FILM 1880: APOLLO 13

FILM 1880: APOLLO 13

TRIVIA: In a commentary track, Marilyn Lovell comments that Tom Hanks exactly portrays Jim Lovell's mannerisms and style of movement.

The famous understatement was actually made twice by two astronauts. Jack Swigertsaid, "OK Houston, we've had a problem here." Mission Control said, "This is Houston. Say again, please." Then Jim Lovell said, "Ahh, Houston, we've had a problem." On the recording, Swigert is garbled at the beginning, while Lovell is clear, so the recording of Lovell is often heard, leading to the impression he said it, even though Swigert said it first. It's commonly misquoted as, "Houston, we've got a problem," or "Houston, we have a problem." Because "we've had" implies the problem has passed, Ron Howard chose to use "we have".

Jim Lovell wore his old Navy Captain's uniform in the scene where he greets the astronauts aboard the U.S.S. Iwo Jima. When Ron Howard asked Lovell if he'd like to be in the film as the ship's Admiral, Lovell agreed, but pointed out, "I retired as a Captain; a Captain I will be."

In some scenes where the Earth can be seen from the windows of Apollo 13, it is one of the photos taken by Jim Lovell and Bill Anders on the Apollo 8 mission.

Marilyn Lovell really did lose her ring down the drain, but eventually found it again.

Ron Howard's favorite of his own films.

John Cusack and Charlie Sheen were originally offered the role of Fred Haise (played by Bill Paxton), but turned it down.

The Mission Control set was nearly a carbon copy of the original one in Houston. The production crew originally wanted to film in the original Mission Control room in Houston, which is now a historic landmark. However, the original room was found to be too small to be used for a film production. The production crew took precise measurements of every part of the room and replicated it on a Hollywood set. One of the real Apollo 13 flight controllers, Jerry Bostick, left the Mission Control set one day looking for the elevator, convinced that it was the real thing (the original Mission Control is on the third floor of the building).

Many of the actors in Mission Control were being fed lines directly from technical advisers on set.

CAMEO:Jean Speegle Howard: Ron Howard's mother plays Blanche Lovell.

FILM 1742: THE ROCK

TRIVIA: Sir Sean Connery insisted the producers build a cabin for him on Alcatraz, as he didn't want to travel from the mainland to the island every day. He got what he asked for.

Quentin Tarantino was an uncredited screenwriter on this film, along with Jonathan Hensleigh, who wrote the shooting script, and Aaron Sorkin.

The premiere of the movie was held in the Prison Recreation Yard on Alcatraz.

Michael Bay's favorite movie of his own.

Dedicated to Don Simpson, who died during production.

Don Simpson was largely responsible for creating the critical General Hummel character. Simpson watched a 60 Minutes (1993) segment about the U.S. government's refusal to acknowledge soldiers who had died during covert overseas missions, and later read Colonel David H. Hackworth's memoirs which harshly criticized U.S. planning during the Vietnam War. He combined these elements into Hummel's character and, as Jonathan Hensleigh described, created "a really compelling villain: a soldier with a noble end, but, unfortunately, psychotic means."

In the scene in the interrogation room where FBI agent Stanley Goodspeed introduces himself to John Mason (Sir Sean Connery), John replies "But of course you are". This was exactly the same line he used when he met Plenty O'Toole in the casino scene in the Bond film Diamonds Are Forever (1971).

The guy who gets his car stolen by Sean Connery is the same guy who got his car stolen by Ed Harris in National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007), another of Jerry Bruckheimer's movies which also starred Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris.

Cinematographer John Schwartzman is one of Nicolas Cage's cousins. Schwartzman's step-mother, Talia Shire is Cage's aunt.

FILM 1730: MOTHER!

TRIVIA: Throughout the movie, no one's name is mentioned.

The following statement by Darren Aronofsky was released a week before the premiere: "It is a mad time to be alive. As the world population nears 8 billion we face issues too serious to fathom: ecosystems collapse as we witness extinction at an unprecedented rate; migrant crises disrupt governments; a seemingly schizophrenic US helps broker a landmark climate treaty and months later withdraws; ancient tribal disputes and beliefs continue to drive war and division; the largest iceberg ever recorded breaks off an Antarctic ice shelf and drifts out to sea. At the same time we face issues too ridiculous to comprehend: in South America, tourists twice kill rare baby dolphins that washed ashore, suffocating them in a frenzy of selfies; politics resembles sporting events; people still starve to death while others can order any meat they desire. As a species our footprint is perilously unsustainable yet we live in a state of denial about the outlook for our planet and our place on it. From this primordial soup of angst and helplessness, I woke up one morning and this movie poured out of me like a fever dream. All of my previous films gestated with me for many years but I wrote the first draft of Mother! (2017) in 5 days. Within a year we were rolling cameras. And now two years later, it is an honor to return to the Lido for the world premiere. I imagine people may ask why the film has such a dark vision. Hubert Selby Jr., the author of Requiem for a Dream (2000), taught me that through staring into the darkest parts of ourselves is where we find the light. "Mother!" begins as a chamber story about a marriage. At the center is a woman who is asked to give and give and give until she can give nothing more. Eventually, the chamber story can't contain the pressure boiling inside. It becomes something else which is hard to explain or describe. I can't fully pinpoint where this film all came from. Some came from the headlines we face every second of every day, some came from the endless buzzing of notifications on our smartphones, some came from living through the blackout of Hurricane Sandy in downtown Manhattan, some came from my heart, some from my gut. Collectively it's a recipe I won't ever be able to reproduce, but I do know this serving is best drunk as a single dose in a shot glass. Knock it back. Salute!" [Aug. 2017]

Jennifer Lawrence and Darren Aronofsky started dating during the production of this film.

Actors Brian Gleeson and Domhnall Gleeson, who play the two brothers in the movie, are brothers in real life.

Jennifer Lawrence got so much into her character that during the climactic scenes, she started hyperventilating and even cracked a rib.

Paramount canceled the upcoming Friday the 13th film in order to move ahead with this film.

The film received both boos and a standing ovation during its premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

Received an "F" CinemaScore, the worst possible score, which is very rare: Only 19 features have ever received an "F". [Sept. 2017]

Edinburgh educated sculptor Jessica Harrison is the artist whose works are referenced in the film's poster image released on Mothers Day 2017. Aronofsky cited Harrison as an inspiration, especially her 'broken' figurines works.

Film 904: Step Mom

Trivia: Each of the leads (Julia Roberts, Susan Sarandon, Ed Harris) was nominated for an Oscar for playing real people - Sarandon as Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking, Roberts as Erin Brockovich-Ellis in Erin Brockovich, and Harris as Jackson Pollock in Pollock. Roberts and Sarandon both won; Harris lost.

In the film, the characters played by Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon are often at odds with each other. In reality, the two are close friends, and chose this project specifically to work on together.