FILM 2002: PANIC ROOM

FILM 2002: PANIC ROOM

TRIVIA: According to David Fincher, Kristen Stewart grew more than three inches during filming of this project. She was smaller than Jodie Foster when the production started and towered over her when the final shots were done.

Nicole Kidman was originally cast in the role of Meg Altman and Hayden Panettiere was cast as her daughter, Sarah. Before filming began, Panettiere was replaced with Kristen Stewart, who beat out Daveigh Chase for the role, as director David Fincher found her "irritating". Then, only eighteen days into filming, Kidman had to leave the film as well, due to a recurring knee injury, suffered during the filming of Moulin Rouge! (2001). Fincher suggested that the studio close the production and collect the insurance, but the studio decided to go on. Jodie Foster was offered the role. She was due to be the president of the Cannes Film Festival jury but withdrew to work with Fincher, with whom she was originally supposed to work on The Game (1997) in the role now played by Sean Penn. Foster had only nine days to prepare for the role. Kidman left a small mark in the film nevertheless, however, as the voice of the girlfriend of Foster's husband in the movie, heard answering the phone when Foster's character calls him in a desperate attempt for help.

Because the sets had been designed with Nicole Kidman in mind, who is much taller than Jodie Foster, the green safety lasers on the panic room door ended up exactly at the level of Foster's eyes, constantly blinding her as she entered and exited the room.

The shot of Sarah's medical bag sliding along the floor outside the panic room took 103 takes.

All of the indoor scenes were shot entirely in the sequence in which they appear in the finished film.

Shot over a period of 120 days, the longest shoot in Jodie Foster's career.

Fincher stated he wanted the film to look and feel as realistic as possible. This lead to an increase in the films budget and a longer than planned filming schedule. The apartment was built in whole and the panic room was built and modeled after real life panic rooms. The real life set and action lead to several minor injuries to the actors during filming as Fincher insisted on doing several scenes without CGI.

The phone number that Meg dials to order pizza from Patsy's Pizza is mentioned to be 579-3000. The area code for Manhattan is 212; the number 212-579-3000 is, in reality, for Patsy's Pizzeria.

Nicole Kidman replacement Jodie Foster substantially altered the tone of the film. Beforehand director David Fincher saw his heroine as a glacial Hitchcock/ Grace Kelly role model. With Foster in the lead, however, the part instantly became much grittier, more political.

The house, which is located at 38 West 94th street in NYC was only used for exterior shots. The house is still there and fans can visit to check it out. It is not currently on the market but if it was it is estimated to cost $7,287,881.

Despite being released in 2002, a year after the 9/11 attacks, the world trade center towers can be carefully spotted in the opening credits sequence.

Despite being remembered as a decent David Fincher film, Panic Room has yet to receive a Blu-Ray release.

Howard Shore did the music for Panic Room. He also did the music for The Silence of the Lambs, which also starred Jodie Foster.

FILM 1828: THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

FILM 1828: THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

TRIVIA: In preparation for his role, Sir Anthony Hopkins studied files of serial killers. Also, he visited prisons, and studied convicted murderers, and was present during some court hearings concerning gruesome murderers and serial killings.

Jodie Foster claims that during the first meeting between Lecter and Starling, Sir Anthony Hopkins' mocking of her southern accent was improvised on the spot. Foster's horrified reaction was genuine, she felt personally attacked. She later thanked Hopkins for generating such an honest reaction.

With twenty-four minutes and fifty-two seconds of screen time, Sir Anthony Hopkins' performance in this movie is the second shortest to ever win an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, with David Niven in Separate Tables (1958) beating him, at twenty-three minutes and thirty-nine seconds.

After Jodie Foster first read the Thomas Harris novel, she tried to buy the rights herself, only to find Gene Hackman had beaten her to it.

Jame Gumb's dance was not included in the original draft of the screenplay, although it appears in the novel. It was added at the insistence of Ted Levine, who thought the scene was essential in defining the character.

One of the inspirations from whom Sir Anthony Hopkins borrowed for his interpretation of Hannibal Lecter was a friend of his in London who rarely blinked when speaking, which unnerved anyone around him.

Jodie Foster spent a great deal of time with FBI agent Mary Ann Krause prior to filming. Krause gave Foster the idea of Starling standing by her car crying. Krause told Foster that at times, the work just became so overwhelming that it was a good way to get an emotional release.

The production received full cooperation from the FBI, as they saw it as a potential recruiting tool to hire more female agents.

Clarice Starling was chosen by the American Film Institution as the sixth-greatest film hero (out of fifty), the highest ranked female on the list. Hannibal Lecter was chosen as the number one greatest film villain (also out of fifty).

Sir Anthony Hopkins said he saw Lecter as similar to H.A.L. 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). A highly complex, highly intelligent, highly logical killing machine, who seems to know everything going on around him.

Sir Anthony Hopkins described his voice for Hannibal Lecter as "a combination of Truman Capote and Katharine Hepburn."

John Douglas, on whom the Jack Crawford character was based, achieved some fame of his own a few years after this film. He was hired by the parents of JonBenét Ramsey to investigate her death and apparent murder. Up until that point, the parents had been the chief suspects in the case. While Douglas did not fault the local police for investigating the family first, as in the film, investigators usually assume that victims know their killers, he became the first public official to proclaim their innocence.

The movie's poster was number sixteen of "The 25 Best Movie Posters Ever" by Premiere.

Fangoria magazine was declined the chance to cover the film because Orion and the filmmakers felt that the magazine's focus on the horror genre would stigmatize its awards season chances. They were also barred from covering Cape Fear (1991) for similar reasons.

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

FILM 1418: THE ACCUSED

TRIVIA: Upon seeing a pre-screening of the film, Jodie Foster thought her performance as Sarah Tobias was so awful that she immediately began preparing for and taking the GRE's for graduate school. She was prepared to leave her film career behind and focus on academia...until she won the Academy Award for her performance.

Kelly McGillis was offered the role of Sarah Tobias, but having survived a violent sexual assault in 1982 by two men who broke into her apartment, she declined the role and instead fought for the part of Kathryn Murphy.

According Jodie Foster in her interview in Boffo! Tinseltown's Bombs and Blockbusters (2006), producer Stanley R. Jaffe felt she was "not sexy enough" for the role and wanted to cast another actress. He felt that 24-year-old Jodie Foster did not have the right talent for the role.

Brad Pitt auditioned for a role.

This is the first film since Two Women (1960) to win the Best Actress Academy Award without being nominated in any other category.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus was considered for the role of Sarah Tobias, but was later discarded because she was "too nice" for the part.

Brian De Palma was originally assigned to direct the movie.

In their separate careers several years after the release of The Accused (1988), both leading ladies, Kelly McGillis and Jodie Foster, publicly and proudly acknowledged their homosexuality. McGillis came out in 2009, and Foster in 2013.

Film 905: The Beaver

Trivia: Jim Carrey and Steve Carell were previously attached to play the lead character.

Before Summit Entertainment settled for a release date in Spring 2011, this film had been shelved due to Mel Gibson allegedly assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva.

Jodie Foster approached originally Kristen Stewart for the role of Norah, remembering their experience at _Panic room (2002)_ as proof of Stewart's talent, but the actress was committed to the Twilight franchise.

Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster previously starred together in the film "Maverick".