FILM 1457: THE GRAPES OF WRATH

TRIVIA: Banned in the Soviet Union by Joseph Stalin in 1940 because of its showing that even the poorest Americans could afford a car.

Prior to filming, producer Darryl F. Zanuck sent undercover investigators out to the migrant camps to see if John Steinbeck had been exaggerating about the squalor and unfair treatment meted out there. He was horrified to discover that, if anything, Steinbeck had actually downplayed what went on in the camps.

Banks and the large farming corporations that controlled most California farms were not keen on the original novel (it was banned in some states and in several counties in California, and the book was not carried in the municipal library of author John Steinbeck's home town of Salinas, California, until the 1990s) and were even less thrilled that a film was being made of it. The Associated Farmers of California called for a boycott of all 20th Century-Fox films, and Steinbeck himself received death threats.

John Ford banned all makeup and perfume from the set on the grounds that it was not in keeping with the tone of the picture.

The pro-union stance of the film led to both John Steinbeck and John Ford being investigated by Congress during the McCarthy "Red Scare" era for alleged pro-Communist leanings.

Henry Fonda currently holds the record for the longest gap between acting Oscar nominations. His first nomination was for The Grapes of Wrath (1940) in 1940, his second was for On Golden Pond (1981) in 1981, 41 years later. He received one other Oscar nomination in the period between his two acting nominations, that was for producer of 12 Angry Men (1957) in 1957.

John Ford unmercifully chewed out Frank Darien for overemoting in the scene where Ma is preparing a simple stew for the family in front of a crowd of starving children in the migrant camp. By the time Ford had finished his tirade, Darien was completely drained, which proved to be exactly the take Ford wanted for the scene.

FILM 1219: GONE GIRL

TRIVIA: Ben Affleck postponed directing a film in order to work with David Fincher. "He's the only director I've met who can do everybody else's job better than they could," states Affleck. On set one day, Affleck changed the lens setting on a camera an almost indiscernible amount, betting a crew member that Fincher wouldn't notice. "But goddammit if he didn't say, 'Why does the camera look a little dim?'"

Gillian Flynn, author of the novel the film is based upon, wrote the screenplay with a different ending to keep readers interested in the film version, and viewers from getting spoiled.

In order to figure out his character, Ben Affleck researched and studied several men who were accused and convicted of killing their wives. He paid particular attention to Scott Peterson.

Ben Affleck would constantly sing 80s songs in between takes. Impressed, Tyler Perry decided to start a game that ended up lasting the entire duration of filming. Perry would start to sing the most random song he could think of to see if Affleck would start singing along. According to Perry, Affleck knew all of the words to every single song Perry threw at him, even ones by Barbra Streisand

Reese Witherspoon, Charlize Theron, Natalie Portman, Emily Blunt, Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde, Abbie Cornish and Julianne Hough were considered for the role of Amy Dunne.

FILM 1174: STALKER

TRIVIA: According the film's Sound Designer, Vladimir Sharun, at least 3 members of the crew (including the director) died as a result of chemical contamination encountered on location in Estonia.

The original negatives were destroyed (by a processing error at the laboratory) and part of the film had to be shot again from scratch with a new director of photography.

The Zone of the film was inspired by a nuclear accident that took place near Chelyabinsk in 1957. Several hundred square kilometers were polluted by fallout and abandoned; of course there was no official mention of this forbidden zone at the time.

Tarkovsky built long film processing vat which had different temperatures along the way, allowing him to change the color tone over a long strip of film, over an extended take.

It is said that the rushes of the first version of the film were kept by editor Lyudmila Feyginova in her home for years. They were destroyed by fire, that also claimed her life.

Towards the end of the movie, the Stalker's wife smokes cigarettes from a carton that bears the same AT (Andrei Tarkovsky) insignia as the policeman's helmet.

When the Stalker is referred to as 'Chingachgook' and 'Leatherstocking', these are references to characters in James Fenimore Cooper's "The Last of the Mohicans".

The scenes of the girl moving the object with her mind on the table at the end of the film, was honored in the video Bed Time Stories from Madonna.

Like Tarkovsky's other films, Stalker relies on long takes with slow, subtle camera movement, rejecting the use of rapid montage. The film contains 142 shots in 163 minutes, with an average shot length of more than one minute and many shots lasting for more than four minutes.

Film 957: One Day

Trivia: On location in Scotland, Anne Hathaway exposed her bottom to Jim Sturgess to set the mood for filming the skinny dipping scene. Though doing it in such a position as to avoid being filmed by the crew, she did not anticipate the presence of several cell-phone-wielding residents of the residential complex behind her. Surprisingly, as of August 2011, this footage has not been posted on the Internet, and Hathaway says she is grateful that the residents had the "class" to refrain from doing so.

Dexter's father mentions Silent Witness is coming up on the television. Ken Stott, who plays Dexter's father, appeared in Silent Witness.

Anne Hathaway was clandestinely given the script as director Lone Scherfig wasn't looking at any American actresses for the part of Emma. Hathaway flew to London for a meeting with Scherfig which she described as "the worst meeting of my life.. I was just inarticulate". However, on leaving the director, she handed her a list of songs that she felt represented how she would interpret the character. It was this list that landed her the part.

There were some conversations about why cast an American actress to play Dexter's English mother but Lone Scherfig really liked the sense of experience, worldliness and flirtatiousness that Patricia Clarkson brought to the part.

The scene where Dex and Emma go skinny-dipping is the only scene in the film where Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess were not wearing wigs.