FILM 1837: THE ICE STORM

FILM 1837: THE ICE STORM

TRIVIA: In the novel The Ice Storm, Rick Moody writes "And sometimes Paul himself was Ben Grimm, and sometimes he was Peter Parker, a.k.a. the Spider-Man" Coincidentally, Tobey Maguire plays both Paul and Peter Parker in the film versions.

Rick Moody, the author of the novel was so pleased with the film he sobbed through the end credits.

The real ice storm portrayed in the film happened December 16-17 in 1973 and was named "Felix."

To prepare for the film, Ang Lee let the cast members study stacks of magazine cutouts from the early 1970s.

Natalie Portman turned down the role of Wendy Hood.

Film debut of Katie Holmes.

Joan Allen and Tobey Maguire appear together again two years later in Pleasantville (1999).

Director Brian De Palma is an admirer of this film.

Tobey Maguire and Katie Holmes appear together again in Wonder Boys (2000). Both movies have a classroom scene where they are discussing literature.

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

Tobey Maguire and Christina Ricci both had cameos in director Terry Gilliam's 1998 black comedy, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

FILM 1727: CASPER

TRIVIA: During filming, Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman had to talk to tennis balls in place of the ghosts, while the digital ghosts were added later on.

The last name of Christina Ricci's and Bill Pullman's characters is "Harvey". Harvey Comics is the long time publisher of "Casper the Friendly Ghost".

A scene was filmed with Zelda Rubinstein shooting out of a chimney and shouting "Go toward the light!", reprising her role from Poltergeist (1982), but it was cut.

Director Brad Silberling wanted something unusual for the design of Whipstaff Manor for this movie. Production Designer Leslie Dilley suggested up front that they should go with a house that's not the stereotypical haunted house, which is usually Victorian, and offered up a different style of architecture-Gaudiesque.

The house that was used for Whipstaff Manor was also used to film scenes from the Backstreet Boys' music video, "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)". Most notably is the ballroom dance sequence from this music video.

Cathy Moriarty was in an episode of Tales from the Crypt in 1992. In the scene where Dr. Harvey is possessed by the ghosts, he turns into the Crypt Keeper at one point.

CAMEO: Dan Aykroyd: As Dr. Raymond Stantz (from Ghostbusters (1984)) who runs out of the house frantically and says, "Who you gonna call? Someone else!"

Film 807: Pumpkin

Trivia: The sorority Alpha Omega Pi is actually based on UC Berkeley's Alpha Omicron Pi sorority. The writer lived next door to their house when he went to college there.

The shot of Kent's car flying off the cliff and exploding is actually taken from Hudson Hawk - you can even see the dummy, that represented the bad guy, on the hood.