FILM 1923: SEARCHING

FILM 1923: SEARCHING

TRIVIA: The film took just 13 days to shoot. However, it took two years to make due to the prep, editing and animating.

For the German, Spanish, French, Russian and Portuguese versions of the movie, every TV/phone/computer screen was recreated in its respective language, as well as every typing sequence, keystroke by keystroke.

While the film features computer operating systems, programs and (mostly) websites, they were re-created from scratch and animated on computers.

Since this movie takes place on a mock computer screen just like a previous film, Unfriended (2014), there is a small nod to that movie during the very first Facebook scene. The name "Laura Barns," a character from Unfriended, appears on the top right screen as a trending topic. It was shown very briefly.

This was the feature film directorial debut of Aneesh Chaganty.

Throughout the movie various news articles hint to an alien invasion that happening at the same time.

During one of the earlier Facebook scenes, trending topics can be seen at the top right corner of the screen. One of the topics is simply "The Dress". This is a reference to a photo of a dress that became a viral internet sensation in February 2015 when viewers disagreed over whether the dress was coloured black and blue, or white and gold.

FILM 1863: THE LAWNMOWER MAN

FILM 1863: THE LAWNMOWER MAN

TRIVIA: New Line Cinema had obtained the rights to the Stephen King short story "The Lawnmower Man", and the producers also had an unrelated script called "Cyber God". They simply placed King's title on the production of "Cyber God". King was furious at this abuse of his name, and he sued the studio to have his name and title removed from the film and promotion. They refused, until the studio was ordered to pay ten thousand dollars and full profits.

The scene where the cop (Troy Evans) says that the missing piece of the dead man is in the bird bath, is the only thing in the movie that was taken from Stephen King's short story.

The eight minutes of computer generated effects took seven people eight months to complete on a budget of five hundred thousand dollars.

Several of the symbols Jobe (Jeff Fahey) sees flying at him, during his first VR treatment, are demon evocation seals taken from the infamous Key of Solomon.

It was discovered through FBI tapes that this was former Waco cult leader David Koresh favorite movie

Dr. Angelo's line "I've decided to take my work back underground", was used as a sample in the intro track for the Music For The Jilted Generation album by The Prodigy. 

In the podcast/show How Did This Get Made...episode #149

FILM 1813: VIRTUOSITY

FILM 1813: VIRTUOSITY

TRIVIA: Kaley Cuoco's film debut.

Denzel Washington took a role in the film because his son asked him to do so.

Amongst the names of serial killers shown in Sid 6.7's personality profile are David Koresh, Thomas McIlvane, Frederick Cowan, William Bonin, Harvey Glatman, Peter Kuten, William Bryan Cruse, Charles Whitmore, Aileen Carol Wournos, Peter Sutcliffe, Kenneth McDuff, Jesse James, Dr. Glennon Engleman, Harvey Carignan, Dr. Geza de Kaplany, Norman Selby, Juan Peron, Winnie Ruth Judd, Matthew Grimes, Augosto Pinoche, Carl Panzram, Abu Nidal, Ted Bundy, Wesley Allan Dodd, Roger Dale Stafford, Elizabeth Borden, Mark Essex, Billy the Kid, Lynette Fromme, Larry Eyler, Clem Henderson, David Hendricks, Coral Eugene Watts, William McDonald, Richard Trenton Chase, Sirhan Sirhan, Josef Mengele, Ed Kemper, Edward Leonski, John Collins, Julian Knight, John Haigh, Carlton Gary, Vaughn Greenwood, Nicolae Ceausescu, Randy Kraft, Miguel Rivera, Dean Allen Corli, William Suff, Werner Boost, Thierry Paulin, Richard Trenton Chase, David Burke, Donald Harvey, Vernon Butts, Bruno Hauptman, Ralph Jerome Selz, John Duffy, Carl Weiss, Gerald Eugene Stano, Benito Mussolini, Paul Calden, Richard Farley, Ian Brady, Joseph Harris, Hiro Hito, Lynwood C. Drake, Saddam Hussein, Gilles De Rais, Herman Mudgett, Donald Nielson, Robert R. Diaz, and Joe Ball.

Michael Douglas was originally cast as Parker Barnes.

The Star Trek (1966) episode shown briefly is "The Enemy Within", an episode about Captain Kirk being split into good and evil sides by the transporter.

Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe would later go on to star in American Gangster(2007) together.

The music video of "The Photograph Kills" by Russell Crowe & 30 Odd Foot of Grunts was filmed on the set of the film between scenes, which Russell Crowe appears in the music video in costume and in character as Sid 6.7 and the music videos features inserts from the film itself. The song is featured in the film. 

FILM 1763: JOHNNY MNEMONIC

TRIVIA: The film takes place in January 2021.

During the scene in the back room of Crazy Bob's Computer Store, it sounds like Johnny asks for an "iPhone", twelve years before it was launched. While it would still be cute if the scriptwriter of a 90's cyberpunk movie had just made up a word, which would later become the name of a ubiquitous piece of information technology, what Johnny asks for is actually an "Eyephone", an early head-mounted interface designed by Jaron Lanier (in fact, Johnny calls it a "Thomson Eyephone", a reference to the fact that Lanier's patent was bought by Thomson Electronics).

The script was rumored to have been dumped on the doorstep of Keanu Reeves' house, a tactic that piqued his interest, and led to him accepting the role of Johnny.

Robert Longo and William Gibson originally envisaged making an art film on a small budget, but failed to get financing. Longo commented that the project "started out as an arty 1½-million-dollar movie, and it became a thirty-million-dollar movie, because we couldn't get a million and a half."

William Gibson was very unhappy with what became of this adaptation of his own story. Despite being credited as the sole screenwriter, he has insisted for years that it wasn't his screenplay that was ultimately produced.

The song "I See Through" was performed by Rollins Band and written by Henry Rollins, Melvin Gibb, Sim Cain, and Chris Haskett. Henry Rollins appears in the film as Spider.

Johnny apparently takes a Concorde to Newark, New Jersey. In real-life, the Concordes were retired in 2003.

FILM 1540: THE INTERNET'S OWN BOY: THE STORY OF AARON SWARTZ 

The story of programming prodigy and information activist Aaron Swartz. From Swartz's help in the development of the basic internet protocol RSS to his co-founding of Reddit, his fingerprints are all over the internet. But it was Swartz's groundbreaking work in social justice and political organizing combined with his aggressive approach to information access that ensnared him in a two year legal nightmare. It was a battle that ended with the taking of his own life at the age of 26. Aaron's story touched a nerve with people far beyond the online communities in which he was a celebrity. This film is a personal story about what we lose when we are tone deaf about technology and its relationship to our civil liberties. Written by Anonymous (IMDB)

FILM 1374: THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR

TRIVIA: The science fiction novel Simulacron-3 was also published under the title Counterfeit World, it was first published in 1964 by Daniel F. Galouye in the United States, and is one of the first literary descriptions of virtual reality.

Douglas Hall's house has been seen on film before as the apartment of Detective Deckard in Ridley Scott's 1982 Blade Runner (1982). It's a Frank Lloyd Wright building named Ennis House, located in Los Angeles, CA.

FILM 1352: THE ZERO THEOREM

TRIVIA: The name "Qohen Leth" references "Qoheleth" (sometimes transliterated as "Qohelethin" or "Koheleth"), the original Hebrew name (and presumed author) of Ecclesiastes--the Bible book that investigates the meaning of life.

Leth may refer to Lethe. In Greek mythology, Lethe is both a goddess of oblivion and a river of forgetfulness in Hades.

The film cast includes three Oscar winners: Christoph Waltz, Tilda Swinton and Matt Damon.

According to director Terry Gilliam, Matt Damon and Ben Whishaw worked for scale just to be in this film, thus bringing the production in on schedule for a fraction of its original budget.

The "futuristic" little cars that make crossing the street difficult for Qohen Leth (near the beginning of the movie) are called "Twizy", made by Renault, and were released in 2011. The Renault Twizy is a completely electric car.