O
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
(2000)
1. George Clooney agreed to do this film without having read the script.
2. The American Humane Association, an organization that protects animal rights,
mistook a computer-generated cow in the movie for a real animal and demanded
proof before they would allow the use of their famous disclaimer, "No animals
were harmed in the making of this motion picture." After seeing a demonstration
at Digital Domain of how the cow was created, the Humane Association added the
now-familiar (but then much rarer) "Scenes that appear to have harmed animals
were simulated".
3. George Clooney practiced his singing for weeks, but in the end his singing
voice was dubbed.
4. The cabin in the valley before it is flooded is a replica of the cabin from
The Evil Dead (1982), a movie directed by Sam Raimi, a friend and
co-conspirator of the Coens.
5. The scene where Ulysses, Pete and Delmar come upon the KKK meeting is a
reference to the scene in The Wizard of Oz (1939) when the Tin
Man, Scarecrow and Lion sneak up on the Witch's castle. The chanting and
formation marching of the Witch's guards are mimicked by the KKK members.
Infiltration is achieved in both films by overpowering three guards and KKK
members respectively and donning their garb.
6. The character of Tommy Johnson is based on famed blues guitarist of the same
name who, according to folk legend, sold his soul to the Devil at the crossroads
in exchange for his prodigious talent. Robert Johnson, another bluesman and a
contemporary of Tommy's (but no relation), borrowed the legend and wrote a song
about it.
7. The character of Sheriff Cooley fits Tommy Johnson's description of the Devil
exactly: "He's white, as white as you folks, with empty eyes and a big hollow
voice. He likes to travel around with a mean old hound."
8. Many of the actors in this film who were in previous Coen brothers films have
moments reminiscent of their earlier performances. Examples: John Turturro
begging for his life in a forest (like in Miller's Crossing
(1990)); John Goodman as an evil salesman (like in Barton Fink
(1991)); Charles Durning lecturing his employees (like in The
Hudsucker Proxy (1994)); Michael Badalucco as a gangster bank robber
(he drove the car in Miller's Crossing (1990)); and Holly Hunter
as a now overly fertile mother of seven (she was infertile in Raising
Arizona (1987)).
9. The film soundtrack's official website ran a trivia contest to promote the
film, giving winners canisters of Dapper Dan pomade.
10. The film's soundtrack became an unlikely blockbuster, even surpassing the
success of the film. It has, so far, sold five million copies, spawned a
documentary film, two follow up albums ("O Sister" and "Down From the
Mountain"), two concert tours, and won Country Music Awards for Album or the
Year and Single of the Year (for "Man of Constant Sorrow"). It also won five
Grammys, including Album of the Year, and hit #1 on the Billboard album charts
the week of March 15, 2002, 63 weeks after its release and over a year after the
release of the film.
11. In the Odyssey, Ulysses angers the god Poseidon with pride, and is thus sent
on his journey. His travels come to an end when he shows humility. Everett
similarly scoffs at the baptisms of Pete and Delmar, and soon finds many
obstacles in his path homeward. His trek also ends when he humbles himself. Not
ironically, water is involved at both points--the baptisms and the
flooding--since Poseidon was the god of the waters.
Ocean's Eleven (1960)
1. Sammy Davis, Jr., required wooden blocks attached to the pedals on the
garbage truck he drove in the film so that he could reach them.
2. In a scene between Danny (Frank Sinatra) and Adele (Patrice Wymore), Adele
throws a dish of candy at Danny. The throwing of the dish was ad-libbed, which
accounts for the genuine look of surprise on Frank Sinatra's face and the faces
of his co-stars.
3. Significant portions of the movie interactions between major characters were
ad-libbed. The actors playing the leading roles all knew each other well and
improvised dialogue as well as or better than the script.
4. In the final shot of the film, the eleven walk past the famous sign in front
of the Sands hotel. The five members of the Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Dean
Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford) are billed on the sign.
5. As Peter Lawford, Dean Martin, and Frank Sinatra attempt to disguise
themselves by blackening their faces in the garbage truck near the end of the
movie, Sammy Davis, Jr. comments, "I knew this colour would come in handy
some day" Apparently Dean and Frank teased Sammy about that scene for as
long as they knew each other thereafter
Ocean's Eleven (2001)
1. Matt Damon's part as the pick pocket was meant for Mark Wahlberg.
2. Luke Wilson and Owen Wilson were to play the brothers Virgil and Turk, but
dropped out to film The Royal Tenenbaums (2001). The part of Frank
Catton was originally intended for Danny Glover, who also declined the part to
appear in The Royal Tennenbaums (2001).
3. Bruce Willis was cast, but had to pull out due to scheduling conflicts
4. The house used as Ruben Tischkoff's home is in Palm Springs, California. It
was designed by architect Quincy Jones and was originally built by a Chicago
family that had patented the parking meter. Warner Brothers paid $200,000 for
its use in the film.
5. Henry Silva and Angie Dickinson, who both appeared in the original
Ocean's Eleven, make cameo appearances during the fight scene.
6. With the exception of the title character Danny Ocean, none of the principal
characters have the same names as their counterparts in the 1960 version of the
film.
7. When George Clooney joins the "teen idols" card game, he asks Topher Grace
"isn't it a big move from TV to movies ?". Clooney moved from TV (ER
(1994)) to movies. Topher Grace is a star on the FOX series That '70s Show
(1998), Holly Marie Combs from Charmed (1998), Joshua Jackson of
Dawson's Creek (1998), Barry Watson of 7th Heaven
(1996) and Shane West of Once and Again (1999)
8. The scene of everyone standing around watching the Bellagio fountain and
leaving was improvised. The actors were told to line up and depart in whatever
order felt natural.
9. In nearly every scene Rusty's in, he's eating something. According to Brad
Pitt, this is because the whole gang (his character in particular) would be so
busy that they'd rarely be able to eat; it was decided that Rusty would just eat
all the time.
Ocean's Twelve (2004)
1. Steven Soderbergh insisted that this film be made
on the same budget as the original film Ocean's Eleven (2001)
2. While discussing production in Rome, Brad Pitt and George Clooney were not
allowed back into the hotel because the doorman thought they were vagrants after
the actors were caught in a rain storm while jogging.
3. Shooting in the Netherlands caused some train delays. The Thalys that was
used in the film, accidentally broke the upper contact wire. Since the wire
broke at the point where several wires connected, the power on several tracks
was lost. It took two hours to undo the damage.
4. Some scenes which suppose to be on Amsterdam station were filmed at Haarlem
train station (20 km away). Signs on the platform indicates "Amsterdam centraal"
but on the real platform it's saying "Haarlem Centraal".
5. The story of this film was taken from a spec script written by George Nolfi
that was originally intended to be a John Woo vehicle. When it was decided that
Ocean's Eleven (2001) was going to have a sequel, Warner Brothers
asked Nolfi to rewrite the script, adjusting it for the characters from
Ocean's Eleven.
6. When filming scenes in Sicily security was tightened because several members
of the Sicilian mafia were seen roaming near the shooting locations.
Octopussy (1983)
1. When Bond bends metal bars surrounding a window after weakening them with
acid, a brief musical quote of the theme from Superman (1978) can be heard.
2. Vijay Amritraj is a professional tennis player in real life.
3. Bond meets up with Vijay when he hears Vijay play a few bars of "The James
Bond Theme."
4. Q appears as an active participant in a mission for the first time, as
opposed to being behind the scenes.
5. Octopussy is said to be the daughter of a man Bond allowed to commit suicide
rather than be captured. This is the only reference to Fleming's original short
story.
Omen, The (1976)
1. To make the baboons attack the car in the Windsor Zoo park scene, an official from the zoo was in the backseat of the car with the "leader" baboon, which made all the baboons outside go crazy.
2. When the fishbowl falls to the ground, (dead) sardines painted orange were used in place of actual goldfish, which director Richard Donner refused to kill for the sake of making a movie.
3. In the closing scene, director Richard Donner used reverse psychology on young Harvey Stephens telling him, "Don't you dare smile. If you smile, I won't be your friend." Naturally, Stephens smiled directly into the camera.
On Her Majesty's Secret
Service (1969)
1. At 140 minutes, this is in the longest 007 movie.
2. Lazenby was previously a car salesman with a part time job as a male model.
He was also well-known in Britain as "The Big Fry man," after the chocolate bar
commercials he starred in, carrying an outsize bar on his hunky shoulder.
3. The search for a new Bond was compared with the search for Scarlett O'Hara,
and 413 actors audition for the role. Lazenby was determined to get the role, he
spent most of what money he had on a Saville Row suit and a Rolex watch, then
while having a Bond type haircut Broccoli walked into the same salon, made the
connection and later offered him the part.
4. Blofeld's headquarters was a partially completed restaurant on top of Mount
Schilthorn. The owners allowed filming on condition EON paid $125,000 to refit
the interior and construct a helicopter pad. When the restaurant opened it was
given the name Piz Gloria used in the film.
5. Lyrics were originally intended for John Barry's main theme, but were later
rejected in favour of Louis Armstrong's memorable rendition of "We Have All The
Time In The World".
6. As Bond clears out his desk, we see Honeychile's knife from Dr. No
(1962), Grant's garrotte/watch from From Russia with Love (1963),
and a rebreather from Thunderball (1965). A bit of the theme music
from each movie is played as we see the appropriate item.
7. As Bond passes a janitor in Draco's headquarters, the man can be heard
whistling the Goldfinger (1964) theme.
8. George Baker provides the voice of Bond when 007 is pretending to be Sir
Hilary Bray.
9. The film performed admirably, outgrossing its nearest competitor almost two
to one at the U.S. box office where, according to Variety, it was the most
popular film in the country for four solid weeks. It generated enough rentals at
the box-office to claim ninth position on the box office chart for the year
1970. The persistent belief that it was a flop arises from its disappointing
showing in comparison to the previous three Connery Bond films, all of which
made twice as much money. Lazenby turned down an offer to appear in
Diamonds Are Forever (1971) because he was led to believe that the
tuxedo-clad superspy would soon become an anachronism in the age of Woodstock.
10. Q calls Bond by his first name for possibly the only time in the series,
following the wedding.
11. At the wedding, Draco and M are seen discussing an occasion where M's
department cost Draco three men. M says, "Ah, yes, November 1964 -- the bullion
job." This is a reference to the Fort Knox caper in Goldfinger
(1964), implying Draco was once in league with Auric Goldfinger!
12. In the pre-credits sequence, we are introduced to George Lazenby as James
Bond in the same way that Sean Connery was introduced in Dr. No.
13. To explain the change in lead actor, early scripts of OHMSS called for Bond
to undergo plastic surgery (since his apparent death at the start of You
Only Live Twice (1967) obviously did not have the desired effect of
keeping enemies at bay). This idea was dropped, but it created a continuity
error with the previous Bond film when Blofeld fails to recognize Bond.
14. When James Bond is searching for his family tree the man says that and old
ancestor's motto was "The World is not enough". It was the 19th James Bond
movie's title, and nearly at the end of it, James Bond says "The World is not
enough. Family Motto".
15. The only Bond film to have a fully-instrumental opening credits sequence.
Reportedly lyrics were written for the theme song, but they were rejected. The
montage of Bond girls and villains seen during the sequence were put there to
remind viewers this *was* a James Bond movie.
16. This is the only movie in the Bond series where nobody gets killed during
the pre-credit sequence.
17. Actors considered for the role of Bond included: Adam West , Robert
Campbell, Anthony Rogers, Hans De Vries, John Richardson, and Roy Thinnes.
18. Timothy Dalton and Roger Moore were both offered the role of James Bond in
On Her Majesty's Secret Service, but both turned it down. Dalton because he felt
he was too young at the time, and Moore because he was still under his contract
in the TV series The Saint.
19. First 007 movie where Bond kisses Moneypenny
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
1. Jack Nicholson disappeared two months before filming started. When the crew
arrived at the mental hospital to start filming, they discovered that he had
admitted himself as a patient, and had been living there since disappearing.
Once Upon
a Time in America (1984)
1. When Noodles (De Niro) is watching TV, there's an interview with a character
called James Conway O'Donnell. In Goodfellas (1990) De Niro's
character was called James Conway.
2. Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and James Woods later appeared in Casino
(1995). In both of these films, De Niro's character is Jewish.
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
1. This movie holds the record for the longest opening credit run. (approx. 13
minutes from beginning to end)