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32 Trivia Tidbits to Whip Out on Movie Night

You’ll have the quickest facts in the West. Whether you’re watching a Western or not

32 Trivia Tidbits to Whip Out on Movie Night

August 18, 2024

If you seize control of the remote on movie night, you’re really gonna give that pause button a work out. Because whatever movie happens to be on, this list should give you what you need to pause it every few minutes to drop a solid, “Did you know?” Like, “Did you know that Gal Gadot was five months pregnant while filming Wonder Woman?”

And don’t worry about your friends’ many eye rolls. They’ll appreciate the knowledge later.

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32

CRACKED.COM THE POLIC LEGO MOVIE The movie caused a 15% worldwide increase in Lego sales. The year the film was released, Lego sold 62 billion Lego elements. That would equate to 102 Lego bricks per living person. — Source

31

While You Were Sleeping

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING The original concept was gender-flipped. The original idea was for a man to pretend to be engaged with a woman in a coma. While the premise is creepy regardless of gender, it somehow feels creepier that way. CRACKED.COM — Source

30

CRACKED.COM DO Taxi Driver was written in two weeks. Screenwriter Paul Schrader was going through marriage problems, lost his job, was broke, and suffered a bleeding ulcer. His depression from all this at the same time drove him to write about Travis Bickle, or I was going to start to become him. — Source

29

The Wizard of Oz

CRACKED.COM In The wizard of OZ, Toto made more money than the Munchkins. Hollywood has never been fair, but it's mind-boggling that the actors portraying the Munchkins were paid $50 per week, while Toto and his trainers got $125 per week. — Source

28

Gal Gadot

CRACKED.COM Gal Gadot was five months pregnant while shooting Wonder Woman. Gadot reportedly didn't want any different treatment, and hid her pregnancy when doing reshoots, even during action scenes. — Source

27

The role that made Viggo Mortensen's career, Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, almost went to Nicolas Cage. CRACKED.COM — Source

26

The house party from SUPERBAD - DE - IBOUSE ON AND 4 10 is - - care was filmed half a block from the OJ Simpson murder house. — Source

25

The District 9 voices were made from the sound of pumpkins being rubbed together combined with clicking and the actors' voices. CRACKED.COM — Source

24

DAVID LeTTeRmAn auditioned and screen-tested for the role of Ted Striker in: GRACKED COM — Source

23

Hugh Jackman

Hugh Jackman says he owes his career to Russell Crowe. Crowe passed on the role of Wolverine, and then recommended his friend Hugh for the job, which eventually made him a household name. GRACKED.COM — Source

22

The relationship between Ed Wood and Bela Lugosi CRACKED.COM in Tim Burton's was a reflection of Burton's own relationship with Vincent Price. — Source

21

Schindler’s List

steven spielberg refused a paycheck for schindler's List. The movie being a close and personal project for Spielberg, he refused to take a salary for it. His share of the profits went to the Shoah Foundation, a history archive for the Holocaust and other tragic events. CRACKED.COM — Source

20

Toy story 2 was almost deleted. A Pixar employee accidentally typed in a command that erased all the movie files. Thankfully, this multi-million dollar mistake was averted as a technical director on maternity leave had a copy of everything at home. CRACKED.COM — Source

19

CRACKED.COM scream was originally titled scary Movie. NO, seriously. When Harvey Weinstein, the producer of the film, was listening to Michael Jackson's Scream in his car, he thought that would be a better title. So two (alleged) sex criminals caused the name change. — Source

18

Bradley cooper spent 6 months to sound like sam Elliott in A star is Born. Cooper worked with a dialect coach for four hours a day - even before Elliott was cast to play his brother. Had Elliott turned down the role, Cooper would've wasted half a year of work. CRACKED.COM — Source

17

BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY TONI COLLETTE AND KATE WINSLET WERE UP FOR THE LEAD ROLE. After Colette turned it down, Winslet was considered but producers thought she was too young. It ultimately went to Renée Zellweger. CRACKED.COM — Source

16

Shang-Chi

Good Will Hunting inspired Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. MARVEL STUDIOS Shang-Chi is a lot like Will Hunting - they both have a big secret, and there's a lot of baggage they need to take care of to fully realize their potential. CRACKED.COM — Source

15

Loki

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind partly inspired, of all things, Disney's Loki. LOKI INTERNATIONAL That movie (like, say, Scott Pilgrim), had a lot of elaborate practical sets that look like CGI - and Loki did too, to make its world feel like a real environment. CRACKED.COM — Source

14

Historical war drama Dunkirk was partly based on a sci-fi horror movie. ALIEN In space no one can have you scream Director Christopher Nolan says Ridley Scott's Alien inspired him-it might be from a different genre, but it's an established classic of tension. CRACKED.COM — Source

13

Avengers: Infinity War was partly based on 1990s heist movies, it turns out. Co-director Joe Russo said that Structurally, with this first film, Avengers 3, we've been using the smash-n-grab '90s heist films, so there's a real urgency to the film. CRACKED.COM — Source

12

A bunch of particular 1980s movies inspired The Ant-Man & The Wasp. Director Peyton Reed said that the ticking clock plot came directly from After Hours and Midnight Run. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

Denis Villeneuve was specifically inspired by Star Wars Tatooine scenes for Dune. As he put it, When I saw the very first 'Star Wars' in 1977 my favorite scenes were the ones that felt the most natural. The one when we see the droids at the beginning - there was something about the strength of nature. CRACKED.COM — Source

10

A Christmas Story

CRACKED.COM The leg lamp in A CHRISTMAS STORY was inspired by soda. DRINK NEHI Author Jean Shepherd got the idea for the wonderfully tacky lamp NEW GOLD from an ad for Nehi Soda that featured female legs. (Nehi still QUALITY BEVERAGES exists today - it's called RC Cola.) — Source

9

HEATH LEDGER THE JOKER CRACKED.COM Some influences for Heath Ledger's Joker were A Clockwork Orange, Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious, and ventriloquist dummies. Не also said, I locked myself away in a hotel room in London for a month, and landed more in the realm of a psychopath — Source

8

TOM HANKS FORREST GUMP CRACKED.COM Brotherly Inspiration. Just before Forrest Gump, Tom's brother Jim Hanks starred in the obscure B-movie Buford's Beach Bunnies. His similar hairstyle, politeness around women, and key mannerisms bear clear resemblance to Forrest's. — Source

7

JONAH HILL DON'T LOOK UP CRACKED.COM Jonah said the inspiration behind his character, Jason Orlean, in Don't Look Up was What if Fyre festival was a person, and that person had power in the White House? Maybe we should ask Ja-Rule. — Source

6

ANTHONY HOPKINS BE HANNIBAL LECTOR CRACKED.COM Hopkins says that his character has a deliberately feline quality. I got to move around a lot, and I sort of modeled my walk on a cat's. I like cats, and I love the way they pad around. I wanted to get that feel when Lecter is padding very quietly and stealthily in the shadows. — Source

5

CRACKED.COM WITH CBOXIS THE PURGE was inspired by road rage. Director James DeMonaco and his wife were almost killed by a drunk driver once. She was so blindingly mad at the guy, she said, Wouldn't it be great if we could have one free one a year? — Source

4

CRACKED.COM The Ents in THE LORD OF THE RINGS were inspired by Shakespeare. No, there aren't talking, walking trees in Macbeth - and that pissed off a young J. R. R. Tolkien, who expected that the prophecy about the woods coming against Macbeth's castle became literally true. So years later, he wrote that into his own book. — Source

3

Tropic Thunder

Ben Stiller got the idea for Tropic Thunder while he was working on Empire of the Sun. A number of his castmates were getting roles in war movies, and they'd compare the work to boot camp. It inspired Stiller to wonder what would actually happen to actors in a war zone. CRACKED.COM — Source

2

Will Smith got the idea for AFTER EARTH from the TV show I Shouldn't Be Alive. Discovery SHOULDN'T CHANNEL BE ALIVE It was originally intended to be about a father and son who have to survive after a car crash. It was then turned into a sci-fi story. CRACKED COM — Source

1

Aquaman 2 takes its inspiration from a campy '60s Italian horror flick. The movie is Planet of the Vampires, and director James Wan said, You can take the boy out of horror, but you can never take the horror out the boy. CRACKED.COM — Source

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