FILM 2012: THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN

FILM 2012: THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN 

TRIVIA: Filmed in the same house as Halloween II (2009).

Feature film debut of Lin-Manuel Miranda.

FILM 1722: GOODNIGHT MOMMY

TRIVIA: The actors were not given the script and it was filmed chronologically.

240 twins were auditioned for the main roles.

BOOK 169: THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS: ARUNDHATI ROY

The God of Small Things (1997) is the debut novel of Indian writer Arundhati Roy. It is a story about the childhood experiences of fraternal twins whose lives are destroyed by the "Love Laws" that lay down "who should be loved, and how. And how much." The book explores how the small things affect people's behavior and their lives. It won the Booker Prize in 1997.

The God of Small Things was Roy's first book and as of August 2016 is her only novel. Completed in 1996, the book took four years to complete. The potential of the story was first recognized by Pankaj Mishra, an editor with HarperCollins, who sent it to three British publishers. Roy received 500,000 pounds in advance and rights to the book were sold in 21 countries.

STYLE: NON-SEQUENTIAL NARRATIVE

The God of Small Things is not written in a sequential narrative style in which events unfold chronologically. Instead, the novel is a patchwork of flashbacks and lengthy sidetracks that weave together to tell the story of the Ipe family. The main events of the novel are traced back through the complex history of their causes, and memories are revealed as they relate to one another thematically and as they might appear in Rahel's mind. Although the narrative voice is omniscient, it is loosely grounded in Rahel's perspective, and all of the episodes of the novel progress toward the key moments in Rahel's life.

(Information from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_God_of_Small_Things)

FILM 1629: SLEEPERS

TRIVIA: Author Lorenzo Carcaterra has claimed that his book on which the film is based was a true story of his childhood. When the New York legal community went on record stating that no cases resembling the events of his book could be found in any court records, Carcaterra refused to discuss the discrepancy. It is generally believed that his book was almost 100% fiction. Carcaterra's school attendance records show he could not have been in prison for as long as he said, and that he could not have been in prison at the dates given for certain events in the book.

The code name "Edmund" that is used in the paper to notify Michael that he needed to contact Shakes is the name of the main character, Edmund Dantes, from "The Count of Monte Cristo".

During filming both Brad Renfro and Joe Perrino wore colored contact lenses so they would have the same colored eyes as Brad Pitt and Jason Patric who played the characters as adults.

The film cast includes three Oscar winners: Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro and Brad Pitt; and one Oscar nominee: Minnie Driver.

Billy Crudup and John Slattery were reunited in Spotlight (2015), which also revolves on similar themes of abuse.

FILM 1472: THE BOOK THIEF 

TRIVIA: One of the books that Liesel read to Max when he was sick is actually the book The Book Thief itself, containing the sentence: "what came to her then was the dustiness of the floor, the feeling that her clothes were more next to her than on her, and the sudden realisation that this would all be for nothing".

When first arriving at the school, a large poster with many faces can be seen. This is a replica of an accurate period piece, a poster depicting the "ideal" Aryan phenotypes according to the region. Painted by two artists with racial obsession, these posters were placed in every school, and students are forced to memorize them.

The Gravedigger's Handbook, The Dog Named Faust, The Lighthouse, The Shoulder Shrug, The Whistler, The Mud Men, The Standover Man, The Dream Carrier, A Song in the Dark, Under the Cherry Tree, The Tenth Lieutenant, The Last Human Stranger and The Rules of Tommy Hoffman were books Liesel got her hands on in the novel, but they were not real books; Markus Zusak made them up because he liked the sound of the titles and each one referred to problems that Hitler's oppressive tactics caused.

FILM 1390: INSIDE OUT

TRIVIA: According to director Pete Docter, each emotion is based on a shape: Joy is based on a star, Sadness is a teardrop, Anger is a fire brick, Fear is a raw nerve, and Disgust is broccoli. He noted that he likes broccoli very much, however.

Some of the memory balls in Riley's mind contain scenes from other Pixar movies, such as Carl and Ellie's wedding in Up (2009).

The writers considered up to 27 different emotions, but settled on five (Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Fear and Anger) to make it less complicated. Some of the major emotions that ended up being cut included Surprise, Pride, and Trust.

Psychologists and other experts were consulted so the writers could make the way Riley's mind works scientifically accurate. For example, it is believed that short-term memories made during the day are converted into long-term memories during sleep, which is what happens in Riley's mind.

In Riley's classroom (No. A113), a map at the back of the room has pins plotted at different places all over the world. They are references to where all the Pixar movies are set.

When Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera pitched the film to Mindy Kaling, she was moved to tears and said, "I think it's great that you guys are making a film that shows it's difficult to grow up and that it's okay to be sad about it." According to Pete Docter, they exclaimed, "Quick! Write that down!".

For the voice of toddler-age Riley, the producers simply recycled old dialogue of Mary Gibbs, who provided the voice of Boo in Monsters, Inc. (2001). She is even listed in the credits under additional voices.

"Yeast of Edin" is based on a bakery located near Pixar Studios. It only serves one kind of pizza each day, and broccoli is one of the toppings.

In the middle of the control console, the top three buttons form Mickey Mouse, otherwise known as a hidden Mickey.

PIZZA PLANET TRUCK: Director Pete Docter confirmed that the truck indeed appears at least three times in the film, but it is hard to find.

This film marks the fifteenth time John Ratzenberger has made an appearance in a Pixar film, and a second time as a construction worker. He also voiced a construction worker in Up (2009).

There is a scene in Dream Productions where a camera filter called the "reality distortion filter" is added. This is a direct reference to former Pixar CEO Steve Jobs, where he would do anything to convince his employees they could get the job done: they called it Steve's "reality distortion field."

The scene with the two guards discussing whose hat belongs to whom while guarding the Subconscious is a nod to the hat-swapping scene between Vladimir and Estragon from Samuel Beckett's play "Waiting for Godot".

Riley's classroom is No. A113., sharing the same number as the room at the California Institute of Arts where many animators, including John Lasseter and Brad Bird, graduated from. A113 is a common Easter egg in Pixar's films.

When Joy, Sadness and Bing Bong are in Cloudtown, A talking "memory cop" references Chinatown (1974) by saying, "Forget it Jake, it's Cloudtown".

The long-running British children's comic The Beano has, since the sixties, featured a strip called The Numskulls, which revolves around little people living inside a "real life" person, and being responsible for all his functions, both emotional and mechanical. After the release of Inside Out, The Beano issued a tongue-in-cheek reaction in which the Numskulls (inside their "host") watch the film and criticise it.

Both Riley's mother and father have brown eyes, but Riley has blue eyes. There is only a 25% chance that a baby will have blue eyes if both parents carry the recessive blue-eye gene. But if only one has a recessive blue-eye gene, and the other has two brown, dominant genes, then there is a less than 1% chance of the baby having blue eyes. Riley has her first memory shown in the film, so she was not adopted.

The memory balls are based on George Rhoads' "Kinetic ball sculptures"

One of the various aspects of Riley's mind that was cut from the film was a department called "Faces & Names". This was the department in charge of pairing up names of people Riley has met with their respective faces, but the leaders of either department dislike each other and do not speak (which explains the lapse in memory people get when they cannot remember someone's name).

As of Summer 2015, it holds the distinction of owning the largest opening weekend gross without taking the #1 spot on the box office charts. It took in a respectable $90 million its first weekend of release, falling short of the $106 million grossed by Jurassic World which set a new U.S. record the previous weekend with over $208 million in tickets sales.