Fun Movie Facts

[Skummy]

I'm not sure if this has ever come up before, but this is a thread for posting fun little, largely inconsequential, facts and tidbits about movies. Stuff that has no real bearing on the plot or anything, but is just kind of interesting to hear.

I'll start with this one I just discovered;

In Back To The Future Part II, one of the little kids at the "Wild Gunman" machine in Cafe '80s in 2015 is Elijah Wood.

[GA!]

From what I can remember from the original script, The Truman Show was originally set in a dystopian vision of New York.

[Hagen]

Marlon Brando's epic monologue at the end of Apocalypse Now was pretty much improvised. It was also shot in the dark because Brando, at the time, was too fat to realistically potray a US Army Colonel. In the opening of the movie where Martin Sheen is drunk in his room and doing martial arts he actually was blackout drunk. He accidentally punched a mirror and started bleeding heavily, but Coppola decided to keep shooting and leave it in because he thought it looked good.

[Hobo]

Eddie Murphy was once intended to play Winston in Ghostbusters.

Christopher Lloyd's first on screen kiss was in Back to the Future 3.

The original draft of Groundhog Day started with Bill Murray's character already stuck replaying the same draft over and over.

Randy Newman has cameo in The Princess and the Frog as a firefly.

The second America Tail film was Jimmy Stewarts last acting role.

[Your Mom]

From what I can remember from the original script, The Truman Show was originally set in a dystopian vision of New York.

That would have been interesting

[SRN]

Íf I remember correctly, Jackie Chan was offered the role of Simon Phoenix in Demolition Man before it was given to Wesley Snipes. And that would've made for an interesting movie.

[Mick]

I'm not sure if this has ever come up before, but this is a thread for posting fun little, largely inconsequential, facts and tidbits about movies. Stuff that has no real bearing on the plot or anything, but is just kind of interesting to hear.

I'll start with this one I just discovered;

In Back To The Future Part II, one of the little kids at the "Wild Gunman" machine in Cafe '80s in 2015 is Elijah Wood.

Funny you bring up Back to the Future Part II. Here's the original script for it.

Some of the highlights:

Future Marty's life really really sucks.

Marty jeopardizes his whole existence (again)

Shenanigans in 1967.

Die Hard was originally thought up as a sequel to Commando; the story itself was lifted from a novel called Nothing Lasts Forever, itself a sequel to a novel (and later film) The Detective. Die Hard 2 on the other hand was based on the novel 58 Minutes. The fun thing about The Detective was that it starred Frank Sinatra. So yeah, there's your original John McClane.

I also think there's something about Die Hard With A Vengeance being based off a script for a Lethal Weapon sequel.

[CobraKaiEnTai]

Eddie Murphy was once intended to play Winston in Ghostbusters.

I've also heard John Candy was originally supposed to play Louis

Edited June 12, 2012 by jth1981

[Evil Chase K]

Eddie Murphy was once intended to play Winston in Ghostbusters.

I've also heard John Candy was originally supposed to play Louis

Part was written for him.

[CobraKaiEnTai]

If we're getting into Ghostbusters trivia, the whole movie was originally intended for John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd and Gozer was originally going to be played by Paul Reubens

Edited June 12, 2012 by jth1981

[Mick]

If we're getting into Ghostbusters trivia, the whole movie was originally intended for John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd and Gozer was originally going to be played by Paul Reubens

I think the part of Reubens being Gozer (well, in the form of Shandor) was changed over very late in production. In the novelization he turned up.

And on Winston, he was supposed to be much more badass then he was, like, smarter than Egon AND an Ex-Marine. I think I also read something about how Egon was supposed to be played by Chevy Chase. Just makes me wonder at the rate they were going if Eugene Levy would show up (probably as Peck )

[Hobo]

Candy wanted to play Louis as German. It would have been awful.

[supergrass]

I also think there's something about Die Hard With A Vengeance being based off a script for a Lethal Weapon sequel.

I've read that somewhere as well. I think they also discuss on the DVD that the first half of the film was also considered as a stand-alone "Simon Says" film, which was then worked into being something Hans Gruber and Die Hard related.

[Liam]

In one of the Harry Potter films (can't remember which one), Ian Brown is a customer in a cafe/pub magically stirring his drink.

[King.]

All three men were legitimately drunk in the boathouse scene of Jaws where they are comparing scars and singing. It was filmed over the course of two nights. The scene was improvised.

[GA!]

In one of the Harry Potter films (can't remember which one), Ian Brown is a customer in a cafe/pub magically stirring his drink.

And in the first film, Rik Mayall had a part which was taken out of the final cut.

[Damian WayLNKe]

Just saw this on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) IMDB page:

"According to the audio commentary on the German version of the DVD the movie was originally planned to be made and released before the cartoon was on the air. The movie was intended to be a direct comic book adaption in the mid 1980s, but no studio or country (except France and Germany) wanted to invest in the project."

[zero]

Beetlejuice was supposed to be a dark horror movie about the afterlife and Tim Burton wanted Sammy Davis Jr. for the title role once it became more of a comedy.

[I Don't Mind]

Gene Wilder had a ton of creative input on playing Willie Wonka. He came up with the introductory scene of coming out with a cane and doing a somersault back up to his feet when he fell, as well as heavily helped design the costume.

[probablyoliver]

Will Smith was going to play Neo. Favourite movie fact ever.