FILM 2003: THE ITALIAN JOB

FILM 2003: THE ITALIAN JOB

TRIVIA: In interviews, Jason Statham said that in addition to the stunt driving course they all received, he got two days' driving tuition from Damon Hill, the British ex-world champion Formula 1 driver. However, all of the cast members acknowledged that Charlize Theronwas easily the best driver among them.

During production, Charlize Theron got two speeding tickets while driving in her own car, both for going more than 40 miles per hour over the speed limit. She said that after filming driving so fast, she just couldn't get her speed down to drive home.

Two electric-powered MINI Coopers and one MINI Cooper S had to be specially built for the film, since gasoline-powered vehicles are not allowed to operate in Los Angeles' all-electric subway system for safety reasons.

When the film performed surprisingly well at the box office, there were rumors of a sequel while the film was still showing in theaters. An early script had it set in Brazil and it was called "The Brazilian Job" with Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Jason Statham, and Seth Green attached to reprise their roles, but the sequel fell apart after key people at Paramount Pictures left by the end of 2004, and rough drafts of the script proved unsatisfactory. However, Wahlberg said as recently as 2015 that a sequel was still a possibility.

Edward Norton made it clear that his participation in this film was a result of contractual obligation, not choice. He had signed a three-movie deal with Paramount, of which Primal Fear (1996), his breakthrough movie, was the first. He kept dismissing scripts for the other two films of the deal, until Paramount coerced him into accepting a role in this film. Norton did not hide his misery on the set, clashing with the crew throughout it, and when the producer handed out gifts to the cast over the movie's surprisingly strong box office performance, Norton returned the gift with a note stating "Give this to someone you actually like - or someone who actually likes you."

Lyle (Seth Green) claims he was the creator of Napster, the first online file-sharing service for music, and that it was stolen by his college roommate, Shawn Fanning. In the flashback of Lyle sleeping and his roommate taking a disk out of the PC that has Napster on it, his roommate is portrayed by the real Shawn Fanning, the legitimate creator of Napster. When Fanning steals the disk in the scene, the bottom of a Metallica poster can be seen on the wall. Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich was famously a very vocal critic of Napster, and Metallica filed a lawsuit against the service for copyright infringement and racketeering.

The beautiful woman in Lyle's house at the end of the movie is played by Kelly Brook, Jason Statham's real girlfriend at the time the film was shot.

The Venice authority allowed the crew to go over the speed limit for the boat chase sequence.

32 MINI Coopers were used throughout the shooting.

While the thieves are spying on Steve in his home, Sir Michael Caine can be seen on the large screen television in a clip from the original The Italian Job (1969).

The NetCom Cable van shows the phone number 1-800-555-0199. This is the same number used by Al Pacino in The Insider (1999) and Kevin Spacey in American Beauty(1999) (albeit with different area codes).

Screenwriters Donna Powers and Wayne Powers hadn't seen the original The Italian Job(1969) before agreeing to write the script for the remake. After that, they only watched it once. This was on purpose, because they didn't want to copy the movie but wanted to make their own, albeit inspired by the original one.

F. Gary Gray cast Mark Wahlberg after seeing him in Boogie Nights (1997).

TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN (2017)

TRIVIA: Everett McGill came out of retirement after 17 years to reprise his role as Big Ed Hurley.

This belated season was first teased by simultaneous tweets, "That gum you like is going to come back in style," from Mark Frost and David Lynch at 11:30am, the same time that Agent Dale Cooper is first seen dictating to his secretary Diane and "entering the town of Twin Peaks" in the original pilot episode of Twin Peaks (1990).

During the audition process for Twin Peaks (2017), David Lynch requested the actors to perform a lengthy monologue about themselves.

During a Q&A on the annual TLV International Student Film Festival on June 2016, David Lynch said that working on Twin Peaks (2017) again after so many years was one of the greatest experiences he ever had.

Michael J. Anderson was approached to reprise his role as The Man From Another Place, but negotiations fell through over pay disputes. Anderson later took his anger to social media, going so far as to accuse Lynch of rape, incest, murder and encouraging suicide. A spokesperson for Anderson denied to comment further, only to say that Anderson would not be doing any interviews "for the foreseeable future."

The actor who portrays the Security Guard, Michael Bisping, is the 2016 UFC Middleweight world champion.

FILM 1655: FOOLS RUSH IN

TRIVIA: The role of Alex's (Matthew Perry) father is played by John Bennett Perry, who is actually Matthew Perry's father.

Before the movie was filmed, there was no Arizona/Nevada "border" painted on the highway that spans the Hoover Dam. When it was added for the movie, local officials decided to keep it intact after the filming of the movie. As of September 2005 the border painted in the street is no longer there.

Jennifer Lopez was offered the role of Isabel Fuentes but turned it down in favor of Anaconda (1997).

Film 979: Swingers

Trivia: Jon Favreau's grandmother, Joan Favreau, is the lucky gambler at the $5 minimum blackjack table.

The shots taken from the hood of the car in Las Vegas were done without a proper permit. The interior of the casino was not the Stardust as the exterior shots imply, but was instead a downtown casino that they paid money to use for the evening.

The 1964 Convertible Mercury Comet Caliente driven by Vince Vaughn was actually owned by co-star Jon Favreau.

The exterior and interior of Mike Peter's apartment was the actual building and room that Jon Favreau lived in at the time the film was filmed. Favreau's downstairs neighbor was actor Adam Scott.

The movie is loosely based on the experiences writer Jon Favreau had when he first moved to LA. He had just broken up with a long term girlfriend and counted on his friends Vince Vaughn and Ron Livingston to cheer him up. The characters they play in the film are based on themselves.

The "Bear" monologue that Trent delivers to Mike is almost verbatim something actor Vince Vaughn told Jon Favreau one night at a bar. Favreau liked it a lot and incorporated it into the script.

The sequence where Trent, Mike, and Sue enter the club through a side entrance closely resembles the way Henry and Karen enters a club in Goodfellas, which the group refers to earlier in the film, calling it one of the best shots ever.

The relationship between the characters played by Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn mirrors their one in real life - the two actors are best friends.

Film 890: Ocean’s Thirteen

Trivia: Al Pacino was director Steven Soderbergh's first choice for the role of Willie Bank. The film's producer, Jerry Weintraub, a friend of Pacino's, persuaded him to join the cast.

The fake nose Matt Damon wears is an in-joke reference to The Brothers Grimm, in which director Terry Gilliam wanted the actor to wear a fake nose but the studio vetoed it.

The film's translation in Russia is "13 Friends of Ocean".

Rusty's ring-tone is "Don't You Want Me" by The Human League.

Linus's fake nose ploy is "The Brody", a reference to actor Adrien Brody.

The Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow logos at the front of the film are styled in homage to the 1970s/1980s intro animation to New York station WOR-TV's "4 O'Clock Movie," and the accompanying music is identical.

The numbers that Mr. Weng picks to win at the roulette wheel are 11, 12 and 13 - the numbers of the three "Ocean" movies, thus far.