FILM 1900: BROADCAST NEWS

FILM 1900: BROADCAST NEWS

TRIVIA: Albert Brooks revealed that when he first read the script, the scene where Aaron does a weekend broadcast simply noted "Something bad happens to Aaron on the air." Albert was watching CNN, when a reporter he'd never seen before (and hasn't seen since) began sweating badly. Albert phoned Writer and Director James L. Brooks at three in the morning, and stated that Aaron HAD to start sweating profusely.

Jack Nicholson was not paid for his role, at his own request.

John Cusack is credited as "Angry Messenger". During the staff firings, a young man yells "sons of bitches!", and angrily throws a messenger bag to the office floor. We don't see the character's face, but the voice sounds like Cusack's.

James L. Brooks wrote this movie especially for Debra Winger, but she was forced to turn it down because she was pregnant with her son Noah Hutton. Before casting Holly Hunter as a replacement, Brooks considered Sigourney Weaver, Judy Davis, Elizabeth McGovern, Christine Lahti, and Elizabeth Perkins.

Marc Shaiman and Glen Roven, who played News Theme Writers, are real-life composers, who have also done television jingles. Shaiman, after doing this movie, went on to score major motion picture films, and has since been nominated for five Academy Awards.

The only Best Picture Oscar nominee that year to not be nominated for Best Director.

First theatrical film in four years for James L. Brooks, whose previous film was Terms of Endearment (1983), which won five Academy Awards including Best Picture. Albert Brooksand Jack Nicholson appeared in this movie and Terms of Endearment (1983). At least eighteen members of cast and crew worked on both of these movies. Also, both of the movies were Oscar nominated in numerous categories, with this movie and Terms of Endearment (1983) receiving seven and eleven Academy Award nominations, respectively.

The movie was selected to be included in TIME Magazine's Best Films of the 1987 year list.

Jane Craig was inspired by CBS News Producer Susan Zirinsky. Before filming began, Holly Hunter spent time job shadowing Zirinsky to see how things worked in a real newsroom. Hunter also cut her hair into a "bob" style haircut to resemble Zirinsky.

When Jennifer is sent to Anchorage, Alaska, to report on bodies that had been found, after being buried by a serial killer, that was the Robert Hansen case. He would hunt women after raping them . Eventually convicted of seventeen murders.

William Hurt (Tom Grunick) is less than eight years younger than Stephen Mendillo, who played his father.

Brother and sister John Cusack and Joan Cusack are listed in the film's cast list for this movie. This film is one of ten cinema movie collaborations of the siblings (to date, June 2015).

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

FILM 1173: EVAN ALMIGHTY

TRIVIA: The real animals were paired two-by-two, but many of them were actually same-sex couples. This was for safety: a bull elephant was considered a safety risk so two females were used. With giraffes, males can be friendly. Pairs of male giraffes were used.

Evan's wife's name is Joan. This is an allusion to a popular joke combining the names of French freedom fighter Joan of Arc and Noah's Ark, which are obviously two very different stories.

When God takes the form of a waiter, the name tag on his shirt reads "Al Mighty".

When Evan is driving he passes a movie theater, the movie playing is 'The 40 year old Virgin Mary'. The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) also starred Steve Carell.

The real estate agent's name is Eve Adams, reflecting the names of the characters Adam and Eve, whose story is told in the first few chapters of the Hebre Book of Genesis which features the Noah story.

The phone number on the wood delivery trucks (800)-GO-4-WOOD obviously refers to God telling Noah to make the ark of gopher wood.

As of June 2007, it is the most expensive comedy film ever made.

FILM 1162: MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON

TRIVIA: In 1942, when a ban on American films was imposed in German-occupied France, the title theaters chose Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) for their last movie before the ban went into effect. One Paris theater reportedly screened the film nonstop for thirty days prior to the ban.

To make his voice hoarse for the filibuster scene, James Stewart dried out his throat with bicarbonate of soda. However, both Frank Capra and Stewart revealed in interviews that his throat was periodically swabbed with mercuric chloride.

Bitterly denounced by Washington insiders angry at its allegations of corruption, yet banned by fascist states in Europe who were afraid it showed that democracy works.

Jean Arthur's left side was considered her best side, so the sets had to be constructed in a way that whenever she entered, she would be photographed on that side.

The state that Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) and Sen. Joseph Harrison Paine (Claude Rains) come from is never mentioned.

This film is one of five times that Beulah Bondi portrayed James Stewart's mother. The others are: It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Of Human Hearts (1938) and Vivacious Lady (1938), and once on his television series, The Jimmy Stewart Show (1971).