Hello to everyone who has been following this blog for many years - I'm still blogging, I'm just moving over to https://www.claireheffer.com/blog - please continue to follow and let me take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been kind enough to visit over the years. May the lists continue...
Showing posts with label kevin costner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kevin costner. Show all posts

Saturday, 23 March 2019

FILM 1965: THE BODYGUARD


FILM 1965: THE BODYGUARD

TRIVIA: Rachel's mansion is the same mansion as the "horse's head in the bed" mansion in The Godfather (1972).

Whitney Houston suffered a miscarriage during production and missed a couple of weeks of production recovering.

As of 2015, with over 37 million albums sold, the film had the best-selling soundtrack of all time. Saturday Night Fever (1977) places second--with nearly 10 million fewer albums sold.

Whitney Houston would give Kevin Costner singing lessons on set in exchange for acting advice.

This film was originally proposed in the mid-'70s, starring Diana Ross and Steve McQueen, but was rejected as "too controversial". The film concept was to be attempted again in the late 1970s, with Ryan O'Neal and Diana Ross cast as the leads. The project fell through after only a few months because of irreconcilable differences between O'Neal and Ross, who had been dating.

Crew driver Bill Vitagliano was killed in an on-set accident when he was crushed between two colliding scissor-lifts, during the preparation for an underground parking garage scene.

Rachel and Frank go and see Yojimbo (1961), which was released in the United States as "The Bodyguard".

This was the second-highest-grossing movie in the world for 1992, behind Aladdin (1992).

The wisecracking host at the fictional Academy Awards ceremony is comedian Robert Wuhl, who wrote jokes for Billy Crystal's Academy Awards hosting duties in 1990 and 1991.

Originally "I Will Always Love You" wasn't in the movie - the big single was "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted." When that song was used in Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (1991), Kevin Costner suggested "I Will Always Love You."


Sunday, 16 August 2015



FILM 1361: THE UNTOUCHABLES

TRIVIA: Robert De Niro tracked down Al Capone's original tailors and had them make him some identical clothing for the movie.

Brian De Palma met Bob Hoskins over a drink in Los Angeles to discuss playing Al Capone if De Palma's first choice Robert De Niro were to pass on the role. Since De Niro had not yet said yes, Hoskins told De Palma he would do it if he were available. When De Niro finally took the role, De Palma sent Hoskins a thank you note, and the studio paid Hoskins, who had a "pay or play" deal, $200,000. Hoskins called De Palma and asked if there were any more movies the director did not want him to be in.

An envelope is dropped on the desk of Eliot Ness in one scene. It is assumed to be a bribe but the amount inside is never revealed. In real life, Al Capone promised Eliot Ness that two $1,000 notes would be on his desk every Monday morning if he turned a blind eye to his bootlegging activities (an enormous amount of money then). Ness refused the bribe and in later years struggled with money. He died almost broke at the age of 54.

In real life, Al Capone, knowing that killing a Prohibition agent would only lead to more trouble than he or his outfit could handle, actually had a non-violence order to his men, concerning the Untouchables. While Capone did repeatedly attempt to buy them off, he never once attempted to kill Ness or any of his men.

The scene where Al Capone (Robert De Niro) pulls out a baseball bat at a dinner party and suddenly beats to death one of his men is based on a true incident which happened on May 7, 1929. Two of Capone's most feared hit men, Albert Anselmi and John Scalise, had hatched a plot to kill Capone and take over his gang. Capone got wind of it and invited all his associates to a dinner party, including Anselmi and Scalise. In the middle of the party, Capone pulled out a baseball bat and battered both men to death, then shot them both in the head. A conflicting version of the story has Tony "Joe Batters" Accardo, one of Capone's hit men, as the man who bludgeoned the traitors to death.

Despite the final courtroom scene in this movie, the real Al Capone and Eliot Ness never came face to face during their battles.

Michael Douglas, Don Johnson and Mel Gibson were considered for the role of Eliot Ness and rejected. Harrison Ford was offered but turned down the role before Kevin Costner was signed.

When Agent George Stone is introduced, Malone finds out that his real name is Giuseppe Petri and he was born in Italy. In Italian, Giuseppe Petri can be literally translated as "Joseph Stone".

Sean Connery turned up to the shoot in his golf clothes they did a close open and Sean was dismissed for the day. He came back after a full day of golf, acted for five minutes then went to go home. Andy Garcia and Charles Martin Smith grabbed him after the scene and said that was very clever of you, you just got back from golf turn up for five minutes and do your scene and that's it. Connery turned to them and said, "this is not my first BBQ."

Patricia Clarkson's film debut.