List all the surprising movie trivia you know.

Here's a few:

--The original director for The Empire Strikes Back was supposed to be..... DAVID LYNCH!
He turned it down to do Dune instead.

--The original director for Batman was supposed to be....The COEN BROTHERS!
They had a picture deal w/ Warner Brothers after the success of Raising Arizona, but didn't want to do a movie with that big of a budget, so they passed and Warners chose Pee Wee director Tim Burton instead.

--Legendary composer Bernard Herrman's last score was for Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver. They had made many changes to the film, and Bernard had to keep changing the score to fit. He supposedly said "I'm going to finish this film if it's the last thing I do". On the night he finished recording the score, he went back to his hotel room and died.

The prop-master is supposed to have beer for me, when they call rap.

"The original director for The Empire Strikes Back was supposed to be..... DAVID LYNCH!"
It's hard to imagine George Lucas and David Lynch working together on a film. If that movie ever got made, It would still be in the can, on the shelf.

"The original director for Batman was supposed to be....The COEN BROTHERS!
They had a picture deal w/ Warner Brothers after the success of Raising Arizona, but didn't want to do a movie with that big of a budget"
"Raising Arizona," has to be the Coen Bros worst movie. I'm glad they turned down their "big" offer, they do a damn fine job on a low budget.
If Warner Bros needed someone to spend money on a big budget movie like "Batman", they should have asked Gilliam.

The advertisements in Sweden for Monty Python's Life of Brian read: "A movie so funny that it's banned in Norway". It actually was.

Damn Swedes .... they love Jerry Lewis. Oh wait, that's the French.

DG

Brian de Palma made the psychological horror film "Sisters" only so he
could raise money for Phantom of the Paradise,one of his favorites.
Sissey(sp)Spacek was the set dresser on Phantom.She met her husband
on the set.

From the David Lynch site,City of Absurdity

About Dune:

David Lynch wanted the film to have a "40's noir" quality.

He thought the film was probably doomed to failure from the
start,and not just due to final editing.

The author of Dune,Frank Herbert,thought the film was a
"visual feast."

One of mine too.

Gertz

Phantom of the Paradise is one of my favorites too.I have seen it over
a dozen times.I love the music,very haunting.Paul Williams really cranked
out some good tunes for this one,and nailed the part of Swan.William Finley
was perfect as Winslow/the Phantom.I liked how the movie seared the
70's culture,right in the midst of it.

Did you know Paul Williams originally asked for the part of the Phantom
in exchange for writing the music?. William Finley would have been cut out entirely,even though the part of the Phantom was written for him.What a
mess,and totally different movie,that would have been.

Brian de Palma and William Finley were collaberating on Phantom
during the production of Sisters,which helped pay for Phantom.Finley
played the psychiatrist in Sisters.He also helped design his own costume.

David Geffen and Swan Song were a major target in the movie,and David
Geffen sued Brian de Palma for using the image of a swan on the record label
in the movie.That's why the logo is a dead songbird,and the company name was
changed to Death Records.I believe Death Records t shirts are still available.

There used to be a great site for the movie but it has disappeared.

You can read the lyrics to the movie on Paul William's site.

"Half asleep I hear a voice,it is only in my mind,or is it someone calling me,
someone I failed and left behind..."

If you saw the movie as a kid but did'nt get it or thought it was stupid,
give it another try.For that matter if you thought the same thing as an adult,
give it another try, while sipping your beverage of choice.I am looking foreward
to that,myself.

Never thought it was stupid, but I'll try it with my beverage of choice nevertheless. Which would probably be a big, nice glass of chilly UE or Segarra.

Thanks for sharing all that impressive knowledge - !

Joel Coen of the Coen brothers edits their films under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes. It's a running joke with them. For Fargo, "Roderick" actually got nominated for Best Film Editing!

Joel and Ethan totally played it up, and released a statement to the hollywood press saying Roderick was honoured for the nomination but could not attend the Academy Awards because he would be watching a cricket match in England.

For every film they make, they still place ads in all the Hollywood industry magazines that say "For your consideration in Best Film Editing, Roderick Jaynes and Tricia Cook". (Tricia Cook is Ethan Coens wife.)

Rock Hudson was gay!

They originaly wanted Kevin Costner to
star in Ernest Goes to Camp.
Makes me cry every time I see it.

More trivia:

The movie rights for the Lord of the Rings Trilogy were purchased by Saul Zaentz from J.R.R. Tolkien while he was still alive for a mere $25,000. Tolkien needed the money. Zaentz actually produced the animated version of Lord of the Rings in 1978. It was a turd and flopped.

He was smart though and held onto the rights. It's estimated so far he's made nearly $250 million from Lord of the Rings. Hows that for a smart investment?

Thanks Paul Harvey!

This...... isPaulHarvey. Paul Harvey sez:

The final draft of the script for Scorsese's film Raging Bull was actually written by Robert DeNiro. The studio had rejected the original script by Paul Schrader as being too dark and morbid, and DeNiro wanted to play the part so badly that he re-wrote the script himself, but didn't take credit for it.

Page 2!

Goose dies in the end.

Was that "The Hobbit"? It sucked bad.

In the film Blue Velvet, the script originally called for Dennis Hopper's character, Frank Booth, to inhale helium gas before commiting his various violent acts. Hopper (certainly no stranger to altered states of conciousness!) told director David Lynch that it would be better if Booth huffed nitrous oxide, which would contribute to his behavior being even more deranged, as opposed to helium, which would just make his voice sound funny. I kinda wish they would have shot a version of the scene with the helium, though. Woulda been a hoot to see...

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis) was better.

Better than what?

Sorry Rimbaud - The Hobbit cartoon

Gotcha.

I'm bored. Who wants to see my ass?

In the movie Bullitt (Steve McQueen) during the big chase scene the Dodge Charger loses 5 hubcaps.

Last night watching Kingpin, Randy Quaid had the tattoo when they pull him out of the strip club...and then later on in the movie he wakes up from being drunk he first realizes he has it...after he already changed clothes and would have noticed it sooner....

(this was meant for Rimmy, by the way)

His name is Benny:

In the movie "Flight of the Phoenix" (James Stewart, Ernist Borgnine), the reconstructed airplane was actually flown althought not with all the actors whoe were in the movie. One of the US best test pilots flew it, and unfortunatly died when it crashed.

HAHA, I can see that now on a DVD outtake. Frank Booth inhales helium and with his squeaky voice says 'No I want you to fuck it..... Shit, yes pour the fuckin beer.'

No, it was called.... (big surprise) The Lord of the Rings.

There was a dude on e-bay named Forceten32 who had some great film facts. The best were about "Brazil." I haven't found his listings recently but he sold mostly Criterion Collection DVDs.

It was directed by Ralph Bakshi, notorious for making a animated movie version of Robert Crumb's Fritz the Cat. Crumb didn't like it, I haven't seen it and doesn't feel much of an urge to.

Actually, the LOTR cartoon was only the first half of the story - it ended with the battle at Helm's Deep and was supposed "to be continued". That never happened.

Speaking of Coen brothers ... the main character of "O Brother, where art thou?" is called Ulysses Everett McGill. Ulysses is of course Odysseus, but Everett McGill is the name of an actor. He played the leading role in that prehistoric epic "Quest for Fire", where a seriously dishy Rae Dawn-Chong (daughter of Chong of Cheech & Chong), clad in almost nothing but ash-grey body-paint, taught him how to make fire.