Films and the actors involved directly contribute to our lives, curing countless hours of boredom. The following is a list of cool facts about the film industry you may not have known, courtesy of reddit.
1. Ryan Gosling was cast as Noah in The Notebook because the director wanted someone “not handsome.”2. Heath Ledger almost broke Jake Gyllenhaal’s nose by grabbing his head and kissing him too hard in Brokeback Mountain.3. Fox passed on Watchmen because they thought the script was “one of the most unintelligible pieces of shit they had read in years.”
4. The original raw footage of Apocalypse Now consisted of 1,250,000 feet of film which is over 230 hours worth.
5. Walt Disney refused to allow Alfred Hitchcock to film at Disneyland in the early 1960s because he had made “that disgusting movie Psycho.”6. For Dr. Strangelove, Peter Sellers was paid $1 million, 55 percent of the film’s budget.
7. Django Unchained is the first time in 16 years that Leonardo DiCaprio didn’t get the top billing.
8. Samuel L. Jackson used the word “motherfucker” to overcome his stammer/stutter.
9. There is a sound effect called the Wilhelm Scream that has been used in over 200 movies and TV shows since 1951.
10. Arnold Schwarzenegger was paid approximately $21,429 for every word he said in Terminator 2: Judgement Day (which is around 700 words).
11. Sigourney Weaver actually made that ‘impossible’ basketball shot in Aliens: Resurrection.12. The carpet in The Shining and the second floor of Sid’s house in Toy Story are almost identical.13. Courtney Love insists that the role of the drug dealer, Lance, in Pulp Fiction was offered to Kurt Cobain.
14. In Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indy shoots the Arab swordsman. He was originally meant to fight him, but Harrison Ford was too ill to fight ‘properly.’
15. The original cut of The Wolf of Wall Street had over four hours worth of content so it had to be cut further.
16. Mark Wahlberg and Matt Damon agreed that if they’re ever confused for one another, they will just go along with it.
17. Morgan Freeman’s line, in Shawshank Redemption, “Maybe it’s ’cause I’m an Irish”, is not a joke. In the novel ‘Red’ really is Irish.
18. Viggo Mortensen had no intention of working on The Lord of the Rings until his son begged him to do it.
19. In Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Charlie Sheen stayed awake for 48 hours to achieve a suitably wasted look for his cameo.
20. The ornaments that Marv steps on in Home Alone are actually candy.
21. Ridley Scott used The Who’s blue laser lighting to light the Alien egg chamber because they were in the next studio.
22. Sean Connery turned down roles in, The Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull and Blade Runner.
23. Dan Aykroyd’s first script for Ghostbusters was set in the future and Ghostbusters were completely normal, like paramedics and firemen.
24. Within’ three days, The Hunger Games became the highest grossing film for Lionsgate Movies.
25. To thank Robin Williams for his work on Aladdin, Disney sent him a late Pablo Picasso painting.
26. The poop in Trainspotting was made from chocolate.
27. When Mark Zuckerberg posts his art essay question on Facebook during The Social Network his alias is Tyler Durden.
28. Saw was filmed in 18 days.
29. Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn called director Gasper Noe mid-shoot asking how to shoot a ‘head smashing’ scene.
30. The charcoal drawing of Kate Winslet in James Cameron’s Titanic, was actually drawn by James Cameron.
31. In the Harry Potter films, Alan Rickman was the only person other than J.K. Rowling to know Snape was defending Harry because he was in love with Lily Potter to make his performance genuine.
32. When Edward Norton first fights Brad Pitt in Fight Club, he was asked to actually hit Pitt. Pitts reaction is genuine and Norton was trying to stop himself from laughing during the scene.
33. Pierce Brosnan was contractually forbidden from wearing a full tuxedo in any non-James Bond movie from 1995-2002.34. The scene with Jenny on the ground outside her house in Forrest Gump is similar to the painting, ‘Christina’s World.’
35. The Green Goblin’s prototype mask in Spider-Man (2002) was going to look a lot more like the comic book version.
36. Pixar’s UP, was the first ever animated film and 3D film to open the Cannes Film Festival.
37. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won all 11 Academy Awards it was nominated for.
38. Peter O’Toole has been nominated for eight performance Oscars and not won any.
39. Each frame of the CGI scenes in James Cameron’s, Avatar, (1/24 of a second) took an average of 47 hours to render.
40. Paranormal Activity cost $15000 to make and has grossed $210 million since.
41. After a slew of drug related offences, Robert Downey Jr. was a semi-blacklisted celebrity until Kiss Kiss Bang Bang reignited his career.
42. Waldo (Where’s Waldo) appears in Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto at 01:31:34, lying on the pile of dead bodies.
43. Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) played a minor role in Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan.
44. Ron Jeremy, the pornstar, is an extra in Ghostbusters.
45. Peter Ostrum, Charlie from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, never acted in another movie after that and is now a veterinarian.
46. On the set of one of the Pirates of the Carribbean films, Johnny Depp spent 40,000 on 500 coats for the cast and crew.
47. In Iron Man/ The Avengers, J.A.R.V.I.S is an acronym for “Just A Rather Very Intelligent System.”
48. In 2002, Steven Spielberg finally finished college after a 33-year hiatus. He turned in Schindler’s List for his student film requirement.
49. The Soviets made a version of The Hobbit movie in 1985 and it is available on YouTube.
50. In Saving Private Ryan, all of the main cast were given basic military training except Matt Damon, in the hope that the cast would build a resentment towards him necessary for the role.