Movies/Tv - Facts and Trivia

Another Star Trek fact revealed by Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac fame. He appeared in a cameo part as an Antedian dignitary under heavy prosthetics in the Star Trek: The Next Generation second season episode "Manhunt" in 1989.

Aliens(1986)

During the scene in the medlab when Ripley and Newt set off the fire alarm in order to alert the remaining marines,a G1 Shockwave toy from The Transformers was painted grey and used as a part of the overhead set.

TV: In many ITC productions like The Saint, Randall & Hopkirk and Man In A Suitcase to name but three if you saw a chase sequence involving the villain's car it was envariably a an S-type Jaguar and it would always end up with a shot(soon to become stock footage)of the car going over a cliff - same car, same cliff.

Movies: Some older films would use this principle wth their car sequences but it was taken from film THE CAR by Stephen King where surprise, surprise a demonised car would eventually end up, yes you've guessed it, going over a cliff! This was also used in the 2 part special of KNIGHT RIDER tv series where K.A.R.R. and K.I.T.T. drive towards each other but right at the last second the evil car pulls out and goes over a cliff-if you looked closely it was a different looking car-the one from THE CAR.

Incidentally if you roll a car off a cliff or push it over and it crashes to the ground it will NOT explode! This is just a device used for dramatic effect for films and television.

Similarly as seen in countless tv and films but disproved, by Jeremy Clarkson once, you cannot ignite a petrol container by shooting at it; this he did by shooting an AK 47 at a van spraying it with bullets. You also can't shoot the lock off a door. You can, assuming it's strong enough, open a door with a credit card(this was proven in an episode of Mythbusters)

The character Alexander Knox the reporter in 89 Batman film played by Robert Wuhl was originally supposed to be killed off in the first draft of the script but he his character was so loved that they changed the script and kept him alive.

Speaking of Batman 1989 Jack Nicholson worked with the designer of his costume for the Joker and had the jacket made purple because it was his favourite colour. It is now private hands and worth an estimated £150,000.

Rumours abounded that the only reason that Kim Bassinger got the role of Vicki Vale was th fact at the time her boyfriend was co-producer (Peter Guber or it might have been Jon Peters)

Warner Bros tried stoked the hype over the film by giving out Batman tshirts and hats at Wimbledon that year(1989) but they were thwarted by The All England Tennis Club who banned them from the boxes because the BBC doesn't promote advertising. BOiNG!! THWACK! OH! I SAY!

As you know Blade Runner was based on Philip K. Dick’s story Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The word ‘Android’ wasn’t used because it sounded too comical screen so Replication is a term used in cloning which sounded futuristic and less comical.

I am sure you all remember Raiders of the Lost Ark and the scene in the market place when Indy is looking for Marian who has been snatched by swarthy arabs for the Nazis. He is searching for her and suddenly the crowd moves away and reveals a fiercesome swordsman who proceeds to whirl his huge sword about, but then Indy just reaches for his gun and shoots him dead. That scene was meant to be pretty dramatic but it is fair to say(when I saw it at least) it got the biggest laugh in the cinema.

In Superman the Movie veteran actor Marlon Brando (who appears with Suzanna York) as Kal-El's father Jor-El, but he is literally only on screen for a few minutes. For that brief cameo he was paid $1m.

Back to Raiders Of the Lost Ark. Remember the scene when both Marian and Indy are trapped inside a giant pyramid with the spiders, snakes and other gruesome things. The set piece was Indy climbing onto a giant statue of Anubis and loosening it so he could make it fall and smash through the wall to get out. Stuntman Martin Grace(whose wife Wendy Leach doubled for Karen Allen(Marian) got ready to ride the statue hanging on to the whip, but according to him, he says that the statue moved before he was ready and nearly got smashed into the wall. Luckily he wasn't hurt.

And finally. In Doctor No, a deadly tarantula snake is sent by Strangways to Bond's room and in a tense scene Bond wakes up to see something moving under the bedclothes. It is only a few seconds later we see the spider appearing to crawl up his body, but again look closer at that scene and you will see Bond(Sean Connery) is under a pane of glass(you can see an actual reflection) and so perfectly safe although tarantulas don't bite you unless you provoked them.

Speaking of snakes, in a scene from the making of Raiders, Steven Spielberg is seen watching them put snakes on the ground, but rather than writhe about menacingly they just stayed still so they were squirted with water to get them to move. The main shot when Indy falls and is confronted by a cobra was not as dangerous as it first looked. If you look very carefully you might be able to see the cobra is in fact behind a pane of glass protecting it from Harrison Ford and him from it.

A interesting bit of trivia to do with Beverly Hills Cop, Martin Scorsese was approached to direct the film while Stallone was attached to the movie but he thought the concept was too similar to Clint Eastwood’s movie Coogan’s Bluff and turned it down.

A Fish Called Wanda trivia John Cleese’s character’s name is Archie Leach the real life name of Actor Cary Grant. Cleese claimed it was the closest he could ever get it being Cary Grant.