FILM 1315: THE PRINCESS DIARIES

TRIVIA: The picture of Mia's deceased father next to her music box is actually Anne Hathaway's real life father. He also appears to be writing the letter to her while fishing.

When Mia accidentally sets the man's arm on fire, the flames were supposed to go out when he puts his arm in the ice bucket, but they didn't. Anne Hathaway panicked and threw the glass of water on it, which was not scripted.

Anne Hathaway's movie debut.

One of the waiters in the scene when Mia drops something at the dinner says, "It happens all the time." The same actor played a waiter in Pretty Woman (1990), and also said the exact same line when Julia Roberts' character flings the snail and the waiter catches it. Both films were directed by Garry Marshall.

The director, Garry Marshall, told Anne Hathaway to gain a bit of weight to portray a full figure role model.

This movie was filmed on Stage 2 in Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, the same stage in which the film Mary Poppins (1964) was shot. The stage has since been named in honor of Julie Andrews, who starred in both films. The rental house that Julie Andrews lived in while filming Mary Poppins (1964) was lived in by Garry Marshall while filming this movie.

While filming the final celebratory dance scene, the Madonna song "Like A Prayer" was played on a boom-box to elicit natural dancing from the actors on set (to be then dubbed over by the song that appears in the film's final cut). The assistant director had to do multiple takes of this scene because the actors kept mouthing the words to "Like A Prayer" while on camera.

Kathleen Marshall, who plays the role of Charlotte, is the director Garry Marshall's daughter.

Mia's dress from the dinner party (the periwinkle one) is a copy of the dress that Kronprinsessan Victoria of Sweden wore to the Nobel Prize gala in 1997.

Produced by Whitney Houston.

FILM 1233: TANGLED

TRIVIA: The longest animated Disney film since Fantasia (1940).

According to the animators for Flynn, he's meant to be 26 years old, thus making him 8 years older than Rapunzel, who is 18 in the film - the largest age gap between any other Disney princess couple.

This is the first animated Disney "princess" film to get a PG rating by the MPAA. All other Disney "princess" films got a G rating.

The character design of Flynn came from the process which was called the 'hot man meeting' by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard, during which they set up a meeting with all of the female employees of the studio in one room and asked them for their opinions of what made a man good looking in order to create Flynn's character design with features such as eye color, hair color and style and body type. Video footage showed concept art and photos of various male celebrities, including Johnny Depp, Hugh Jackman, Brad Pitt, David Beckham and Gene Kelly on the walls of the room.

Rapunzel is the first Disney Princess with supernatural powers.

Disney's 50th animated feature.

The descending lantern that Rapunzel lifted back skyward was the one her parents, the king and queen launched from the palace veranda. It was the only one with the royal symbol of the sun on it.

You will find Pinocchio in the Snuggly Duckling, right after the cupid is swung to the right of the screen. You will find him in the top right corner in the rafters.

In the marketplace, when Rapunzel looks at the mosaic of herself, the camera cuts from her eyes to the tile eyes of the picture and - very briefly - there is a clarinet musical motif that is exactly the same as the motif in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), when Cameron is looking at the pointillist painting and the camera cuts between Cameron's eyes and that of the child in the painting. The moment is just a fraction of a second; just after that, Rapunzel looks at the clarinet player walking behind her and smiles.

According to Glen Keane, the movie's visual style (a three-dimensional painting) was greatly inspired by the Romantic painting "The Swing", by the French rococo artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard: "A fairy tale world has to feel romantic and lush, very painterly." For a clear idea of what was intended, the animators duplicated the picture in 3D to achieve a shot containing depth and dimensions.

Natalie Portman was considered for Rapunzel and her audition recording was used for a pencil test.

FILM 1169: NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND

TRIVIA: Hayao Miyazaki was so upset by the original international cut version that he sent a samurai sword to the Executive at Disney with a simple note which read: "No cuts."

Nausicaä is the name of a character in Homer's Odyssey.

The military planes invading the Valley have yellow wingtip undersides. Hitler's Luftwaffe had similar yellow identification markings during German invasions of surrounding countries.

Ohmu means "king of the insects" in Japanese. It is short for "O-mushi" ("big/great insect").

While many consider this to be a Studio Ghibli film, it was actually created before the studio was properly founded. The first movie produced by Studio Ghibli was "Castle in the Sky."

http://www.designfetish.org

Film 995: The Princess and the Frog

Trivia: The alligator character in the film is named Louis in honor of jazz great Louis Armstrong, who was nicknamed 'Dippermouth', 'Satchelmouth' and 'Satchmo'.

Animator Bruce W. Smith described Dr Facilier as "the love child of Peter Pan's Captain Hook and 101 Dalmatians's Cruella DeVil."

The animation style was influenced primarily by Lady and the Tramp (for the city scenes) and Bambi (for the bayou scenes). Those films were, in the directors' opinion, "the peak of animation in the classic Disney animation style."

Aladdin's flying carpet can be seen on the right during one of the city shots.

Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, and Tyra Banks were all considered for the lead role. Keys and Banks personally lobbied the studio for the part.

Anika Noni Rose (Tiana), requested that Tiana be left-handed, because Rose herself is left-handed.

When Louis is describing Mama Odie in the swamp he pulls some Spanish moss down around his head and leaves his snout sticking out. This mirrors an almost identical scene in Disney's "The Sword in the Stone" when the Mad Madam Mim pulls her hair down over her face just before she transforms into an alligator.

Film 942: The Princess Bride

Trivia: The fencing masters that Inigo and Westley talk about studying are all real fencing masters from the 14th to 16th centuries (although the styles of fighting they are using have little to do with what those masters actually taught).

Director Rob Reiner left the set during Billy Crystal's scenes because he would laugh so hard that he would feel nauseated.

Despite his character Fezzik's almost-superhuman strength, André the Giant's back problems at the time prevented him from actually lifting anything heavy. Robin Wright had to be attached to wires in the scene where Buttercup jumps from the castle window into Fezzik's arms because he couldn't support her himself.

The two rival kingdoms in the movie are Florin and Guilder. These are the names of two former Dutch currencies, the Florijn and Gulden.

According to author William Goldman, when he was first trying to get the movie made in the 1970s, a then-unknown Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to play Fezzik, and he was strongly being considered because Goldman could never get his first choice, André the Giant, to read for the role. By the time the movie was made about 12 years later, Arnold was such a big star they could not afford him, Andre was cast after all and the two big men had gone on to become friends.

Most of the movie was filmed on location in England. The castle used for the film was Haddon Hall, a fortified country house (not a castle as such) that dates to before 1087 (when it was listed in the Domesday Book). The tapestries in Haddon Hall interiors are original, dating to the late medieval and renaissance periods.

The giant rodents were created with diminutive actors inside rat suits. On the day Westley was supposed to battle the giant rat, the "rat actor" was pulled over for speeding and subsequently arrested, and actually had to be bailed out of jail by the filmmakers so the scene could be filmed.

Mandy Patinkin claims that the only injury he sustained during the entire filming of this movie was a bruised rib due to stifling his laughter in his scenes with Billy Crystal.

Max and Valerie, played by Billy Crystal and Carol Kane respectively, were named after author William Goldman's parents, Max and Valerie.

There really was a "Dread Pirate Roberts" (Bartholomew Roberts, also known as Black Bart) who operated in the Caribbean in the early 18th century. He is reckoned by many to have been the most successful pirate of all time.

Cary Elwes was cast because of what Rob Reiner called his Douglas Fairbanks or Errol Flynn quality. Fairbanks and Flynn both played Robin Hood (Fairbanks in Robin Hood and Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood). Later Elwes spoofed their performances in Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

Mandy Patinkin has said that the role of Inigo Montoya is his personal favourite over the course of his entire career.

Uma Thurman auditioned for the role of Buttercup.