FILM 1972: DEAD CALM

FILM 1972: DEAD CALM

TRIVIA: Before filming began, Nicole Kidman took lessons from the owner of the Storm Vogel on how to operate the ship. During the storm sequences near the end of the film, she is actually piloting the yacht.

For the scene where Hughie rips off Rae's shorts, Billy Zane really did rip off Nicole Kidman's shorts through his own sheer strength without any alterations made to the shorts to make them easier to rip.

Sam Neill met his wife, Noriko Watanabe, in the making of this film.

FILM 1861: WAIT UNTIL DARK

FILM 1861: WAIT UNTIL DARK

TRIVIA: In an interview, Alan Arkin talked about the Oscar nominations he received for his early major film roles (The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! (1966) and The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968)). When asked if he was surprised that he was overlooked for "Wait Until Dark", his second movie, he replied: "You don't get nominated for being mean to Audrey Hepburn!"

During World War II, 16-year-old Audrey Hepburn was a volunteer nurse in a Dutch hospital. During the battle of Arnhem, Hepburn's hospital received many wounded Allied soldiers. One of the injured soldiers young Audrey helped nurse back to health was a young British paratrooper - and future director - named Terence Young who more than 20 years later directed Hepburn in Wait Until Dark (1967).

In his non-fiction book Danse Macabre, Stephen King declared this to be the scariest movie of all time and that Alan Arkin's performance "may be the greatest evocation of screen villainy ever."

As a way to get people to see the movie, the filmmakers made a print ad and cautionary trailer that read: 'During the last eight minutes of this picture the theatre will be darkened to the legal limit, to heighten the terror of the breathtaking climax which takes place in nearly total darkness on the screen. If there are sections where smoking is permitted, those patrons are respectfully requested not to jar the effect by lighting up during this sequence. And of course, no one will be seated at this time.' It worked and the film became a huge success because of it.

In order to create a sense of unease, the film's composer Henry Mancini had his two pianists, Pearl Kaufman and Jimmy Rowles, playing instruments tuned a quarter tone apart. Initially uncertain as to whether this novel approach would achieve the desired end, Mancini was reassured in short order, when, after just a few takes of the main title, Kaufman turned to him and said, 'Hank, can we please take a break? This is making me ill!' 'She made my day,' the composer recalled fondly. 'The device was working.'

A revival of the play, directed by Leonard Foglia, opened on April 5, 1998 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, where it ran for 97 performances. The cast included Marisa Tomei, Quentin Tarantino, and Stephen Lang.

This film was ranked #55 on AFI's '100 Years, 100 Thrills' special.

FILM 1786: HEREDITARY

TRIVIA: In Peter's first scene at school, the words "Escaping Fate" is on the chalkboard with the teacher discussing it. This is a reference to Halloween (1978), where the main character discusses the same thing in class. Appropriately, this movie was released the same day as the trailer for Halloween (2018).

In an interview, Alex Wolff explains that he wanted to actually break his own nose for the scene where his character slams his head into a desk. Director Ari Aster respectfully declined that offer and told Wolff they'd give him a soft, cushioned desk for the scene. When it was time for the scene to be shot, Wolff slams his head into the desk only to discover that it was not soft nor made out of foam that resulted into Wolffs actual blood gushing down to his knees

Allegedly a trailer for the film was accidentally shown at a screening of Peter Rabbit(2018) in Australia. However, a very similar event supposedly happened in 2007, where a trailer for The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 was allegedly shown to a theatre full of small children ( source: moviefone.com/2007/04/06/theater-accidentally-shows-hills-have-eyes-2-to-little-kids/amp/ ) Similar stories have been reported several times since then, even reported by reputable news sources, with a graphic horror film allegedly being shown to a group of small children, who were at the theater to see a kids' movie. In all alleged instances, the theatre is said to give free movie vouchers for all present. The similarities of these stories have made some speculate that it is nothing more than an urban legend.

This was director Ari Aster's feature debut.

Ari Aster was heavily influenced by the film The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover (1989).

Toni Collete (Annie) is actually 22 years younger than her on screen husband, Gabriel Byrne.

FILM 1687: CIRCLE

TRIVIA: Writers/Directors, Aaron Hann and Mario Miscione, previously worked together on the award winning web series The Vault (2011). A few of the actors from the series can also be seen in Circle.

Circle was filmed in Los Angeles in just over 10 days, shooting at the unusually fast rate of 11-13 pages a day.

Film 1012: Hard Candy

Trivia: When they were filming the scene where Hayley implies that everything Jeff thinks he knows about her is a lie, producers asked if they could include a line where she states that she was actually 18 years old rather than 14. Ellen Page was adamantly against the suggestion because she thought it undermined the premise of the film.

The inspiration comes from Japan. Producer David Higgins had read reports of Japanese schoolgirls ambushing men who surfed the Internet for underage dates and later developed the story.

Patrick Wilson briefly passed out due to overexertion during filming of the intense surgery scene.

Because Ellen Page shaved her head for her previous film role, during the audition she was mistaken for a boy. The effect was so off-putting she had to put on a wig, where she then gave a phenomenal reading.

Since the last two days of the shoot were the scenes set in the coffee shop, they were a nice change of pace for the actors and the crew. All the scenes set in Jeff's house were grueling for everyone.

Film 982: The Tall Man

When her child goes missing, a mother looks to unravel the legend of the Tall Man, an entity who allegedly abducts children.