pulled the tablecloth clean off without knocking anything over, unintentionally performing a flawless magician-style trick. Realizing the mistake, he ran back into frame and improvised wildly, knocking everything down by hand, giving the scene the chaotic payoff the filmmakers actually wanted.
34 Freeman’s All-Day Shawshank Baseball Scene
In The Shawshank Redemption (1994), the scene where Morgan Freeman’s character Red casually tosses a baseball in the prison yard took over nine hours to film. Freeman spent the entire day repeatedly throwing and catching the ball while the crew captured different angles, and he reportedly never complained once during the long shoot. He showed up the next day with his arm in a sling from the strain and still continued filming.
35 Iron Man Script Written On-Set
While making Iron Man (2008), Jeff Bridges said the cast often arrived for major scenes without a finished script. He recalled how they would retreat to their trailers and call writers on the phone, asking, “You got any ideas?” As a result, much of the film’s dialogue and character interaction grew out of last-minute brainstorming sessions rather than a locked-in screenplay.
36 Sharon Stone Slaps Basic Instinct
In Basic Instinct (1992), Sharon Stone shot the now infamous interrogation “leg cross” scene after the director told her that the flash of white from her panties was ruining the shot and that nothing would show on screen if she removed them. Trusting that assurance, she performed the scene without underwear. When she later saw the finished cut and realized how revealing the moment actually was, she reacted by slapping the director in anger.
37 Toy Story 2 R-Rated Glitch
Around 1,000 copies of the Ultimate Toy Box edition of Toy Story 2 (1999) were accidentally shipped with a processing error on one of the discs. Instead of the correct menu footage, the disc briefly played a scene from the R-rated film High Fidelity (2000), in which characters used the word “f*ck” several times.
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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
38 Bob Barker Beats Happy Gilmore
In Happy Gilmore (1996), Bob Barker insisted on doing his own stunts, including the now-famous golf course fight scene. He actually refused to appear in the movie until he found out that his character would win the fight against Adam Sandler’s Happy. Barker could back it up in real life too, since he had spent eight years studying Tang Soo Do karate under Chuck Norris.
39 Jurassic Park Rogue Rain-Soaked T-Rex
On the set of Jurassic Park (1993), the full-sized T-Rex animatronic was not built to be waterproof, even though most of its big scenes took place in heavy rain. When the foam skin absorbed water, the hydraulics and controls sometimes malfunctioned, and the dinosaur would randomly jerk or move on its own between takes. The unexpected lurching reportedly startled the cast and crew sometimes.
40 Bill Murray Funds Rushmore Helicopter
For Rushmore (1998), Bill Murray accepted a salary of only $9,000 for his role, backing Wes Anderson more like an indie patron than a Hollywood star. When Disney refused to fund a helicopter shot for a planned montage, Murray quietly wrote Anderson a personal check for $25,000 to cover the cost.
RE: Fact #39 (Jurassic Park Rogue Rain-Soaked T-Rex) – I think Spielberg just couldn’t get anything right with animatronics. He even referred to the shark in *Jaws* as “the great white disappointment.”
Oh yeah, that’s exactly how my mom looks at me
RE: Fact #14 (Kangaroo Jack Turned Family Comedy) – They totally lied in the ads for that one. All the commercials made it look like the movie was gonna be about a kangaroo that could talk, but it was just some quick dream sequence, if I remember right.
Talk about a letdown as a kid watching that flick. I was hoping for some fun adventure in the outback with a unique, chatty kangaroo. What we got was just a cheap buddy road trip film, with like, one hallucination scene.
Oh, they pulled that same trick with the commercials for Snow Dogs too.
Man, I really wanted to watch that movie when I was little, all because of those ads, and I ended up super let down. Like, wasn’t it basically “Weekend at Bernie’s,” but with a marsupial instead?
RE: Fact #40 (Bill Murray Funds Rushmore Helicopter) – Herman Blume: What’s the secret, Bill?
Bill Murray: The secret?
Herman Blume: Yeah, you seem to have it pretty figured out.
Bill Murray: I don’t know… you just gotta find something you love and then do it for the rest of your life. For me, that’s being Bill Murray.
RE: Fact #26 (Hidden Gimli Stunt Double Credit) – It’d be so cool if the credits listed it as Character Name – Actor Name – plus all the stunt performers.
The Mandalorian started doing that in Season 3. Both actors who film on set for Mando get credited along with Pedro Pascal. Season 3 was also the first season where Pedro Pascal didn’t shoot a single scene because he was busy with The Last of Us.
Sounds like a solid point. In the end movies are for the audience, and they couldn’t care less about actors getting all the glory while a stunt double does the heavy lifting.
RE: Fact #46 (King Kong Octopus Becomes Dinner) – I read it wrong at first and thought the fourth octopus turned into the special‑effects director that night, haha.
Same here, and right away I started wishing he’d have a long, successful career.
RE: Fact #20 (Steve McQueen Rejected Close Encounters) – Man, Steve McQueen couldn’t even shed a tear even if you burned his hand on a hot stove.
Haha, that just makes this whole thing so much funnier. He was like, way too cool, couldn’t even fake tears if his life depended on it.
RE: Fact #49 (Viggo Mortensen Deflects Real Knife) – I just can’t imagine why they’d actually toss a real knife.
RE: Fact #1 (Estelle Reiner Katz Deli Line) – Before watching When Harry Met Sally on a date, I barely knew anything about it. It turned out to be one of the greatest films I’ve ever seen. Such a classic, really feels timeless and hits you right in the feels.
Carrie Fisher really doesn’t get enough credit in this movie either. I always crack up at how she sweetly says with so much feeling, ‘I just want you to know… I will never want that wagon wheel coffee table.’
Lots of romantic comedies just don’t hold up over time for all sorts of reasons. But When Harry Met Sally? There’s just something special about it that makes it feel relatable and totally evergreen. What an amazing movie, probably some of Billy Crystal’s and Meg Ryan’s strongest acting ever.
RE: Fact #25 (Sinclair Pulled Saving Private Ryan) – Those damn folks act all high and mighty, thinking they’re morally superior to everyone else, but then they end up voting for adulterers, sexual predators, child molesters, and the like.
RE: Fact #19 (Hugalo’s Pizza Connects Ferrell Roles) – “Why are you all sweaty?” “Oh, just got done watching Cops.”
That always makes me laugh.
RE: Fact #41 (Galaxy Quest Uses Shatner Story) – After *Wrath of Khan*, *Galaxy Quest* tops my list of favorite Star Trek movies.
Seriously, neither of those even come close to capturing the awe of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Whales just make for a far more engaging sci‑fi story.
RE: Fact #27 (Capone Baseball Bat Legend Filmed) – Capone was mainly known for having other guys do his dirty work. But there’s this one story where he finds out three of his own men—Scalise, Anselmi, and Giunta—are plotting against him with Joe Aiello, a rival gangster. He supposedly arranges a dinner for them with his bodyguards, drinks a lot, then beats the guys to death with a baseball bat and orders the guards to shoot them afterward. That’s what you see in the 1987 film *The Untouchables*.
Deirdre Bair and historians like William Elliot Hazelgrove have questioned whether it really happened. Bair wonders why “three trained killers could just sit there and let this happen,” while Hazelgrove says Capone would have found it hard to beat three men with a bat and probably would have had an enforcer do the killing instead.
Even though some say the tale first appeared in Walter Noble Burns’ 1931 book *The One-way Ride: The Red Trail of Chicago Gangland from Prohibition to Jake Lingle*, biographers Max Allan Collins and A. Brad Schwartz found similar reports in newspapers right after the alleged crime. They argue that the consistency across accounts suggests there’s some truth, and that the Outfit might have spread the story deliberately to make Capone look even more fearsome. George Meyer, an associate of Capone’s, also claimed he saw both the planning and the actual murders. Wine them, dine them, then destroy them.
Do you really think it’s hard to see that they knew they got caught, so they didn’t even try to fight back, hoping they’d just get beat up? Once the bullets started coming, that whole thing was already done.
RE: Fact #3 (Ferrell Reilly Perform Catalina Finale) – Ah, the fu*king Catalina Wine Mixer!
Seriously, the one day I was actually on Catalina Island, they were putting on the Catalina Island Wine Mixer. That event totally wasn’t a thing until after the movie Step Brothers came out.
So, how many people actually show up for something like that?
RE: Fact #21 (Pecan Pie Chaos When Harry) – I really dig that random part. It makes their friendship feel super real. Totally the kind of spontaneous thing real friends do, which often turns into a shared joke. Especially with a couple. Meg Ryan played her surprise perfectly, she totally nailed it.
RE: Fact #44 (Roger Moore Ran With Double) – I know plenty of folks disagree, but I really dug the campy, over‑the‑top vibe of Moore’s Bond. Moonraker is wild, yet it stays fun from start to finish. I’d rather that than watching a guy get tortured while trying to beat his PTSD any day.
I’ve got PTSD, so I totally appreciate that more diverse films are raising awareness and making people more accepting. Still, there are moments when I just want to sit down and enjoy a movie without being pulled into my own stuff.
RE: Fact #1 (Estelle Reiner Katz Deli Line) – Yeah, this scene is an awesome example of teamwork in filmmaking. Nora Ephron first wrote the deli part without any talk about orgasms. But then, chatting with Rob Reiner and co-producer Andrew Scheinman, she mentioned that most women sometimes fake orgasms. So, Rob and Andrew took that idea and wrote a whole conversation about faking them, adding it into the script. Next, Meg Ryan had the brilliant thought: why just talk about it? Sally should actually do it, right there in the restaurant! And then Billy Crystal came up with that classic punchline, ‘I’ll have what she’s having.’ Ephron herself wrote in her published screenplay intro that many of Sally’s best bits came after they all started working together. She recalled them asking her to share more about women after they’d discussed men. She brought up sex fantasies, then women sending themselves flowers to trick boyfriends, and finally, that women fake orgasms. They were surprised, asked ‘All women?’ to which she said ‘Most women, at one time or another.’ A few days later, Rob called, excited, saying he and Andy had written the fake orgasm part for the ‘andirons scene,’ and he read it over the phone. Nora loved it. It went into the script. During the first actor reading, Meg Ryan, playing Sally, suggested actually faking it in the deli, which everyone loved and added. Then Billy Crystal, as Harry, contributed one of his many funny lines: the customer’s response. That line, by the way, was spoken in the film by Estelle Reiner, who is Rob’s mother. It’s truly a perfect look at how a creative process can really shine when everyone chips in.
People really need to check out the details above, since I constantly hear people saying Meg Ryan just improvised that whole bit. Most of those ‘improv’ tales you hear about movies are actually more like this situation – creative writing that developed past the initial script.
Maybe there’s just a misunderstanding about what folks mean by ‘improv.’ When actors come up with new lines or moments during rehearsals or table reads, that often gets labeled as improvisation too. It’s not only for things made up on the spot while cameras are rolling. For instance, Joe Pesci’s famous ‘How am I funny?’ scene from Goodfellas is usually called improvised, even though they worked it out during practice. And that’s exactly what Meg Ryan did for this scene.
RE: Fact #39 (Jurassic Park Rogue Rain-Soaked T-Rex) – The thing is, the rex was never meant to shatter the plexiglas over the kids. The glass should just pop out of its housing in one whole piece. If you watch closely when it pops out, you can actually see the actress playing Lexi get hit on the head with it. And that’s what really scared the kids – they knew the glass wasn’t supposed to break.
RE: Fact #41 (Galaxy Quest Uses Shatner Story) – Here’s another great one from the source link. In theaters, the film starts in 1.85:1 for the first twenty minutes. Then when Tim Allen realizes he’s on a real spaceship and the vista of Thermia comes into view, the picture widens to 2.35:1 as the ship’s parting walls open up to that stunning panorama.
Many theatres missed the cue, so the edges of the film just ran out of frame.
RE: Fact #6 (Drunk Leia Han Cloud City) – Carrie Fisher totally just owned it, saying ‘I was quite the space slut.’
RE: Fact #3 (Ferrell Reilly Perform Catalina Finale) – That seemed pretty obvious, I thought. You can definitely hear it’s Ferrell singing, and Reilly’s clearly playing those drums.
RE: Fact #15 (The Room Planned Vampire Johnny) – so i met tommy wiseau like ten years ago at a screening in atlanta and hes a total trip he had on like five belts or something but none of them were actually through the loops on his pants anyway he took a pic with me and just lapped up all the attention from everyone there during the q and a people were super nice to him and he gave them compliments and the crowd went wild some guy tried to call him out on a rumor about funding the movie with stolen fur coats and got booed so bad he left
i had dinner with tommy and greg before a screening of the room and tommy is just a super weird dude i dont know if hes for real or not but greg seemed cool and normal tommy was rocking a ton of belts but i dont remember the q and a thing so i guess it was a different one they had us play this game on stage where you throw an empty water bottle with a partner tommy said him and greg play it at airports when theyre waiting for flights my buddy and i killed it and the whole theater went crazy then we watched the movie it was wild
RE: Fact #21 (Pecan Pie Chaos When Harry) – When you get to pick your coworkers, who’s your choice? You’ll probably go for folks who are just as skilled, who can keep up, and even challenge you to get better. Robin Williams was an absolute legend, one of the greatest on stage for standup or improv. He could work with anyone he wanted, whenever, yet he chose to host Comic Relief with Billy Crystal over a dozen times.
RE: Fact #17 (Romeo Juliet Nude Lawsuit Dismissed) – The lawsuit got thrown out because the nudity they showed wasn’t seen as ‘sexually suggestive enough’ to go against First Amendment rights.
If ‘Pretty Baby’ couldn’t even meet that standard, then ‘Romeo and Juliet’ had absolutely zero chance of losing in court for something like that.
Jesus fu*king christ, I’ve never even heard of that movie! Now that I’m looking it up, I seriously don’t understand how it was ever allowed to be produced.
I figure they also had a tough fight on their hands since Hussey had openly defended the nudity very strongly for many years, right up until the lawsuit actually started.
RE: Fact #18 (Cheyenne Autumn Hidden Dirty Dialogue) – I’d really love to see a version of this where they actually put captions for all the real words being spoken throughout the whole film.
RE: Fact #22 (Interstellar Water Planet Ticking Days) – That score is something else. Hans Zimmer totally knows what’s missing from Nolan’s films and how to lift them up—he was the star of Dunkirk, and he almost stole the show here too.
RE: Fact #42 (Twister Drive-In Destroyed By Tornado) – It could’ve turned into a real disaster if they happened at the same time. “Honey, these special effects are seriously amazing!”
This synthetic wind’s even wilder than the real one!
RE: Fact #11 (Steve Oedekerk Rebuilt Kung Pow) – That line, ‘we trained him wrong, as a joke,’ always cracks me up. And my mom, who basically has no sense of humor, went absolutely wild when the lady picked up the baby, said ‘Awe so cute, well bye bye!’ and then rolled him down a hill. I’ve seriously never seen her laugh like that, before or since.
RE: Fact #29 (The Reader Delayed Sex Scenes) – So that’s exactly what every guy dreams of: faking a loss of virginity while being recorded and watched by fifty people on your eighteenth birthday—no pressure at all.
RE: Fact #32 (Brando Revenge Feeds Frank Sinatra) – So Sinatra had to keep eating cheesecake—like forever. Apparently he didn’t really care for it at all.
RE: Fact #20 (Steve McQueen Rejected Close Encounters) – That’s an interesting casting pick. I actually think it could’ve totally worked out. Dreyfus was good in that part, but man, imagine the King of Cool just losing his mind over aliens, that would’ve been something.
RE: Fact #32 (Brando Revenge Feeds Frank Sinatra) – Brando just blew things up even more by never remembering his lines after that feud with Sinatra, and it stuck with him all the way through his career.
To be fair, he never even bothered learning them in the first place.
It’s kinda funny watching Brando in The Godfather, knowing that for most of it he was just staring at cue cards like an SNL set. It actually makes the performance even more impressive.
RE: Fact #8 (Titanic Sinks In Real Time) – You should probably do a movie detail fact about how, for a brief moment, you can actually see the door sinking when Jack tries to get on it, proving it couldn’t hold both of them.
He really should have just pushed her right off. No one ever would’ve found out.
RE: Fact #10 (Poltergeist Used Real Pool Skeletons) – After I die, I’m totally fine with anyone using my skeleton for a horror flick, even if it’s super cheesy.
RE: Fact #18 (Cheyenne Autumn Hidden Dirty Dialogue) – Had a similar thing happen with the movie The Eagal. They got local folks to speak Gaelic, but it seems like nobody during filming or editing was really paying attention, or they just didn’t get someone to listen in. You can actually hear two older guys, talking Gaelic, say something like ‘Wow, check out all these cameras they’ve got here.’
RE: Fact #11 (Steve Oedekerk Rebuilt Kung Pow) – Still really hoping for a sequel.
RE: Fact #33 (Grinch Tablecloth Gag Happy Accident) – Let’s end world hunger—and keep it under wraps.
RE: Fact #35 (Iron Man Script Written On-Set) – I once sat down with Mark Fergus, one of the writers on Iron Man, and he told me exactly what I’m saying. He and his partner Hawk Ostbey were hired right at the start of filming and kept writing scenes and dialogue all the way up to “action.” They described the whole thing like trying to jump onto a moving train. Later they got an offer to work on Iron Man 2, but Marvel’s pay was so low that their agent told them to turn it down. Taking that little money would have stalled their careers.
And then folks just trash writers when they go on strike.
People in the writing world get beat down all the time. That’s just how it is—if you’re not the star or the director, it’s rough out there.
RE: Fact #5 (Harry Potter Philosopher Versus Sorcerer) – french translation was even worse – they changed it to harry potter in the school of sorcery, spanish kept the original title
why dont people talk about this more, dont the french know what a stone is
RE: Fact #35 (Iron Man Script Written On-Set) – Jeff Bridges actually wrote that whole script right there in a trailer, using nothing but a box full of scraps!
How ironic, Tony! Trying to rid the world of movie scripts, you handed it its best one yet—now I’m going to kill you with it!
Looks like you tweaked your lines. I’ve added a few upgrades of my own.
RE: Fact #1 (Estelle Reiner Katz Deli Line) – It’s cool that restaurant now sells a sandwich inspired by that famous line, and they even have a little sign marking where the scene happened.
RE: Fact #7 (Spinal Tap Fully Improvised Dialogue) – That’s just how Christopher Guest works, honestly. Larry David does the same thing. They only provide a really basic idea of how a scene should wrap up, and the actors handle the rest.
Seriously, if someone tried to write a book about Christopher Guest’s actual life story, everyone would probably think it was just fan fiction. He’s done so much: a writer, a musician, an actor, a singer, a comedian, a composer, an English Baron, Jamie Lee Curtis’s husband, he’s won a Grammy, been nominated for an Oscar, even written children’s books… it just keeps going.
RE: Fact #34 (Freeman’s All-Day Shawshank Baseball Scene) – My absolute favorite film—just re‑watched it last week for the 20th time and it still blew me away.
RE: Fact #7 (Spinal Tap Fully Improvised Dialogue) – Even so, that movie was just so spot on with real life. Loads of bands were convinced the filmmakers were taking ideas straight from their own tours.
I heard a story once about Steven Tyler from Aerosmith. He apparently walked out of the movie theater when that part came up where they’re totally lost backstage, trying to find the stage door. That kind of thing actually happened to Aerosmith before. He figured the movie’s creators were totally aware of it and specifically making fun of him.
My brother’s friend was working security at the Vanderbilt hotel in Nashville right after Aerosmith played there. He saw Tyler just stumbling around, asking ‘Where’s the bar?’ My brother’s friend had to tell him there wasn’t a bar and then took him back to his room. My brother thought he should’ve gotten an autograph. But the friend said that would’ve been smart if he didn’t actually dislike Aerosmith that much.
There was even a time when U2 got stuck inside that big lemon prop during one of their concerts.
It fooled the audience too, not just the bands. I saw it back in high school with some friends, and when we left the theater, one of them seriously asked, ‘Wait, was any of that actually real?’
RE: Fact #33 (Grinch Tablecloth Gag Happy Accident) – Have you ever gotten so mad that you wanted to cause some destruction, only to fail? And then you’re even more upset than when you were just a second ago already angry.
Sure thing – if you try slamming a door that has those airy hinges, it’s guaranteed to turn into a soft “woo sss…click” instead of an actual slam.
RE: Fact #22 (Interstellar Water Planet Ticking Days) – I think the water‑planet part was the highlight of the whole film.
RE: Fact #17 (Romeo Juliet Nude Lawsuit Dismissed) – Man, I totally recall watching this back in 9th grade English in the nineties. My teacher would stand by the TV on wheels, kind of half-handedly using a folder to block the naked parts.
Yep, I saw it in English class too, ninth grade. Thankfully, my teacher just hung out in the back of the room and let us watch.
My 9th grade English teacher, a middle-aged woman, gave us a heads-up about the nudity. She actually covered Romeo’s bare butt with her hand, but didn’t bother with Juliet’s boobs, saying, ‘what’s the big deal, they’re just boobs.’ We all thought it was pretty funny, but honestly, we didn’t mind at all.
Based on how old I think you are, that teacher could totally have been one of those old-school feminists from the 70s, maybe even giving a good lesson on how breasts get sexualized.
Yeah, totally the same for me back in ’99. Our teacher just said, ‘They’re boobs, get over it,’ and nobody in the class really made a big deal.
RE: Fact #13 (Cheeseburger Audition Won Garfield Spider-Man) – His Peter Parker was definitely special, really captivating in a weird way. I’ve heard folks mention he was just too cool for Peter, and yeah, I kinda get that. He’d have been the most popular guy at my high school, no question. But that’s okay, it felt like a new direction and it made his Spider-Man portrayal totally click.
His Spider-Man was super spidey, if that makes sense, but his Peter Parker felt the least like Peter. The quips as Spidey were awesome, but he seemed way too good with people when he was just Peter, at least to me.
Someone put it really well: Tobey Maguire nailed Peter Parker, while Andrew Garfield was the ideal Spiderman.
No way, not at all! Peter isn’t nearly as awkward, shy, or alone as Tobey played him. If anything, Tobey was a better Spider-man than he was Peter.
RE: Fact #24 (Harry Potter Needed Voice Soundalike) – What a great name, Joe Sowerbutts. Hope he has a good outlook on life.
RE: Fact #3 (Ferrell Reilly Perform Catalina Finale) – Yes, Dale! Fu*king rock out on those drums!
RE: Fact #25 (Sinclair Pulled Saving Private Ryan) – Everyone knows that soldiers in deadly, life‑threatening situations—killing fellow soldiers and seeing civilians suffer—would never raise their hands in anger. Duh.
I’d love to watch a war film that’s all family‑friendly in its dialogue, but keep everything else unchanged.
RE: Fact #37 (Toy Story 2 R-Rated Glitch) – Interesting. High Fidelity didn’t come out until the following year, so I guess both films were being prepared for DVD by the same distributor at the same time. It’s wild that a single scene got slipped in—probably just poor file management.
The file management sucks. In some media‑editing programs you have to “link” assets and files to hard‑drive locations so the project can pull them into your timeline. Either someone renamed a file or the program was asking for the wrong element. It’s weird, because I’ve never seen that kind of error in over ten years of video editing for major networks.
Maybe they did that on purpose—sounds like it was intentional.
RE: Fact #5 (Harry Potter Philosopher Versus Sorcerer) – so the american versions of harry potter are pretty funny – sorcerers stone, big room of secrets, felon of azkaban, big gold cup of fire, gathering of the fire bird, prince with parents of different ethnicity, and dangerous objects that are kinda real but not really
big gold cup of fire was my fave book but the movie for dangerous objects was my fave
i need this in meme format – a picture with crappy drawings and words getting all messed up
and the soundtrack starts with john williams but gets all weird and turns into a kazoo
RE: Fact #26 (Hidden Gimli Stunt Double Credit) – Brett ended up with the Fellowship tattoo instead of JRD along with the rest of the cast. The stunt double sort of downplays how much effort he actually put in—since he wore the same prosthetics it was pretty straightforward to use him in scenes. JRD was seriously allergic to the prosthetics, so there were a lot of days where he just wasn’t having a good time. Even though JRD also did a few other voices in the film, especially Treebeard, he still added some work into the mix, lol.
Beattie was JRD’s stunt double, scale double, stand‑in, and honestly, pretty much a regular performer for Gimli just like JRD himself. About 75% of the time when Gimli shows up on screen beyond close‑ups, that’s Brett Beattie—even in medium shots where you can see his face. He wasn’t just filling in or doing stunts; he was actually acting the part. It’s wild he didn’t get a credit next to Rhys‑Davies.
RE: Fact #8 (Titanic Sinks In Real Time) – Wow, Titanic was super long! I totally forgot it ran for three and a half hours. Back when I was a kid, watching it on my VCR, I really only cared about one part anyway.
Yeah, I was totally into that Irish dancing part too! It really made you wonder if money truly mattered. I mean, the rich folks had their fancy rooms with those super soft chaise lounges, but I’d pick a fast jig with 90 sweaty people over that any time.
I get it’s a joke, but my friends and I actually caught that band performing live a few years back. We were definitely the youngest people there, though we still had an awesome time.
I’m almost positive that came on two VHS tapes.
RE: Fact #23 (Gremlins 2 Fourth-Wall Projector Gag) – I watched it at the cinema when I was a kid, and it was so slick that folks in the audience began grumbling about some gear glitch.
RE: Fact #43 (Duel On Mustafar Filmed Full-Speed) – I could see how much effort they put into it – that fight is definitely one of my all‑time favorites.
Those lines, honestly—so painful.
Obi‑Wan goes, “Anakin, Chancellor Palpatine is evil!” and Anakin flips back with, “From my point of view the Jedi are evil!” It feels like those lines were drafted in a boardroom right before the movie hit.
I don’t know if someone will read this, but I just can’t help it… The choreography in the prequels is just so damn crisp. There’s zero emotion. Look at that final duel between Vader and Luke—Luke’s very soul is on the line, and you see him lose control for a split second. He lets go with anger and rage for just a beat, and you get this sense that Vader is really surprised and taken aback. A lot happens in that brief moment.
Then think about any fight from the prequels. Yeah, it looks pretty snazzy—lots of jumping around and slick moves, bro! But it’s all so sterile and flat. In Episode III that fight goes on for sooo long… And yes, the physical work done by the actors is impressive, full of sound and fury but ultimately signifying nothing.
Side note: It’s pretty ironic that during the filming of the original trilogy, the actors kept asking permission to do one‑handed moves, twirls, and other snazzy stuff… but Lucas kept saying, “No.” He insisted lightsabers were heavy, like medieval broad swords. In the end, I prefer that idea. In the original trilogy you get the feeling that it takes a level of skill and control to wield a lightsaber. In the prequels they feel pretty disposable.
RE: Fact #34 (Freeman’s All-Day Shawshank Baseball Scene) – I love the part where Morgan Freeman gets asked why he’s called “Red.” He pauses like he’s a bit puzzled and then says, “Maybe it’s because I’m Irish.” It’s hilarious since the movie is based on Stephen King’s novel *Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption*, and in the book Red is Irish.
I love how they stuck that line in as a nod to King’s story. They could’ve just said it was short for the character’s last name—Redding—without any fuss.
I always figured the “Irish” line was just a snappy reply to Andy’s dumb question: “Hi Mr. Redding, why do people call you Red?” And then he throws in, “Son, are you retarded?”
RE: Fact #21 (Pecan Pie Chaos When Harry) – “I have a theory that ancient hieroglyphics are an ancient comic strip about a character named Sphinxy.” That’s seriously one of my absolute favorite movie lines. I first watched this film about two years back. As a 31-year-old guy, I totally adored it. What a fantastic movie about friends who become something more than that. I’ve probably seen it eight times since then, even once at a rooftop screening. Just love it!
It’s a perfect example of a romantic comedy that’s just a genuinely solid movie, even if you’re not usually into that genre. The supporting roles from Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby are seriously top-tier too.
RE: Fact #23 (Gremlins 2 Fourth-Wall Projector Gag) – I’m happy to see this film getting the attention it deserves now. As a kid I fell in love with it, and even as a movie it still feels underrated. There’s so much cleverness tucked into that cheesy satire that every time I watch it again I discover something new.
RE: Fact #30 (A New Hope X-Wing Auction) – So, this 20‑inch X‑Wing that flew in the climactic battle of *Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope* had been missing for years—until it turned up in a cardboard box in Greg Jein’s garage. Jein was an Oscar‑nominated model maker who passed away last May at 76. The little ship was built by George Lucas’s visual‑effects house, Industrial Light & Magic, and it played the part of Red Leader, Red Two, and even Red Five—Luke Skywalker’s X‑Wing—in that famous trench run. It’s one of only four “hero” models ILM made for close‑up shots, complete with moving wings, working lights, and battle scars. Gene Kozicki, a visual‑effects historian, told the Hollywood Reporter that this prop hasn’t been displayed or altered since it left ILM, calling it a “white whale.”
One of the models just vanished, and nobody bothered to ask the person who built it lol.
I get the sense he wasn’t the original model maker; that’s just what the historian guessed about how he got it. Kozicki said nobody knows how the X‑Wing ended up in Jein’s collection, but he thought maybe Jein picked it up while working on Steven Spielberg’s 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which shared a big chunk of its visual effects crew with the original Star Wars. Doing both films is definitely possible.
RE: Fact #18 (Cheyenne Autumn Hidden Dirty Dialogue) – This kinda thing also happened with N!xau and the other Namibian actors in The Gods Must Be Crazy. Their dialogue wasn’t necessarily crude, but apparently, hardly any of what they actually said was anything like what the narrator claimed. For example, in that scene where Xi returns home to his family and they come out to greet him, what he’s really doing is jokingly giving them a hard time for not acting joyful enough, saying they’d be way happier if he’d truly just gotten back from a long trip.
RE: Fact #43 (Duel On Mustafar Filmed Full-Speed) – That was the toughest level in Lego Star Wars—fucking hard to jump through those obstacles.
Wish you could have taken the high ground.
RE: Fact #45 (Cloverfield Enlarges Liberty’s Severed Head) – That’s exactly why test audiences suck. Even if they’re handed a completely pure, CG‑free action film, they’ll still complain that it feels overdone with CGI.
apparently the scaled‑down version of the head was actually in the original teaser. …yeah, honestly I kinda see where the folks here are coming from. Sure it looks realistic, but for their big money shot it feels a bit underwhelming, so I get why they switched it up.
That’s total crap – people expect a movie where a 250‑foot alien crashes into Manhattan and starts tearing up the whole city. Then Hollywood actually has the nerve to resize the Statue of Liberty’s head so it lands on a street? It’s pure nonsense, man.
RE: Fact #46 (King Kong Octopus Becomes Dinner) – Maybe the fourth one was actually the best. If that’s the case, it might just show how overworking can backfire.
Honestly, Star Wars could use a little PR boost. I can’t think of anyone who’s even heard about it.