FILM 1867: THE SUM OF ALL FEARS

FILM 1867: THE SUM OF ALL FEARS

TRIVIA: The spray can that Liev Schreiber uses to cut through the chain-link fence is supposed to be a real-life CIA chemical spray known as "Ice Piss". When asked if a real can of Ice Piss could be acquired for the scene, the technical advisor said "I don't want to go to prison!"

Ben Affleck was on the set of Pearl Harbor (2001) when he was offered the role of Jack Ryan. His co-star Alec Baldwin, who played Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October (1990) persuaded Affleck to take the role. Affleck also contacted Harrison Ford to receive his blessing before taking the role.

When Ben Affleck first arrived on the set, he told Director Phil Alden Robinson, "Nice working with you again". Robinson said, "What do you mean 'again'?" Affleck explained that when Robinson was filming the scene in Boston's Fenway Park for Field of Dreams(1989), he and Matt Damon were among the thousands of extras.

Matt Damon had a cameo as a waiter, but it was cut from the final film.

Morgan Freeman played a ranking member of James Cromwell's Presidential administration. In Deep Impact (1998), the roles are reversed.

FILM 1808: ERASER

FILM 1808: ERASER

TRIVIA: The company name "Cyrez" was originally "Cyrex", but the real-life company Cyrix complained. The movie had been shot, but all dialogue was dubbed and company logos were digitally altered during post-production.

Director Chuck Russell and Producer Arnold Kopelson had a rocky relationship during the entire production. The only reason the film was able to go forward and ultimately be completed, was that Arnold Schwarzenegger got along with each man separately, and was able to negotiate schedules and logistics at a point where the two men refused to speak to each other.

Vanessa Williams and Arnold Schwarzenegger have titles. She was Miss America, and he was Mr. Olympia.

FILM 1787: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III

FILM 1787: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III

TRIVIA: As the production could do nothing about inquisitive crowds watching them while they were filming in Rome, they actually set up a phony second unit a little further away, hired several girls in bikinis and several older women dressed as nuns and pretended to be filming takes for the film, while the main unit got on with their business largely undisturbed.

After the success of Shaun of the Dead (2004), Simon Pegg was asked whether he was going to be pursuing a career in Hollywood, to which he laughed and replied "It's not like I'm going to be in Mission: Impossible III".

With a budget of one hundred fifty million dollars, this is the most expensive movie ever undertaken by a first-time feature film director.

J.J. Abrams' directorial debut on a feature film.

Special Effects Technician Steven Scott Wheatley sued Paramount Pictures, and Tom Cruise's production company for gross negligence, after the pyrotechnics in a stunt in which he was involved, went wrong, and he was engulfed in a ball of flame. Wheatley suffered third-degree burns over sixty percent of his body.

Ethan Hunt makes references to Lake Wanaka. Lake Wanaka is a lake in the South Island of New Zealand, which Tom Cruise visited while in New Zealand filming The Last Samurai(2003). He liked the place so much that he included it in this film.

One of the five percussionists in the orchestra which did the film's score was Emil Richards, who thirty years ago played bongos on the original Mission: Impossible (1966) theme.

To promote the film, Paramount rigged 4,500 randomly selected Los Angeles Times vending boxes with digital audio players which would play the theme song when the door was opened. The audio players did not always stay concealed, however, and in many cases came loose and fell on top of the stack of newspapers in plain view, with the result that they were widely mistaken for bombs. Police bomb squads detonated a number of the vending boxes and even temporarily shut down a veterans' hospital in response to the apparent "threat". Despite these problems, Paramount and The Los Angeles Times opted to leave the audio players in the boxes until two days after the movie's opening.

Tom Cruise and Phillip Seymour Hoffman previously appeared together in Magnolia(1999).

" Mission Impossible Iii "was Tom Cruise's eighth movie in a row to gross over $100m domestically.

DIRECTOR CAMEO: J.J. Abrams: The director can be seen in the hospital when Ethan is looking for his wife. He is also the voice on the phone talking about a free trip to Mexico.

FILM 1691: MERCURY RISING 

TRIVIA: Actor Miko Hughes spent time with many autistic children at a special school. He also worked with a Chicago child psychologist to understand how to portray an autistic child.

Alec Baldwin appeared in this film due to a contractual obligation to Universal Pictures. Baldwin had previously backed out of a film for Universal and signed an agreement promising the studio another film. Years later, this film was presented to him and he did it to avoid further litigation.

The scene is Kudrow's wine cellar has Kudrow accusing Jeffries of watching too many SUV commercials. The irony of this, is that both Bruce Willis and Alec Baldwin have done voice over work for those types of ads. Willis has done ads for the Toyota Tundra and Baldwin has done ads for Chevy/GMC.

Second film Alec Baldwin did with director Harold Becker. The first was Malice (1993).

FILM 1423: CONSPIRACY THEORY

TRIVIA: According to director Richard Donner, Mel Gibson improvised the opening scenes in which his character expounds his conspiracy theories to a succession of passengers.

Director Cameo: Richard Donner:  Jerry's cab passenger in the opening credits.

FILM 1367: SPY

TRIVIA: Star Melissa McCarthy has said that the film is the most physically taxing she has ever done. McCarthy has said of the mis-haps and accidents that befell her during the making of the movie: "Running, jumping, falling. I've cracked my head, I have cuts and bruises. At the end of the day I look like I fell down an elevator shaft. But I wear those wounds and thrown discs with a bit of pride". Stunt Co-ordinator J.J. Perry has also said: "We have a great stunt double (Luci Romberg) for Melissa, but once we saw how good Melissa was we were able to ask even more of her." Perry has also praised McCarthy's s impressive ability to learn and retain choreography, saying, "She was in there with some heavy-hitting action stars, which can be intimidating, but she more than held her own. Her work ethic is outstanding".

Screenwriter Paul Feig, who once was an aspiring stuntman himself, is a fan of Jason Statham's action movies. Feig tailored Statham's Rick Ford character in the film especially for the actor to play.

According to Paul Feig, Rayna was originally a 19-year-old, and the character had to be rewritten once Rose Bryne was cast in the role.

Bobby Cannavale got involved in the film because his girlfriend, Rose Bryne, joined the cast as Rayna.

Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) used two wrestling moves in this movie. They were Hurricanrana and German Suplex.

Film 968: Red

Trivia: John C. Reilly was cast as Marvin Boggs, but dropped out and was replaced by John Malkovich.

While filming in Toronto, the police received several phone calls reporting machine gun fire after local residents mistook the movie's gunshot effects for the real thing.

Meryl Streep was considered for the role of Victoria.

Brian Cox and Helen Mirren play a Russian and British spy, respectively. In real life, their ancestry is reversed: Brian Cox is British and Mirren, though born in England, has Russian ancestry.

The purse Victoria uses as a weapon was Helen Mirren's own purse. It was given to her as a gift from Giorgio Armani. Since it went so well with the dress she was wearing, and the purse was part of the script, she asked if she could use it. The producers said yes.