FILM 1863: THE LAWNMOWER MAN

FILM 1863: THE LAWNMOWER MAN

TRIVIA: New Line Cinema had obtained the rights to the Stephen King short story "The Lawnmower Man", and the producers also had an unrelated script called "Cyber God". They simply placed King's title on the production of "Cyber God". King was furious at this abuse of his name, and he sued the studio to have his name and title removed from the film and promotion. They refused, until the studio was ordered to pay ten thousand dollars and full profits.

The scene where the cop (Troy Evans) says that the missing piece of the dead man is in the bird bath, is the only thing in the movie that was taken from Stephen King's short story.

The eight minutes of computer generated effects took seven people eight months to complete on a budget of five hundred thousand dollars.

Several of the symbols Jobe (Jeff Fahey) sees flying at him, during his first VR treatment, are demon evocation seals taken from the infamous Key of Solomon.

It was discovered through FBI tapes that this was former Waco cult leader David Koresh favorite movie

Dr. Angelo's line "I've decided to take my work back underground", was used as a sample in the intro track for the Music For The Jilted Generation album by The Prodigy. 

In the podcast/show How Did This Get Made...episode #149

FILM 1858: READY PLAYER ONE

FILM 1858: READY PLAYER ONE

TRIVIA: Besides the obvious Bigfoot, Delorean, and Akira vehicles, other notables in the race were the Mach 5, Batmobile, A Team van, V8 Interceptor, Christine and the Trans-Am from Smokey and the Bandit

Steven Spielberg is referenced (along with some of his movies) in Ernest Cline's source novel. Spielberg had stated that he would remove these references, although some like the Tyrannosaurus Rex and the alien ship from War of the Worlds (2005), do appear.

At one point in the movie, the gang goes into a simulation of the hotel from The Shining(1980). In real life, Steven Spielberg was close friends with The Shining's director, Stanley Kubrick. Spielberg even once called the scene where Wendy finds Jack's novel as "a great example of counter intuitive direction".

The Zemeckis Cube is named after director Robert Zemeckis. When the cube is activated, the music playing is from the Back to the Future (1985) trilogy, directed by Zemeckis. Alan Silvestri composed the score for both the Back to the Future trilogy and this film.

The box containing the Orb of Osuvox is the same one Gizmo is in when he's given to Billy in Gremlins (1984).

The character Curator, that guides people around Halliday's Journal is based on long time popular character actor Arthur Treacher, best known for playing butlers and other British roles.

Around the 35' mark, Halliday is shown on the cover of WIRED magazine with a QR code. The code is readable, and links to an accompanying article on Halliday (July 2018).

During the scene inside the shop, in the background you can see the flying RV from Spaceballs, the space pod from 2001, a Colonial Viper, a star fighter from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Ed 209, and a loader from Aliens.

The semi-truck blocking the road in the middle of the opening race is the truck driven by Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Little China (1986).

Boba Fett is at the bar where the dance number is done.

Christopher Nolan, Robert Zemeckis, Matthew Vaughn, Peter Jackson and Edgar Wrightwere all considered to direct this film.

Toshiro's virtual avatar 'Daito' is a samurai which resembles Japan's legendary actor Toshiro Mifune who has played a samurai in many films during his long distinguished career.

On August 11, 2015, a rumor began circulating that Steven Spielberg was "courting" Gene Wilder to play OASIS creator James Halliday in his later years, which would've made this the first film Wilder has done since 1999. However, Wilder's dementia had progressed to a point where he could no longer remember lines and couldn't take the part.

When Wade first goes to the club to meet Art3mis, the bartender has a Devo Hat on from their famous video Whip It.

The team of pop-culture experts that help Sorrento hunt for the Halliday Easter Egg are called "oologists" in the movie. Oology is an actual science that studies and collects bird eggs.

FILM 1813: VIRTUOSITY

FILM 1813: VIRTUOSITY

TRIVIA: Kaley Cuoco's film debut.

Denzel Washington took a role in the film because his son asked him to do so.

Amongst the names of serial killers shown in Sid 6.7's personality profile are David Koresh, Thomas McIlvane, Frederick Cowan, William Bonin, Harvey Glatman, Peter Kuten, William Bryan Cruse, Charles Whitmore, Aileen Carol Wournos, Peter Sutcliffe, Kenneth McDuff, Jesse James, Dr. Glennon Engleman, Harvey Carignan, Dr. Geza de Kaplany, Norman Selby, Juan Peron, Winnie Ruth Judd, Matthew Grimes, Augosto Pinoche, Carl Panzram, Abu Nidal, Ted Bundy, Wesley Allan Dodd, Roger Dale Stafford, Elizabeth Borden, Mark Essex, Billy the Kid, Lynette Fromme, Larry Eyler, Clem Henderson, David Hendricks, Coral Eugene Watts, William McDonald, Richard Trenton Chase, Sirhan Sirhan, Josef Mengele, Ed Kemper, Edward Leonski, John Collins, Julian Knight, John Haigh, Carlton Gary, Vaughn Greenwood, Nicolae Ceausescu, Randy Kraft, Miguel Rivera, Dean Allen Corli, William Suff, Werner Boost, Thierry Paulin, Richard Trenton Chase, David Burke, Donald Harvey, Vernon Butts, Bruno Hauptman, Ralph Jerome Selz, John Duffy, Carl Weiss, Gerald Eugene Stano, Benito Mussolini, Paul Calden, Richard Farley, Ian Brady, Joseph Harris, Hiro Hito, Lynwood C. Drake, Saddam Hussein, Gilles De Rais, Herman Mudgett, Donald Nielson, Robert R. Diaz, and Joe Ball.

Michael Douglas was originally cast as Parker Barnes.

The Star Trek (1966) episode shown briefly is "The Enemy Within", an episode about Captain Kirk being split into good and evil sides by the transporter.

Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe would later go on to star in American Gangster(2007) together.

The music video of "The Photograph Kills" by Russell Crowe & 30 Odd Foot of Grunts was filmed on the set of the film between scenes, which Russell Crowe appears in the music video in costume and in character as Sid 6.7 and the music videos features inserts from the film itself. The song is featured in the film. 

FILM 1374: THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR

TRIVIA: The science fiction novel Simulacron-3 was also published under the title Counterfeit World, it was first published in 1964 by Daniel F. Galouye in the United States, and is one of the first literary descriptions of virtual reality.

Douglas Hall's house has been seen on film before as the apartment of Detective Deckard in Ridley Scott's 1982 Blade Runner (1982). It's a Frank Lloyd Wright building named Ennis House, located in Los Angeles, CA.

FILM 1352: THE ZERO THEOREM

TRIVIA: The name "Qohen Leth" references "Qoheleth" (sometimes transliterated as "Qohelethin" or "Koheleth"), the original Hebrew name (and presumed author) of Ecclesiastes--the Bible book that investigates the meaning of life.

Leth may refer to Lethe. In Greek mythology, Lethe is both a goddess of oblivion and a river of forgetfulness in Hades.

The film cast includes three Oscar winners: Christoph Waltz, Tilda Swinton and Matt Damon.

According to director Terry Gilliam, Matt Damon and Ben Whishaw worked for scale just to be in this film, thus bringing the production in on schedule for a fraction of its original budget.

The "futuristic" little cars that make crossing the street difficult for Qohen Leth (near the beginning of the movie) are called "Twizy", made by Renault, and were released in 2011. The Renault Twizy is a completely electric car.