FILM 1886: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT

FILM 1886: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT 

TRIVIA: Tom Cruise trained for an entire year to perform the HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) stunt in this film.

The H.A.L.O skydiving sequence (distance of 7 km / 25000 feet, traveling speed of 265 - 320 km/h) was the last sequence filmed during production, but it was the first stunt designed and required a full year of planning out. The crew had only a limited time window of three minutes a day during sunset to film a jump. Because of strict air aviation regulations in France, it could only be shot in the Emirates. It took Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, the skydiving camera operator Craig O'Brien (who was instructed to keep a distance of three feet from Cruise while filming) and others involved a total of 106 jumps to get three possible takes. However, to rehearse the sequence, the crew built a custom oxygen helmet with RAF assistance that can be lit up to see a face, and then also built one of the world's largest wind tunnels for practice. The practice doesn't end there - Cruise and the other persons involved did five skydives a day with one in the morning, three in the afternoon, and one at dusk. Some of the other cast members turned up to visit, with Simon Pegg saying that he and his co-stars thought multiple times that Cruise was seriously about to die: "It is a daily stress going to work with him, because you don't know if you are going to see him tomorrow." 

White Widow (Vanessa Kirby) is introduced as she delivers a tribute speech to her late mother, is referred to only as "Max." and as a lover of paradoxes. While never clarified onscreen, this is likely reference to the first film in the series, which features a female British arms dealer also known only as Max (Vanessa Redgrave).

In August 2017, Tom Cruise suffered an injury while filming a stunt jumping from one building to another. He was able to grab onto the other building thanks to a harness strapped onto him and his history of performing his own stunts for action films, but his ankle fractured upon the impact of the jump. Cruise then got up and attempted to run it off, which was what the scene called for, before he and the crew decided to stop filming. Shooting was delayed for eight weeks following the injury, but the footage of the stunt used in the film and its trailers just so happened to be the actual injury.

Solomon Lane is the first villain in the franchise to appear in two films.

Simon Pegg got in such good shape while training in the gym for his action scenes that he got eight-pack abs for the first time in 25 years even though it wasn't required for his role at all. The actor is not an action star or known for his body and was teased on set by co-stars Tom Cruise and Henry Cavill, who actually are action stars and regularly show their eight-pack abs in films. They nick-named Pegg 'Eight-Pack Peggles' due to his new found abs. Cruise said, "Six-Pack Peggles I call him! He had an amazing eight-pack going on. He's almost like Eight-Pack Peggles." Pegg responded to the good-natured teasing saying, "To be fair it was a six-pack, it wasn't quite an eight-pack. I think one morning, after training, my abs made an appearance for the first time since I was 23. You have to be in shape to do these movies and I put my mind to it. It's nice to know that I can still show out if I need to. My wife appreciates it!"

A clause stipulated in Henry Cavill's contract forbade him from shaving his beard required for the role. During production, the producers received a phone call from Justice League producer Charles Roven requesting Cavill back for some reshoots for his role as Superman. Co-producer Jake Myers suggested letting Cavill shave his beard, shutting down production while he does his reshoots and then getting Warner Bros to pay $3 million for additional visual effects (digital moustache) on shots of Cavill after completing his Superman reshoots. Paramount got wind of the idea and shot it down immediately through the clause.

During the Empire Podcast, director Christopher McQuarrie revealed that he provides the authoritative voice in the initial mission briefing.

Rescuing another person in free fall while sky diving is very difficult. Hewitt says that "it takes Accelerated Free Fall instructors over 1,000 jumps to get it right and something like 70% of the people who try to qualify at the instructor level fail. Tom had just 100 jumps to perfect this."

The Paris chase scenes involved stuntmen in 70 cars driving to avoid Cruise who was riding his motorcycle against traffic without a helmet at extremely high speeds.

The musical composer on "Fallout" is Lorne Balfe, but the iconic "Mission: Impossible" theme was written by Lalo Schifrin. He wrote it in just 3 minutes. When asked why he wrote it in the unusual time signature of 5/4, he joked at a press conference in Vienna, "Everybody knows that there have been beams from outer space coming because of interplanetary flights. The people in outer space have five legs and couldn't dance to our music, so I wrote this for them."

FILM 1731: KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE

TRIVIA: The film's cast includes five Oscar winners: Julianne Moore, Halle Berry, Jeff Bridges, Colin Firth, and Elton John.

Third film of 2017 to feature the song 'Take Me Home, Country Roads' by John Denver. The other films to feature the song are Alien: Covenant (2017), and Logan Lucky (2017) (which also stars Channing Tatum). The director, Matthew Vaughn, was shocked when he found out about how popular Denver and his songs had become in 2017 films, with him saying he "...wrote John Denver into the script two and a half years ago thinking 'No one really talks about John Denver anymore.'"

This marks the third time that actor Bruce Greenwood has played the United States President. He previously played President John F. Kennedy in Thirteen Days (2000) and a fictitious U.S. President in National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007). Greenwood can never actually run for President in real life because he was born in Canada.

The robot dogs, Bennie and Jet, are a reference to Elton John's song "Bennie and the Jets."

Mark Strong, who plays Merlin, provides the voice-over for Vue Cinemas in the UK and Ireland with regards to cinema etiquette. Exclusively for "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" screenings, he delivers the etiquette message in character as Merlin, reminding audiences to switch off their phones in his own unique style.

On the Statesmans' plane, a bottle of Born and Bred Vodka can be seen on the bar. Channing Tatum is the owner of this vodka brand.

First film that Colin Firth and Jeff Bridges have appeared in together. They have twice competed with each other for the Best Actor Academy Award. In 2009, Bridges won for Crazy Heart (2009), while Firth was nominated for A Single Man (2009). In 2010, Firth won for The King's Speech (2010), while Bridges was nominated for True Grit (2010).

The original subtitle was The Golden Triangle, named after the area that borders Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. However, when the film was test screened three times, the filmmakers found out that no one in the test audience had heard of the area's geography nor the history with that title. It was then decided to change the word Triangle to Circle.

FILM 1676: SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING

TRIVIA: The scene in which Peter, through sheer force of will, lifts the machinery pinning him down after The Vulture forces the structure to collapse on him, is a nod to a scene in The Amazing Spider-Man #33, in which he does the same thing. The panels in the comic are considered by many to be some of the most iconic in Spider-Man's history.

Jennifer Connelly voices the Spider-Man computer Karen. Her husband Paul Bettany had voiced the Iron Man computer J.A.R.V.I.S. She was also cast, because of her appearance in the John Hughes produced Career Opportunities (1991). "Homecoming" pays homage to Hughes' high school films, and casting Connelly was done as a tribute to his career. Connelly was also previously cast as Elizabeth "Betty" Ross in Hulk (2003).

In an interview from 2013, while promoting his upcoming film, How I Live Now (2013), Tom Holland was asked by a reporter what kind of role he might want to try next. When Holland replied, saying a project with action and humor would be of interest to him, the reporter asked if he would ever like to play a superhero. "Maybe Spider-Man, in ten years time," answered Holland. "The reboot of the reboot, if they do that."

Tom Holland is the youngest actor (at nineteen) to be cast as Peter Parker. His predecessors, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, were twenty-five and twenty-six, respectively, when they were cast.

The filmmakers have stated that this movie takes inspiration on John Hughes' comedies from the 1980s about teens and high school. One of John Hughes' films, Weird Science (1985), features a young Robert Downey, Jr. who plays Tony Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Michelle's (Zendaya's) literary tastes contain subtle allusions to either the plot or spiders. At one point, she is seen reading "Of Human Bondage" by W. Somerset Maugham. In that novel, the protagonist is an orphan living with his aunt and uncle. Later, she is reading "Invitation To A Beheading" by Vladimir Nabokov. In that novel, a condemned man awaits his execution, accompanied only by a spider in his cell. Finally, during the Washington Monument scene, she is wearing a Sylvia Plath t-shirt. Plath wrote a poem called "Spider", and used spiders as images in other poems.

In The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), Andrew Garfield can be seen wearing a Ramones shirt. In this movie, "Blitzkreig Bop" by the Ramones is featured. The Ramones famously covered the original Spider-Man theme song, as a hidden bonus track on their "¡Adios Amigos!" album. "Adios" was their final album, and their hidden bonus track "Spider-Man" was the last song on their last original album.

When the science team arrives at the hotel in Washington, D.C., one of the members comments on the size of it. Flash Thompson (Tony Revolori), comments that he has seen bigger. He may have been referring to his time spent as Zero at The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014).

John Francis Daley, who co-wrote the screenplay, and Martin Starr, who played Mr. Harrington, were in the television series Freaks and Geeks (1999). Daley also appeared as F.B.I. Special Agent Sweets, on Bones (2005).

FILM 1560: SUICIDE SQUAD

TRIVIA: The majority of the cast and crew got the tattoo "SKWAD" in honor of this film. The tattoos were even applied by some of the cast members, Margot Robbie and Will Smith.

Tom Hardy was originally cast as Rick Flag but dropped out to due The Revenant (2015). Hardy had previously played Bane in The Dark Knight Rises (2012), who was a former member of the Suicide Squad in the comic books. Hardy later expressed his regret at leaving the role, given he did not want to lose the work.

To try and find the perfect Joker laugh, Jared Leto publicly tried different laughs in New York City and Toronto to see which ones made people the most uncomfortable.

In May 2016, Warner Bros. announced that Margot Robbie would be producing and reprising her role as Harley Quinn in an upcoming Untitled Harley Quinn Project. Not much has been revealed about the project, but it is rumored to be focused on the female heroes and villains of the DC Universe.

Jared Leto got so immersed in playing The Joker that he wouldn't break out of character on set even when he wasn't filming. He even sent his fellow cast members "Joker-like" presents: a live rat to Margot Robbie and bullets to Will Smith, a soiled Playboy magazine to Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and a dead hog, anal beads and used condoms for the whole crew. Scott Eastwood commented that Leto frightened him at times with his behavior, and Smith mentioned that he actually never met the real Leto.

Ryan Gosling was sought out first for the role of The Joker. He reportedly turned down the role because he did not want to sign on for a multi-picture deal that the studio was requiring.

Ben Affleck is the first actor to portray Batman in two movies helmed by different directors. He is also the first actor to portray Batman in two different movies within the same year.

Viola Davis read M.E. Thomas' autobiography "Confessions of a Sociopath" to prepare for her role as Amanda Waller.

FILM 1517: MYSTERY MEN

TRIVIA: According to Ben Stiller in an interview on Late Show with David Letterman (1993), he and Greg Kinnear got into a heated argument on the set. Afterwards, Stiller tried to be released from the film.

Tom Waits' odd hand gestures when explaining the psychofrakulator were the result of him writing his dialogue on his fingers and reading the words as he went along.

A number of the sets used in the film are the same sets used in Batman Forever (1995).

The Mystery Men were the supporting cast of an underground superhero comic book called the Flaming Carrot. Mr. Furious and the Shoveler were the only ones from the comic to make it into the movie. Captain Amazing was created as a replacement for the Flaming Carrot, who was felt to be too bizarre to bring to the silver screen.

The Bowler's stream-of-consciousness monologue in support of independent filmmaking at the conclusion of the film was originally not intended to be included in the finished print. Janeane Garofalo was instructed by director Kinka Usher to say whatever came to her mind at the time (Usher simply wanted to use up some excess film.) Usher liked her performance so much he edited it into the final print.

CAMEOS: Michael Bay (noted action director) and Riki Rachtman, (former host of MTV's Headbangers Ball (1987)) as two of the Frat Boys. Bay asks "can we bring the brewskies?".

According to Hank Azaria, the cast argued constantly with each other over the comedic tone of the film.

As the team enters Dr. Heller's amusement park workshop, creepy music is heard. This is not just incidental music, but turns out to be Dr. Heller practicing on a 'waterphone', the strange cylindrical device with steel wires he can briefly be seen holding. The waterphone is primarily used in the motion picture industry in the composition of creepy incidental music.

In an odd parallel, Tom Waits actually creates curious machines from junk and hardware store purchases, in the same way that his character (Dr. Heller) does. Waits' machines are musical, and one is 6-stringed steel dumpster.

A subtle reference to William Shatner: once, while recording lines for the video game Star Trek: Judgment Rites (1993), Shatner pronounced "sabotage" strangely and was asked twice to repeat the line. He finally blurted, "Don't tell me how to act - it sickens me!" In Mystery Men (1999), this line is repeated by Ben Stiller. Later, Janeane Garofalo says to Stiller, "You say 'sabotage', I say 'saboTAGE'," another Shatner quote from the Star Trek recording session.

Ricky Jay's character tells Captain Amazing, "I'm a publicist, not a magician." Jay is in fact a well-known magician.

In a 2011 interview with A.V. Club, Hank Azaria claimed that during production Kinka Usher declared "I'm going back to commercials when this is done. I've had enough. I'd much rather do my cool little one-minute shorts that I make than deal with all this nonsense."