FILM 1948: PLANET OF THE APES

FILM 1948: PLANET OF THE APES

TRIVIA: Mark Wahlberg joined the film after meeting with Tim Burton for only five minutes. He was so anxious to work with Burton that he agreed to play any part. Wahlberg dropped out of the role of Linus in Ocean's Eleven (2001) to do this film.

Michael Clarke Duncan had sprained his ankle during filming, and was forced to go to the hospital in his full gorilla make-up.

In order to star in the film, Tim Roth declined the role of Professor Severus Snape in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001). Helena Bonham Carter, who plays Ari in this film, would go on to play Bellatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter franchise.

One of the things Rick Baker enjoyed doing was making himself up as an ape and scaring people at a drive-in theater showing the original Planet of the Apes (1968).

Tim Burton said that he would rather jump out of a window than direct a sequel to this film.

In an interview with MTV, while comparing this film with Rise of the Planet of the Apes(2011), Mark Wahlberg blamed 20th Century Fox for screwing the film up, saying, "I haven't seen it yet, but I heard it was pretty damn good. Well, ours wasn't. It is what it is. Ours wasn't. They didn't have the script right. Fox Studios had a release date before Tim Burton had shot a foot of film. They were pushing him and pushing him in the wrong direction. You have to let Tim do his thing."

During filming, Tim Roth held a grudge against Charlton Heston, due to his associations with the National Rifle Association. He said, "It was very difficult for me. On one level, there's the man, and he's my dad. But on the other level, the whole NRA thing is what it is now. I'm so against it, very vocally so. But it was inappropriate for the workplace. If I'm going to talk to him, I'll talk to him outside the workplace. So it was just two guys in make-up doing a scene." Roth later claimed he would not have appeared in the film had he known he would be sharing a scene with Heston.

WILHELM SCREAM: From Tival during the final battle.

FILM 1575: THE LAKE HOUSE

TRIVIA: The actual house did not exist and was built for the movie, then dismantled. In using Google Earth to see the house, enter 41.7142, -87.8901 in the window on the Fly To tab. This will take you to the center of the lake. Zoom to the clearing on the eastern shore. Then select April 29, 2005 as the date.

Sandra Bullock states that she felt compelled to name the dog "Jack" after the character of Keanu Reeves in Speed (1994) - the first movie the two of them made together.

The name of the exclusive restaurant in the film is "Il Mare". "Il Mare" is also the name of the house and the International title of the Korean film upon which "The Lake House" is based, Il Mare (2000).

The Lake House used was located on Maple Lake, a small and well known haunted fishing lake located in Willow Springs, IL.

The address of the building in Chicago at which Sandra Bullock lives is 1620 Racine. This would place it in the same block as the apartment belonging to Sean Connery in The Untouchables (1987) (Connery's character lived at 1634 Racine).

FILM 1525: EDGE OF TOMORROW 

TRIVIA: Based on the manga and novel "All You Need Is Kill" by Hiroshi Sakurazaka.

It was never stated in the movie, but in the manga, the reason why Rita uses a melee weapon is because during her "resets" she would often run out of ammo, which resulted in her deaths. Keiji (in the manga) also learned about the convenience of a melee weapon and started using one.

While filming the car chase scene which includes a minivan, Emily Blunt was instructed to drive fast and then to take a right hand turn so that the van would shake. However, Blunt missed her mark and she drove the car right into a tree. She later said that it was both hilarious and terrifying, as she almost killed Tom Cruise, who was in the passenger seat, but both of them started laughing after the incident.

Emily Blunt admitted that after putting on the metal suit, she started crying because it was so heavy (it weighed 85 pounds) and that she would be required to perform action scenes in it for five months. She was jokingly told by Tom Cruise to "stop being such a wuss."

When Emily Blunt's character is introduced, she is doing a "planche" hold. Although she needed a wire for help on long takes, she is actually capable of doing that maneuver without assistance. In fact, when discussing the introduction, a cast member said, "Em, show that yoga move," and she casually demonstrated it.

The default language setup for Cage's battle armor is Japanese, a nod to the novel's country of origin.

Operation Downfall, the name the movie gave the planned invasion, was in fact a real planned invasion: the final invasion of the Japanese Home Islands to end World War II. The real Operation Downfall never happened, as the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought about the surrender of Japan.

Rita, for her bravery, was nicknamed by the public "The Angel of Verdun." In real life, Verdun was the site in France of the bloodiest battle of WWI in 1916. It lasted almost a year and an estimated one million men on both sides died, and Mons was the site in Belgium of a battle in 1914 and spawned tales of what many consider an otherworldly miracle. A 1914 newspaper short story about the battle, "The Bowmen," written by horror-story specialist Arthur Machen, told the tale of how during the battle, soldiers on both sides saw "supernatural" medieval archers appearing in the sky and causing the enemy to retreat. Despite Machen's attempts to prevent it, his story, which was entirely fictional, quickly inspired a popular and strongly believed account of "the Angels of Mons." The Battle of Verdun occurred two years later and there was no association with angelic apparitions, but Rita's nickname does seem to be inspired by the "Angels of Mons" story.

The sound design of the jacket is the same gun used in Aliens (1986).

At the beginning of the movie, there is a montage of different newscasters, news footage, and public officials trying to deal with the alien invasion. One of the public officials they showed was Hillary Clinton, implying that she was President of the United States. The movie was released in 2014, two years before the 2016 presidential elections.

While preparing for her role here, Emily Blunt was tutored in the Israeli self-defense system of "Krav Maga".

Doug Liman wanted to do the film because it showed a role that Tom Cruise hadn't done yet; someone very bad at what they do.

FILM 1389: BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II

Crispin Glover sued the filmmakers, as he had not granted permission to use his likeness in Part II. Crispin's suit named John Doe 1-100 as defendants, where he did not have to name all of the individuals he was suing. Crispin ended up dropping the lawsuit after the case was settled out of court for $765,000 by Universal's insurance company, who decided it would be cheaper to pay Crispin than to actually go to trial. The Screen Actors Guild subsequently introduced new rules about illicit use of actors.

First film appearance by Elijah Wood. He plays one of the two video game boys that Marty speaks to in the diner near the start of the film.

Renowned scientist Carl Sagan considered this the greatest time travel movie ever made. He praised the accuracy in handling the multiple time lines as what would really happen if time travel were possible. In Back to the Future: The Game, Carl Sagan is the alias used by Doc Brown when visiting Hill Valley in 1931.

The biggest effect of the picture is the vista glide. There are three scenes that use the effect of the same actor interacting with themselves. The three scenes that were shot was the dinner sequence in 2015, 1955 Biff talking to 2015 Biff in the garage and 1955 Doc talking with 1985 Doc. In order to create the dinner sequence with the vista glide, the camera had to be divided into thirds and Michael had to come in three different times to play his older self, Marty Jr. and his daughter Marlene. Back to the Future Part II (1989) is the first film to accomplish interaction between the same actor on the screen twice as two different characters. If you watch closely, you'll see that old Biff's hand disappears during the scene in the garage.

During filming of the cut sequence where the McFly family gathers around the table in 2015, between takes they had an earthquake, and were afraid the props may have moved around too much to edit the scene seamlessly as Michael J. Fox had played 3 characters in the same shot. To the film crew's surprise however, everything was exactly where it was supposed to be for the sequence.

When "Hill Valley" was created for the original Back to the Future (1985) they built the town in the pristine 1955 condition and shot the middle of the movie, then damaged it for the 1985 town and shot the beginning and end of the movie. When they decided to shoot Back to the Future Part II (1989) they had to clean the set up and restore it to the same condition it was in 1955. It cost more to rebuild than it cost to build it from scratch.

The soda menu at Cafe 80's listed four types of Pepsi products: Original, Diet, Max, and Perfect. Pepsi Max did became an actual flavor by 1993 in Europe. The American version was introduced in 2007.

Doc mentions to Marty that he visited a rejuvenation clinic in the future to make him appear younger. This was written so that Christopher Lloyd would not have to constantly wear old-age makeup for the two sequels, since he would primarily be portraying the 1985 incarnation of Doc.

On September 8, 2011 the Parkinson's Research Foundation announced that 1,500 pairs of the futuristic Nike MAG shoes based on the sneakers worn by Michael J. Fox in this movie would be auctioned off on eBay. The first pair sold to rapper Tinie Tempah for the winning bid of $37,500.

The film takes place on October 26, 1985, October 21, 2015, from October 26 to October 27, 1985 in the alternate timeline and on November 12, 1955.

The original theatrical and premium cable TV versions of the film end with the phrase "To Be Concluded" and a teaser for Back to the Future Part III (1990). Russ Meyer and Richard Lester are the only other filmmakers to have ended a movie with a trailer before this release. (Recent 2009 premium cable TV versions have dropped the teaser.)

FILM 1136: SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED

TRIVIA: The original classified ad upon which the film is based first appeared in Backwoods Home Magazine in 1997. It was written as last-minute filler by John Silveira, an employee of the magazine, who is credited in the film as "Time Travel Consultant" and also has a cameo. The ad was later featured on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992) in the "Headlines" segment, and eventually turned into an Internet meme before being developed into a screenplay.

The part of Darius was written for Aubrey Plaza, because writer Derek Connolly wanted to work with her. Jake Johnson was likewise director Colin Trevorrow's first choice for the part of Jeff.