FILM 1910: A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN

FILM 1910: A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN

TRIVIA: All of the injuries and bruises in the film were real injuries that the actresses received during filming.

The "strawberry" bruise Renée Coleman received on her thigh while sliding into a base remained for over a year.

During filming of the World Series games, stars took turns entertaining the unpaid extras. Tom Hanks did puppet shows over the dugout, Rosie O'Donnell did stand-up comedy; and various actors pretended to be Madonna and sang her songs after the singer balked at performing for the fans.

For the famous split catch, Geena Davis had to have a stunt double slide into the split. Although Davis could do the splits, as shown, she couldn't slide into it.

Geena Davis joined the production as a late replacement for Debra Winger, a few days before filming was due to start. Davis's character was supposed to be one of the greatest female baseball players in America, and the cast had been doing baseball training for months. Within weeks, Davis had mastered the game, and was regularly beating all her co-stars.

The more mature Dottie and Kit are played by Lynn Cartwright and Kathleen Butler, but their voices are dubbed by Geena Davis and Lori Petty.

Actresses auditioning for the film had to prove they could play baseball. All the actresses cast in the film, apart from Geena Davis, did their own baseball stunts. None of the performers wanted stunt doubles.

Tom Hanks gained thirty pounds in preparation for his role. He attributed the weight he gained to a nearby Dairy Queen. All during filming, Penny Marshall encouraged Hanks to keep on eating. Meanwhile, she also told Rosie O'Donnell to eat as little as possible.

In 2012, the film was selected by the U.S. Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry archives.

Lori Petty was, in reality, a faster runner than Geena Davis, and had to run slower while appearing she was running at full speed.

Jon Lovitz had a more substantial role in the film's initial cut. During the extensive post-production editing and screening process, the filmmakers used only his meanest comments and most obvious punchlines and found the audience was roaring with laughter at everything he said. They decided to focus on those moments, cut out extraneous material, and ended up with one of the most popular elements of the final film.

The film portrays the league as initially unpopular and unprofitable, until demeaning gimmicks are used to attract male audiences. In reality, the league was popular and profitable from the start, largely because it played in towns in the upper Midwest that had no way of watching a live baseball game. Eventually, the league grew into a ten-team two-division league. The advent of televised baseball games in the early fifties, however, would lead to the demise in the popularity of the league.

The movie's line "There's no crying in baseball." was voted as the #54 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).

After league tryouts were completed, all of the players were sent to "Charm and beauty school". This is factual, as the real AAGPBL players were sent to the Helena Rubenstein Beauty Salon to be made over, and they attended Helena Rubenstein's Evening Charm School after afternoon practices where proper etiquette, hygiene and the leagues dress code were taught and reinforced.

Lori Petty and Rosie O'Donnell were the two best players and had hitting competitions. Both could hit the fences at major-league parks.

Not even Tom Hanks knew when he was going to be done "peeing." Penny Marshall was in a stall with a hose and a bucket making the noise.

In Evansville, Indiana, where the Racine games and World series was filmed, Madonnawas so rude to citizens, hotel and restaurant staff, and other locals, that her reputation is still tarnished there. She even spoke poorly of the city in interviews.

Rosie O'Donnell's character, Doris, asks "What are you a Genius?" to Dottie. Geena Davis actually has an IQ of 140. Having an IQ of 140 is actually considered the starting point for the "Genius" level.

Marisa Tomei filmed an audition tape of her playing baseball, being coached by Joe Pesci, on the set of My Cousin Vinny (1992), but according to Penny Marshall, she just wasn't a ball player.

Coaches used a Slip 'n' Slide to teach the actresses how to slide. The first three girls got concussions. They tried different training methods after that.

Sean Young and Demi Moore were both considered for Dottie. Demi had to back out because she became pregnant. Penny Marshall remarked that "Bruce literally screwed her out of the part."

Penny Marshall was the first female director to have a movie earn over 100 million at the box office, after originally being told by the studio they weren't considering her for the role of director because she was a woman, and she wouldn't be able to handle the complexities of being a director, according to Garry Marshall.

Hillary Clinton is a fan of this movie and quoted a line in a graduation speech.

FILM 1906: FORREST GUMP

FILM 1906: FORREST GUMP

TRIVIA: With every transition of Forrest's age, one thing remains the same. In the first scene of each transition, he wears a blue plaid shirt.

Tom Hanks was not paid for this film. Instead, he took percentage points which ultimately netted him in the region of forty million dollars.

When Forrest gets up to talk at the Vietnam rally in Washington, the microphone plug is pulled and you cannot hear him. According to Tom Hanks, he says, "Sometimes when people go to Vietnam, they go home to their mommas without any legs. Sometimes they don't go home at all. That's a bad thing. That's all I have to say about that."

Tom Hanks signed onto this film after an hour and a half of reading the script, but agreed to take the role only on the condition that the film was historically accurate. He initially wanted to ease Forrest's pronounced Southern accent, but was eventually persuaded by Robert Zemeckis to portray the heavy accent stressed in the novel, and he patterned his accent after Michael Conner Humphreys (young Forrest), who actually spoke that way.

During the ping-pong matches, there was no ball; it was entirely CGI, animated to meet the actors' paddles.

David Alan Grier, Ice Cube, and Dave Chappelle turned down the role of Bubba. Ice Cube refused to play an idiot and Chappelle thought the movie would bomb. Chappelle had since admitted to deeply regretting not taking the role, and would eventually go on to play Tom Hanks' best friend in a different movie, You've Got Mail (1998)).

Forrest and Dan's Shrimp Emporium, "Bubba Gump," is now a themed restaurant in 33 locations around the world in the U.S., Japan, China, Mexico, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, and the U.K. There is one at the entrance to the Universal theme parks in Orlando, Florida, at the Wyndham Ocean Walk Hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida, at the Anaheim Gardenwalk in walking distance from Disneyland Park (TM) in Anaheim, California in the Los Angeles area, at Pleasure Pier in Galveston, Texas, Cannery Row in Monterey, California, City Market in Charleston South Carolina, the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois and downtown Gatlinburg, Tennessee, New Orleans, Louisiana, The Las Vegas Strip, Pier 39 in San Francisco, CA, Destin Florida, Lahaina in Maui, HI, and the Ala Moana mall in Honolulu, HI.

The movie's line, "Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." was voted as the #40 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).

The house used in Forrest Gump is the same house used in The Patriot (2000). Some paneling was changed for interior shots in the latter film.

Every still picture of Forrest during this film shows Tom Hanks with his eyes closed.

Sally Field is only ten years older than Tom Hanks.

Jodie Foster, Nicole Kidman, and Demi Moore turned down the role of Jenny Curran.

When this film became wildly successful, talk of a sequel naturally arose. However, at the time, Tom Hanks adamantly refused to work in any sequel (and making the sequel with another actor was not a consideration). Although Hanks has since reconsidered his stance on sequels/prequels (Toy Story 2 (1999), Toy Story 3 (2010), Angels & Demons (2009)), a sequel remained in "development hell" for years. As of 2010, Gump & Co. is in development.

One of three movies - the other two being Apollo 13 (1995) and The Green Mile (1999) - in which Tom Hanks and Gary Sinise appear together. All three movies were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, but only Forrest Gump won in the category.

Following the success of the movie, Winston Groom wrote a sequel novel, 'Gump & Co.' (1995), which referenced the movie as if it had been released in Forrest's world (he mentions that the movie was an inaccurate telling of his life - and brought him unwanted press attention). Forrest also meets Tom Hanks in the novel.

Robert Zemeckis used the paintings of Norman Rockwell as the design inspiration for the town of Greenbow, Alabama. The scene where Forrest sits in the hallway of his school while his mother talks to the principal is a direct re-creation of Rockwell's painting "Girl with a Black Eye".

Tupac Shakur auditioned for the role of Bubba.

The Doors have more songs in the movie than any other band with a total of six. These are, "Soul Kitchen" (in one of the Vietnam scenes), "Hello, I Love You" (first song in Gump's first ping pong sequence), "People Are Strange" (second song in Gump's first ping pong sequence), "Break On Through" (third song in Gump's first ping pong sequence), "Peace Frog" (during a New York City scene with Lieutenant Dan) and "Love Her Madly" (when Jenny is leaving her abusive boy friend).

According to writer Winston Groom, John Goodman was the perfect Forrest Gump in his mind.

Contrary to popular belief, the feather was not entirely CGI. The effects team digitized film of a real feather blowing and twisting in front of a blue-screen. This was then edited into segments, which the computer could link and morph together, allowing the "virtual" feather to move however the filmmakers needed. Thus, there was a real feather, but its performance in the movie was computer-based. This is demonstrated in the DVD supplementals.

In the movie there are four actors/actresses who play multiple roles. Gary Sinise plays Lieutenant Dan as well as all of his ancestors. Mykelti Williamson plays Benjamin Beaufort "Bubba" Blue, as well as the waiter opening Dr. Pepper bottles, in the scene where Forrest meets JFK as an All-American. Sally Field plays Forrest's momma, as well as a male reporter during Forrest's run across America. Tom Hanks plays Forrest, of course, as well as the ancestor he was named after.

Apart from a fixed fee, author Winston Groom made a deal for a three percent share in the film's net profits. However, he never received money from this source. Even though the film turned in more than $350 million in revenue, the studio employed creative accounting by claiming that the movie had actually lost money after correcting for the costs of production and advertising. Groom unsuccessfully tried to sue the studio for money, but to appease him, they bought the rights to the sequel novel 'Gump & Co' from him for a seven-figure sum.

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

The first Best Picture Oscar winner to also win Best Visual Effects.

Acting debut of Haley Joel Osmet

FILM 1880: APOLLO 13

FILM 1880: APOLLO 13

TRIVIA: In a commentary track, Marilyn Lovell comments that Tom Hanks exactly portrays Jim Lovell's mannerisms and style of movement.

The famous understatement was actually made twice by two astronauts. Jack Swigertsaid, "OK Houston, we've had a problem here." Mission Control said, "This is Houston. Say again, please." Then Jim Lovell said, "Ahh, Houston, we've had a problem." On the recording, Swigert is garbled at the beginning, while Lovell is clear, so the recording of Lovell is often heard, leading to the impression he said it, even though Swigert said it first. It's commonly misquoted as, "Houston, we've got a problem," or "Houston, we have a problem." Because "we've had" implies the problem has passed, Ron Howard chose to use "we have".

Jim Lovell wore his old Navy Captain's uniform in the scene where he greets the astronauts aboard the U.S.S. Iwo Jima. When Ron Howard asked Lovell if he'd like to be in the film as the ship's Admiral, Lovell agreed, but pointed out, "I retired as a Captain; a Captain I will be."

In some scenes where the Earth can be seen from the windows of Apollo 13, it is one of the photos taken by Jim Lovell and Bill Anders on the Apollo 8 mission.

Marilyn Lovell really did lose her ring down the drain, but eventually found it again.

Ron Howard's favorite of his own films.

John Cusack and Charlie Sheen were originally offered the role of Fred Haise (played by Bill Paxton), but turned it down.

The Mission Control set was nearly a carbon copy of the original one in Houston. The production crew originally wanted to film in the original Mission Control room in Houston, which is now a historic landmark. However, the original room was found to be too small to be used for a film production. The production crew took precise measurements of every part of the room and replicated it on a Hollywood set. One of the real Apollo 13 flight controllers, Jerry Bostick, left the Mission Control set one day looking for the elevator, convinced that it was the real thing (the original Mission Control is on the third floor of the building).

Many of the actors in Mission Control were being fed lines directly from technical advisers on set.

CAMEO:Jean Speegle Howard: Ron Howard's mother plays Blanche Lovell.

FILM 1870: SULLY: MIRACLE ON THE HUDSON

FILM 1870: SULLY: MIRACLE ON THE HUDSON

TRIVIA: Ferry Captain Vincent Lombardi, who was the Captain of the first ferry to reach the plane, played himself in the movie.

Chesley Sullenberger was present at the studio. He supported the movie and helped it to reflect reality.

Clint Eastwood deliberately filmed the escape onto the life raft without rehearsal to capture the physical difficulty of releasing the raft. Tom Hanks and Aaron Eckhart's actions were unscripted.

The actual Airbus A320 involved in the incident was recovered from the Hudson and placed on display at the Carolina's Aviation Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina. Charlotte was the original destination for this flight. Footage shown during the credits, with the actual passengers and crew, was shot at the museum.

"Cactus" was the air traffic control name for America West Airlines, so named because it was based in Phoenix and needed to sound distinct from American Airlines. America West later became part of US Airways. That's why the flight is identified as "Cactus 1549."

During the in-flight emergency, Sully asks his co-pilot Jeff Skiles to "get the QRH." The Quick Reference Handbook (QRH) contains all the procedures applicable for abnormal and emergency conditions in an easy-to-use format. In addition, performance data corrections are also provided for specific conditions. The aviation acronym "QRH" is never explained or defined anywhere in the movie.

At 96 minutes, this is the shortest film Clint Eastwood has directed.

This is the first collaboration between Clint Eastwood and Tom Hanks.

The song "A Real Hero" by French electronica artist College, in collaboration with Electric Youth, released in 2010, is about Captain Chesley Sullenberger and the U.S. Airways Flight 1549 water landing incident. Electric Youth frontman Austin Garrick was inspired to write the song by a quote from his grandfather, who spoke of Sullenberger and the incident. Garrick's grandfather referred to Sullenberger as "a real human being and a real hero," which became the song's refrain. The song has been featured in films including Drive (2011) and Taken 2 (2012).

FILM 1757: THE POST

FILM 1757: THE POST 

TRIVIA: In all of the scenes depicting President Nixon on the phone in the Oval Office, Nixon's actual voice is heard from White House tapes. 

In scenes involving the Pentagon Papers, the actual Daniel Ellsberg's original documents were used as genuine props, including the pages that were scattered over the floor of Benjamin C. Bradlee (Tom Hanks)' home.

In his memoir, the real Daniel Ellsberg claimed that walking out of RAND with the Pentagon Papers (and returning them) over the course of months was a calculated risk, since he had never had his bag checked by security, but he did not know for sure if it was not policy to do so.

Steven Spielberg wanted to have his film released as quickly as possible given the parallels between its theme and the burgeoning political 'fake news' climate in the U.S. According to Meryl Streep, the physical shoot started in May (2017) and finished at the end of July (2017) and Spielberg had it cut two weeks later, an unprecedented feat. The gestation from script to final cut lasted a modest 9 months.

Never having previously collaborated with director Steven Spielberg in a director/actor capacity, Meryl Streep was flabbergasted to learn that Spielberg never rehearses with his actors. Co-star Tom Hanks was well aware of this idiosyncrasy but decided, in gleeful anticipation of a 'diva' reaction, not to tell Streep. Despite her initial shock, Meryl and Steven got along extremely well during the shoot with Spielberg being so impressed with her character transformation, he had difficulty restraining himself from constantly complimenting her every take on set.

Benjamin Bradlee (Tom Hanks character) in real life had a son named Ben Bradlee Junior who is depicted in the film Spotlight (played by John Slattery). The film is based on the true story about about the Boston Globe newspaper uncovering a major scandal.

The Post is dedicated to Nora Ephron, once married to Carl Bernstein who with Bob Woodward uncovered the Watergate scandal in 1972 as reporters for The Washington Post.

Tom Hanks has a connection with both of the film's main characters' real-life individuals. Hanks actually personally knew Ben Bradlee (who Hanks portrays in the film), and he met Kay Graham (who Meryl Streep portrays in the film) the day before she died.

Coincidentally, Benjamin C. Bradlee and wife Sally Quinn were Long Island neighbors of Steven Spielberg for many years, and they knew each other socially.

With this film, his fifth collaboration with Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks broke his tie with Harrison Ford to be the actor that Spielberg has directed the most times. Ford has also been directed by Spielberg five times, but his scene in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) was cut from the final film.

Michael Stuhlbarg is in three of the movies nominated for best picture Oscars: The Shape of Water, Call Me By Your Name, and The Post, but he was not nominated himself.

The Post marks the 28th collaboration between Williams (composer of the film's score) and Spielberg. The score uses a combination of both orchestral and sparse, light electronic elements throughout.

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.

FILM 1590: BRIDGE OF SPIES 

TRIVIA: According to Tom Hanks in a press release for the movie, when his lawyer character of James B. Donovan makes arguments to the Supreme Court about Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, the actual words used in the dialogue for this movie were the same as the arguments presented to the US Supreme Court.

Rudolf Ivanovich Abel's seemingly incongruous accent, as voiced and acted by actor Mark Rylance, was actually accurate. Abel was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne to Russian parents and spent some of his school age years in Scotland. He returned to Moscow in his late teens but never lost his accent when speaking English.

As seen in the film, Soviet agent Rudolf Ivanovich Abel received coded messages from his KGB handlers that were hidden inside a hollow U.S. nickel. The FBI first became aware of Abel's activities in 1953, when a Soviet agent mistakenly used one of the hollow nickels to buy a newspaper. The Brooklyn newsboy who had received the nickel thought it felt too light. He dropped the nickel on the sidewalk, and it popped open, revealing a piece of microfilm with a coded message inside. But FBI cryptologists were unable to crack the code until 1957, when a KGB defector, Reino Häyhänen, gave them the key to deciphering the code, and also gave up Rudolph Abel. The "Hollow Nickel Case" was also dramatized in The FBI Story (1959), starring James Stewart.

According to Steven Spielberg in a press release for the movie, Gregory Peck came after the story in 1965. Alec Guinness agreed to play Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, Peck would play James B. Donovan, and Stirling Silliphant would write the script. MGM declined to make the movie at the time. It was 1965, Cold War tensions were high, and MGM was reluctant to get into the politics of the story.

For the scene outside the courtroom, the photographers were initially instructed to put their used flashbulbs, which are extremely hot to the touch, in their pockets. One of the background actors on set happened to be the historian of the New York Press Photographers Association. He told executive producer and 1st assistant director Adam Somner that, at the time, photographers would have ejected the bulbs onto the floor. After several takes, noticing the bulbs strewn across the floor, director Steven Spielberg decided to shoot the low-angle view of the principals walking through them.

The Russian phrase "stoikiy muzhik" literally translates to "persistent peasant" - "stoikiy" being a term meaning persistent, rigid, or uncompromising, and "muzhik" being a slang term for a Russian peasant. Abel's translation of the phrase as "standing man" is therefore appropriate on a metaphorical level.

In an interview with the International Spy Museum, the son of Francis Gary Powers, Francis Gary Powers Jr., indicated that his father was not told to commit suicide if shot down, unlike the depiction in the movie. Instead, it was given as an option in case physical torture had been involved, allowing the pilots to use a poison pin if the pilots chose to commit suicide. He also indicated that the Soviets found the pin on a third strip search but Powers warned them not to touch it; the Soviets tried the pin on a dog and the dog died a few moments later.

Steven Spielberg cast Mark Rylance in the movie after watching his Tony Award-winning performance in Twelfth Night which was Rylance's third Tony Award.

Fourth theatrical feature film collaboration of actor Tom Hanks and director Steven Spielberg with the two performing those duties. They pair previously worked together on [in chronological order]: Saving Private Ryan (1998), Catch Me If You Can (2002), and The Terminal (2004).

At the beginning of the film, Rudolf Ivanovich Abel is painting a self-portrait, the scene is based on Norman Rockwell's "Triple Self-portrait". Steven Spielberg and George Lucas are both big collectors of Rockwell's work.

The subway car that Donovan is riding on his way home is the only remaining N.Y.C. Transit R11 subway car that was part of an order of 10 built in 1949. It was called the "million dollar train" as each of the 10 cars cost over $100,000. The interior seen in the film is from a 1964/65 rebuild of the car , not the one it had when the story took place in 1961.

When London-based playwright and television writer Matt Charman stumbled upon a footnote in a biography on John F. Kennedy that referenced an American lawyer whom the President had sent to Cuba to negotiate the release of 1113 prisoners, his curiosity was piqued. Some quick research yielded a name he did not recognize, that of James Donovan, a successful insurance claims lawyer from Brooklyn. But it was the story of what took place several years earlier which he found most interesting. Donovan had defended a Soviet agent accused of espionage during the Cold War, and while he specialized in insurance law and had not practiced criminal law for some time, was then asked to negotiate one of the most high-profile prisoner exchanges in history. Charman had little knowledge of the inner-workings of the film industry. Nevertheless, he flew to Hollywood in hopes of convincing a studio to green-light a film based on Donovan's remarkable true story. While Donovan's role was not well known in the annals of Cold War history, Charman pitched DreamWorks Pictures a gripping tale of an idealistic man navigating the world of national security and subterfuge. The executives at DreamWorks were immediately intrigued. "When I heard the story, it knocked my socks off," says producer Kristie Macosko Krieger, who was a co-producer on Steven Spielberg's Lincoln (2012) and is based at DreamWorks. Krieger said: "Not many people know the story of James Donovan and what he accomplished during this period of U.S. history, but it sounded like something that was right up Steven's alley."

Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, whose real name was Vilyam Fisher, passed away in 1971, and was rarely photographed or interviewed while alive. According to actor Mark Rylance who portrays Abel in the film: "We don't really know all that much about him, other than the fact that he received and passed on messages at various drop sites throughout New York using a hollow coin. He was, what you call, a sleeper spy. Abel had been in the United States for several years before he began these clandestine activities, and he wasn't the chief organizer of the spy-ring, he just carried out the mission. But when he was caught, the U.S. government made him out to be a little more important than he actually was."

Actress Amy Ryan and actor Domenick Lombardozzi both appeared in HBO's The Wire (2002).