FILM 1803: ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN

FILM 1803: ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN

TRIVIA: Frank Wills, the security guard who discovered the break-in at the Watergate complex, plays himself.

The two lead actors memorized each other's lines so that they could both interrupt each other in character. This unsettled a lot of the actors they were playing opposite, leading to a greater sense of verisimilitude.

One scene involving Robert Redford on the phone is done in a continuous six-minute single take with the camera tracking in slowly. Towards the end Redford makes a mistake - he calls the phone caller by the wrong name - but as he stays in character it simply appears genuine and this was the take used in the final cut.

To prepare for their roles, actors Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman hung out in the Washington Post newsroom for several weeks, observing reporters and attending staff meetings. Once, when Redford was standing in a hallway, a group of high school students came through on a tour of the newspaper offices. The students immediately started taking pictures of Redford with their pocket cameras. At that point, Bob Woodward walked by. Redford told the students, "Wait a minute! Here's the real Bob Woodward, the guy I'm playing in the movie! Don't you want to take a picture of him?" The students said no, and walked on. Hoffman also recalled that he had been asked by the paper's science reporter to fetch a new typewriter ribbon. Due to Hoffman's long hair and casual dress, the science reporter had mistaken him for a copy boy. 

The film introduced the catchphrase "follow the money", which was absent from the book, or any documentation of Watergate.

The telephone number that Robert Redford dials for the White House is the real number of the White House Switchboard: 456-1414.

Washington Post boss Katherine Graham, who was initially very apprehensive about the film using the paper's name, loved the film and later wrote a letter of praise and approval to star and co-producer Robert Redford.

Actress Jane Alexander's Oscar nominated performance for Best Actress in a Supporting Role runs for only around just over eight minutes in total screen-time.

Chris Carter often quotes this movie as one of his bigger inspirations for The X-Files(1993), wherein a prominent character used the Deep Throat codename. Perhaps not coincidentally, one of the names on Woodward and Bernstein's list of CREEP employees is "Scully."

Robert Redford's first choice for the role of Carl Bernstein was Al Pacino.

This feature film contains twenty-five telephone conversations in which audiences are privy to both sides of the dialogue exchange.

The film cast includes five Oscar winners: Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jason Robards, Martin Balsam and F. Murray Abraham; and five Oscar nominees: Jack Warden, Hal Holbrook, Ned Beatty, Lindsay Crouse and Jane Alexander.

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

Robert Redford actually met Richard Nixon. When he was 13, Redford was presented an award for athletic prowess by the man who would go on to be President. Even then, Redford said he found the man to be rather creepy.

FILM 1800: ZODIAC

FILM 1800: ZODIAC

TRIVIA: The Zodiac case was re-opened after the release of the film.

The only real comment that Robert Graysmith said about the finished screenplay was, "God, now I see why my wife divorced me."

The shooting script was two hundred pages long. To prevent any problems with length, that such a long script might cause, Director David Fincher decided to ask his cast members to speak faster.

The producers hired a private investigator to track down the real-life Zodiac survivor, Mike Mageau.

Hair was digitally added to the close-ups of Jake Gyllenhaal's knuckles as he draws or holds letters. David Fincher felt that Gyllenhaal's hands "were too hairless and pretty".

When Mark Ruffalo met David Toschi, the investigator he plays in the film, he was very impressed to learn that Toschi had perfect recall of every detail of every case.

Robert Graysmith and Paul Avery were not actually friends. Their relationship is fictionalized for the film.

David Fincher was always first choice to direct, based on his work on Se7en (1995).

Jake Gyllenhaal shares one of the film's creepiest scenes with Charles Fleischer. In real-life, the two have known each other since Gyllenhaal was three years old.

Anthony Edwards was cast as Armstrong because David Fincher wanted him to be played by a thoroughly decent person. Fincher already knew him, not so much from his work on ER (1994), but because he was a neighbor.

Because he wanted the film to be as accurate as possible, David Fincher decided not to depict any of the alleged Zodiac murders for which there were no surviving victims or witnesses.

In order to save time, David Fincher decided to digitally add all the blood in the murder scenes.

Robert Downey Jr. was so unaccustomed to the experience of both David Fincher's multiple takes, and the process of filming digitally, that he rebelled against David for "having no time to get my shit together in my trailer" by hiding mason jars full of his urine on set.

(At around thirty-three minutes) Dave Toschi, in real-life, was the inspiration for Steve McQueen's performance in Bullitt (1968). In the film, Graysmith mentions that Toschi wears his gun like Bullitt. Avery replies that Bullitt got it from Toschi.

Dermot Mulroney had to wear a fat suit for his few short scenes, because David Fincherfelt he was in far too good shape for his character.

David Fincher's template for the film was Alan J. Pakula's All the President's Men (1976).

South Korean film Director Joon-ho Bong has classified David Fincher's film as a "masterpiece," writing that "There was really nothing to find fault with about it, down to the cinematography, art direction, and action."

Daniel Craig was first choice for Paul Avery.

(At around fourteen minutes) The bar Paul Avery frequents in the film, is called Morti's. Mortis is Latin for death.

Two of the lead actors, Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey, Jr., would go on to co-star in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as The Hulk and Iron Man respectively.

The historical Paul Avery did not withdraw from working at the San Francisco Chronicle to a life of reclusive obscurity, as the film suggests. In 1974-75 he did reportage on the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst which he turned into a high-profile published book, "The Voices of Guns" (1976); he was also married with two daughters, a fact the film does not mention.

PODCAST: UNTOLD: THE DANIEL MORGAN MURDER

PODCAST: UNTOLD: THE DANIEL MORGAN MURDER

SEASON ONE & TWO

The Untold Story

The phone hacking scandal that closed News of the World was big, but that was just the tip of the iceberg.  At the bottom of that iceberg of 'dark arts' - hacking, burglary, bugging, and bribing bent cops - is the body of Daniel Morgan. 

It’s been described by an Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police as “one of the most disgraceful episodes in the entire history of the Metropolitan Police Service.” 

Over the three decades since Daniel was killed, five failed police investigations and an ongoing panel inquiry, his has become the most investigated murder in British history.

The story moves from back streets of London, through the highest echelons of Scotland Yard, to the offices of Rupert Murdoch's best selling newspapers, to the doors of Number Ten Downing Street. 

If you haven't heard this story, ask yourself, why? 

MY VERDICT: I listened to both seasons straight after one another and I binged the whole thing pretty quickly. That was a problem, as the second season does go back over a lot of the information from the first. However this was my problem and not something that the makers of ‘Untold’ can be blamed for.

The podcast is very well made and the story is fascinating. There is so much more to this story than a straight forward whodunit, probably because all involved are pretty sure they know who was responsible for the murder of Daniel Morgan, instead we delve into a world of underhand tactics by not only private investigators but also the police and the media. 

I would thoroughly recommend this podcast and found it refreshing to hear a story based in England, it meant a little more to me to know the places and people involved than the predominately American podcasts I had listened to in the past, and it’s nice to hear an English voice for a change. Even if you’re not from England, I think the storytellers give a good enough description of things that even those unfamiliar with newspapers like The News of the World will still be able to follow. However, be warned, there is a lot of information to digest, a lot characters to remember and after five full investigations a whole lot to process, hopefully with more to come this will all be worth it.

http://www.untoldmurder.com

BOOK 183: A CURIOUS MAN: THE STRANGE AND BRILLIANT LIFE OF ROBERT "BELIEVE IT OR NOT!" RIPLEY: NEAL THOMPSON

BOOK 183: A CURIOUS MAN: THE STRANGE AND BRILLIANT LIFE OF ROBERT "BELIEVE IT OR NOT!" RIPLEY: NEAL THOMPSON

A Curious Man is the marvelously compelling biography of Robert "Believe It or Not" Ripley, the enigmatic cartoonist turned globetrotting millionaire who won international fame by celebrating the world's strangest oddities, and whose outrageous showmanship taught us to believe in the unbelievable. 

As portrayed by acclaimed biographer Neal Thompson, Ripley's life is the stuff of a classic American fairy tale. Buck-toothed and cursed by shyness, Ripley turned his sense of being an outsider into an appreciation for the strangeness of the world. After selling his first cartoon to Time magazine at age eighteen, more cartooning triumphs followed, but it was his "Believe It or Not" conceit and the wildly popular radio shows it birthed that would make him one of the most successful entertainment figures of his time and spur him to search the globe's farthest corners for bizarre facts, exotic human curiosities, and shocking phenomena. 

Ripley delighted in making outrageous declarations that somehow always turned out to be true--such as that Charles Lindbergh was only the sixty-seventh man to fly across the Atlantic or that "The Star Spangled Banner" was not the national anthem. Assisted by an exotic harem of female admirers and by ex-banker Norbert Pearlroth, a devoted researcher who spoke eleven languages, Ripley simultaneously embodied the spirit of Peter Pan, the fearlessness of Marco Polo and the marketing savvy of P. T. Barnum. 

In a very real sense, Ripley sought to remake the world's aesthetic. He demanded respect for those who were labeled "eccentrics" or "freaks"--whether it be E. L. Blystone, who wrote 1,615 alphabet letters on a grain of rice, or the man who could swallow his own nose. 

By the 1930s Ripley possessed a vast fortune, a private yacht, and a twenty-eight room mansion stocked with such "oddities" as shrunken heads and medieval torture devices, and his pioneering firsts in print, radio, and television were tapping into something deep in the American consciousness--a taste for the titillating and exotic, and a fascination with the fastest, biggest, dumbest and most weird. Today, that legacy continues and can be seen in reality TV, YouTube, America's Funniest Home Videos, Jackass, MythBusters and a host of other pop-culture phenomena. 

In the end Robert L. Ripley changed everything. The supreme irony of his life, which was dedicated to exalting the strange and unusual, is that he may have been the most amazing oddity of all.

(From the Hardcover edition.)

MY VERDICT: Despite that fact that I was eager to know the story behind Ripley, of Believe it or Not fame, and I have been wanting to read this book for ages, I was disappointed with this book. It dragged quite a bit and although there are some interesting facts, especially when you relate things to specific people and events from the past, the book is just too long. I would also have liked to see a few more of Ripley’s cartoons in the middle.

FILM 1757: THE POST

FILM 1757: THE POST 

TRIVIA: In all of the scenes depicting President Nixon on the phone in the Oval Office, Nixon's actual voice is heard from White House tapes. 

In scenes involving the Pentagon Papers, the actual Daniel Ellsberg's original documents were used as genuine props, including the pages that were scattered over the floor of Benjamin C. Bradlee (Tom Hanks)' home.

In his memoir, the real Daniel Ellsberg claimed that walking out of RAND with the Pentagon Papers (and returning them) over the course of months was a calculated risk, since he had never had his bag checked by security, but he did not know for sure if it was not policy to do so.

Steven Spielberg wanted to have his film released as quickly as possible given the parallels between its theme and the burgeoning political 'fake news' climate in the U.S. According to Meryl Streep, the physical shoot started in May (2017) and finished at the end of July (2017) and Spielberg had it cut two weeks later, an unprecedented feat. The gestation from script to final cut lasted a modest 9 months.

Never having previously collaborated with director Steven Spielberg in a director/actor capacity, Meryl Streep was flabbergasted to learn that Spielberg never rehearses with his actors. Co-star Tom Hanks was well aware of this idiosyncrasy but decided, in gleeful anticipation of a 'diva' reaction, not to tell Streep. Despite her initial shock, Meryl and Steven got along extremely well during the shoot with Spielberg being so impressed with her character transformation, he had difficulty restraining himself from constantly complimenting her every take on set.

Benjamin Bradlee (Tom Hanks character) in real life had a son named Ben Bradlee Junior who is depicted in the film Spotlight (played by John Slattery). The film is based on the true story about about the Boston Globe newspaper uncovering a major scandal.

The Post is dedicated to Nora Ephron, once married to Carl Bernstein who with Bob Woodward uncovered the Watergate scandal in 1972 as reporters for The Washington Post.

Tom Hanks has a connection with both of the film's main characters' real-life individuals. Hanks actually personally knew Ben Bradlee (who Hanks portrays in the film), and he met Kay Graham (who Meryl Streep portrays in the film) the day before she died.

Coincidentally, Benjamin C. Bradlee and wife Sally Quinn were Long Island neighbors of Steven Spielberg for many years, and they knew each other socially.

With this film, his fifth collaboration with Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks broke his tie with Harrison Ford to be the actor that Spielberg has directed the most times. Ford has also been directed by Spielberg five times, but his scene in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) was cut from the final film.

Michael Stuhlbarg is in three of the movies nominated for best picture Oscars: The Shape of Water, Call Me By Your Name, and The Post, but he was not nominated himself.

The Post marks the 28th collaboration between Williams (composer of the film's score) and Spielberg. The score uses a combination of both orchestral and sparse, light electronic elements throughout.

THE WIRE (2002–2008)

TRIVIA: The character of "Bubbles", played by Andre Royo, was largely based on a real Baltimore drug addict and police informant who went by that name. The real Bubbles, who would slur his speech much more than the fictional character, first started working with the cops near the early 1960's after being arrested for a burglary. He spent the next few decades as an informant, leading to the arrest of several hundred felons and getting paid at least $50 for each one caught. His photographic memory and ability to blend into the scene made him one of the best in the city. Eventually he would start using the hat method portrayed on the series, where he acted as if he was selling hats and would place one of a certain color on the head of those the police should arrest.

According to Michael Kenneth Williams, he secretly struggled with a cocaine addiction during the third season. He never missed a day of work nor was he ever late. He also suffered with an identity crisis due to his popularity as Omar.

Clark Johnson , who plays newspaper editor Gus directed both the pilot and the last episode of the show.

The writers/producers briefly considered doing a sixth season about the influx of Latinos into Baltimore, but none of them knew enough about Baltimore's Latino population to write about it so the idea was dropped.

Stephen King called Snoop "perhaps the most terrifying female villain to ever appear in a television series".

Michael Kenneth Williams got the role of Omar after one audition.

Entertainment Weekly included Omar Little in its list of the "16 Ultimate TV Antiheroes" at position #3 in the July 15, 2012 issue.

When Dominic West first auditioned on videotape from his London home, he tried to have his girlfriend read the lines for the other characters in the scene, but her English accent kept throwing him off and he kept laughing. So West performed the scene himself by leaving pauses where the other character's lines were supposed to be. West admits to imitating Robert De Niro for his audition. At first, the producers found the audition tape "weird" and "comic" but they reconsidered when they concentrated on West's performance. When West was offered the role, he became reluctant because the contract was for five seasons. But his agent convinced him that the show would not last more than one. It ended up lasting five seasons.

Tom Waits - composer of the show's title theme, 'Way Down In The Hole' - agreed that The Wire's producers could make use of the song provided they first let him see the show. Videotapes were promptly dispatched to the Waits household, followed by weeks of agonising silence. When the execs finally got the courage to give the legendary singer-songwriter a call, Mr Waits explained that he'd received the cassettes but he couldn't play them because he didn't know how to operate his VCR. "My wife knows how to use it and she'll be back in a couple of days," Waits continued. Two days later, a release was signed.

Senator Clay Davis' catchprase "Sheeeeee-it" didn't appear in the script. It was added by Isiah Whitlock Jr..

The scars on both Michael Kenneth Williams and Jamie Hector's faces are real.

Due to the fact they hadn't appeared in anything significant until The Wire, and their American accents were so perfect in the show, many people were unaware that Idris Elba and Dominic West were actually British.

This is Barack Obama's favourite show and his favourite character is Omar. He said, "That's not an endorsement. He's not my favourite person, but he's a fascinating character."

Prez's experiences as a teacher are based on those of Ed Burns, who became a Baltimore middle school teacher when he retired from the Police.

In season one, two detectives, Augustus Polk and Patrick Mahon - were assigned to the Barksdale detail. The names "Polk" and "Mahon" are a play on "pogue mahone," the anglicized version of an Irish expression meaning "kiss my ass." "Pogue Mahone" was also the original name of Irish folk-punk band The Pogues, whose music is used throughout the series.

The producers wanted to keep a documentary-type atmosphere. Therefore, aside from the ending montage at the end of each season and a few exceptions, no musical score is used in the series. The music had to be coming from a stereo, boombox, etc. i.e. it had to be literally part of the scene.

Ranked #8 on Empire magazine's 50 Greatest TV Shows Of All Time (2008).

Felicia Pearson was discovered by Michael Kenneth Williams at a Baltimore club. He invited her to come to the set one day and he introduced her to the writers and the producers, and after subsequent auditions, she was offered a role in the series.

In preparation for the role of Bodie, J.D. Williams walked around Baltimore's inner city during the middle of the night a few days before the first taping; talking about this to AllHipHop, Williams stated "it was like 12 or 1:00 in the morning. I just threw on a black hoodie and walked around. I went to one of their hoods and watched that night. I learned not to do that no more, I was lucky I made it back that night."

Wood Harris (Avon) and Michael B. Jordan (Wallace) would later co-star in Creed (2015).

By the end of shooting for season 1, the producers realized that shooting for subsequent seasons should take place mostly on the eastern side of Baltimore because of the lack of trees. Without as many trees in the frame, the passing of the seasons (Fall, Winter, Spring & Summer) during a running season of the show wouldn't interfere with the continuity of the story.