Hello to everyone who has been following this blog for many years - I'm still blogging, I'm just moving over to https://www.claireheffer.com/blog - please continue to follow and let me take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been kind enough to visit over the years. May the lists continue...
Showing posts with label marriage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marriage. Show all posts

Saturday, 6 July 2019

FILM 2011: JUST GO WITH IT


FILM 2011: JUST GO WITH IT

TRIVIA: This is the first collaboration between Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston. The two of them have known each other for twenty years, before either of them became famous. They met through some mutual friends and shared meals together. She also used to watch him perform at the Improv, and she attended his wedding in 2003. He had also tried to get her to join Saturday Night Live (1975) during his time there, but she turned it down to join Friends (1994).



Saturday, 18 May 2019

FILM 1994: MURIEL'S WEDDING


FILM 1994: MURIEL'S WEDDING

TRIVIA: The writer/director P.J. Hogan wanted to use the music of ABBA in the film. At first, permission for the music to be used was denied. When the director promised to fly to Europe to plead his case to the founders of the band, permission was granted, as long as the band received a percentage of the film profits. The film turned out to be a big international hit, and thus helped inspire the very successful Broadway show which became the movie Mamma Mia! (2008).

Toni Collette gained 40 pounds in 7 weeks with the help of a dietitian for this role.

Bill Hunter was filming The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) and Muriel's Wedding (1994) at the same time, each requiring him to have different length hair, beard and to be in different parts of the country. Both films developed international cult followings and prominently featured the music of ABBA.

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

In the video store where Muriel works, a poster for the movie Strictly Ballroom is visible. Bill Hunter, who plays Bill Heslop (Muriel's father), Is also in Strictly Ballroom in the role of Barry Fife.

P.J. Hogan based Muriel's personality on himself, but Muriel's actions were inspired by his sister, who embezzled $15,000 from their father and then disappeared to Sydney to live with a friend.

Betty Heslop passes a magazine called Womans Day in the supermarket. Womans Day is a real magazine which did a feature article about the movie. The same cover (as the one in the movie) was used.


Friday, 10 May 2019

FILM 1990: HEARTBURN


FILM 1990: HEARTBURN 

TRIVIA: Meryl Streep's daughter Mamie Gummer was used as Annie the baby.

The film doesn't make this explicit, but in real-life, Writer Nora Ephron had been so upset by her husband's infidelity that she went into labor prematurely.

Meryl Streep was pregnant in real life during the making of the movie.

Tony Shalhoub's first feature film role. Shalhoub had a love scene with Meryl Streep, but nearly all of his scenes were cut. Shalhoub can still be seen, though, as a passenger on a plane sitting behind Jack Nicholson.

The movie is based on Nora Ephron's real-life marriage to, and divorce from, Carl Bernstein, and the birth of their two sons. The woman with whom Bernstein had an affair was Margaret Jay, who was the wife of the British Ambassador to the United States, and daughter of British Prime Minister James Callaghan. Jay became a Baroness in 1992, and rose to become the first female Leader of the House of Lords between 1998 and 2001.

Jack Nicholson replaced Mandy Patinkin as Mark Forman. Patinkin was originally cast as the male lead, but was suddenly replaced by Nicholson after two days of shooting when Director Mike Nichols realized there was no chemistry between Patinkin and Meryl Streep.

Jack Nicholson's performance of "Soliloquy" ("My Boy Bill"), from Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Carousel", is a nod to Writer Nora Ephron's parents, Henry Ephron and Phoebe Ephron, who wrote the screenplay for the musical film Carousel (1956), which was also produced by Henry Ephron.

In Everything Is Copy (2015), Jacob Bernstein's documentary about his mother Nora Ephron's life and career, he reveals that contentious negotiations over the movie adaptation of her novel "Heartburn" extended his parents' divorce for several years longer than most divorces take. Eventually, their divorce agreement included a stipulation that the movie was not allowed to depict the "Mark Forman" (Carl Bernstein) character as anything but a good, loving, and conscientious father (whatever his failings as a faithful husband were), and Mike Nichols had to be named as a legal signatory to the divorce.


Sunday, 10 February 2019

SPOTLIGHT ON: BASIC INVITE


SPOTLIGHT ON: BASIC INVITE

Today I want to share with you a great invite website called Basic Invite. 
As you know I am a huge fan of stationary and it’s always great to see a website that gets it right.

The website is beautiful and so easy to use and they have some really excellent features like how they can capture your addresses from your social media – I didn’t even know this kind of thing was possible.

They can print in almost any colour, which is great especially if your wedding has a really specific shade of green, for example, and you can get a custom printed sample sent to you just to judge it against your placemats or bowtie. I love the fact that they offer foils not just in gold and silver but also in rose gold which is the kind of gold I’m really feeling right now. Take a look at their free wedding websites – I know about a hundred people who would have loved to use this feature for their wedding - not only are the templates beautifully designed but all the features, like digital RSVPs, maps and registries are exactly the things they needed.

It seems to me, and I don’t know about you, that this time of year everyone is having babies, and I wish I knew about this website when people asked me about their baby shower invites – they’ve got such a great range that they can be the inspiration for your theme too – I love the idea of a firefighter theme or a woodland or floral theme. They’ve even got specific invites for twins!

The website has really responsive design features and I think such a quick and easy way to order those thank you cards too – I especially love their sticker section – they’ve got a huge amount of designs and you could use them to close your letters for a long time to come – not just for your wedding stationary.

And the great news is: Right now Basic Invite is offering 15% off with coupon code: 15FF51

1. BLOSSOMING LOVE WEDDING INVITATIONS

2. FREE WEDDING WEBSITES

3. GARDEN FLOWERS BABY SHOWER INVITATIONS

4. FIREFIGHTER BABY SHOWER INVITATIONS

5. WATERCOLOR BOUQUET STICKERS





This post is sponsored by a product exchange with Basic Invite but all opinions are my own. 

Sunday, 27 August 2017



FILM 1686: THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS

TRIVIA: After meeting on the set of this film in September 2014, Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender announced they were dating in December 2014. 

Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander revealed that Derek Cianfrance made them live together on set for six weeks.

Prior to filming in Stanley, the historic wharf was rebuilt with a rustic edge. Locals of Stanley adopted the 1920s look prior to filming and hereby many men grew beards for their roles as extras.

The book The Light Between Oceans, on which this movie is based, contains three coincidental links to previous films of Michael Fassbender. First, his character Tom travels on the ship SS Prometheus: Fassbender starred as android David in Prometheus (2012). Second, Tom's wife, Isabel, is given a gramophone record, Bach's Goldberg Variations, as a gift: this piece of music was the soundtrack to the jogging scene in Fassbender's film Shame (2011). Finally, in Frank (2014), towards the end of the movie, Fassbender's Frank walks into a bar, where Maggie Gyllenhaal is singing the song "I Want to Marry a Lighthouse Keeper". Fassbender's character in The Light Between Oceans, Tom, is a lighthouse keeper.

Both lead actors, Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, previously played artificial-intelligence characters in Prometheus (2012) and Ex Machina (2015), respectively.



Sunday, 23 July 2017



BIG LITTLE LIES (2017)

TRIVIA: HBO won the rights for the series in a bidding war against Netflix.

Nicole Kidman was once engaged to Lenny Kravitz, the father of her co-star Zoë Kravitz.

After collaborating on this project, Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon re-teamed to obtain the rights for an adaptation of "Truly Madly Guilty," also a novel by Liane Moriarty.

Laura Dern has previously portrayed the mother of her two co-stars Shailene Woodley and Reese Witherspoon. In this she plays a fellow mother at the primary school.

The soundtrack went #1 on iTunes' Soundtrack Chart and #2 on the Top Albums U.S. iTunes Chart. In June 2017, the soundtrack was officially released on CD, followed by a double Vinyl release in July the same year. The latter features new songs, including one by the director of the series, Jean-Marc Vallee. The soundtrack also features cast member Zoe Kravitz's first official single, a rendition of Elvis' "Don't".



Sunday, 16 July 2017



FILM 1675: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES

TRVIA: During the filming process, Lily James stated that she had a scene where she had to walk through an area with zombie heads all around. Of course, most of them were fake props and she was directed to stomp on one. They would have supposedly gotten squished, however she stomped and realized everyone behind cameras were all staring at her in shock. She looked down and realized she stepped on one of the few extras' head.

All the actresses playing the Bennet sisters did their own stunts for the film.

Natalie Portman was originally cast as Elizabeth Bennet but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway, Emma Stone, Mia Wasikowska, Rooney Mara, Mila Kunis and Blake Lively were considered to replace her before Lily James was finally cast. Portman remains on board as a producer.

Matt Smith dated co-star Lily James during the film's production.