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40 Film Facts to Whisper Loudly in the Middle of a Movie to Impress Everyone Else in the Theater

Go ahead, everyone will love it

40 Film Facts to Whisper Loudly in the Middle of a Movie to Impress Everyone Else in the Theater

July 06, 2024

Let a few of these outrageous factoids leak, right at the height of the action, and they’ll be talking about you for years to come.

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40

Meta Movies 8 1/2 The title is a meta-reference to Federico Fellini's work. This classic Italian movie about the making of itself was indeed Fellini's eighth-and-a-half film (sort of): he had directed six others, co-directed another one, and made two segments for anthology films. CRACKED.COM — Source

39

Meta Movies SPACEBALL SPACEBALLS THE CEREAL THE FLAME THROWER 'A CHILDRENS TOY' Spaceballs SPICEBALL 100 The movie had George Lucas' blessing. Still, Lucas asked Mel Brooks not to sell merchandise, as it would look too much like Star Wars merch- so Brooks wrote the merchandising scene instead. CRACKED.COM BARE - — Source

38

Meta Movies Scream Ghostface is not based on Edvard Munch's The Scream. The mask was widely sold long before Wes Craven's movie, and the designer has said it was spooky figures from 1930s Max Fleischer cartoons. CRACKED.COM — Source

37

Meta Movies Spaceballs Nobody liked the costumes. John Candy was frustrated he couldn't move Barf's ears and tail himself, and had to rely on puppeteers. Yogurt' makeup gave Mel Brooks a severe allergic reaction. And Pizza the Hutt's costume included actual melted cheese, which gave the actor serious burns. CRACKED.COM — Source

36

Meta Movies The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent Young Nicolas Cage was based on a crazy interview he gave. Initially meant to look like his Con-Air character, young Cage was based on his shirt-removing, karate- chopping, high-octane 1990 interview with Terry Wogan while promoting Wild at Heart. CRACKED.COM — Source

35

Meta Movies Wes Craven's New Nightmare Reality itself got meta during shooting. The script featured earthquakes, and those scenes were actually shot. But then an actual earthquake hit California, and they included footage from the real-life disaster in the movie. CRACKED.COM — Source

34

Meta Movies Stranger Than Fiction Will Ferrell could actually hear the narration. Rather than having someone off-camera feeding him the lines he was supposed to react to, Ferrell was fitted with an earpiece so he could hear the actual narration recorded by Emma Thompson. CRACKED.COM — Source

33

Meta Movies Scream The movie was inspired by a real serial killer. Danny Rolling, the Gainesville Ripper, also had daddy issues, stalked out college campuses, and posed his victims to maximize the shock factor. CRACKED.COM — Source

32

Meta Movies Wes Craven's New Nightmare The movie was originally even more meta. Wes Craven's original plan featured himself playing himself, going crazy as Freddy was after him, and only able to stop him with a new Nightmare script. CRACKED.COM — Source

31

Meta Movies Funny Games The movie is intended to call out its own viewers. Director Michael Haneke wrote that the film's meta- observations on its own violence was to make a point about violence in the media-and how you just enjoy it passively like a douchebag. CRACKED.COM — Source

30

Meta Movies A Cock and Bull Story This is a meta movie about adapting a meta novel. The movie is so meta, it uses musical cues from the mother of meta movies, Fellini's 8 1/2. It also features a cameo by British media mogul Tony Wilson, whom lead actor Steve Coogan had played in 2002. CRACKED.COM — Source

29

Meta Movies Being John Malkovich Malkovich asked for Charlie Sheen himself. Malkovich's best friend was Kevin Bacon in Charlie Kaufman's original screenplay. But Malkovich said it was Sheen he'd actually turn to when in distress. CRACKED.COM — Source

28

Meta Movies Being John Malkovich It just had to be John Malkovich. Charlie Kaufman didn't personally know Malkovich or anything, he just liked how the name sounded. And yet he wouldn't budge on his choice, even shooting down the studio's idea of turning the movie into Being Tom Cruise. CRACKED.COM — Source

27

Meta Movies The Cabin in the Woods The merman was the most difficult creature to make. They tried several methods, the final one entailing its actor laying still on the floor for 12 hours. They'd wake him up and tell him, it's time to kill. CRACKED.COM — Source

26

Meta Movies Last Action Hero Charles Dance was a replacement for Alan Rickman. As Benedict was a similar character to Hans Gruber, Alan Rickman was approached about the part, but turned it down. Dance wore a t-shirt to set which read, I'm a cheaper Alan Rickman. CRACKED.COM — Source

25

Meta Movies Last Action Hero The writers hated the movie. Zak Penn and Adam Leff wrote a send up of the movies Arnold Schwarzenegger or Shane Black made. Then Black rewrote it, and Schwarzenegger starred in it with Penn and Leff disliking the result. CRACKED.COM — Source

24

Meta Movies 22 Jump Street 23 JUMP STREET MEDICAL SCHOOL CONTING SET The credits montage could have been even more epic. Directors Lord and Miller thought of having Cate Blanchett appear as a follow-up to the carte blanche joke, but she was busy with other movies. CRACKED.COM — Source

23

Meta Movies 22 Jump Street The awkward fight was unscripted. Jillian Bell just went and tried to kiss Jonah Hill during the fight, and Hill's shocked reaction was real. Не tried to get cues from the directors just out of frame, but they were just giggling and loving it. CRACKED.COM — Source

22

Cabin in the Woods

Meta Movies R The Cabin in the Woods The marketing was deliberately misleading. Marketing campaigns for quirky, unusual movies often drop the ball, but that wasn't the case here. Trailers sold the movie as straightforward horror, so moviegoers went in totally unspoiled. CRACKED.COM — Source

21

Meta Movies F for Fake The movie was born out of a pile-up of fakery. While working on a movie about a forger, Orson Welles found out that the forger's biographer was a forger himself, having written a fake biography of Howard Hughes (who had inspired Welles' own Citizen Kane). CRACKED.COM — Source

20

QUENTIN TARANTINO + ROBERT RODRIGUEZ PLANETTERROR THE BRUCE WILLIS DEFICIENCY IS INTENTIONAL. Willis filmed his already short scenes without the main cast, despite his prominent place in the credits. The idea was to replicate the gimmicks of actual '70s grindhouse movies, which would boast their most famous performers despite their little screen time. UZ 230 CRACKED.COM — Source

19

QUENTIN TARANTINO + ROBERT RODRIGUEZ PLANETTERROR RODRIGUEZ SAW THE ZOMBIE CRAZE COMING-AND DROPPED THE BALL. Back in 1998, Rodriguez wrote the first pages of a draft to get ahead of the zombie comeback he felt was about to happen-and then forgot about it. Не only got to it when zombie movies were already here, saying: Ah, I knew that I should've made . CRACKED.COM — Source

18

From Dusk Till Dawn

QUENTIN TARANTINO + ROBERT RODRIGUEZ FROM DUSK TILL DAWN TARANTINO WAS GOING TO DIRECT. In the end, though, he found that being a writer, actor, and director at the same time was too much. Не considered Renny Harlin and Tony Scott for the job, before landing on Rodriguez. CRACKED.COM — Source

17

QUENTIN TARANTINO + ROBERT RODRIGUEZ FROM DUSK TILL DAWN THE EZEKIEL 25:17 QUOTE FROM PULP FICTION STARTED HERE. Inspired by 1973's Karate Kiba, Tarantino included the reworked biblical passage in an early draft of From Dusk Till Dawn. It was meant to be delivered by Harvey Keitel's Jacob as he faced the vampires. CRACKED.COM — Source

16

QUENTIN TARANTINO + ROBERT RODRIGUEZ DESPERADO TARANTINO'S CAMEO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE STEVE BUSCEMI. Rodriguez gave Tarantino the part when he showed interest. Tarantino's other big contribution to the Mariachi Trilogy is the title Once Upon a Time in Mexico (he seems to like once upon a time). CRACKED.COM — Source

15

Sherriff McGraw

QUENTIN TARANTINO + ROBERT RODRIGUEZ a S BACK FROM DUSK TILL DAWN SHERIFF EARL MCGRAW IS KIND OF A WATCHER OF THE TARANTINO- RODRIGUEZ MULTIVERSE. The character played by Michael Parks dies early in the movie, but then magically reappears in Planet Terror, Death Proof, and Kill Bill Vol. 1. Quentin, Robert: there, there's your next collaboration. CRACKED.COM — Source

14

QUENTIN TARANTINO + ROBERT RODRIGUEZ QUENTIN HOPE FOR HUMANITY... Theas . - TARANTINO - about - - . - $ ON A HIGH-POWER MACHINE GUN! ROBERT RODRIGUEZ - the and One - BACK to BACK! KURT RUSSELL GRINDHOUSE THE MOVIE EXISTS BECAUSE TARANTINO AND RODRIGUEZ OWNED THE SAME POSTER. Tarantino held actual double features at home, complete with trailers. During one of these, Rodriguez noticed a double feature poster he also had, and asked Tarantino if he wanted to recreate the tradition. wo GREAT MOVIES FOR THE PRICE OF CRACKED.COM — Source

13

Grindhouse

Grindhouse - Some of the fake trailers became real movies. The film features a bunch of trailers for fake movies, directed by Rob Zombie, Edgar Wright, and others. Jason Eisener's Hobo With a Shotgun and Rodriguez's own Machete were made into actual movies. — Source

12

QUENTIN TARANTINO + ROBERT RODRIGUEZ FROM DUSK TILL DAWN THE TATTOO WAS GEORGE CLOONEY'S IDEA. Clooney had just seen a similar tattoo in the cult New Zealand drama Once Were Warriors (itself an early role for Boba Fett himself, Temuera Morrison). CRACKED.COM — Source

11

QUENTIN TARANTINO + ROBERT RODRIGUEZ SIN CITY FRANK MILLER DIDN'T WANT ANY MOVIES OF HIS COMICS AT THE TIME. Не changed his mind when he saw the clip Rodriguez had prepared. If you like this, Rodriguez told Miller, this will be the opening to the movie. If not, you'll have your own short film to show your friends. CRACKED.COM — Source

10

QUENTIN TARANTINO + ROBERT RODRIGUEZ FOUR ROOMS THE MOVIE LED TO SALMA HAYEK'S PART IN FROM DUSK TILL DAWN. Fresh from shooting Desperado, Rodriguez begged Hayek to play a bit part as a stripper (not showing her face). They liked the result, and cast Hayek as a (vampire) dancer in their next movie. CRACKED.COM — Source

9

QUENTIN TARANTINO + ROBERT RODRIGUEZ SIN CITY BRITTANY MURPHY'S CHARACTER WAS RETIRED AFTER HER DEATH. When she passed, it broke my heart, Frank Milled said. I called Robert and said, 'Let's not bring this character back. Only Brittany can play her.' CRACKED.COM — Source

8

QUENTIN TARANTINO + ROBERT RODRIGUEZ FOUR ROOMS BRUCE WILLIS APPEARED FOR FREE AS A FAVOR TO TARANTINO. There was the problem, however, that acting for no money broke SAG rules. But the guild agreed not to take any action against Willis if he wasn't credited. CRACKED.COM — Source

7

QUENTIN TARANTINO + ROBERT RODRIGUEZ SHELTER DEATH PROOF TARANTINO PAYS TRIBUTE TO THE 2005 HORROR FILM WOLF CREEK. Stuntman Mike was going to be played by Wolf Creek actor John Jarrat before the role went to Kurt Russell. In the end, Mike crashes into an for the film. CRACKED.COM — Source

6

Sin City

QUENTIN TARANTINO + ROBERT RODRIGUEZ SIN CITY TARANTINO DIRECTED A SCENE FOR MUSICAL REASONS. Robert Rodriguez had written a sweet guitar score that Tarantino wanted for Kill Bill Vol. 2, and Rodriguez agreed to sell it to him for just one dollar -under one condition. CRACKED.COM — Source

5

QUENTIN TARANTINO + ROBERT RODRIGUEZ SIN CITY THE MOVIE DOES NOT HAVE A WRITING CREDIT. Rodriguez conceived it as a direct translation of Frank Miller's comics, so there's actually no one to give credit to besides Miller himself. CRACKED.COM — Source

4

QUENTIN TARANTINO + ROBERT RODRIGUEZ DEATH PROOF THE TITLE WAS RODRIGUEZ'S IDEA. The original title was ThunderBolt (which actually flashes briefly on the screen at the start of the movie). Rodriguez said that if the movie had death- proofed cars, it should be called Death Proof. QUENTIN TA THUNDER BOLT CRACKED.COM was and bas LK — Source

3

QUENTIN TARANTINO + ROBERT RODRIGUEZ TARANTINO LEARNED ABOUT DEATH-PROOFING FROM SEAN PENN. While drinking together, Penn suggested that instead of buying a boring Volvo, Tarantino could have any car death-proofed by a stunt crew. Tarantino became obsessed with the idea, and wrote a movie about it. DEATH PROOF CRACKED.COM — Source

2

QUENTIN TARANTINO + ROBERT RODRIGUEZ FOUR ROOMS TARANTINO AND RODRIGUEZ CONTRIBUTED SEGMENTS TO THIS ANTHOLOGY FILM. Two other segments were helmed by Allison Anders and Alexandre Rockwell (who came out with the idea). Anders' and Rockwell's were the least well received-and they might have looked even worse if Richard Linklater had joined them, as was intended. CRACKED.COM — Source

1

QUENTIN TARANTINO + ROBERT RODRIGUEZ PLANETTERROR THE MOVIE HELPED JOSH BROLIN GET ON NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. Brolin really wanted to audition for the Coens but couldn't, so Rodriguez and Tarantino shot his audition tape right there and sent it to the brothers -who were impressed with the lighting, of all things. (Oh, and they also did cast Brolin.) CRACKED.COM — Source

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