FILM 1908: DISCLOSURE

FILM 1908: DISCLOSURE

TRIVIA: Michael Crichton sold the movie rights for $1 million before the novel was published.

In the United Kingdom, the film's poster was removed from Liverpool bus shelters because it was considered too sexually suggestive, especially in light of the fact that Liverpool County Council had just run an ad campaign promoting the safety of their buses to women traveling alone at night.

Before the publication of The Andromeda Strain, Michael Crichton had written under many pseudonyms, one being Michael Douglas.

As filming neared completion, Caroline Goodall slipped on a water spillage in her home and broke her shoulder. She was able to film her remaining scenes by taking some painkillers and removing her sling.

Demi Moore biked 28 miles every morning pre-dawn to get in shape for this film. She'd given birth to her third child a month before she was cast.

A decade later, Demi Moore was sued for sexual harassment by the caretaker of her Idaho ranch, Lawrence Bass, who claimed that she hit on him in the same manner she used to approach Douglas' character in the film, then fired him after he rejected her advances.

After Tom and Meredith terminate their meeting, Tom goes home to his wife, and while they're in bed they watch a movie with a clip of Fred MacMurray explaining why men fool around. The clip is from The Apartment (1960) starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine.

FILM 1902: SKYSCRAPER

FILM 1902: SKYSCRAPER

TRIVIA: When Will Sawyer and Zhao first meet, Sawyer greets him with some Mandarin, and Zhao replies in the same language but there are no subtitles on the screen. He is asking in jest, "Your Mandarin is quite good; how is your English?".

During development, architect Adrian Smith was brought in to consult during the writing process. Smith led the work of Dubai's Burj Khalifa, which at the time of this movie's release is the tallest building in the world, and Saudi Arabia's Jeddah Tower, the building proposed to surpass the record held by the former.

FILM 1882: ROBOCOP

FILM 1882: ROBOCOP

TRIVIA: It was discovered that when in full RoboCop costume, Peter Weller could not fit properly into the police car as he was too bulky. That's why most shots of him show him exiting the car or preparing to get into it. For shots where he actually needed to be in the car, he only wore the top part of the costume and sat in his underwear. However, to maintain the illusion that RoboCop wears the entire suit while inside a car, most shots show his robotic feet exiting the car first.

Some 25 years later, an internet rumor began to get funding for a RoboCop statue to be placed in Detroit. Peter Weller himself created a public service announcement to support the proposal. Eventually, a Kickstarter campaign was created and proved successful, as the 12 foot statue is now in production.

The RoboCop suit was so hot and heavy that Peter Weller was losing 3 lbs a day from water loss. Eventually, an air conditioner was installed in the suit.

In Sacramento, California, a robbery suspect fled into a darkened movie theatre to escape pursuing police. He became so engrossed in the movie playing on screen (RoboCop), that he failed to notice that police had evacuated all other patrons from the theatre. When the lights flipped on, the stunned man was taken into custody.

Paul Verhoeven and Rob Bottin clashed repeatedly before and during production over the design and make-up of the RoboCop character. What they argued most about was the scene where Murphy takes off his helmet. Bottin wanted the scene to be filmed in a darkened area, fearing that harsh light would reveal too much of the make-up effects; Verhoeven wanted the scene to be filmed as brightly as possible, citing that director of photography Jost Vacano would be able to light it properly without revealing anything. Verhoeven got his way and Bottin refused to talk to him any further for the remainder of production. However, at the premiere, both men were so impressed with how the scene had turned out, that they instantly forgave each other. Bottin, who had even vowed to never again work with Verhoeven, happily accepted the offer to work on Verhoeven's next project, Total Recall (1990).

Nancy Allen first arrived on set when Paul Verhoeven was shooting the deliberately cheesy sitcom "It's Not My Problem" which appears on television screens throughout the film. Allen was initially horrified to think that she had signed on to make a film with an incompetent director.

Because the hands of the RoboCop suit were made of foam rubber, the car keys would bounce off of Peter Weller's hand every time he attempted to catch them. The production took up to 50 takes and an entire day's worth of filming before finally getting the shot right.

On the DVD Ray Wise explains that he and Kurtwood Smith ended up being too close to an explosion which caused pieces of glass to be embedded into Ray's face. He received an additional stunt pay for this mishap as per the studio. Ray then jokingly states that he devised ways where he would be as close to the explosions as possible to gain extra money.

RoboCop's first Directive, "Serve the public trust", was inspired by a fortune cookie.

After Peter Weller complained about the costume during the first few days of filming, the role of RoboCop was offered to Lance Henriksen, who turned down because of time conflicts - Henriksen was also considered for the title role in The Terminator (1984) (before the cyborg was decided for to be large and bulky and Arnold Schwarzenegger was brought on), and finally got to play a robot in Aliens (1986) (see also trivia for The Terminator (1984)).

Paul Verhoeven's first American film.

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

DIRECTOR TRADEMARK: Paul Verhoeven: [in-movie fake commercials] Several fake advertisements are featured throughout the movie: The Family Heart Center (a medical center specializing in artificial heart transplants), Nukem (a futuristic Battleship-like board game), and the 6000 SUX - the primary vehicle that Clarence Boddicker and his gang use.

FILM 1858: READY PLAYER ONE

FILM 1858: READY PLAYER ONE

TRIVIA: Besides the obvious Bigfoot, Delorean, and Akira vehicles, other notables in the race were the Mach 5, Batmobile, A Team van, V8 Interceptor, Christine and the Trans-Am from Smokey and the Bandit

Steven Spielberg is referenced (along with some of his movies) in Ernest Cline's source novel. Spielberg had stated that he would remove these references, although some like the Tyrannosaurus Rex and the alien ship from War of the Worlds (2005), do appear.

At one point in the movie, the gang goes into a simulation of the hotel from The Shining(1980). In real life, Steven Spielberg was close friends with The Shining's director, Stanley Kubrick. Spielberg even once called the scene where Wendy finds Jack's novel as "a great example of counter intuitive direction".

The Zemeckis Cube is named after director Robert Zemeckis. When the cube is activated, the music playing is from the Back to the Future (1985) trilogy, directed by Zemeckis. Alan Silvestri composed the score for both the Back to the Future trilogy and this film.

The box containing the Orb of Osuvox is the same one Gizmo is in when he's given to Billy in Gremlins (1984).

The character Curator, that guides people around Halliday's Journal is based on long time popular character actor Arthur Treacher, best known for playing butlers and other British roles.

Around the 35' mark, Halliday is shown on the cover of WIRED magazine with a QR code. The code is readable, and links to an accompanying article on Halliday (July 2018).

During the scene inside the shop, in the background you can see the flying RV from Spaceballs, the space pod from 2001, a Colonial Viper, a star fighter from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Ed 209, and a loader from Aliens.

The semi-truck blocking the road in the middle of the opening race is the truck driven by Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Little China (1986).

Boba Fett is at the bar where the dance number is done.

Christopher Nolan, Robert Zemeckis, Matthew Vaughn, Peter Jackson and Edgar Wrightwere all considered to direct this film.

Toshiro's virtual avatar 'Daito' is a samurai which resembles Japan's legendary actor Toshiro Mifune who has played a samurai in many films during his long distinguished career.

On August 11, 2015, a rumor began circulating that Steven Spielberg was "courting" Gene Wilder to play OASIS creator James Halliday in his later years, which would've made this the first film Wilder has done since 1999. However, Wilder's dementia had progressed to a point where he could no longer remember lines and couldn't take the part.

When Wade first goes to the club to meet Art3mis, the bartender has a Devo Hat on from their famous video Whip It.

The team of pop-culture experts that help Sorrento hunt for the Halliday Easter Egg are called "oologists" in the movie. Oology is an actual science that studies and collects bird eggs.

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.

PODCAST: THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT

PODCAST: THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT 

This is the welcome note for the podcast which was at first only available on Audible but now is free on iTunes:

Hi everyone,

Welcome to The Butterfly Effect. It's sort of about porn, but it's about a lot of other things. It's sad, funny, moving and totally unlike some other nonfiction stories about porn - because it isn't judgmental or salacious. It's human and sweet and strange and lovely. It's a mystery story, an adventure. It's also, I think, a new way of telling a story. This season follows a single butterfly effect. The flap of the butterfly's wings is a boy in Brussels having an idea. His idea is how to get rich from giving the world free online porn. Over seven episodes I trace the consequences of this idea, from consequence through to consequence. If you keep going in this way, where might you end up? It turns out you end up in the most surprising and unexpected places.

So if you're thinking, why do I want to listen to a show about the tech takeover of the porn industry, I have two things to say:

1. Why wouldn't you want to listen to a show about the tech takeover of the porn industry? That's a great idea for a show.

2. Would you want to listen to a show about three women destroying a mysterious Norwegian man's stamp collection? Well, that happens at the end of episode 2. At the end of Episode 3 a woman becomes convinced that she played a part in a murder committed by an Italian priest. At the end of Episode 4 a boy in Oklahoma is forced to move to a house on the very, very edge of his town.

I hope you like our show,
Jon 

MY VERDICT: I absolutely loved this podcast. I am a fan of Jon Ronson, having devoured ‘The Psychopath Test’ many years ago, and find his story telling technique to be always surprising and often exhilarating. His voice is reassuring and he has a way of putting heart into everything he investigates. He is one of the only researchers/journalists I know of to find the positive side to every story, to get excited about things or to find a way to get excited about things where others might give boring facts.

The premise of the podcast itself allows us to see into the lives of all kinds of people and professions and it’s heartwarming to hear people open up to Jon Ronson. The subject matter is an important one, because even if you have never watched porn and know nothing about it, you can find out how it’s affecting the world we live in.

There are some truly amazing stories which I don’t want to spoil here but as Ronson mentioned it already above, the story of the custom porn creators who were asked to destroy one man’s stamp collection is fascinating.

I only finished this the other day but have already recommended it to several people, and I now recommend it to you.

FILM 1672: THE CIRCLE

TRIVIA: Bill Paxton 's final film.

Bill Paxton died before the film's release. Glenne Headley who played his wife in the film, died the same year after the film's release.

Re-shoots took place 4 months before the release of " The Circle " which made Emma Watson's character seem more appealing, but apparently test audience reaction was even worse than previous test screenings.

The Circle's HQ looks very similar to Apple's new campus "Apple Park" which is scheduled to open shortly after the film's premiere.

At one point Mae struggles to keep up with Annie and comments how incredibly long her legs are. Karen Gillan played Amy Pond on Doctor Who (2005), and at one point another character commented that she, "...is made of legs, that's the most legs on any living human!"

During the first speech that Tom Hanks' character gives, he reveals the name of the cameras are called SeeChange. Immediately following this scene they cut to a concert featuring the singer Beck. One of Beck's most famous albums is called Sea Change.