FILM 1776: THE BAD BATCH

FILM 1776: THE BAD BATCH 

TRIVIA: No soundstage work here. The entire film was filmed in extreme locations, and primarily outdoors in high heat.

Jim Carrey's first film role in which he never speaks.

Most of the extras hired were from Slab City, the same California community Chris McCandless visits in Into The Wild (2007). Most of the "Slabbers" came as is, not needing costumes or make-up.

Miami Man's Bad Batch tattoo can be partially seen during a conversation in the desert. It clearly shows only two digits after the BB meaning he's one of the first 99 to be exiled.

Shot in 28 days.

FILM 1763: JOHNNY MNEMONIC

TRIVIA: The film takes place in January 2021.

During the scene in the back room of Crazy Bob's Computer Store, it sounds like Johnny asks for an "iPhone", twelve years before it was launched. While it would still be cute if the scriptwriter of a 90's cyberpunk movie had just made up a word, which would later become the name of a ubiquitous piece of information technology, what Johnny asks for is actually an "Eyephone", an early head-mounted interface designed by Jaron Lanier (in fact, Johnny calls it a "Thomson Eyephone", a reference to the fact that Lanier's patent was bought by Thomson Electronics).

The script was rumored to have been dumped on the doorstep of Keanu Reeves' house, a tactic that piqued his interest, and led to him accepting the role of Johnny.

Robert Longo and William Gibson originally envisaged making an art film on a small budget, but failed to get financing. Longo commented that the project "started out as an arty 1½-million-dollar movie, and it became a thirty-million-dollar movie, because we couldn't get a million and a half."

William Gibson was very unhappy with what became of this adaptation of his own story. Despite being credited as the sole screenwriter, he has insisted for years that it wasn't his screenplay that was ultimately produced.

The song "I See Through" was performed by Rollins Band and written by Henry Rollins, Melvin Gibb, Sim Cain, and Chris Haskett. Henry Rollins appears in the film as Spider.

Johnny apparently takes a Concorde to Newark, New Jersey. In real-life, the Concordes were retired in 2003.

FILM 1755: POINT BREAK

FILM 1755: POINT BREAK

TRIVIA: Keanu Reeves, who learned to surf for his role, still surfs as a hobby to this day.

Patrick Swayze was an accomplished skydiver, and took part in the big skydiving scene. He made fifty-five jumps in total.

For many of the surfing scenes, Patrick Swayze refused to use a stunt double, as he never had one for fight scenes or car chases.

Johnny Utah became a F.B.I. Agent after a knee injury ended his football career. In real-life, Keanu Reeves was once an aspiring hockey player who suffered a knee injury, and went on to become an actor.

Tyler explains to Johnny Utah that Patrick Swayze's character is named Bodhi, the Bodhisattva. Bodhisattva is a term in the Buddhist religion meaning an enlightened being who, out of compassion, forgoes nirvana in order to save others. Bodhi means "wakefulness".

The scene in which Utah jumps after Bodhi without a parachute, was tested by MythBusters (2003). It was determined that Utah and Bodhi would not have been able to free-fall for ninety seconds (as in the film), nor would they have been able to hold a conversation in mid-air. However, it was determined that, by streamlining his body, Utah could have conceivably caught up with Bodhi after jumping from the plane.

The beach spot, where the football game is played at the beginning of the film, is the same spot used for the soccer game in The Karate Kid (1984).

In her DVD commentary for Strange Days (1995), Director Kathryn Bigelow described filming the foot chase scenes in this movie using a stripped-down, hand-held 35mm camera nicknamed the "Pogo-Cam". The camera weighed eighteen pounds, and was equipped with a gyro-stabilizer, borrowed from a Steadicam. A wire loop on top of the camera gave Steadicam Operator James Muro a rough idea of what was in the frame as he followed the actors at breakneck speed.

The skinny, long-haired guy, named Tone, in Warchild (Vincent Klyn) and Bunker's (Chris Pedersen's) gang was Anthony Kiedis, lead singer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Patrick's Roadhouse, often attributed to an in-joke aimed at Patrick Swayze, is a real place located at 106 Entrada Drive, Santa Monica, California. It's right on the Pacific Coast Highway, which would be a reasonably logical place for Johnny and Bodhi to have a meal.

FILM 1685: KNOCK KNOCK

TRIVIA: Colleen Camp and Sondra Locke, two of the producers of this movie, starred in Death Game (1977), the original movie, on which "Knock Knock" is based.

Eli Roth's wife Lorenza Izzo portrays Genesis.

The Taiwan Chinese title translates to "When Babes Come Knocking".

At some point in the movie, Genesis writes "it was NOT a dream" on a mirror, but the colored shirt she wears reads: "it was all a dream".

FILM 1677: TO THE BONE

TRIVIA: Like her character in this movie, Lily Collins also suffered from an eating disorder as a teenager.

Netflix bought the film for 8 million dollars.

Lilly Collins worked closely with a nutritionist both during filming, and for several months afterwards, to ensure her health during her weight loss and subsequent weight gain.

Leslie Bibb's character in Ryan Murphy's series Popular also suffered from an eating disorder.

FILM 1593: SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE

TRIVIA: Twentieth Century Fox declined making the film citing that the leads were too old.

In this movie, Jack Nicholson plays a notorious bachelor, who always "escaped the noose", while Diane Keaton plays a divorcée. In real life it's the other way round: Nicholson is a divorcé while Keaton is a bachelorette.

First (albeit brief) full frontal nudity scene for Diane Keaton. Although highly publicized as her first actual nude scene, in fact, she first appeared topless 26 years earlier in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977).

Nancy Meyers wrote the roles of Erica and Harry specifically for Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson.

Jack Nicholson turned down starring in Bad Santa (2003) to be in this movie.