1Black Swan and The Wrestler
Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan and The Wrestler were originally supposed to be one movie about an affair between an obsessed ballet dancer and a burnt-out wrestler. He eventually realized it was way too much story and split them.
2. When Michael Bay was 15, George Lucas made him work on the storyboard to Raiders of the Lost Ark and after seeing the movie in the theater he decided to become a film director.
3. Actress Jane Russell never wore a special bra designed by director Howard Hughes during the filming of The Outlaw. She said the “ridiculous” contraption hurt so much “I never wore it in The Outlaw, and he never knew. He wasn’t going to take my clothes off to check if I had it on. I just told him I did.”
4. For filming the chariot race sequence in Ben-Hur (1959), the set that was built was the largest ever built at the time. It took over a year and thousands of workers to build it. The director's son, who was a stuntman, almost died filming it. While filming, the scene the extras rioted on camera; and the cars filming the race were slower than the horses.
5. The animated Dante's Inferno movie is divided into 6 parts, which were each animated by a different studio to depict each of the six circles of Hell that are featured in the movie differently.
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6The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Jennifer Carpenter did her own terrifying contortions in the film The Exorcism of Emily Rose. She contorted her face so horrifically that the MPAA originally gave the film an R-rating for disturbing images and terror, forcing the director to remove the scene since he wanted a PG-13 rating.
7. Disney paid Paramount at least $115 million in 2010 to buy the distribution rights of Marvel’s “The Avengers”. As part of the deal, it was Paramount that was shown in the movie’s opening title despite not being the one who owned, financed, marketed, and distributed the film. It later grossed over $1.5 billion.
8. Since the movie ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin’ had pornographic scenes, Romany Malco pleaded with the director to cut his scenes. He was worried about the reaction of his mom who was an ordained minister. He later found out his mom ended up taking all of her church friends to see it, multiple times.
9. The first Star Wars (1977) movie was offered by George Lucas to Disney but got declined. It was released by FOX instead and it then became the highest-grossing movie ever. Decades later, Disney would buy both the Star Wars franchise and 20th Century Fox in deals worth billions.
10. Over 1,200 different animals were used during the filming of “Doctor Dolittle” (1967). Problems that the crew faced include; a goat that ate the script, a parrot that learned to yell “cut” and a bunch of ducks that forgot how to swim and had to be rescued.
11Taxi Driver (1976)
Taxi Driver (1976) was made with a low budget of only $1.9 million. Robert De Niro & Cybill Shepherd received only $35,000 for the film while Scorsese received only $65,000. Despite the low budget, it went on to receive 4 nominations at the 1977 Academy Awards.
12. During the filming of “Trading Places”, Aykroyd and Murphy’s presence on the trading floor distracted the active traders and over $6 billion worth of stock trading had to be halted.
13. When filming “The Lost Patrol” in Arizona, the cast only worked in the early morning and late afternoon, to avoid the intense day heat. The producer wanted longer filming hours, and to prove his point, walked around in the open at midday. He soon collapsed from the heat, requiring hospital treatment
14. One of the special effects in Highlander (1985) was achieved by strapping car batteries to the actors’ legs and wiring them up so they’d spark when a sword struck. Production would pause while filming these scenes after three takes because the sword handles would get too hot.
15. Dirty Dancing (1987) produced 2 multi-platinum music albums and is responsible for boosting attendance in dance classes across America. It was also the first film to sell over 1 million copies for home video. As of 2005, the film was still selling a million DVDs per year.
16The Quatermass Xperiment
The 1955 horror film The Quatermass Xperiment is noted as being the only movie to ever “officially” scare someone to death after a 9-year-old boy died of a ruptured artery while watching the movie in the theatre.
17. When filming the original Borat film, Sacha Baron Cohen never washed Borat’s suit or wore deodorant when in character. He said it gave Borat a “kind of dreadful Soviet-bloc smell the moment I walk in.”
18. After the film Deliverance was released in 1972, tourism became the main source of income in Rabun County, Georgia, where the movie was made. Visitors arrived by the tens of thousands. A $20 million whitewater rafting industry now exists in the county.
19. The James Bond film, ‘Moonraker’ was produced and released prior to ‘For Your Eyes Only’ due to the success of ‘Star Wars.’ The end credits for ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ stated, “James Bond Will Return in ‘For Your Eyes Only’” but he actually came back in Moonraker.
20. In 1933, for a publicity stunt for a Mae West movie named “It ain’t no Sin”, a Hollywood Press Agent bought 50 parrots and had taught them to squawk “It ain’t no sin!” Then the movie changed titles and the parrots were subsequently released in South America, still repeating “it ain’t no sin.”
21Baby’s Day Out
The movie “Baby’s Day Out”, after receiving a negative critical reception and a lack of financial success in the United States, was very popular in India, where it played in Kolkata, West Bengal’s largest theater for over one year and had three remakes made in the country.
22. The movie Apollo 13 was shot in zero gravity on the “Vomit Comet” plane. They made almost 600 dives to get the footage, more than some real astronauts get when training.
23. Demi Moore was the highest-paid actress ever (at the time) in 1996, earning $12.5 million for Striptease, which bombed at the box office and earned her a Golden Raspberry Award. She also was a producer for all 3 Austin Power movies.
24. To film the scenes of the audience watching the “Ass Movie” in Idiocracy (2006), a theater was rented and extras were paid to watch buttocks on the screen, which garnered genuine laughter, making Mike Judge consider his own film a waste of time.
25. Several A-list actors turned down the role of Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry because of excessive violence. Burt Lancaster and Paul Newman turned it down because they both disagreed with the character’s seemingly right-wing politics. Newman recommended Clint Eastwood for the role instead.
