FILM 2023: MANHUNTER

FILM 2023: MANHUNTER

TRIVIA: This movie was originally going to be titled "Red Dragon", the same name as the novel. However, when Year of the Dragon (1985) became a box-office failure, Executive Producer Dino De Laurentiis decided to avoid a "dragon" title.

The translation of the French title is "The Sixth Sense".

David Lynch, who was considered to direct, ended up having a major effect on the future interpretation of the Dr. Hannibal Lecktor (Lecter) character: Sir Anthony Hopkins has said that Jonathan Demme was inspired to cast him after seeing his performance as Dr. Treves in Lynch's The Elephant Man (1980).

This is the only "Hannibal" movie where his last name is spelled "Lecktor", for some reason. In all other adaptations of the novels, it's spelled "Lecter".

In the scenes where Will Graham (William Petersen) is interviewing Dr. Hannibal Lecktor (Brian Cox) in his cell, Writer and Director Michael Mann took care to set up the shots so that the position of the bars of the cell do not move when the point of view switches between Graham and Lecktor.

The scene where Reba McClane (Joan Allen) touches a sedated tiger features a real sedated tiger. The veterinarian is played by a real veterinarian.

Frankie Faison (Lieutenant Fisk) is the only actor to appear in four Thomas Harris"Hannibal" adaptations. He appeared as Barney in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Hannibal (2001), and Red Dragon (2002).

Curiously enough, Writer and Director Michael Mann had initially considered fellow filmmaker William Friedkin for the part of Dr. Hannibal Lecktor, but when Brian Dennehy, also a prospective Hannibal, insisted that Mann see Scotsman Brian Cox in the acclaimed 1984 off-Broadway production of "Rat in the Skull", Mann was instantly won over by Cox's award-winning performance. Cox's scenes as Dr. Hannibal Lecktor were shot over a three-day period.

When the production could not get permission to film on-board a commercial airplane, Writer and Director Michael Mann booked his actors, actresses, and crew onto a twilight flight from Chicago to Florida where the production was relocating anyway. A stripped-down camera, lighting and sound equipment were taken on board as carry-on luggage. Pilots and flight attendants were appeased with gifts of movie crew jackets.

According to an interview with Brian Cox, the following actors were considered for the role of Dr. Hannibal Lektor: Brian Dennehy, Bruce Dern, John Lithgow, and Mandy Patinkin.

During the filming of this movie, Sir Anthony Hopkins was playing King Lear at the National Theatre. During the filming of The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Brian Cox was playing King Lear at the National Theatre.

In shooting the final confrontation between Francis Dollarhyde (Tom Noonan) and Will Graham (William Petersen), Noonan had to lie in a pool of stage blood for several hours as the crew worked on other shots. After all of this time, the stage blood dried into a thick, cement-like adhesive that nearly fused Noonan to the carpet.

Tom Noonan (Francis Dollarhyde) spent many hours in make-up so that artists could paint fake tattoos on his back and torso modelled after William Blake's "Great Red Dragon" paintings. Though Noonan appeared with the tattoos in publicity photographs (available in a Special Edition DVD), Writer and Director Michael Mann concluded that the tattoos were too "over the top", and discarded the idea. Red Dragon (2002) features the tattoos on-screen.

Writer and Director Michael Mann was reportedly inspired to have Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" on the soundtrack by his correspondence with a convicted killer in Texas named Dennis Wayne Wallace, who claimed "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" was a love song that spiritually connected him to the woman he murdered.

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

FILM 2021: MURDER MYSTERY

FILM 2021: MURDER MYSTERY

TRIVIA: This movie set a new Netflix record. Netflix claims that, in the first three days, 30,869,863 accounts watched the film: 13,374,914 North American accounts and and an additional 17,494,949 accounts watching from the rest of the world.

Adam Sandler's real life wife, Jackie Sandler, makes a cameo appearance as the flight attendant on the plane. 

Andrea Bendewald, who plays a customer in the salon, is Jennifer Aniston's best friend. Bendewald was maid of honour at her wedding to Brad Pitt and guest starred in the sitcom "Friends."

Luke Evans and Victor Turpin are a couple in real life.

FILM 2015: SICARIO

FILM 2015: SICARIO

TRIVIA: While Benicio Del Toro's character is frequently silent in the movie, he initially had more lines. "In the original script, the character explained his background several times to Kate," Del Toro said. "And that gave me information about who this guy was, but it felt a little stiff to have someone you just met fifteen minutes ago suddenly telling you what happened to him and who he is." Working with director Denis Villeneuve, Del Toro began cutting some of his dialogue to preserve the mystery of who his character is; Villeneuve estimated they cut 90% of what Del Toro was originally intended to say by screenwriter Taylor Sheridan. Like Del Toro, Villeneuve saw power in stripping the character down to a brooding silence, stating that dialogue belongs to plays and "movies are about movement, character, and presence, and Benicio had all that."

When discussing the score with composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, director Denis Villeneuve said he wanted the the sound of a threat. The one film Villeneuve used as a comparison was Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975).

Emily Blunt based Kate Macer's character on one of four female FBI agents she spoke to in preparation for the role, whom she described as "shy" and with a "loner quality" to them.

The word "Sicario" derives from the Latin word "Sicarius," meaning "dagger man." The term was used by Romans to describe Jewish zealots who killed Roman citizens using a "sica" or small dagger hidden in their cloaks. There were so many murders in the province of Judea around the 1st Century AD that the figure of "Sicarius" was codified in Roman law ("Lex Cornelia de Sicariis et Veneficis -- Cornelian Law for Stabbers and Poisoners") of 81 AD. These words also derive from the verb "secare," which means "to slice."

FILM 2006: BLOOD DIAMOND

FILM 2006: BLOOD DIAMOND 

TRIVIA: Colonel Coatzee is named for the Nobel Prize-winning South African author and anti-apartheid campaigner.

Solomon's son's name is Dia, which means "expensive" in Krio, the adapted language of Sierra Leone.

Colonel Coetzee has several lines of dialogue in Afrikaans, Arnold Vosloo's first language.

FILM 2005: KISS KISS BANG BANG

FILM 2005: KISS KISS BANG BANG 

TRIVIA: Shane Black's directorial debut.

As a show of support for Robert Downey Jr.'s recovery from alcohol and drugs, Val Kilmerrefused to drink during the entire production.

The film was given a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival.

Val Kilmer's depiction of Gay Perry is generally considered to be the first openly gay character to front a Hollywood action movie.

Robert Downey Jr.'s favorite movie of his own.

In reference to the "Ike, Mike, and Mustard" quote, Mike and Ike are boxed candies in mixed colors of black and white and are also diner slang for salt and pepper shakers. Also, pre-1950s, an "Ike, Mike, and Mustard" joke was an off color joke, generally with sexual references, that wouldn't be told in polite or mixed company.

Shane Black read several stories by Raymond Chandler when writing this script. As a result, the story is divided into chapters and the chapter titles come from Chandler works. Specifically: 1. "Trouble is My Business", 2. "The Lady in the Lake", 3. "The Little Sister", 4. "The Simple Art of Murder", and Epilogue: "Farewell, My Lovely".

The phrase "kiss kiss, bang bang" appeared in the 1960s as an overseas slang for spy movies, especially James Bond movies. It was popular in Europe and Japan. It first appeared as a film title for Kiss Kiss - Bang Bang (1966), a 1966 spy comedy made in Spain with Italian financing. It was also the title of famed critic Pauline Kael's second published collection of reviews. Kael wrote that she chose the words as her title because they are "perhaps the briefest statement imaginable of the basic appeal of movies."

Early in production, Warner Brothers considered Benicio Del Toro for Harry, and Hugh Grant for Gay Perry.

The film is credited as being based (very loosely) on Bodies Are Where You Find Them, by Brett Halliday. This was the fifth novel (of more than 70) in the Mike Shayne detective series, originally published in 1941. Brett Halliday was the pen name of Davis Dresser, who created the character and wrote the first thirty novels, stepping down from the job in 1958. Dell Publishing hired other writers to pen the rest, sometimes assisted by Dresser; all of them continued to use the Brett Halliday pen name. The book covers of the Johnny Gossamer paperbacks created for the film are based on Dell's cover design for the Mike Shayne series from the early 1950s to mid 1960s. Bodies Are Where You Find Them was reprinted by Dell with this cover design in 1959.

CAMEO: Laurence Fishburne: Voice of the bear in the fake beer commercial.

FILM 1996: THE FRIGHTENERS

FILM 1996: THE FRIGHTENERS 

TRIVIA: It was during filming this on-location in New Zealand, that Michael J. Fox made up his mind that he'd had enough of being away from his family making movies, and decided to head back to the small screen and star in a new sitcom (Spin City (1996)). This turned out to be his last leading role in a film.

When Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson were writing the part of the Drill Sergeant in the graveyard, they wrote the part as a spoof of R. Lee Ermey's character in Full Metal Jacket(1987) with the intention of getting an actor in New Zealand for the role. But they didn't feel the actors who auditioned were right, and finally ended up approaching Ermey himself.

Danny Elfman was so impressed with Peter Jackson's previous movie, Heavenly Creatures(1994), that he offered to do the score for one of Jackson's next movies, and agreed to this movie without even knowing what it was about.

Was originally planned as a Tales from the Crypt (1989) feature, but Executive Producer Robert Zemeckis liked the script so much, he decided it should stand on its own and not be part of a series.

The film was not released to theaters in Tasmania. The Port Arthur Massacre rather spookily mirrored the film's content and ihappened not long before the film's release. It was released on video and subsequently broadcast.

When Frank's ghost friends attack the Lyskey residence, a mini statue of Elvis Presley floats in front of Ray. Peter Dobson, who plays Ray, previously appeared in Forrest Gump (1994) as Elvis Presley.

Roughly 21 minutes into the film Michael J. Fox's character is eating by his window. If you look closely he is eating one of General Mills famed Monster Cereals. The flavor, Boo Berry which is the ghost cereal.

Cameo 

Melanie Lynskey: Star of Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures (1994) is the Deputy taking Lucy Lynskey's statement at the police station. Lucy's last name is a reference to the actress as well.

FILM 1995: SPECIES

FILM 1995: SPECIES 

TRIVIA: Xavier Fitch (Sir Ben Kingsley) says that the alien signal was received by the Arecibo radio telescope exactly nineteen years after an outbound message was transmitted. Since the transmissions travelled at the speed of light, that means that the alien solar system is approximately nine light-years from Earth. There are two stars which are likely candidates, Sirius and Luyten 726-8A.

Fitch's comment that they made Sil female to be more docile is an in-joke that reveals his ignorance. In every predatory species known, the female is always more aggressive.

During the production, MGM opted not to shoot the "nightmare train" sequence to keep costs down. H.R. Giger was not willing to accept that, however, so he spent one hundred thousand dollars of his own money to finance the sequence.

In scenes of Dan (Forest Whitaker) talking to his therapist, there is a sign on the wall in the background that at first glance is a typical "Thank You For Not Smoking" sign. On closer inspection the text actually reads "Thank You For Smoking".

Michelle Williams dislikes this movie, due to the amount of bullying she received after it was released.

FILM 1992: EXTREMELY WICKED, SHOCKINGLY EVIL AND VILE

FILM 1992: EXTREMELY WICKED, SHOCKINGLY EVIL AND VILE

TRIVIA: The name of this film came from a quote from the court judge on Bundy's trial. He quoted, "The crimes were extremely wicked, shockingly evil, vile, and the product of design to inflict a high degree of pain."

There was once a petition in 2016 from fans to cast Zac Efron as Ted Bundy in the upcoming biography movie. Former lawyer of Ted Bundy agrees that Efron actually bears a resemblance to the serial killer.

When Ted is asking Liz if he ever laid a hand on her or raised his voice the film neglects the instances from the past where he was controlling and odd One one occasion he pushed Liz into a lake during an argument. The film also neglects to mention his constant stealing.

FILM 1985: THE BOSTON STRANGLER

FILM 1985: THE BOSTON STRANGLER

TRIVIA: Film debut of Edward Winter.

Shortly before filming was set to begin, the real Albert DeSalvo escaped from the mental institution where he was imprisoned. He was later captured after being on the run for thirty-three hours.

Tony Curtis broke his nose while filming a chase scene.

Tony Curtis was on Variety's list of Top Ten Overpriced Stars in 1968.

Other actors considered for the role of Albert DeSalvo were Robert Redford and Warren Beatty.

PODCAST: GLADIATOR

PODCAST: GLADIATOR 

Football star Aaron Hernandez went from the bright lights of the Super Bowl to a convicted murderer in a few years. The Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team, best known for its investigation of the sexual abuse scandal inside the Catholic Church, takes a hard look at the crisis facing football through the lens of Aaron Hernandez’s life and terrible crimes. Did a brain badly damaged by football contribute to Hernandez’s violent behavior? Did he keep secrets about his sexuality that collided with a hyper-masculine football culture? Did elite coaches and teams look the other way as Hernandez was spiraling out of control? Spotlight uncovered new documents, audio, and interviews to go deep into the story of what happened to Aaron Hernandez, and what it means for those of us who cheer on a violent game. From Wondery, the podcast team that brought you Dr. Death.

MY VERDICT: Despite knowing nothing of American Football and not having much interest in sport in general, I found this podcast thoroughly fascinating. The story follows Aaron Hernandez through his career and asks questions about how the people around him could have prevented his violent decline or whether the sport itself was to blame. I don’t know if all these questions were answered but I certainly learnt a lot along the way.

FILM 1973: THE SNOWMAN

FILM 1973: THE SNOWMAN

TRIVIA: Martin Scorsese was originally attached to direct this movie. He remained on board as executive producer.

Tomas Alfredson has said that production was too rushed. He came on board late, and reckons that up to 15% of the screenplay was never filmed. Location filming in Norway was shortened so production could move to London, which compromised the story.

Featured on episode 209 on the podcast "How Did This Get Made?".

The ringtone of Rakel's phone is cover of Edvard Grieg's piece "In the Hall of the Mountain King".

All of Val Kilmer's lines are dubbed throughout the film. According to a Reddit AMA in May 2017, Kilmer disclosed that he had "a healing of cancer," and his tongue "was still swollen although healing all the time."

Jonny Greenwood created a score that was not used.

PODCAST: HAPPY FACE

PODCAST: HAPPY FACE

For Melissa Moore, 1995 was a nightmare. That’s the year the teenager learned her father, Keith Hunter Jesperson, was a serial killer. It’s also the year Melissa Moore’s doubt spiral began: When you look like your father, and you share his intelligence and charisma, how do you know you’re not a psychopath, too? Happy Face is the story of Keith Hunter Jesperson, his brutal crimes, and the cat and mouse game he played with detectives and the media. But it’s also the story of the horrific legacy he gifted his children. Join Melissa Moore as she investigates her father’s crimes, reckons with the past, and wades through her darkest fears as she hunts for a better future.

MY VERDICT: When I first heard the trailer for this podcast, I honestly thought it was one of those fictional story-telling podcasts – a dramatization, because of the high production value and the articulate way Melissa expressed herself, I couldn’t believe it was real, but it was. This story is different from any other true crime story I’d listened to because it has such a unique perspective, the perfective of the daughter of a serial killer. 

I would highly recommend this podcast but, be warned, it’s heartbreaking.

FILM 1961: ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE

FILM 1961: ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE

TRIVIA: The voice of Ace Ventura and the manner in which he speaks, was added by Jim Carreyonly after several read throughs of the script. The voice was something Carrey used in his stand up routine. The "All righty then" was the catch phrase of one of his stand up characters and after the lines from the script weren't feeling right, he added it to the script and read through it again using that voice for all the lines. It was such an improvement that it became the main Ace Ventura personality trait.

Ace Ventura compares Ray Finkle's room to Hannibal Lecter's prison cell from The Silence of the Lambs (1991). 17 years later, in Inside the Actors Studio: Jim Carrey (2011), Jim Carrey recounted that he asked Anthony Hopkins to dinner and discovered that his approach to Ace Ventura was the same as Hopkins' to Hannibal Lecter: they moved like animals. Carrey based Ventura's movement on birds and Hopkins based Lecter's movements on reptiles. Carrey confessed that Hopkins was becoming Hannibal Lecter right at the table.

Rick Moranis turned down the role of Ace Ventura.

According to Tom Shadyac in the DVD commentary, Jim Carrey came up with "Alrighty then" and other lines specifically because he thought they might catch on. The hand gesture Ventura gave before leaving the police station was also something Carrey intended to become popular. It did not.

Jim Carrey had his own personal chef on the set of the film, who also was required to prepare meals for Carrey's pet iguana.

Tom Shadyac's directorial debut.

FILM 1946: SLEEPY HOLLOW

FILM 1946: SLEEPY HOLLOW

TRIVIA: Johnny Depp adopted Goldeneye, the horse that played Gunpowder, Ichabod Crane's horse in this movie, when he heard it was going to be put down.

It was only after being cast as The Headless Horseman, that Christopher Walken admitted to Director Tim Burton that he actually did not know how to ride a horse.

Johnny Depp initially found the idea of Christina Ricci being his love interest in this movie, to be rather odd, seeing as he's known her since she was nine-years-old.

Historically, Ichabod Crane was a very unattractive man. Johnny Depp offered to add prosthetics to his face to make himself look ugly, but Director Tim Burton wanted to base the character on Crane's more unattractive personality traits, his reported squeamishness and eccentricity.

This movie was almost entirely shot with a blue filter. So, for the blood to appear red, the liquid used had to be bright orange.

(At around fifty-seven minutes) At the start of filming the three-way axe battle with Ray Park, Johnny Depp, and Casper Van Dien, Van Dien broke the index finger of his left hand. Although it was extremely painful, he carried on without telling anyone, as he didn't want his part cut short.

The cast and crew often said "The feeling one had walking around Sleepy Hollow's sets, and in particular the town at Lime Tree, was almost as if you were walking around the inside of Tim Burton's head."

Michael Gough came out of retirement to play Notary Hardenbrook.

Tim Burton included scenes as an homage to Disney's animated version of the Sleepy Hollow tale (featured in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)). These include the scene in which Ichabod Crane crosses the covered bridge and hears the frogs underneath croaking "Ichabod" and "Headless Horseman", the following chase sequence where Ichabod is run down and unhorsed, apparently by The Headless Horseman, and the moment in the climactic chase scene in which Ichabod runs into a tree limb, and, thrown through the air, ends up landing on the Horseman's horse backwards.

Director Tim Burton says the movie was inspired by the Gothic horror movies of Mario Bava and Hammer Film Productions. Burton brought Hammer veteran Michael Gough out of retirement for a small role, and recruited Sir Christopher Lee, a veteran of both Hammer and Bava's movies, for a cameo.

This is the first adaption of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" that doesn't involve the actor playing the Headless Horseman having to conceal his head in the cloak, thanks to advancement in technology. The head of the actor was covered with a blue mask, that was deleted by means of computer graphics. The collar was also created with CGI, to match the flow of the robe.

The Western Wood was built on a soundstage, so everything, including the weather and light, could be controlled.

Crane's final line in this movie, "the Bronx is up, but the battery's down" is in reference to the song "New York, New York".

Christopher Walken (The Headless Horseman) played a schoolteacher in The Dead Zone(1983), in the beginning of which he tells his class to read "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow".

Johnny Depp's third collaboration with Tim Burton.

Johnny Depp and Christopher Walken appeared in Nick of Time (1995).

Ichabod's mother in the flashbacks, played by Burton's then-wife Lisa Marie Smith.

DIRECTOR TRADEMARK (Tim Burton): (distorted female face): The Crone's Medusa-like appearance.

FILM 1931: IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT

FILM 1931: IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT

TRIVIA: Sidney Poitier insisted that the movie be filmed in the north because of an incident in which he and Harry Belafonte were almost killed by Ku Klux Klansman during a visit to Mississippi. Hence the selection of Sparta, Illinois for the location filming. Nevertheless, the filmmakers and actors did venture briefly into Tennessee for the outdoor scenes at the cotton plantation, because there was no similar cotton plantation in Illinois that could be used. Poitier slept with a gun under his pillow during production in Tennessee. Poitier did receive threats from local racist thugs, so the shoot was cut short and production returned to Illinois.

Rod Steiger was asked by Director Norman Jewison to chew gum when playing the part. He resisted at first, but then grew to love the idea, and eventually went through two hundred sixty-three packs of gum during the shooting of the film.

According to Sidney Poitier, Tibbs' retaliation slap to Endicott (Larry Gates) was not in the original script nor in the novel on which the film is based. Poitier insisted that Tibbs slap Endicott back and wanted a guarantee that the scene would appear in all prints of the film. According to Stirling Silliphant, the slap was in the original script, though not in the novel.

Set in a hot Mississippi summer, but filmed during autumn in Illinois, many of the actors had to keep ice chips in their mouths (and spit them out before takes) to prevent their breath from appearing on camera during the night scenes.

The movie's line "They call me Mister Tibbs!" was voted as the #16 movie quote by the American Film Institute.

Frequently cited as Sidney Poitier's favorite of all the films he's done.

In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #75 Greatest Movie of All Time. It was the first inclusion of this film on the list.

Virgil Tibbs was ranked Hero #19 in the Heroes category on the AFI's 100 Heroes and Villains list.

Virgil's salary of "$162.39 per week" would be roughly $1,200 in 2017.

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

FILM 1927: BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE

FILM 1927: BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE

TRIVIA: The El Royale is based on the famous Cal Neva Resort and Casino that was once owned by Frank Sinatra.

Chris Hemsworth had to lose 25-30 lbs of muscle weight immediately after Avengers: Infinity War (2018) wrapped to star in this film.

FILM 1920: THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT

FILM 1920: THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT

TRIVIA: The House That Jack Built (2018) was originally announced as an eight-part miniseries in September 2014 when the completed version of Nymphomaniac: Vol. I (2013) / Nymphomaniac: Vol. II (2013) premiered at the Venice Film Festival, but in February 2016, Lars von Trier announced via a David Bowie-themed video on his official Facebook page that "The House That Jack Built" would be his next theatrical release, due in theaters in 2018.

Despite audience backlash toward a scene involving the main character's mutilation of a duckling when he was a child, PETA has defended the film in a statement praising its accurate portrayal of the link between adolescent animal abuse and psychopathy. Animal cruelty is actually known to be a common trait among serial murderers, especially when they are young.

The Second Incident is similar to Ray Bradbury's short story "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl" (1948) in which the murderer is obsessed with erasing every fingerprint at the scene of the crime.

A shot of Jack and Verge standing in a boat is reminiscent of the painting "The Raft of the Medusa" (Le Radeau de La Méduse) by Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault. It also bears resemblance to "La Barque de Dante" by Eugène Delacroix. 

The prestigious French film magazine 'Cahiers du Cinema' declared The House That Jack Built (2018) the 8th best film of 2018.