FILM 1542: MISS CONGENIALITY

TRIVIA: Cheryl "Rhode Island's" answer to the question "What is your idea of a perfect date?" was actually used as an answer in a real beauty pageant.

This movie reunites Sandra Bullock & Banjamin Bratt since Demolition Man (1993). They portray partners in law enforcement in both films.

The opening scenes take place in a Russian restaurant named Laika. Laika was the first dog in space, and the name means "Barker."

FILM 1415: SUSPECT ZERO

TRIVIA: Sylvester Stallone, Tom Cruise and Ben Affleck were all said to have expressed interest in appearing in the project in the late 1990s. Cruise eventually took up a position as producer on the project instead, but he asked to have his name removed from the credits just prior to release.

The movie was funded in conjunction with New Mexico's Film Investment Program.

The original 1995 draft by Zak Penn circulated around Hollywood for seven years before finally being made. After several drafts were rejected, the original draft, with several revisions by Billy Ray, was used for shooting.

Richard Friedenberg, Ben Affleck, and Paul Schrader all worked on rewriting the script before Billy Ray.

FILM 1183: THE STING

TRIVIA: The movie was filmed on the backlot of Universal studios and the diner in which Hooker meets Lonnegan is the same diner interior used in Back to the Future (1985) in which Marty McFly first meets his father and calls Doc Brown.

The rigged Black 22 at the roulette wheel, where Hooker loses the bet at the beginning of the movie, is the same spot that Rick Blaine uses for both Captain Renault and the Bulgarian couple to set them up to win in Casablanca.

Robert Shaw injured his knee and incorporated the resulting limp into his performance. According to "You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again" by Julia Phillips, Shaw split all the ligaments in his knee after slipping on a wet handball court at the Beverly Hills Hotel a week before filming started. He had to wear a leg brace during production which was kept hidden under the wide 1930s style trousers he wore.

Edith Head won her 8th and final Best Costume Design Academy Award for this film. "Just imagine," she said during her acceptance speech. "Dressing the two handsomest men in the world and then getting this."

The gin that Paul Newman uses in the train scenes is Gordon's Gin, the same gin that Humphrey Bogart drinks on The African Queen.

Film 1096: American Hustle

Trivia: The fight scene that takes place in the bedroom between Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence is completely improvised. A version of it had been written in the script, but the actors were struggling to connect with it, so director David O. Russell ultimately decided to allow them to say what they wanted.

According to Christian Bale much of the movie was improvised. So, during the shooting of the film he noted to David O. Russell, "You realize that this is going to change the plot greatly down track." To which the director replied, "Christian, I hate plots. I am all about characters, that's it."

David O. Russell stated that Robert De Niro didn't recognize Christian Bale on the set even after they were introduced to each other. De Niro pulled Russell aside, pointed to Bale and asked who he was. First De Niro didn't believe it was Bale but after Russell convinced him of that De Niro noted, 'Wow, he looks really different", and nodded his head as a sign of approval. Russell then had to re-introduce the two now that De Niro knew who Bale was.

Christian Bale achieved the physical traits of his character by gaining over 40 pounds, getting a comb-over and slouching his posture and ended up herniating two of his disks in the process.

The film is a fictionalized telling of the Abscam (short for Arab scam) scandal of the late 1970s and early 1980s, an FBI operation that began as an investigation of trafficking in stolen property, but was later expanded to include political corruption.

David O. Russell wrote the characters of Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence, Louis C.K. and Robert De Niro expressly for each of the actors to play them.

David O. Russell developed and expanded the role of Rosalyn Rosenfeld specifically for Jennifer Lawrence, who drew inspiration as well as the accent for the character from watching The Real Housewives of New Jersey (2009). Rosalyn is based on Cynthia Marie Weinberg, the wife of Melvin Weinberg (who was the basis for Irving Rosenfeld).

In the early 1980s French director Louis Malle adapted the Abscam story into a film script entitled "Moon Over Miami", with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi set to star, with Belushi playing a conman & Aykroyd playing an FBI agent, but Belushi's death in March 1982 scuttled plans for the film.