FILM 1790: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION

FILM 1790: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION

TRIVIA:Tom Cruise stated in an interview that it was his intention to do the stunt hanging onto the Airbus A400M in a way to outdo himself after the Burj Khalifa climb stunt in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011). However, his idea raised objections by the crew due to safety. Being a certified pilot himself, he wanted to get the feel of being out on the wing or on the side of the airplane. A major obstacle to filming would be bird strikes and wind resistance on the runway. To capture the action, a wind-resistant custom frame for the camera was built and mounted onto the left wing of the plane. The other major problem would be keeping Cruise's eyes open in the presence of fast wind and runway particles, so his eye specialist designed a special lens that can cover the entire eyeball. Eight takes of the stunt were filmed. Christopher McQuarrie was very concerned that the actor might panic suddenly, but was assured by Cruise to not stop filming until the stunt had been finished.

Ethan receives his new mission on a vinyl long-playing record. This was one of the first ways of receiving new missions from the Mission: Impossible (1966) television

A brief scene in which Ilsa pauses in the middle of an action sequence to remove her high-heeled shoes was singled out in reviews for its realism, especially in light of the just-released Jurassic World (2015), which was criticized as Bryce Dallas Howard spends much of her action movie literally running in heels from dinosaurs. There was even the idea to highlight the scene in promotional trailers and television spots, but Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie refused, saying that "it wasn't about twisting the knife."

When training for the underwater scene, Tom Cruise was able to hold his breath underwater for six minutes.

Tom Cruise and Ving Rhames are the only actors to appear in all six films.

Argentinian composer Lalo Schifrin, who wrote the Mission: Impossible (1966) theme, also created the orchestral arrangements for the "Three Tenors" concerts that made "Nessun Dorma" (featured in this film) an international pop culture phenomenon.

The idea of synchronizing a gun shot with a particular moment in a music score during a live performance is taken out of Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956).

FILM 1674: MARGUERITE

TRIVIA: Shot entirely in the Czech Republic.

The name of the title character is a gallicised form of Margaret Dumont, the dignified lady with the figure of an old-time opera singer who was the foil for the Marx Brothers' gags.

BOOK 168: HERZOG ON HERZOG: WERNER HERZOG

Most of what we've heard about Werner Herzog is untrue. The sheer number of false rumours and downright lies disseminated about the man and his films is truly astonishing. Yet Herzog's body of work is one of the most important in post-war European cinema. His international breakthrough came in 1973 with Aguirre, the Wrath of God, in which Klaus Kinski played a crazed Conquistador. For The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Herzog cast in the lead a man who had spent most of his life institutionalised, and two years later hypnotised his entire cast to make Heart of Glass. He rushed to an explosive volcanic Caribbean island to film La Soufrière, paid homage to F. W. Murnau in a terrifying remake of Nosferatu and in 1982 dragged a boat over a mountain in the Amazon jungle for Fitzcarraldo. More recently Herzog has made extraordinary 'documentary' films such as Little Dieter Needs to Fly. His place in cinema history is assured. Paul Cronin's volume consists of an invaluable set of career-length interviews with the German genius once hailed by Francois Truffaut as the most important film director alive. It provides a forum for Herzog's fascinating views on the things, ideas and people that have preoccupied him for so many years.

(Text from the back of the book)

FILM 1251: FITZCARRALDO

TRIVIA: A real 340-ton steamship was moved over the mountain with a bulldozer, without the use of special effects.

Klaus Kinski was a major source of tension on set, as he fought virulently with the crew and raged over trivial matters. The natives where very upset about his behavior. Herzog has claimed that it went so far that one of the chieftains offered, in all seriousness, to murder Kinski for Herzog.

Based on a true story. Carlos Fermin Fitzcarrald was a Peruvian rubber baron, the son of an Irish-American father and a Peruvian mother, who developed the Madre de Dios basin by portaging a ship overland. It was disassembled, however, not moved intact. The rivers connected by the Isthmus of Fitzcarrald are the Rio Mishagua and Rio Manu; the Ucayali was part of the downstream shipping route. Fitzcarrald died at age 35 when his ship sank.

Was shot in English, since many of the actors on the set couldn't speak German.

Jack Nicholson was originally set to star, but left the production.

FILM 1225: AMADEUS

TRIVIA: Several professors of music stated, after studying all of the musical keys struck on pianos throughout the film, that not one key is struck incorrectly when compared to what is heard at the exact same moment. In other words, what you see is exactly what you hear.

When shooting the scene in which Salieri is writing down the death mass under Mozart's dictation, Tom Hulce was deliberately skipping lines to confuse F. Murray Abraham, in order to achieve the impression that Salieri wasn't able to fully understand the music he was dictated.

When the movie won Best Picture at the Academy Awards, Sir Laurence Olivier was presenting the award. He went up to the podium, opened the envelope and said "Amadeus." The problem was he forgot to read the nominees first.

It has been claimed that the concept for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's annoying laugh was taken from "references in letters written about him", including a description of him having "an infectious giddy" laugh, and sounding "like metal scraping glass". No citations have been provided for these letters, however. There is no indication as to who wrote them, to whom or when. And in the absence of further citations, these claims of historical evidence for Mozart's laugh should be regarded as dubious at best. Robert L. Marshall, writing in "Film as Musicology: Amadeus" (The Musical Quarterly, Vol.18/2, 1997, p.177) says that there is "absolutely no historical evidence for this idiosyncrasy [Mozart's infuriating laugh]. We simply have no contemporary testimony at all as to how Mozart sounded when he laughed." Marshall goes on to explain that the laugh is a dramatic device, representing the mocking laughter of the gods, as in fact Antonio Salieri recognizes in the script.

F. Murray Abraham learned to read and conduct music for his role.

The music was pre-recorded and played in the background as scenes were filmed. Tom Hulce practiced four hours a day at the piano to appear convincing.

Elizabeth Berridge, during the Nipples of Venus scene, did not know she could spit out the candy (which was really lumps of marzipan) between takes and ate about 15 whole pieces. She later describes how she thought that they were disgusting and that she eventually made herself sick.

Tim Curry and Mark Hamill both auditioned for the role of Mozart (and played Mozart on Broadway).