FILM 1842: ZARDOZ

FILM 1842: ZARDOZ

TRIVIA: According to John Boorman, Sean Connery had a very hard time finding work after Diamonds Are Forever (1971). Boorman was allegedly able to hire Connery for $200,000.

John Boorman made this film after his project to film J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" was canceled.

The opening sequence is an introduction added by John Boorman, at the request of 20th Century Fox executives, to help the audience understand the film.

The Irish government initially refused to allow the production team to import prop guns because of terrorist attacks occurring at the time.

Radio spots (available on the DVD) were narrated by Rod Serling.

Reportedly, Charlotte Rampling looked forward to her sex scene with Sean Connery, then was disappointed when it was over and done with so quickly.

Cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth filmed scenes with the lens wide open, fog filters on the camera, and smoke machines on set to achieve a diffused, impressionistic look. It worked on first-generation prints, but when the film was duplicated for release the image quality was so bad it was almost unusable. The studio forbade any cinematographers from using that process on future films.

This film is listed among The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made in John Wilson's book "The Official Razzie® Movie Guide."

Burt Reynolds, a big box-office star at the time, who had previously worked with John Boorman on Deliverance (1972), was the first choice for the lead role of Zed. He bowed out due to illness.

Director Ben Wheatley is a huge fan of the movie.

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 1173: EVAN ALMIGHTY

TRIVIA: The real animals were paired two-by-two, but many of them were actually same-sex couples. This was for safety: a bull elephant was considered a safety risk so two females were used. With giraffes, males can be friendly. Pairs of male giraffes were used.

Evan's wife's name is Joan. This is an allusion to a popular joke combining the names of French freedom fighter Joan of Arc and Noah's Ark, which are obviously two very different stories.

When God takes the form of a waiter, the name tag on his shirt reads "Al Mighty".

When Evan is driving he passes a movie theater, the movie playing is 'The 40 year old Virgin Mary'. The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) also starred Steve Carell.

The real estate agent's name is Eve Adams, reflecting the names of the characters Adam and Eve, whose story is told in the first few chapters of the Hebre Book of Genesis which features the Noah story.

The phone number on the wood delivery trucks (800)-GO-4-WOOD obviously refers to God telling Noah to make the ark of gopher wood.

As of June 2007, it is the most expensive comedy film ever made.

Film 1010: Thor

Trivia: Stan Lee claims he'd always wanted to play Odin, but was happy with Anthony Hopkins's casting and performance in the role.

Jim Carrey was a long-time favorite and candidate for the role of Loki since The Mask, which indirectly featured Loki (but put in more fame his magic powers). Josh Hartnett was also rumored for the role.

Thor's armor is an amalgamation of the current Thor costume in mainstream Marvel continuity and the "Ultimate Marvel" comics universe.

It's mentioned in passing that Thor's hammer was forged inside "a dying star". This actually makes a modicum of scientific sense. When a very large star dies in a supernova, sometimes its remains collapsed to form a "neutron star". These objects cram the mass of the sun into the size of a city, forming a new kind of matter nicknamed neutronium. A single teaspoon of this material would weigh billions of tonnes. If Mjolnir was made of this material, it would certainly explain its incredible weight.

Dr Selvig mentions a comrade who got mixed up with SHIELD, whom he described as "a pioneer in gamma radiation"; this alludes to Bruce Banner, whose experiments in gamma radiation mutated him into the Incredible Hulk. A deleted scene also has him mention Hank Pym, also known as Ant-Man.

Brad Pitt was rumored for the role of Thor; Channing Tatum and WWE wrestler Paul Levesque (aka Triple H) was considered for the part; Daniel Craig was the first choice; and Charlie Hunnam, Tom Hiddleston, Alexander Skarsgård, Liam Hemsworth and Joel Kinnaman tested for the role, but finally Liam's brother Chris Hemsworth got the part.

Brian Blessed was rumored for the role of Odin.

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