FILM 1978: WEST SIDE STORY

FILM 1978: WEST SIDE STORY

TRIVIA: Robert Wise's original choice to play Tony was Elvis Presley. However, Presley's manager, 'Colonel' Tom Parker refused, since Elvis would only sing in six of the twelve songs, and because he would not have exclusive rights to the soundtrack.

Jerome Robbins initially refused to work on the film unless he could direct it. Producer Walter Mirisch was nervous about handing the reins entirely over to Robbins, who had never made a film before, so he enlisted Robert Wise to direct the drama while Robbins would handle the singing and dancing sequences. Robbins developed a habit of shooting numerous takes of each scene, to the point where the film went over budget and behind schedule. This led to his firing.

Throughout the movie, Natalie Wood wears a bracelet on her left wrist, not for any aesthetic reason, but because she had injured her wrist in the scene of The Green Promise (1949) when she fell on the bridge that collapsed during the severe rainstorm, causing an unsightly bone protrusion on her wrist. She wore the bracelet to hide the injury. It became her trademark in all of her movies.

The boys' jeans were dyed, re-dyed and "distressed," using special elastic thread to allow for the severity of the choreography.

The actors in the rival gangs were instructed to play pranks on each other off the set to keep tensions high.

Gus Trikonis who played Indio, one of the Puerto Rican Sharks - and who is actually Greek - is the brother of Gina Trikonis, who played Graziella, the tough red-haired Italian girlfriend of Riff, leader of the Jets. George Chakiris is also Greek.

During the entire production, the actors wore out 200 pairs of shoes, applied more than 100lbs of make-up, split 27 pairs of pants and performed in 30 different recording sessions.

The lyrics to "America" were substantially changed for the movie. There had been complaints that the Broadway version was too belittling to Puerto Ricans, in that the song mainly ridiculed Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans. The movie lyrics emphasize the racism and discrimination that Puerto Ricans were subjected to in America.

Even though dubbing Natalie Wood was Marni Nixon's chief assignment, Nixon also did one number for Rita Moreno, which required a relatively high vocal register. Having dubbed Wood as well as Moreno, Nixon felt she deserved a cut of the movie-album royalties. Neither the movie or the record producers would bow to her demands. Leonard Bernstein broke the stalemate by volunteering a percentage of his income, a gesture of loyalty-royalty since Nixon had been a performer-colleague of his at New York Philharmonic concerts. He ceded one-quarter of one percent of his royalties to her (a generous amount).

With its win of 10 Academy Awards, this became the biggest Oscar-winning musical of all time, beating the record Gigi (1958) set three years before with its nine Oscars.

When filming "The Taunting Scene", Rita Moreno was reduced to tears when she was harassed and nearly raped by the Jets, as it brought back memories of when she was raped as a child. When she started crying, the Jets immediately stopped what they were doing and tried to comfort her, while pointing out that the audience was going to hate them for what they were doing.

Rita Moreno stated that her line reading of "Don't you touch me!" after the Jets attack Anita was her imitating Marlon Brando, her then-boyfriend. Brando even noticed at the film's premiere.

Richard Beymer later confessed in an interview that he wasn't happy with how his performance came out, saying that he wanted to play Tony as rougher and tougher, more like an actual street kid who used to run around with a gang starting fights for fun, but Robert Wise made him play Tony as the nicest guy around, which Beymer felt didn't mesh with the character's back story. He also said he had trouble saying some of his lines with a straight face, namely the more romantic lines. He even reportedly walked out on the London premiere of the film - even though it ended up being his most famous role.

In 2010, Stephen Sondheim (who wrote the lyrics) told "Fresh Air" interviewer Terry Gross that while he was writing the stage musical, he originally wanted the show to be the first one in Broadway history to use the words "fuck" and "shit" in its song lyrics. He wanted the end of the song "Gee, Officer Krupke" to be "Gee, Officer Krupke/Fuck you!" (instead of what it became, which is "Gee, Officer Krupke/Krup you!"), and he wanted the lyrics in "The Jets Song" to be "When you're a Jet/If the shit hits the fan" instead of "When you're a Jet/If the spit hits the fan". However, the show's writers were informed that if the Original Cast Album contained those profanities, it would have been illegal to ship the record across state lines. So Sondheim made the substitutions for those words that appear in both the stage show and the movie.

During the Prologue, the Jets take a basketball from two kids and play with it. Before they walk away, Riff throws it back to one of the kids. That kid is Kit Culkin, father of the Culkin brothers who were in movies of the 1990s and 2000s.

In 1998, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #41 Greatest Movie of All Time. It fell to #51 in the updated list released in 2007.

The interior sets were built six feet off the ground to allow for low-angle shooting with large 70mm cameras.

Many shots imitate the work of modern American painters of New York City, especially the work of Ben Shahn and Robert Vickrey.

Lee Theodore, who played Anybodys in the original Broadway production, served as an assistant choreographer for the film. Russ Tamblyn reports that he and most of the rest of the dancers in the film suffered from shin splints at one time or another, the result of extended dancing on pavement as opposed to a wooden stage or soundstage floor.

Natalie Wood kept in her dressing room a list of people who had gotten on her bad side. For reasons unknown, and unbeknownst to him, Richard Beymer made the list. He didn't find out until years later, when Russ Tamblyn told him, while they were working on Twin Peaks (1990).

Natalie Wood recorded all the songs she would sing in the film and was told that only some of her higher notes would be dubbed but eventually they were all dubbed by Marni Nixon.

The actors playing the Jets and the Sharks suffered shin splits from dancing on the concrete streets of New York City. Despite this, and the constant rain, they all loved filming on location, even doing "rain dances" so they could be on location longer (which they were eventually barred from doing as it seemed to work once or twice).

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

Because Natalie Wood couldn't snap her fingers, the sound of finger snaps had to be dubbed.

One of Lars von Trier's favorite movies.

One of Michael Bay's favorite movies.

Referenced in the Dire Straits song 'Romeo and Juliet' in the line "There's a place for us you know the movie song"

When writing the show, Laurents and Sondheim decided not to use any actual New York gang lingo for the Jets' dialogue, feeling that would give it a 'dated' feel. Instead they mixed a few actual terms like 'daddy-o' and 'cool' with rhythmic exclamations such as 'cracko-jacko,' 'ooblee-oo' and 'pam-pam' to create their own slang.

FILM 1954: SIXTEEN CANDLES

FILM 1954: SIXTEEN CANDLES

TRIVIA: John Hughes' directorial debut.

Anthony Michael Hall and Molly Ringwald initially disliked each other, so John Hughes took them to a record store and they bonded after they found out they like the same music. One of the groups they liked was The Rave-Ups which Molly scribbled on Samantha's notebook.

Of all the films Molly Ringwald made with John Hughes, she said, "I had the most fun on Sixteen Candles."

Molly Ringwald almost lost the part of Samantha Baker to Ally Sheedy, her future co-star in The Breakfast Club (1985).

Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall were both 16 years old when this movie was released.

The movie's Costume Designer begged Molly Ringwald not to wear the hat she wore in the beginning of the movie. Ringwald insisted. After the movie was released, teenage girls started wearing their hats tilted back like that.

Michael Schoeffling was so shy during his audition, it almost cost him the job. But Producer Michelle Manning said, "He was so stunning and dreamy, that we cast him."

Haviland Morris didn't want to do the shower scene, because the point was that she had bigger breasts than Sam and Randy, which she didn't. So they had a body double for her.

Jim Carrey auditioned for the role of Ted "The Geek".

The movie's line "Can I borrow your underpants for ten minutes?" was voted as #86 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.

John Hughes cast Molly Ringwald after seeing her headshot. Inspired by Ringwald's appearance, he put it up over his desk and wrote the film just over a weekend, with her specifically in mind for the lead role.

John Cusack and Joan Cusack's roles were essentially consolation prizes. They were prominently cast in The Breakfast Club (1985), with John cast as Bender, and Joan set to play Allison. But Universal thought that John Hughes' script for this film was more commercial, and therefore should be made first.

When Ginny, Sam's sister, sits down in the church scene, she does so next to Agnes Belushi, mother of John Belushi and Jim Belushi. The Reverend is played by Brian Doyle-Murray, Bill Murrays older brother.

DIRECTOR TRADEMARK(John Hughes): [The Beatles]: Ted Farmer sings "Birthday" to Sam in the auto shop.

In late 2003, USA Network announced that a made-for-television sequel, to be called "32 Candles", was being planned, showcasing the original characters sixteen years after the original film. It was unknown at the time of the announcement, whether any of the original cast members would be involved with the project, but that turned out to be unimportant, since the announced new film was never made.

The German title of the film, "Das darf man nur als Erwachsener", translates to "One may do that only as an adult".

Based on his performance as another father character in Breaking Away, Paul Dooley was offered his role in this film but turned it down as he felt the character was just a stock Dad character without much development. Dooley said it's typical if you turn down a role, you get offered more money but turned it down again, due to the character's development. John Hughes called Dooley personally and told him that he wrote a scene with Dooley and Ringwald's character, which became an iconic moment in the film. Dooley said later on, he'd have viewers come to him and tell him that they wished he were their father, based on the scene.

In an article published in Salon, Amy Benfer considers whether the film directly condones date rape. After the party scene, Jake tells Ted that his girlfriend Caroline is "in the bedroom right now, passed out cold. I could violate her ten different ways if I wanted to." He encourages Ted to drive her home saying "she's so blitzed she won't know the difference." When Caroline and Ted wake up next to each other in the car, Caroline says she's fairly certain they had sex though neither of them remember it. Amy Benfer writes "The scene only works because people were stupid about date rape at the time. Even in a randy teen comedy, you would never see two sympathetic male characters conspiring to take advantage of a drunk chick these days."

When Sam sees her grandparents for the first time, the theme song from The Twilight Zone (1959) is playing. Her grandfathers, played by Edward Andrews and Max Showalter, starred separately in two different episodes.

FILM 1901: STRIPTEASE

FILM 1901: STRIPTEASE 

TRIVIA: Demi Moore was called back to re-shoot some scenes, and had to wear a wig since she had already shaved her head for G.I. Jane (1997).

Demi Moore was paid $12.5 million for this film, a record fee for an actress at the time. The film was more popular in overseas theaters than in American theaters.

Underwent last minute editing when preview audiences laughed at the wrong parts.

Burt Reynolds was not originally actually sought by the production for the part of politician Dave Dilbeck. Reynolds wanted the part badly and so contacted Castle Rock studio head Rob Reiner personally and went to Miami, Florida to audition. He took a pay cut considerably lower than to what he had received during the heyday of his career.

The little girl who plays Demi Moore's daughter in the movie is actually her real life daughter, Rumer Willis.

Demi Moore had no fewer than eight assistants on the film - one for make-up, a hairstylist, a costumer, a personal assistant, a personal trainer, a motion trainer and two security personnel.

A "loop group" in New York City recorded the background voices for various scenes. The actors are included in residual payments.

Coincidentally, bit player Frances Fisher (Donna Garcia)'s real-life daughter Francesca Eastwood dated Harry Morton, who also dated Demi Moore and Rumer Willis.

CAMEO: Michael Jordan: Appears as himself as a patron in the strip club in the scene where Erin Grant (Demi Moore) meets Lt. Al Garcia (Armand Assante) after one of the dancers says "Michael Jordan is at table 8" in original theatrical. The name in this line was changed and Michael Jordan's name is uncredited.

FILM 1734: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY: VOL. 2

TRIVIA: According to the Visual Effects Artists, Ego's planet comprises a trillion polygons, and is considered to be the biggest visual effect ever made.

Prop Master Russell Bobbitt had difficulty finding the cassette decks used in the first film, and all of the Sony Walkman headphones they found were broken. Bobbitt contacted Sony to see if they had any available for filming, which they did not, so he eventually created six from scratch.

Dave Bautista's Drax make-up took only ninety minutes to apply, down from four hours for the first film. However, he would have to sit in a sauna at the end of the day, to get the make-up off.

James Gunn choreographed and served as the motion-capture model for Groot's dance during the opening credits sequence. It took the visual effects team nearly two years to complete the CG rendering of the scene for the final film.

According to James Gunn, Kurt Russell was de-aged for the film's opening flashback (set in the 1980s) by visual effects company Lola VFX, in what was a "long, painstaking process that took many, many months to accomplish." He continued, "I know Lola did Michael Douglas, and I think they did Tony Stark and Steve Rogers as well. They're the best at what they do, and keep getting better."

Vin Diesel recorded Groot's voice for sixteen foreign-language releases of the film, up from six in the first film.

FILM 1698: GAGA: FIVE FOOT TWO

This documentary goes behind the scenes with pop provocateur Lady Gaga as she releases a bold new album and prepares for her Super Bowl halftime show.

FILM 1462: LABYRINTH

TRIVIA: The various things that Jareth does with the crystal balls (rolling them around his arms and in his hands and so forth) are not camera tricks or any other kind of special effect. They are actually done by choreographer Michael Moschen, who is an accomplished juggler. Moschen was actually crouched behind Bowie with his arm(s) replacing Bowie's. Unlike a typical Muppet performance, however, he had no video screen to view his performance. In other words, his manipulations were performed completely blind.

The owl in the title sequence is computer generated - the first attempt at a photo-realistic CGI animal character in a feature film.

The full costume for Hoggle was lost for some time. It turns out that it was lost on an airplane and later bought from the airline by 'The Unclaimed Baggage Center', a store in Scottsboro Alabama. It is now on display in their museum.

In the scene where Toby is seated on Jareth's lap, the baby has a fixed and hypnotized look off-camera as Jareth murmurs evilly into his ear. In fact, Toby screamed so much during the many takes of this scene, that something had to be done to keep him quiet. Fortunately, a crew member had a glove-puppet Sooty. For the duration of Jareth's speech, David Bowie had the Sooty puppet on one hand (out of shot) gently wiggling to distract Toby. The child was entranced, hence the hypnotic stare, and the perfect silence.

The "Dance Magic" scene consisted of over 48 puppets, 52 puppeteers, and 8 people in goblin costumes (as revealed by Brian Henson in the "Inside the Labyrinth" special).

The sources of the characters can be seen in Sarah's bedroom at the beginning of the movie. She has a stuffed animal that looks like Sir Didymus on her dresser, a doll that looks like Ludo on the shelves next to her door (along with the book "Where the Wild Things Are" as the camera pans across her desk), a Firey doll on a shelves next to her bed, bookends with with Goblins reminiscent of Hoggle on her dresser, and figurine of Jareth on the right hand side of her desk. After you see the Hoggle bookend, there is a scrapbook shown. It shows newspaper clippings of Sarah's famous actress mom with another man, David Bowie. In addition, the dress that she wears in the ballroom scene can also been seen adorning the miniature doll in her music box, and a wooden maze game on her dresser next to her books is reminiscent of the hedge section of the Labyrinth. There is also a small painting on her wall that depicts a contraption much like the one operated by the "Cleaners" that Sarah and Hoggle had to escape from. And there is a copy of the famous picture by M.C. Esher which is used in the room where the final confrontation with Jareth occurs.

Final feature film directed by Jim Henson.

In the DVD version, there are hidden faces in seven scenes. In general, they resemble the head that Jareth leans against before giving Hoggle the peach (David Bowie's actual face at that time). The faces can be found: Upper right corner of the [stone] maze, just after the worm shakes its head and says "If she'd have kept on going down that way..." To the right of the screen, after the rung under Hoggle breaks, as he watches it fall. Upper left corner of the hedge maze, as Hoggle is muttering "Get through the labyrinth, get through the labyrinth, one thing's for sure... " Lower right corner of the wall bordering the Bog of Eternal Stench, just after the ledge breaks under Sarah and Hoggle for the first time. During the wide shot of the hedge maze in the middle left on the stony floor just after the hat says, "It's so stimulating being your hat." In the forest as Sir Didymus says "We should reach the castle well before day."

David Bowie did the voice (gurgling) for the baby in the song "Magic Dance".

Sarah's dog "Merlin" is also used for Sir Didymus' mount "Ambrosius". In Geoffrey of Monmouth's The History of the Kings of Britain, Merlin is called "Merlin Ambrosius".

Michael Jackson was strongly considered to play Jareth. Jim Henson preferred Sting, until his kids convinced him that David Bowie would have more lasting appeal.

After solving the problem of the guards who lie or tell the truth, Sarah falls into an oubliette, which Hoggle describes: "It's a place where you put people...to forget about 'em!" Oubliettes were a type of dungeon where the only entry was through an opening high in the ceiling. To leave an oubliette was practically impossible without external assistance. The word "oubliette" comes from the French word "oublier' meaning 'to forget". The basic premise was that an oubliette was a dungeon for prisoners that the captor(s) wished to forget. Prisoners were often left to starve to death in an oubliette.

Hoggle consisted of 1 actor inside the suit: actress Shari Weiser, along with 4 puppeteers led by Brian Henson controlling 18 motors inside the face rig. Manipulating a mechanical mitt on his right hand, Henson controlled Hoggle's jaw movements and provided the voice. Another puppeteer provided further lip movements with another mitt. The third member of the team used a fingertip joystick lever to control Hoggle's eyes and eyelids. The fourth used a similar mechanism to animate the eyebrows and a foot pedal to control the skin around Hoggle's eyes. The puppeteers had to rehearse together for weeks in order to anticipate each other's movements.

Director Trademark: Jim Henson:  [milk bottles]  During the Goblin Battle scene, while Sarah and the gang opens the door to the Goblin Castle, you can see milk bottles near the door.