FILM 2004: OCEAN'S TWELVE

FILM 2004: OCEAN'S TWELVE 

TRIVIA: The Night Fox's mansion is on the shores of Lake Como in Italy. The name of the city overlooking Lake Como is Bellagio. The city and the lake were the inspiration for the design of the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas, site of the heist in Ocean's Eleven (2001).

While on production in Rome, Brad Pitt and George Clooney were not allowed back into the hotel because the doorman thought they were vagrants after the actors were caught in a rain storm while jogging.

George Clooney was 42 years-old at the time of filming the scene in which the other actors guess his age.

Six of the Ocean's Twelve have won Oscars: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Casey Affleck.

The drysuits used by the gang were custom made for the production in two weeks by husband-and-wife team Gareth and Tina Roberts of Gryphon Watersports in Staffordshire, England. Only one of the ten suits ordered had to be fully functioning and waterproof, but the tight deadline still meant that the couple had to work round the clock to get the suits ready in time for the shoot in Amsterdam.

Five cast members also guest starred on Friends (1994-2004) including Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Bruce Willis and Elliot Gould

FILM 2003: THE ITALIAN JOB

FILM 2003: THE ITALIAN JOB

TRIVIA: In interviews, Jason Statham said that in addition to the stunt driving course they all received, he got two days' driving tuition from Damon Hill, the British ex-world champion Formula 1 driver. However, all of the cast members acknowledged that Charlize Theronwas easily the best driver among them.

During production, Charlize Theron got two speeding tickets while driving in her own car, both for going more than 40 miles per hour over the speed limit. She said that after filming driving so fast, she just couldn't get her speed down to drive home.

Two electric-powered MINI Coopers and one MINI Cooper S had to be specially built for the film, since gasoline-powered vehicles are not allowed to operate in Los Angeles' all-electric subway system for safety reasons.

When the film performed surprisingly well at the box office, there were rumors of a sequel while the film was still showing in theaters. An early script had it set in Brazil and it was called "The Brazilian Job" with Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Jason Statham, and Seth Green attached to reprise their roles, but the sequel fell apart after key people at Paramount Pictures left by the end of 2004, and rough drafts of the script proved unsatisfactory. However, Wahlberg said as recently as 2015 that a sequel was still a possibility.

Edward Norton made it clear that his participation in this film was a result of contractual obligation, not choice. He had signed a three-movie deal with Paramount, of which Primal Fear (1996), his breakthrough movie, was the first. He kept dismissing scripts for the other two films of the deal, until Paramount coerced him into accepting a role in this film. Norton did not hide his misery on the set, clashing with the crew throughout it, and when the producer handed out gifts to the cast over the movie's surprisingly strong box office performance, Norton returned the gift with a note stating "Give this to someone you actually like - or someone who actually likes you."

Lyle (Seth Green) claims he was the creator of Napster, the first online file-sharing service for music, and that it was stolen by his college roommate, Shawn Fanning. In the flashback of Lyle sleeping and his roommate taking a disk out of the PC that has Napster on it, his roommate is portrayed by the real Shawn Fanning, the legitimate creator of Napster. When Fanning steals the disk in the scene, the bottom of a Metallica poster can be seen on the wall. Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich was famously a very vocal critic of Napster, and Metallica filed a lawsuit against the service for copyright infringement and racketeering.

The beautiful woman in Lyle's house at the end of the movie is played by Kelly Brook, Jason Statham's real girlfriend at the time the film was shot.

The Venice authority allowed the crew to go over the speed limit for the boat chase sequence.

32 MINI Coopers were used throughout the shooting.

While the thieves are spying on Steve in his home, Sir Michael Caine can be seen on the large screen television in a clip from the original The Italian Job (1969).

The NetCom Cable van shows the phone number 1-800-555-0199. This is the same number used by Al Pacino in The Insider (1999) and Kevin Spacey in American Beauty(1999) (albeit with different area codes).

Screenwriters Donna Powers and Wayne Powers hadn't seen the original The Italian Job(1969) before agreeing to write the script for the remake. After that, they only watched it once. This was on purpose, because they didn't want to copy the movie but wanted to make their own, albeit inspired by the original one.

F. Gary Gray cast Mark Wahlberg after seeing him in Boogie Nights (1997).

FILM 1951: THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY

FILM 1951: THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY

TRIVIA: Matt Damon actually sang the song "My Funny Valentine."

Jude Law learned to play the saxophone and Matt Damon learned to play the piano for this film. However while Damon's training enabled him to recreate the proper keyboard fingering the music heard in the film is played by Sally Heath (the Bach) and Gabriel Yared (the Vivaldi).

This is Matt Damon's favorite film he has made.

Leonardo DiCaprio was considered for the role of Tom Ripley.

Fausto and Dickie (and Tom, later) sing "Tu Vuo' Fa' L'Americano," a humorous song about an Italian man in the 50s who wants to imitate the American lifestyle he sees in the movies. But American food doesn't do him any good and in the end, the money he spends comes from his mother's purse.

After viewing this film, Tommy Wiseau was so emotionally moved that he vowed to make a film just as, if not more compelling. This film would become The Room (2003).

When Anthony Minghella learned that Cate Blanchett was interested in playing the small supporting role of Meredith - as opposed to the female lead - he duly expanded the role to get her on board.

FILM 1555: PEGGY GUGGENHEIM: ART ADDICT

A portrait of a patron of the arts extraordinaire who transformed a modest fortune and impeccable taste into one of the premiere collections of twentieth century art.

http://www.missmoss.co.za/2016/01/07/the-islands/

A CRUISE TO ITALY AND CROATIA

I have been meaning to post about my holiday for a little while (I got back last Thursday) but have been so busy that I just have not had the time.  I went on a cruise to Croatia and Italy; it was a birthday present to my Dad who wanted to go on a family holiday. 

We had five stop offs, we started in Dubrovnik, then onto Rovinj, Trieste, Venice, Zadar, and Split.  I had never been to either of these countries before and had no idea what to expect but I was definitely impressed.  Both countries are very picturesque, with mountains in the distance, beautiful little red roofed buildings, castles, ruins and clear water at the coast. 

My dad took thousands of pictures and walked miles and miles.  Me, my sister and my mum were a little more laid back.  We ate a lot of ice cream, the ice cream in Italy (Venice especially) is the best I’ve ever tasted, I mostly have lemon flavor. 

Venice is one of the most unreal places I’ve ever been and getting up at 6 in the morning to watch the ship go into the Grand Canal was really very special. Here are some photos, and if you are planning to visit any of the places mentioned and you’d like to ask some questions please don’t hesitate…