FILM 1998: SMALL SOLDIERS

FILM 1998: SMALL SOLDIERS

TRIVIA: Joseph Mazzello was the original choice to play Alan Abernathy.

The piranha next to Alan's computer is a reference to Piranha (1978), also directed by Joe Dante.

Burger King agreed to market the film with its kids meals, before it was rated PG-13. The film was released soon after Oregon teen Kip Kinkel killed his parents, then went on a shooting rampage at Thurston High School in Springfield, killing two students and wounding 25. The Kip Killigan action figure was not distributed in Oregon.

This movie featured music by Led Zeppelin, a band notoriously strict about how their music is used in films, games, and other media.

Joe Dante originally wanted the cast of Predator (1987) to voice the Commando Elite. Arnold Schwarzenegger would voice Chip Hazard, Shane Black would voice Kip Killagin, Carl Weathers would voice Butch Meathook, Jesse Ventura would voice Brick Bazooka, Sonny Landham would voice Nick Nitro, and Bill Duke would voice Link Static.

The murder of Phil Hartman before the premiere caused some minor changes before release. 

WILHELM SCREAM: When Brick Bazooka is firing at Alan's bike to attack Archer, and ends up getting chewed up by the tire spokes and chain, Brick lets out a Wilhelm scream as he flies away. A Commando Elite soldier emits the same scream, as he breaks apart from the EMP on Stuart Abernathy's chest.

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 1441: SPEED

TRIVIA: A Fox producer realized they might have a movie hit in their hands when he noticed that, during test screenings, audience members would walk backwards when they needed to go to the bathroom so they would miss as little as possible.

Jan de Bont insisted that Keanu Reeves get a sensible haircut as would befit a hard-working cop. 20th Century Fox were horrified when they saw the buzzcut that he adopted for the film, threatening to postpone the film to allow his hair to grow back.

Sandra Bullock actually learned to drive a bus for the film, passing her test on her first attempt.

The film literally ran out of money before it was completed. When the film was first previewed for an audience, the subway scenes were animated story boards. The audience loved them so much, the studio came up with the funds to shoot the scenes properly.

Script doctor Joss Whedon rewrote the script uncredited. According to Graham Yost, the credited writer of Speed, Whedon wrote most of its dialogue.

There was an instance where a schoolboy saved the lives of a schoolbus full of kids, when the driver had a heart attack, by climbing on to the driver's lap, jumping on the brake pedal and pulling the bus to the side of the road. When asked later why he did it, he told them that he had seen "that bus movie". At half time during an NFL game, there was a ceremony hailing the boy as a hero.

The scene in which Annie (Sandra Bullock) takes the chewing gum out of her mouth and pretends to put it on her seat in order to have an excuse to change seats and move away from the obnoxious Stephens was improvised by Bullock.

The subway train that comes crashing up onto Hollywood Blvd at the ending was actually a bus, decked out to look like a subway train.

The 105 freeway in California had recently been completed, but not opened at the time of production. The filmmakers were given all the time they needed to complete the freeway scenes without the hassle of closing down an operating major freeway.

The plane destroyed by the exploding bus has the logo "Pacific Courier Freight" on its side. This same name is on the truck used by the terrorists in Die Hard (1988) and Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) - an in joke by production designer Jackson De Govia.

The watch Jack was wearing, the Casio G-Shock DW-5600C, had been discontinued when filming commenced. Due to the film's success, the watch was in popular demand and the company started making them again.

Renny Harlin and Quentin Tarantino were offered the chance to direct, but turned it down. Tarantino later named the film as one of his 20 favorite films since 1992.

Film 990: Déjà Vu

Trivia: Denzel Washington enjoyed a brief break during the production to congratulate his son on signing with the St. Louis Rams on May 1, 2006 as an undrafted free agent.

Near the end of the car chase, Doug originally said "Jesus" after first seeing Oerstadt's face. This caused the audience at the first preview screening to erupt into laughter, as Jim Caviezel, who played Oerstadt, is famous for playing Jesus in The Passion of the Christ. This unintentional reference had gone overlooked by director Tony Scott; he had the line removed from the film before its release.

The Lab set was built on a sound stage in Los Angeles by production designer Chris Seagers. Seagers wanted to combine a raw-edged, high-tech feel in which everything is digital and state-of-the-art; yet have exposed cables, wires, and ducts to provide a sense of reality.

Tony Scott and Val Kilmer had shirts made for the crew that said "Malcolm X, Jesus Christ, and Jim Morrison: Deja Vu. How Can We Fail?" Denzel Washington played Malcolm X in Malcolm X, Jim Caviezel played Jesus Christ in The Passion of the Christ, and Kilmer played Jim Morrison in The Doors.