FILM 1872: WORLD TRADE CENTER

FILM 1872: WORLD TRADE CENTER 

TRIVIA: Test audiences believed that Dave Karnes (Michael Shannon), the former Marine, was a Hollywood invention. This is, in fact, a true story that occurred. Karnes later re-enlisted in the Marine Corps and served two tours of duty in Iraq. Also, as reported by the Associated Press on August 14, 2006, the Marine identified only as Sergeant Thomas (who disappeared shortly after 9/11) has been identified as Jason Thomas, a former Marine who grabbed his uniform and immediately drove to Ground Zero to help. Because his identity was unknown at the time of filming, Sgt. Thomas - who is black - was portrayed by William Mapother, a white man. The producers have since apologized to Sgt. Thomas for the miscasting. Thomas has laughed it off and told them not to be concerned, stating, "I don't want to shed any negativity on what they were trying to show."

The city of New York absolutely prohibited the recreation of 9/11 destruction or chaos on location. The filmmakers were not even allowed to film actors looking upward toward where the towers would be. The drive of the officers up to the site was permitted to be filmed, but all scenes depicting events at or near the WTC were filmed in Los Angeles.

In preparing for his portrayal of Sgt. John McLoughlin, Nicolas Cage focused on accurately speaking with a New York accent. And to also capture the fear and claustrophobia of McLoughlin's ordeal, Cage spent hours in a sensory-deprivation tank in Venice, California.

The first theatrical film to recreate the collapse of the World Trade Center towers.

Officer Scott Strauss, a first responder with the New York City Emergency Services unit, was offered the chance to play himself in the film. However, Strauss refused to do so and Stephen Dorff was then cast to portray him. Strauss's services as a consultant were retained for the film to which he didn't accept payment.

Due to her infamous quote that "America is responsible in some way" for the 9/11 attacks, Maggie Gyllenhaal personally offered to withdraw from the project to Officer William Jimeno and his wife Allison Jimeno. They both declined and gave their blessing for Gyllenhaal to take the role.

Director Oliver Stone's first two choices to play John McLoughlin were Mel Gibson and George Clooney.

Feature film debut of Jon Bernthal.

FILM 1756: THE SHAPE OF WATER

FILM 1756: THE SHAPE OF WATER

TRIVIA: When "The Shape of Water" premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017, the screening was held in the Elgin Theatre. The interior scenes of the theater in the film were shot in the Elgin Theatre, so as the audience was watching the film, they were seeing the same theater on screen that they were sitting in.

Director Guillermo del Toro said about Sally Hawkins, "Not only was she the first choice, she was the only choice. I wrote the movie for Sally, I wrote the movie for Michael [Shannon]... Sally is - I wanted the character of Elisa to be beautiful, in her own way, not in a way that is like a perfume commercial kind of way. That you could believe that this character, this woman would be sitting next to you on the bus. But at the same time she would have a luminosity, a beauty, almost magical, ethereal."

Guillermo Del Toro wrote lengthy backstories for each of the major characters, some of them allegedly running over 40 pages long. After casting the roles, he offered them to the actors and said they could choose to utilize or ignore the backstories for their own character. The actors responded differently, with Richard Jenkins saying he ignored the backstory, stating "the only thing that matters is what happens on screen", while Michael Stuhlbarg said he read the backstory voraciously and found it helpful in his performance.

The creature design is heavily inspired by the film The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). Michael Shannon's character even says they picked it up in a river in South America, which is the setting of The Creature from the film.

One day after completing her demanding underwater scenes for this film, Sally Hawkins had to fly to London, England, to begin production on Paddington 2. Only to find out she would have to shoot underwater scenes for that film on the first day of filming.

The last name of the main character Elisa Esposito is of Italian origin, and is given to children who were abandoned or exposed.

After seeing the trailer, Kevin Smith tweeted, "Seeing something as beautiful as this makes me feel stupid for ever calling myself a 'Director.'"

One of Octavia Spencer's favorite things about the screenplay was the fact that, by letting the main couple be mute, most of the dialogue comes from a black woman and a closeted gay man. In real life, they would both have experienced oppression during the 1960s setting of the film.

Most of the characters were written with the actors in mind. Octavia Spencer said her character was reminiscent of a collaboration between her roles in The Help (2011) and Hidden Figures (2016), and that she "would have played the desk if Guillermo del Torohad asked me to."

The poem in the film is by the Persian poet Rumi : "Unable to perceive the shape of you, I find you all around me. Your presence fills my eyes with your love, it humbles my heart, for you are everywhere."

Despite visual similarities, director Guillermo del Toro denied that this film has any connections to Hellboy (2004).

FILM 1704: 99 HOMES

TRIVIA: Ramin Bahrani dedicated the film to late movie critic Roger Ebert.

Director Ramin Bahrani used a 24mm lens for close-ups of Andrew Garfield as it gave greater depth as to what was showing on his face.

FILM 1547: MIDNIGHT SPECIAL

TRIVIA: Jeff Nichols wrote the film as a reflection on becoming a father.

Jeff Nichols' fourth film to feature Michael Shannon.

At a point in the movie, Jaeden Lieberher asks "What is Kryptonite?". His father in this film is played by Michael Shannon who recently played General Zod in "Man Of Steel".

One of the government code words Adam Driver's character mentions is "red saber." Driver is well known for portraying the red lightsaber-wielding Kylo Ren in Star Wars Episode VII.

Film 1016: Bug

Trivia: The title's (mis)translation in Russia is "Glitches"

The Apartment set was built inside a high school gymnasium in Metairie, Louisiana.

During the shoot, many of the crew members got rashes from bed bugs in their hotel rooms.

Jodie Foster was considered for the Ashley Judd role.

Michael Shannon reprises the role he played in the stage version.

The film was shot in July and August of 2005 in Southern Louisiana, and wrapped up only a week before Hurricane Katrina hit the area; the cast and crew narrowly escaped the disaster by only a few days.

According to Lynn Collins, director William Friedkin never took more than four takes to get a scene in this film, and in fact worked so fast that the actors sometimes had to beg him to do a second take when he thought they'd nailed it the first time.