FILM 1730: MOTHER!

TRIVIA: Throughout the movie, no one's name is mentioned.

The following statement by Darren Aronofsky was released a week before the premiere: "It is a mad time to be alive. As the world population nears 8 billion we face issues too serious to fathom: ecosystems collapse as we witness extinction at an unprecedented rate; migrant crises disrupt governments; a seemingly schizophrenic US helps broker a landmark climate treaty and months later withdraws; ancient tribal disputes and beliefs continue to drive war and division; the largest iceberg ever recorded breaks off an Antarctic ice shelf and drifts out to sea. At the same time we face issues too ridiculous to comprehend: in South America, tourists twice kill rare baby dolphins that washed ashore, suffocating them in a frenzy of selfies; politics resembles sporting events; people still starve to death while others can order any meat they desire. As a species our footprint is perilously unsustainable yet we live in a state of denial about the outlook for our planet and our place on it. From this primordial soup of angst and helplessness, I woke up one morning and this movie poured out of me like a fever dream. All of my previous films gestated with me for many years but I wrote the first draft of Mother! (2017) in 5 days. Within a year we were rolling cameras. And now two years later, it is an honor to return to the Lido for the world premiere. I imagine people may ask why the film has such a dark vision. Hubert Selby Jr., the author of Requiem for a Dream (2000), taught me that through staring into the darkest parts of ourselves is where we find the light. "Mother!" begins as a chamber story about a marriage. At the center is a woman who is asked to give and give and give until she can give nothing more. Eventually, the chamber story can't contain the pressure boiling inside. It becomes something else which is hard to explain or describe. I can't fully pinpoint where this film all came from. Some came from the headlines we face every second of every day, some came from the endless buzzing of notifications on our smartphones, some came from living through the blackout of Hurricane Sandy in downtown Manhattan, some came from my heart, some from my gut. Collectively it's a recipe I won't ever be able to reproduce, but I do know this serving is best drunk as a single dose in a shot glass. Knock it back. Salute!" [Aug. 2017]

Jennifer Lawrence and Darren Aronofsky started dating during the production of this film.

Actors Brian Gleeson and Domhnall Gleeson, who play the two brothers in the movie, are brothers in real life.

Jennifer Lawrence got so much into her character that during the climactic scenes, she started hyperventilating and even cracked a rib.

Paramount canceled the upcoming Friday the 13th film in order to move ahead with this film.

The film received both boos and a standing ovation during its premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

Received an "F" CinemaScore, the worst possible score, which is very rare: Only 19 features have ever received an "F". [Sept. 2017]

Edinburgh educated sculptor Jessica Harrison is the artist whose works are referenced in the film's poster image released on Mothers Day 2017. Aronofsky cited Harrison as an inspiration, especially her 'broken' figurines works.

FILM 1636: PASSENGERS 

TRIVIA: The voice of The Starship Avalon belongs to voiceover artist Emma Clarke, who is also one of the iconic 'Mind the Gap' voices on London Underground.

The bar scenes in Passengers (2016) are seem to be inspired by the bar scenes in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980). Similarities include: the bartenders are dressed in red tuxedos, carry themselves in a sophisticated manner, have a strange friendship with the lead male, are not concerned with payment, bartenders are unable to leave. In addition, the primary light source in the bar and lounge shines from below rather than above. Finally, the iconic orange and red carpet design from Overlook Hotel can be seen in the seating area.

On the poster, under the title contains the symbols: dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot dot - morse code for S.O.S

Jennifer Lawrence's character is named Aurora, a nod to Disney's Sleeping Beauty (1959).

According to a news article by The Hollywood Reporter, both leads will be pulling down double digit millions: Chris Pratt will be paid $12 Million while Jennifer Lawrence is looking at $20 Million against 30% of the profits.

The screenplay for this film was featured in the 2007 Blacklist; a list of the "most liked" unmade scripts of the year.

The Starship Avalon, shares its name with the mythical location where King Arthur is taken to recover from his wounds - the place whence he would one day return. As such, the bartender, Arthur, is aptly named.

David Fincher was attached to direct this film at an early stage after it was green-lit by Sony but left the project before any casting decisions were made. Rumors that Darren Aronofsky had considered directing the film were false; they were based largely on Aranofsky directing Jennifer Lawrence in a different film right before she began her work on this movie.

FILM 1559: THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY - PART 2

TRIVIA: Many of the Capitol scenes were shot in Paris and Berlin.

Katniss Everdeen's red outfit on the movie poster, never appears in the film itself.

The movie features two Academy Award nominees (Woody Harrelson and Stanley Tucci) and three Academy Award winners (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jennifer Lawrence and Julianne Moore). These five actors have a combined 16 nominations among them.

FILM 1410: THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY - PART 1

TRIVIA: Pollux, an avox, is actually signing in American Sign Language to Castor when he is introduced to Katniss. He signs, "She is beautiful," and Castor signs back in agreement.

According to Liam Hemsworth, Jennifer Lawrence would purposely eat foods with garlic or tuna fish before any kissing scenes between the two.

Jennifer Lawrence did her own singing for "The Hanging Tree" segment. Worldwide, the song went #1 on the iTunes Sales Chart.

Dedicated to Philip Seymour Hoffman, who tragically died with one week of filming left. He plays Plutarch Heavensbee. Since the majority of his scenes for the final two movies were already filmed, the role was not re-cast, but finished with other characters taking on his lines, like Effie Trinket, for example.

Jennifer Lawrence cut her hair short the summer before filming began, due to damage from constant dyeing for the previous films. As a result, Lawrence had to wear a wig in "Mockingjay" for her role of Katniss.

The dog wandering in District 12 is Donald Sutherland's dog, Biggles.

Fourth film to co-star Philip Seymour Hoffman and Julianne Moore. Both had previously costarred in Boogie Nights (1997), The Big Lebowski (1998), and Magnolia (1999).

Film 1096: American Hustle

Trivia: The fight scene that takes place in the bedroom between Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence is completely improvised. A version of it had been written in the script, but the actors were struggling to connect with it, so director David O. Russell ultimately decided to allow them to say what they wanted.

According to Christian Bale much of the movie was improvised. So, during the shooting of the film he noted to David O. Russell, "You realize that this is going to change the plot greatly down track." To which the director replied, "Christian, I hate plots. I am all about characters, that's it."

David O. Russell stated that Robert De Niro didn't recognize Christian Bale on the set even after they were introduced to each other. De Niro pulled Russell aside, pointed to Bale and asked who he was. First De Niro didn't believe it was Bale but after Russell convinced him of that De Niro noted, 'Wow, he looks really different", and nodded his head as a sign of approval. Russell then had to re-introduce the two now that De Niro knew who Bale was.

Christian Bale achieved the physical traits of his character by gaining over 40 pounds, getting a comb-over and slouching his posture and ended up herniating two of his disks in the process.

The film is a fictionalized telling of the Abscam (short for Arab scam) scandal of the late 1970s and early 1980s, an FBI operation that began as an investigation of trafficking in stolen property, but was later expanded to include political corruption.

David O. Russell wrote the characters of Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence, Louis C.K. and Robert De Niro expressly for each of the actors to play them.

David O. Russell developed and expanded the role of Rosalyn Rosenfeld specifically for Jennifer Lawrence, who drew inspiration as well as the accent for the character from watching The Real Housewives of New Jersey (2009). Rosalyn is based on Cynthia Marie Weinberg, the wife of Melvin Weinberg (who was the basis for Irving Rosenfeld).

In the early 1980s French director Louis Malle adapted the Abscam story into a film script entitled "Moon Over Miami", with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi set to star, with Belushi playing a conman & Aykroyd playing an FBI agent, but Belushi's death in March 1982 scuttled plans for the film.