So much happens when a movie is filmed. Anecdotes that at the moment may not seem amusing, increase their importance or become funny as time shows how big that movie or those actors turn out to be.
Most of the time, actors reveal these anecdotes later on in their interviews or talk shows.
1. Robert Englund & Mark Hamill
’A Nightmare on Elm Street’ star Robert Englund said in an interview with Fantha Tracks that when he went for an audition for a part in ‘Apocalypse Now’, the casting for ’Star Wars’ was going on in the same building. He briefly talked to George Lucas and was told of several potential roles, though he clarified in this interview that he was not even close to casting for Han Solo or any other specific role in that movie (as rumours say). Back then, Mark Hamill was his flatmate and Englund suggested him to come along for the audition. Englund was not cast for Star Wars, but Hamill, well we all know who played Luke Skywalker. How amusing is to think that Englund and Hamill used to hang out together way before the existence of ‘Freddy Krueger’ and ‘Luke Skywalker’!
2. Daveigh’s voice can be pretty versatile
Daveigh Chase played Samara Morgan in the feature film ‘The Ring’, and as part of her voice actress career she did the voice of Lilo Pelekai, in the Disney animated feature ‘Lilo & Stitch’. Both projects were filmed in the same year, proof of how versatile Chase can be when choosing her films.
3. Spot Gardner in the last scene
In the very last scene of the biographical drama film ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ based on Chris Gardner (once a homeless salesman that later became stockbroker, businessman, and motivational speaker), we can see Will Smith in his role of Chris Gardner crossing a street of San Francisco and walking past a man. This man is actually the real Gardner that appears in the movie for less than 60 seconds.
4. Dooley Wilson doesn’t play the pianoDooley Wilson, famous for his pianist role Sam in “Casablanca” was a musician and leader of a band who played the drums, not the piano. He had to mimic the well-known piano scene which was dubbed later. The real pianist was Elliot Carpenter, who sat who became friends and remained close to Wilson.
5. The shot needed camera trickery
John Travolta once revealed that to make it realistic, the scene where he thrusts the needle into Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) chest to save her from an overdose had to be filmed backwards. He was actually pulling the needle out the chest, which made it easier to make contact without risking hurting the actress.
6. Picking out the errors
The 1998 film Armageddon is shown at NASA as part of their management training programme so that managers spot as many errors as possible. At least 168 have been spotted. In fact, Phil Plait, ‘the Bad Astronomer’, implied in one of his blogs that apart from the asteroid existence, the story basically didn’t get anything else right.
7. Chewie or Vader?
Recently deceased David Prowse, who ended up playing the famed Darth Vader, once said to Surrey Life that he originally turned down the role of Chewbacca. Because of his height, he was offered the choice between playing Darth Vader or Chewbacca. Prowse said he did not hesitate to choose Darth Vader, because he knew that people remember villains longer than heroes. He was not aware he’d be wearing a mask and his voice would be dubbed by someone else: James Earl Jones.
8. Well behaved kid
Jonathan Ke Quan once said that whilst filming the 1985 Goonie’s scene where rocks fall from the cave ceiling and he (Data) screams ‘Holy S-H-I-T’, he had to spell the word because his real-life mum had made him promise not to use any bad language.
9. Ryan’s ‘insane’ looks
Ryan Gosling once shared to Company magazine that Nick Cassavetes selected him for his role as Noah in ‘The Notebook’ not because he was handsome or cool, but because he looked like a regular guy who looks a bit insane.
10. Spielberg graduates after a 3-decade break
‘Schindler’s List’ was handed in by Steven Spielberg in 2002 as the final film project of his BA in Film and Electronic Arts at the California State University, Long Beach. He got his BA degree in 2002 and he had dropped out of school in 1968, just a 34-year gap!
Not that knowing any of this would drastically change your life, but it’s certainly fun.
