FILM 1880: APOLLO 13

FILM 1880: APOLLO 13

TRIVIA: In a commentary track, Marilyn Lovell comments that Tom Hanks exactly portrays Jim Lovell's mannerisms and style of movement.

The famous understatement was actually made twice by two astronauts. Jack Swigertsaid, "OK Houston, we've had a problem here." Mission Control said, "This is Houston. Say again, please." Then Jim Lovell said, "Ahh, Houston, we've had a problem." On the recording, Swigert is garbled at the beginning, while Lovell is clear, so the recording of Lovell is often heard, leading to the impression he said it, even though Swigert said it first. It's commonly misquoted as, "Houston, we've got a problem," or "Houston, we have a problem." Because "we've had" implies the problem has passed, Ron Howard chose to use "we have".

Jim Lovell wore his old Navy Captain's uniform in the scene where he greets the astronauts aboard the U.S.S. Iwo Jima. When Ron Howard asked Lovell if he'd like to be in the film as the ship's Admiral, Lovell agreed, but pointed out, "I retired as a Captain; a Captain I will be."

In some scenes where the Earth can be seen from the windows of Apollo 13, it is one of the photos taken by Jim Lovell and Bill Anders on the Apollo 8 mission.

Marilyn Lovell really did lose her ring down the drain, but eventually found it again.

Ron Howard's favorite of his own films.

John Cusack and Charlie Sheen were originally offered the role of Fred Haise (played by Bill Paxton), but turned it down.

The Mission Control set was nearly a carbon copy of the original one in Houston. The production crew originally wanted to film in the original Mission Control room in Houston, which is now a historic landmark. However, the original room was found to be too small to be used for a film production. The production crew took precise measurements of every part of the room and replicated it on a Hollywood set. One of the real Apollo 13 flight controllers, Jerry Bostick, left the Mission Control set one day looking for the elevator, convinced that it was the real thing (the original Mission Control is on the third floor of the building).

Many of the actors in Mission Control were being fed lines directly from technical advisers on set.

CAMEO:Jean Speegle Howard: Ron Howard's mother plays Blanche Lovell.

FILM 1636: PASSENGERS 

TRIVIA: The voice of The Starship Avalon belongs to voiceover artist Emma Clarke, who is also one of the iconic 'Mind the Gap' voices on London Underground.

The bar scenes in Passengers (2016) are seem to be inspired by the bar scenes in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980). Similarities include: the bartenders are dressed in red tuxedos, carry themselves in a sophisticated manner, have a strange friendship with the lead male, are not concerned with payment, bartenders are unable to leave. In addition, the primary light source in the bar and lounge shines from below rather than above. Finally, the iconic orange and red carpet design from Overlook Hotel can be seen in the seating area.

On the poster, under the title contains the symbols: dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot dot - morse code for S.O.S

Jennifer Lawrence's character is named Aurora, a nod to Disney's Sleeping Beauty (1959).

According to a news article by The Hollywood Reporter, both leads will be pulling down double digit millions: Chris Pratt will be paid $12 Million while Jennifer Lawrence is looking at $20 Million against 30% of the profits.

The screenplay for this film was featured in the 2007 Blacklist; a list of the "most liked" unmade scripts of the year.

The Starship Avalon, shares its name with the mythical location where King Arthur is taken to recover from his wounds - the place whence he would one day return. As such, the bartender, Arthur, is aptly named.

David Fincher was attached to direct this film at an early stage after it was green-lit by Sony but left the project before any casting decisions were made. Rumors that Darren Aronofsky had considered directing the film were false; they were based largely on Aranofsky directing Jennifer Lawrence in a different film right before she began her work on this movie.

FILM 1466: THE MARTIAN

TRIVIA: The Mars exteriors were shot in Wadi Rum, Jordan, which has a red colored desert. Another Mars mission film, Red Planet (2000), was shot there.

The writer of the novel, Andy Weir, first published his book for free on his own blog for fun. Then people asked him to put it in a downloadable form, then to put it on Amazon for Kindle download which he did at the then minimum price of $0.99.

The atmospheric pressure on the Martian surface averages 600 Pa (0.087 psi), about 0.6% of Earth's mean sea level pressure of 100 kPa (14.69 psi). It is so low that a "fierce storm", as they put it, would be something akin to a very light breeze messing up your hair. Author Andy Weir admitted this was his biggest inaccuracy in the story. Due to the low air density sound would not travel like it does on Earth and you would have to stand next to someone and scream for them to hear you, providing you could survive the freezing cold temperature, poisonous atmosphere and lack of pressure.

The name of the mission is Ares 3, a homage to the Greek god of war, Ares, whose Roman name is Mars. The name of the large ship traveling back and forth between Earth and Mars is Hermes, named after the Greek god who was the messenger and emissary. Hermes was seen as the patron and protector of travelers.

In the novel, Mark Watney has two Masters degrees, one in botany and one in mechanical engineering. In the film, however, he has a PhD in botany and no engineering background is mentioned, although he is shown to have a knowledge of engineering and maintenance of the mission equipment.

Drew Goddard, who wrote the screenplay for the film, was also at one point set to direct, but left that role to go direct The Sinister Six film. After that, Ridley Scott read the script and jumped into the project, rather than making a Prometheus (2012) sequel.

Author Andy Weir originally wrote the novel as a serial on his blog. Writing in this serialized approach allowed him to build the story as he went, essentially crafting each plot point around something that could go wrong, and then working out how Mark would get around it. Weir noted that he could not figure his way around failure of the crucial life support systems, so if the oxygenator, water reclaimer, or RTG failed, Mark would have died.

Here's what Mars is like, according to NASA:

Mars has a reddish-orange glow during the day from all the dust.

Sunrises and sunsets appear blue because Mars has almost no atmosphere.

One day or "sol" on Mars is about 37 minutes longer than an Earth day. The natural human circadian rhythm (or sleep-wake cycle) is about 24 hours and 11 minutes, but experiments have shown that humans have no problems adapting to cycles varying from 23 hours 30 minutes to 24 hours 36 minutes; so humans would not experience major disruptions of their biological clock on Mars.

One Martian year is nearly two Earth years. That's because Mars orbits the Sun much farther away than Earth, so it takes a lot longer for the red planet to complete one lap.

The average surface temperature on Mars is a chilly minus-80 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 62 degrees Celsius). But temperatures can swing from a low of about minus-195 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-126 degrees Celsius) in winter, to a comfortable 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) during the summer.

Gravity on Mars is only about 40% that of Earth's, so a person would be 60% lighter (but not Moon-bouncing light).

Mars has barely any atmosphere - about 1% of the density of the cozy atmospheric blanket around Earth. That's not enough to protect the surface from dangerous space radiation.

The "steely-eye missile man" is a reference to flight controller John Aaron's actions following two lightning strikes to the Apollo 12 rocket in its first minute after liftoff. The electrical surge caused numerous problems in the telemetry system of the craft, which if unresolved would force a mission abort. Aaron recognized the telemetry problem as similar to one seen in testing a year before, and advised that the crew to switch the Signal Conditioning Electronics (SCE) system to the auxiliary position. This control was so obscure that neither the Capsule Commander, nor the Mission Commander knew what, or even where it was, but pilot Alan Bean did, following Aaron's advice. Altering the setting immediately fixed the problem, allowing the mission to continue. Aaron's quick, calm, and effective response to the crisis earned him the appellation, widely considered to be the highest praise possible within NASA. This can also be a reference to the 1995 movie Apollo 13.

Matt Damon has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in this film. This makes him the only nominee in the Best Actor category of the 84th Academy Awards who was nominated for playing a fictional character. All the other Best Actor nominees were nominated for playing historical figures.

FILM 1357: SUNSHINE

TRIVIA: Danny Boyle found working on a sci-fi project so exhausting, he vowed never to make another one again.

Danny Boyle was so impressed with Michelle Yeoh's audition, that he told her that she could choose any part in the script and he would give it to her - he was even prepared to change the gender if she had chosen a male character. She ultimately decided on Corazon, the biologist.

The distinctive golden color of the space suits was intended to make them memorable to sci-fi fans. The character "Kenny" from South Park (1997) was used as a design reference for the funnel-shaped helmet. A small number of suits and helmets were built as wearable costumes, so the actors could experience the claustrophobia and react appropriately.

The book "Moondust" by Andrew Smith, a collection of accounts of the men who had walked on the moon, was required reading for all cast members.

Actual sounds received from space that were captured by a Midwestern university were incorporated into the sound design.

Cillian Murphy worked with leading physicist Brian Cox to learn all about advanced physics. This included touring the CERN facility in Switzerland and learned to copy physicists' mannerisms. Murphy ended up copying some of Cox's personal idiosyncrasies, such as his frequent hand movements. The actor also studied Henri-Georges Clouzot's classic The Wages of Fear (1953) to have an understanding of the type of suspense that Danny Boyle was attempting to create. Murphy has claimed that his involvement in Sunshine (2007) converted him from agnosticism to atheism.

Danny Boyle's third partnership with Alex Garland, after The Beach (2000) and 28 Days Later... (2002).

Film 1059: Star Trek Into Darkness

Trivia: (at 1 hour 17 minutes 18 seconds) When the Vengeance fires on the Enterprise when they are both at warp, one can fleetingly see an R2-D2 being sucked out into space along with various debris, tools, and Enterprise crewmen.

Benedict Cumberbatch's character was not revealed to the actor until a week after he was cast. A studio representative flew to London from Los Angeles with the script handcuffed to his wrist.

Benedict Cumberbatch recorded his screen test at his best friend's kitchen using an iPhone.

There is an inside joke with Chekov being asked to put on a red shirt by Kirk, and Chekov's less than enthusiastic reaction. In a famous interview, Walter Koenig stated that being a part of Star Trek all of these years was fantastic, as long as you didn't wear a red shirt, since most of those who wore the red shirts in TOS were almost always killed.