FILM 1983: FIRST REFORMED

FILM 1983: FIRST REFORMED 

TRIVIA: This is the first movie in which Cedric the Entertainer is credited under his real name, Cedric Kyles.

Filming for the interior and exterior of the church was done at the Zion Episcopal Church in Douglaston, Queens.

Unusually shot in 4:3 ratio. Paul Schrader was inspired to shoot this way by Pawel Pawlikowski's Ida (2013) as he liked the way it framed the human body. Schrader also liked the sense of claustrophobia that the framing suggests.

Paul Schrader considered Jake Gyllenhaal and Oscar Isaac for the lead role but opted for Ethan Hawke instead. He's ten years older and had an innate air of world-weariness that was appropriate for the role.

FILM 1615: BOYHOOD

TRIVIA: Richard Linklater cast his daughter Lorelei Linklater as Samantha because she was always singing and dancing around the house and wanted to be in his movies. At about the third or fourth year of filming, she lost interest and asked for her character to be killed off. Linklater refused, saying it was too violent for what he was planning (Lorelei eventually regained her enthusiasm and continued with the project).

Had Richard Linklater died during the 12-year shoot, Ethan Hawke would have taken over the directorial duties.

Ellar Coltrane, who plays the boy of the title, was 7 years old when the movie started filming and 19 when it finished.

Boyhood (2014) is one of only 11 movies to receive a Metascore of 100, the highest possible score that can be attained from professional movie critics on the review aggregate Metacritic, and so far the only film to receive this score upon its original release.

Ethan Hawke presents his fictional son with the gift of the Black Album on his fifteen birthday. In real life, Ethan Hawke compiled the individual Beatles songs into the Black Album to help his daughter Maya deal with the breakup of his marriage with Uma Thurman.

None of the actors were contractually obligated to return to the film each year due to the De Havilland Law under California Labor Code, which makes it illegal to contract employees for more than seven years of work.

According to Patricia Arquette, Richard Linklater asked her not to have any plastic surgeries, since it wouldn't make sense for her character.

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

FILM 1595: BEFORE SUNSET

TRIVIA: The longest take is about 11 minutes long.

The man and woman that Celine speaks to in the courtyard of her apartment are played by Julie Delpy's real parents, Albert Delpy and Marie Pillet.

Though this movie was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, the screenplay is not based upon any existing text. However, the Academy rule book says that all sequels are adaptations.

Julie Delpy wrote and performed three songs for the soundtrack.

Since the film takes place during the mid-late afternoon, it was the only time of day director Richard Linklater would shoot the scenes in the film. He felt it added to the hyper reality of the film, and often relied on the actors to get perfect takes at the right time.

Shooting took a mere 15 days.

The film is notable for essentially taking place in real time, i.e. the time elapsed in the story is the run time of the film. In the fast-changing temperate Paris climate, this created challenges for the cinematographer Lee Daniel to match the colour and intensity of the skies and ambient light from scene to scene. The scenes were mostly shot in sequence, as they were still developing the screenplay.

In the movie, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) confesses to Celine (Julie Delpy) that he wrote a book about their meeting 9 years before, partially in the hope that she would read it, and re-establish contact with him. Like Before Sunrise (1995), this is based on events in director Richard Linklater's own life. He had once spent a night walking and talking around Philadelphia with a woman called Amy in 1989. Though they initially stayed in touch over the telephone, they lost contact eventually. In 1994, Linklater shot Before Sunrise (1995), based on his night with Amy. Like Jesse in "Before Sunset", Linklater was secretly hoping that Amy had heard of the movie, and would show up at the premiere, but she did not. When "Before Sunset" was released, she did not show up either. It wasn't until 2010, before Linklater started production on the second sequel, Before Midnight (2013), that a friend of Amy, who knew about their story, contacted Linklater to tell him that Amy had died in a motorcycle accident on May 9, 1994, at the age of 24, a few weeks before he started shooting Before Sunrise (1995).

FILM 1538: THE PURGE

TRIVIA: This movie was also turned into an extreme walk-through horror maze/experience in Los Angeles called The Purge: Fear The Night.

The Purge lasts from 7:00 PM on March 21st until 7:00 AM on March 22nd, one night before the Spring equinox. It is symbolic of eliminating the old and renewing what remains, which is the function of Spring.

FILM 1429: TAKING LIVES

TRIVIA: A scene was shot in which Illeana drives back to her house with the old pick-up and a branch from a tree falls and breaks the windshield. It took several takes to get the shot, and apparently destroyed the last remaining windshields for the pick-up available anywhere in North America at the time. The scene was not used.

Film 1082: Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead

Trivia: Sidney Lumet's final film.

Title taken from the Irish toast: "May you have food and raiment, a soft pillow for your head; may you be 40 years in heaven, before the devil knows you're dead."

In the original script, Andrew and Hank Hanson were not brothers. Sidney Lumet made this change to increase the drama of the movie. He also removed the character of Andrew & Gina's daughter.

In the DVD's Director's commentary, Sidney Lumet says the nude scene between Gina and Hank was shot, Ethan Hawke wanted to make Marisa Tomei, feel more comfortable, and insisted on being nude as well. He further insisted that every male crew member strip naked while filming the scene to accommodate Tomei.

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke are both in real-life old friends of Marisa Tomei.