“Kratos, baby, listen, there has gotta be some mistake!”
“How DARE you imply the mighty Kratos makes mistakes! I AM the GOD OF WAR!”
Alright, let’s back up here. So, as some of you may know, the newest God of War game recently came out. What most of you probably DIDN’T know is that YOU were the ones who wrote it, because you’re actually the god of writing and art. I know, that’s a pretty big thing to gloss over in your memory, but trust me, it happened. Anyways, you decided to take the character of Kratos from a screaming, bloodthirsty killing machine to a more subdued, father figure to his young son. Turns out the screaming, bloodthirsty killing machine didn’t like being portrayed in that way, must’ve ruined his credibility or something.
“Give me one good reason not to take your piteous head, foolish god,” the grey-skinned spartan stares at you, the blade of Olympus pressed tightly against your throat.
You gulp; the bristles on your neck grazing slightly at the incredibly sharp blade in Kratos’ hand. “Hey,” you blurt out. “You like movies, right? Why don’t we explore 25 Behind-The-Scenes Facts That Will Change The Way You See Your Favorite Movies? Wouldn’t that be fun?”
1. The moment in The Dark Knight when the Joker fails to blow up the hospital the first time was unscripted. For those of you that don’t know, the Joker goes to blow up a hospital with a remote detonator, and it doesn’t go off, prompting a very Looney Tunes-style moment where he angrily presses it a bunch of times and eventually sets off the bomb. A genius moment of improv by an actor taken too early.
2. The typed pages with “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” from The Shiningwere actually written out by Stanley Kubrick’s secretary. In a very Stanley Kubrick moment, the second mad Titan himself forced his secretary to type out hundreds of those pages to “get the feeling of madness.” This is an unsurprising move considering he reportedly only fed Jack Nicholson his least favorite food, cheese sandwiches, on set and allegedly made Shelly Duvall retake the same scene 127 times.
3. The “ugliest skirt” line from Mean Girls was actually inspired by Tina Fey’s mom. The sequence, which features one of the titular mean girls, Regina George, complimenting a girl’s skirt then immediately talking smack about it behind her back, was something writer Tina Fey’s mom use to do. Apparently, after Tina would comment on how cruel that was, her mother would reply, “Clearly she wanted someone to notice that shirt.”
4. Christian Bale’s rendition of Patrick Bateman in American Psycho was based in part on Tom Cruise. Apparently, the actor saw Cruise being interviewed on David Letterman and thought that he “had this very intense friendliness with nothing behind the eyes.” Which if you’ve read the book, fits Patrick Bateman pretty well.
5. During the filming of The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, the crew used up New Zealand’s entire supply of gold paint. In order to create Smaug the dragon’s massive gold hoard, the crew used up ALL the gold paint in New Zealand. They had to resort to ordering MORE from Germany to complete the set. Gee, I’d hate to be a New Zealander needing to paint something gold.
6. Tom Holland, the newest Spider-Man, found out he got the role of the iconic hero while scrolling through Instagram. As the story goes, Marvel posted that they had found a lead for the role and one day, as Tom was scrolling through Instagram, he found out it was him. He “went ballistic, like absolutely nuts.”
7. In The Godfather, there is no mention of the word “mafia” because the real mafia demanded it be left out. In fact, the Italian-American Civil Rights League didn’t want the movie to be made at all. Major threats were sent to the film’s director and producer, Francis Ford Coppola and Albert S. Ruddy. In an attempt to resolve their differences, the producer met with the leader of the Italian-American Civil Rights League, who demanded one simple request: that the word “mafia” be struck from the script.
8. Someone was kidnapped on the set of 1996’s Romeo + Juliet. No, it wasn’t good ol’ Leo Dicaps, although that would’ve been a better target. Apparently, Mexican Bandidos kidnapped hair-stylist Aldo Signoretti and demanded $300 US for his return. The studio obviously obliged, and director Baz Luhrmann called it: “rather a bargain.”
9. In Moonlight, Mahershala Ali actually teaches the actor playing his son, Alex R. Hibbert, how to swim. Apparently, this is a very touching moment in the film. I, however, have yet to see Moonlight, so hopefully, I’m not missing out on too much. If I am, feel free to correct me and send me all the reasons why I should be watching Moonlight.
10. Ironically, Borat was a huge hit in Israel because all of Borat’s Kazakh lines were actually in Hebrew. The joke that the anti-semitic, ignorant reporter was speaking in in Hebrew was not lost on Israeli audiences, who also crowded to see the hit 2006 comedy.
11. For reprising his role as the Terminator in Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Arnold Schwarzenegger was technically paid $21,429 for every word spoken. Let’s see, he was apparently paid 15 million for the role and only said about 700 words. Wow, yeah, that math checks out. Man, I wish I could be a world champion bodybuilder with an illustrious film career!
12. Bruce Lee was so fast that he had to slow down his movements so the cameras could actually catch him performing them. He famously said, “At first, it was ridiculous. All you could see were people falling down in front of me. Even when I slowed down, all the camera showed was a blur.”
13. Yoda’s design was based off of Albert Einstein. Yes, the little green gnome we all know and love was originally supposed to be a lanky, grasshopper-type figure. However, the look was obviously changed over time. Special effects artist Stuart Freeborn modeled the character off of a poster he had of the famous scientist in his office as well as parts of his own face.
14. The critically acclaimed 1976 hit Rocky was shot in 28 days. There are a lot of fun facts about Stallone’s magnum opus, namely that while he was writing it he was so poor he had to sell his dog for $50 and that it was the first ever feature-length film to use Steadicam.
Rocky | MGM15. The raptor sounds in Jurassic Park were in part the sounds of tortoises mating. Besides turtle lovemaking, which sound designer Gary Rydstrom apparently had to sit through a lot of, he also used horses and geese. Horses maybe not so much, but geese I understand. They’re about as vicious and temperamental as raptors.
16. The script for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was written in 6 days. Legendary writer John Hughes kept a diary during the production, starting with the basic storyline which was developed on February 25th. It was pitched and bought the next day, and then this was the progression: “2-26 Night only 10 pages . . . 2-27 26 pages . . . 2-28 19 pages . . . 3-1 9 pages . . . 3-2 20 pages . . . 3-3 24 pages.” And with that, the movie was done.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off | Paramount Pictures17. Christopher Mintz-Plasse was only 17 when he filmed his sex scene in Superbad. That’s why his mom reportedly had to be present during the scene. The worst part is that, according to this fact that I just made up, she was also yelling out advice.
18. Apparently, Joseph Gordon Levitt’s role in Inception was originally supposed to be played by James Franco. Call me bias, call me a Seth Rogen fanboy or whatever, but I kind of prefer this decision. “Leo, baby, listen. Those dream guys out there are just jealous, man. They hate us cause they anus.”
19. Kurt Russell actually did the voice of Elvis in Forrest Gump. Oh Kurt, can you do any wrong? Seriously, I have gained a major appreciation for that actor in the last couple of years. From watching The Thing for the first time last year to his film defining moments in The Hateful Eight, the man has true talent and is a national treasure. Some may even call him a National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets.
20. Author Stephenie Meyer wanted the part of Edward Cullen in Twilight to be played by Henry Cavill. Of course, considering he was able to pull off Superman so well. Then again, I can’t really blame old Henry for the disaster that is the DC Cinematic Universe, that was more of a collective typhoon of bad decisions.
21. Laura Dern can be seen saying “Pew” during the scenes where she uses a blaster in The Last Jedi. Oh wow, you’re just trying to bait me with this one, aren’t you? Well forget it, I’m not going to dance around like a monkey for you and spray rage against the newest Star Wars. Seriously, go to the next entry, I’m not going to say anything about how the villains lose total and complete credibility within the literal first 45 seconds because they had to shoehorn a terrible little Disney (this goes on for a while, let’s move on).
22. The poster for Just My Luck is literally just a picture of Lindsay Lohan taken by the paparazzi. Ah, the mid-2000s. It was a simpler time when the wackiest celebrities stuck to rehabs and movies, rather than the Internet and politics. Who is our wack job celebrity of the late 2010s, some mumble rapper? Lil Pump, maybe?
23. In the opening scene for Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, the pilot’s feet are sticking out of their cockpits. This was so that good ol’ George could get the best shots possible during their complicated opening sequence. Then again, maybe if he had gotten out of his chair once during the filming of the prequels, maybe he wouldn’t need to have their feet sticking out. Who knows, I’m not a director.
24. Chris Evans almost didn’t take the role of Captain America. The pressure was almost too much for the would-be superhero, and he only took the role after consulting a therapist. And it was TOTALLY worth it too considering Captain America is the most interesting Avenger. Right after Hawkeye, who was so good, they didn’t even invite him to be in Infinity War. They needed to save him for the sequel, obviously.
25. Christopher Nolan compares casting Harry Styles in Dunkirk to the time he cast Heath Ledger as the Joker. The man may be a genius, but he’s not always a right genius. Of all the World War II movies that came out that year, I remember just generally feeling meh about each of them. The Dark Knight on the other hand…
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