TedStixon

27th Jun 2020

Saw (2004)

Trivia: The man who is burned to death in a Jigsaw trap was actually the ex-husband of the casting agent for the film. She apparently leapt at the chance to cast him in the role when she found out his character would be horribly burned to death. (Kinda makes you wonder what their relationship was like..).

TedStixon

27th Jun 2020

Saw (2004)

Trivia: The inspiration for the villain Jigsaw being a cancer victim came from an event in co-writer Leigh Whannell's personal life. Whannell began to suffer near-constant migraines during the writing process, and ended up having to go to the hospital to have an MRI. He was petrified about getting the results back and began to ponder what would happen if he found out he had a brain tumor. He began to ask himself what he would do with the rest of his life if he found out he was dying. Thankfully, it turned out to be nothing, and the headaches eventually went away, but his fear and paranoia stuck with him and inspired the character Jigsaw. Whannell was also inspired by an article about a man who was mis-diagnosed with cancer and how it (briefly) changed his life.

TedStixon

Trivia: James Marsters signed onto the film because his son was a big "Dragonball" anime fan, and because he was told the film would be the start of a massive franchise. When he signed on, it was reported that Stephen Chow would produce and possibly direct, and the movie would have a $120 million budget. After he signed on, another director was brought on board and the budget was slashed all the way down to $30 million.

TedStixon

Trivia: Many people involved with the film have spoken out against it in the years that have passed since it came out. James Marsters referred to it as "disastrous," Emmy Rossum said it was the one film she made that people shouldn't watch, writer Ben Ramsey apologized for making it and admitted he only wrote the film for the paycheck, and director James Wong admitted he wasn't aware of the franchise or its global fame when he signed on to direct.

TedStixon

24th Jun 2020

The Village (2004)

Question: Is there any reason why this is M. Night Shyamalan's only film to not have a Blu-Ray release? Like rights issues or something of that matter? Seems very odd that of all movies, this is the only one not available in HD.

TedStixon

Answer: I don't know if there is one particular reason why The Village was not released on Blu-ray, but there are several factors that might help explain why not. I believe the movie had mixed reviews - some people liked it and other people did not. If a movie does not appear to be in high demand, it wouldn't make financial sense to release more on DVD or Blu-ray. If a movie already made a big profit ($200 million), perhaps it is best to move on to a new movie. Also, many people never bought any Blu-ray discs, primarily because they didn't think the higher costs were justified and/or they never bought a Blu-ray player. Blu-ray discs typically have a lot of "extras" that many people want to see. Perhaps there were few, if any, extras that could have been included, thereby reducing a Blu-ray's appeal. Even if none of the above is significant, there is a big factor that is/will be affecting all movies - discs in general are already obsolete, streaming has been taking over.

KeyZOid

This is unrelated to the movie itself, but many people are interested in the extras, such as commentary tracks, making of - documentaries: features streaming services can't provide.

Jukka Nurmi

At least one streaming service I know does support extras, Apple, and has since 2009.

Answer: True... but I'm saying that maybe they didn't have anything to add.

KeyZOid

24th Jun 2020

Serenity (2005)

Trivia: Universal originally estimated the budget of the film at $100 million, given the size of the movie and the amount of visual effects. Director Joss Whedon told the producers that he could make the movie for under $40 million - true to his word, the film's final budget was a relatively tiny (by action-movie standards) $39 million.

TedStixon

24th Jun 2020

Firefly (2002)

Trivia: Every time Malcolm is riding a horse, no matter what planet he's on, it's always the same horse - a horse called "Fred."

TedStixon

24th Jun 2020

Firefly (2002)

Trivia: In an odd bit of studio meddling that shows how much the network didn't understand the series, Joss Whedon was given the contradictory note that Mal should be a more upbeat, positive character... and that he should also shoot and kill more people.

TedStixon

24th Jun 2020

Firefly (2002)

The Message - S1-E15

Trivia: The funeral music heard at the end of "The Message" was written by the show's composer right after the series got cancelled. The theme was actually inspired by his sadness that the show was ending.

TedStixon

24th Jun 2020

Firefly (2002)

22nd Jun 2020

Angel (1999)

Trivia: Originally, the writers toyed with resurrecting the character Doyle and having him turn evil and become a "big bad" in one of the later seasons (presumably season four or five), but the idea was dropped after Doyle's actor Glenn Quinn tragically passed away in 2002.

TedStixon

Trivia: The song "Master of Puppets" was originally intended to be used for the opening credits of the first "Zombieland," but the song "For Whom the Bell Tolls" ended up being cheaper to license. Director Ruben Fleischer said that the first thing he did when "Zombieland: Double Tap" got the greenlight was license "Master of Puppets" for the opening credits.

TedStixon

21st Jun 2020

Rush Hour (1998)

Trivia: "Rush Hour" is credited for being the inspiration behind the popular (and polarizing) website "Rotten Tomatoes" in 1998. Creator Senh Duong was a massive Jackie Chan fan and began to collect the reviews critics published about his films. And he wanted to create an online space where the reviews could be compiled, especially as Jackie Chan's first major Hollywood film - "Rush Hour" - was coming out. Eventually, Duong and his associates began to compile reviews for other films not starring Chan, and the idea snowballed from there.

TedStixon

Trivia: Tom Savini, who did the effects for the original film, returned to do the effects for this movie. As Savini had "created Jason" by doing the effects for the first movie, he felt it was appropriate that he should also be the one to definitively "kill Jason," as this was originally intended to be the final film.

TedStixon

Trivia: Much of the double-impalement death was cut by the MPAA for being too gory. But ironically, a still from the deleted material was included on the back of the original VHS tape.

TedStixon

Trivia: Jason actor Ted White reportedly hated young Corey Feldman, and purposely frightened him during the filming of some stunts just to amuse himself.

TedStixon

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: He didn't hate Feldman but strongly disliked him.

I don't really think that's a valid correction. That's basically just arguing over semantics. White has made his (very) negative feelings about Feldman known publicly on multiple occasions including the documentary "Crystal Lake Memories," (going so far as to say Feldman was a "mean little devil," that he "couldn't stand him" and that he "wanted to kill him desperately") so I think the trivia still stands as is.

TedStixon

Trivia: Steve Dash, who did most of Jason's scenes, was injured several times during the filming. Among other things, his hand was cut and needed stitches, he was knocked out, and he broke his ribs during a stunt.

TedStixon

Trivia: An early concept for the film was that Tommy was going to dabble in inventing gizmos and gadgets, which would have paid off at the end of the movie, as he would use them against Jason. One early concept was that Tommy would invent a weapon using parts of a microwave oven, and would use it to blow apart Jason's head during the final battle. Eventually, he was instead reworked into a monster fanatic who made creature masks.

TedStixon

19th Jun 2020

Friday the 13th (1980)

Trivia: It was reportedly makeup effects artist Tom Savini's idea to have Jason leap out of the lake at the end of the film for the final scare. He saw the movie "Carrie" shortly before filming and loved the final scare of that film, and suggested that this movie should end on a similar note with Jason attacking Alice.

TedStixon

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