FILM 1758: LADY BIRD

FILM 1758: LADY BIRD 

TRIVIA: Saoirse Ronan and Greta Gerwig first met each other at the Toronto Film Festival in 2015 when Ronan was promoting Brooklyn (2015) and Gerwig was promoting Maggie's Plan(2015). Ronan had already read Gerwig's script and instantly connected with the titular character, so when both women discussed the script at length in Ronan's hotel room and she read the key part aloud, Gerwig knew that she had found her "Lady Bird."

The film is Greta Gerwig's solo feature directorial debut.

Saoirse Ronan has said that the most difficult word for her to pronounce with an American accent was "perfect."

Director Greta Gerwig suggested to Saoirse Ronan not cover up her acne for the film.

The film cast includes four Oscar nominees: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Lucas Hedges and Timothée Chalamet.

The film takes place from 2002 to 2003, the time when Greta Gerwig herself graduated from St. Francis Catholic High School in her hometown of Sacramento, California.

Throughout the film, a small poster of the movie Rushmore (1998) can be seen on the wall of Lady Bird's bedroom. Saoirse Ronan, who played Lady Bird, worked with that movie's director, Wes Anderson, on The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and co-star Lucas Hedges appeared in Anderson's films Moonrise Kingdom (2012) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). Anderson also co-wrote the movies The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou(2004) and Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) with Noah Baumbach, who is the current romantic partner of Greta Gerwig, this movie's writer and director.

FILM 1744: CALL ME BY YOUR NAME

FILM 1744: CALL ME BY YOUR NAME

TRIVIA: Timothée Chalamet learned to speak Italian and to play the piano for the role of Elio.

On its premiere night, Call Me By Your Name (2017) received a ten-minute standing ovation, which was the longest standing ovation ever at the New York Film Festival.

The entire film (including the opening credits) was shot with a single 35mm lens.

There was only one rehearsal before shooting. In multiple interviews, Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer said that director Luca Guadagnino asked them one day to come outside to do a rehearsal in the backyard of the villa. They walked to a patch of grass and flipped their scripts to a randomly selected scene to practice. When they opened the script, the page only read, "Elio and Oliver roll around in the grass making out." Chalamet and Hammer looked at each other and said, "Alright, let's go!" Just seconds into the making out scene, however, Guadagnino stepped in and directed them to act more "passionately." So they started making out and continued to do so, and no one told them to stop. Eventually, the two actors stopped, looked around and realized Guadagnino had just walked away, leaving them rolling around in the grass. This was their only rehearsal.

Despite various sexual scenes in the film, Armie Hammer stated in an interview that the most uncomfortable he ever felt during filming was when he was filming the dance scenes.

In the book, Elio is 17 years old and Oliver is 24. Timothée Chalamet was 20 years old when the film was shot, while Armie Hammer was 29. The film is set in Italy, and the age of consent in the country is 14.

The film is dedicated to actor Bill Paxton, who died in February 2017. Brian Swardson, the husband of one of the film's producers, Peter Spears, was Bill Paxton's best friend and agent. He is also the agent for Timothée Chalamet. Paxton visited the set in Italy and became friends with director Luca Guadagnino. Guadagnino decided to honor Paxton by dedicating the film to him.

Based on the book "Call me by your name" written by André Aciman, the author himself appears in the movie as Mounir.