FILM 1957: PADDINGTON 2

FILM 1957: PADDINGTON 2

TRIVIA: Paddington author Michael Bond died on the last day of filming Paddington 2 (2017) and six months before the release of this film, at the age of 91. His last book about the titular character was released in April 2017. Books on Paddington have sold more than 35 million copies throughout his career.

The best-reviewed film ever on Rotten Tomatoes. As of the 3rd of August 2018, the movie has 199 Fresh reviews and no naysayers, overtaking 163 Fresh and zero negative critiques from previous record-holder Toy Story 2 (1999).

One day after completing her demanding underwater scenes for The Shape of Water (2017), Sally Hawkins flew from Toronto, Canada to London, England in order to begin production on this film, only to find out she would have to shoot underwater scenes for this film as well.

Hugh Grant's favorite film of his own.

Paul King dropped out of directing Wonder (2017) in favor of making this film instead.

The film was originally produced by The Weinstein Company, but was sold preceeding the company's bankruptcy.

Reunites Layer Cake stars Ben Wishaw, Sally Hawkins, and Michael Gambon

A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL (2018)

TRIVIA: On the advice of the director, Stephen Frears, Ben Whishaw met with the real Norman Scott during the course of the production to hear his account of the events.

This is the third time Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw worked together. Their first was Cloud Atlas (2012) and the second was Paddington 2 (2017).

FILM 1522: MUSIC AND LYRICS

TRIVIA: As a child, Hugh Grant took piano lessons from Andrew Lloyd Webber's mother. At some point, he stopped piano lessons and subsequently forgot what he had learned. Prior to the filming of the movie, he was taught to play the portions where his hands would be visible on the keys.

Hugh Grant had to be convinced to sing himself and initially wanted nothing to do with his singing parts. After practicing and performing in the studio, he then felt so comfortable with it and announced he would perform the big concert scene live. When it was played back he was highly amused and humbled by how terrible it sounded and was then happy to use the pre-recorded sound.

The film's director/producer/writer Marc Lawrence offered "Dance With Me Tonight" to Hugh Grant while he was trying to find the right song to sing during one scene. What he didn't tell him was that Marc's 13-year-old son, Clyde Lawrence, wrote it. On the soundtrack, Clyde actually plays the piano.

FILM 1516: TWO WEEKS NOTICE

TRIVIA: The film was originally set to film entirely in Toronto due to cheaper production costs, but producer/star Sandra Bullock insisted that a film about New York City must be made in New York City. It ended up being shot entirely on location within a 17-week span. It revitalized the economy of New York City after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 and allowed businesses to flourish once again. In honor of the cast and crew's contribution to the city, December 11th, 2002 was named "Two Weeks Notice" Day by the Mayor of New York City.

Sandra Bullock orders Chinese food from a "Mr. Wong". In While You Were Sleeping (1995), she says while hoisting a Christmas tree though her window "$45 for a Christmas tree and they don't deliver? You order $10 worth of chow mein from Mr. Wong they bring it to your door." In both movies Bullock's character is named "Lucy".

The Coney Island Community Center is in fact the Childs Restaurant Building that went out of business years ago. It was designated a New York City Landmark on February 4, 2003 just one month after the movie was released.

The house George's brother lives is actually one of Donald Trump's homes. Trump lent his Westchester home to the production and filmed a cameo for the film.

British author Lynne Truss pointed out that the title of the film is grammatically incorrect. In her best-selling style book 'Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation', she correctly establishes that the title is missing an apostrophe ("Two Weeks' Notice"), thereby denoting proper possession of the title's subject. The original hardcover edition of 'Eats, Shoots, & Leaves' also featured Truss in her author's photo, glaring at the poster and holding a marker where the apostrophe should be.

In the scene where Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant are on her apartments roof top, eating cake, she describes her childhood past of watching the neighborhood sitting on the corners watching the kids play. She mentions a Mr. and Mrs. Goldfarb sitting in the middle of the street to save a parking spot for their kid. This is a small nod toward the movie Requiem for a Dream, where a Mrs. Goldfarb sits on the neighborhood corner in lawn chairs with her apartment lady neighbors.