FILM 1758: LADY BIRD

FILM 1758: LADY BIRD 

TRIVIA: Saoirse Ronan and Greta Gerwig first met each other at the Toronto Film Festival in 2015 when Ronan was promoting Brooklyn (2015) and Gerwig was promoting Maggie's Plan(2015). Ronan had already read Gerwig's script and instantly connected with the titular character, so when both women discussed the script at length in Ronan's hotel room and she read the key part aloud, Gerwig knew that she had found her "Lady Bird."

The film is Greta Gerwig's solo feature directorial debut.

Saoirse Ronan has said that the most difficult word for her to pronounce with an American accent was "perfect."

Director Greta Gerwig suggested to Saoirse Ronan not cover up her acne for the film.

The film cast includes four Oscar nominees: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Lucas Hedges and Timothée Chalamet.

The film takes place from 2002 to 2003, the time when Greta Gerwig herself graduated from St. Francis Catholic High School in her hometown of Sacramento, California.

Throughout the film, a small poster of the movie Rushmore (1998) can be seen on the wall of Lady Bird's bedroom. Saoirse Ronan, who played Lady Bird, worked with that movie's director, Wes Anderson, on The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and co-star Lucas Hedges appeared in Anderson's films Moonrise Kingdom (2012) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). Anderson also co-wrote the movies The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou(2004) and Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) with Noah Baumbach, who is the current romantic partner of Greta Gerwig, this movie's writer and director.

FILM 1757: THE POST

FILM 1757: THE POST 

TRIVIA: In all of the scenes depicting President Nixon on the phone in the Oval Office, Nixon's actual voice is heard from White House tapes. 

In scenes involving the Pentagon Papers, the actual Daniel Ellsberg's original documents were used as genuine props, including the pages that were scattered over the floor of Benjamin C. Bradlee (Tom Hanks)' home.

In his memoir, the real Daniel Ellsberg claimed that walking out of RAND with the Pentagon Papers (and returning them) over the course of months was a calculated risk, since he had never had his bag checked by security, but he did not know for sure if it was not policy to do so.

Steven Spielberg wanted to have his film released as quickly as possible given the parallels between its theme and the burgeoning political 'fake news' climate in the U.S. According to Meryl Streep, the physical shoot started in May (2017) and finished at the end of July (2017) and Spielberg had it cut two weeks later, an unprecedented feat. The gestation from script to final cut lasted a modest 9 months.

Never having previously collaborated with director Steven Spielberg in a director/actor capacity, Meryl Streep was flabbergasted to learn that Spielberg never rehearses with his actors. Co-star Tom Hanks was well aware of this idiosyncrasy but decided, in gleeful anticipation of a 'diva' reaction, not to tell Streep. Despite her initial shock, Meryl and Steven got along extremely well during the shoot with Spielberg being so impressed with her character transformation, he had difficulty restraining himself from constantly complimenting her every take on set.

Benjamin Bradlee (Tom Hanks character) in real life had a son named Ben Bradlee Junior who is depicted in the film Spotlight (played by John Slattery). The film is based on the true story about about the Boston Globe newspaper uncovering a major scandal.

The Post is dedicated to Nora Ephron, once married to Carl Bernstein who with Bob Woodward uncovered the Watergate scandal in 1972 as reporters for The Washington Post.

Tom Hanks has a connection with both of the film's main characters' real-life individuals. Hanks actually personally knew Ben Bradlee (who Hanks portrays in the film), and he met Kay Graham (who Meryl Streep portrays in the film) the day before she died.

Coincidentally, Benjamin C. Bradlee and wife Sally Quinn were Long Island neighbors of Steven Spielberg for many years, and they knew each other socially.

With this film, his fifth collaboration with Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks broke his tie with Harrison Ford to be the actor that Spielberg has directed the most times. Ford has also been directed by Spielberg five times, but his scene in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) was cut from the final film.

Michael Stuhlbarg is in three of the movies nominated for best picture Oscars: The Shape of Water, Call Me By Your Name, and The Post, but he was not nominated himself.

The Post marks the 28th collaboration between Williams (composer of the film's score) and Spielberg. The score uses a combination of both orchestral and sparse, light electronic elements throughout.