TedStixon

30th Dec 2019

Meet the Parents (2000)

Trivia: This film is actually a remake. The original "Meet the Parents" was an obscure independent film released in 1992, and was noticeably a much darker comedy. The rights to the film were eventually purchased by Universal. While this film became a massive hit, the original film has remained very obscure and is very hard to track down.

TedStixon

30th Dec 2019

Meet the Parents (2000)

Trivia: Originally, the film was meant to be a vehicle for Jim Carrey. Among his contributions was Greg's surname, "Focker." Eventually, Carrey left the production, and Ben Stiller took the part.

TedStixon

21st Dec 2019

The Mist (2007)

Trivia: The film's controversial ending was the source of great struggle. Writer/director Frank Darabont was approached by several different studios who wanted to make the film, but only on the condition that Darabont changed the ending. Darabont refused over and over until he found a studio that would let him keep it. "The Mist" author Stephen King has commented that he absolutely loved the film's ending, which divulged from his novella, and wishes he had thought of it when he was writing the original story.

TedStixon

Trivia: Technically this wouldn't count as a mistake since it requires going through frame-by-frame, but there's an amusing little flub in the pod-race. When Sebulba's craft crashes, go through frame-by-frame when his one engine hits the rock formation. The rock formation actually begins to explode a frame or two before the engine strikes it. It's hard to tell it's happening when viewing the movie at normal speed, but you can catch it going frame-by-frame. Just an amusing little slip-up in the rendering.

TedStixon

Revealing mistake: In a few of the wider crowd shots during the pod-race, you can make out some oddities. In particular, if you look closely, you'll see the same group people copy/pasted over and over in different places and different configurations in the audience to make the crowds seem bigger. (Slow motion or pausing helps, but is not necessary.) This is actually a relatively common special effects trick to make crowds seem bigger.

TedStixon

15th Dec 2019

Pink Flamingos (1972)

Trivia: The "shemale" who frightens away Raymond was a friend of John Waters who was transgender and was about to have reassignment surgery. Waters put them in the film because they had developed female characteristics such as breasts and looked like a woman, but still had male genitalia. They subsequently had the surgery one week later and appeared in Waters' next film as a fully female character.

TedStixon

15th Dec 2019

Pink Flamingos (1972)

Trivia: The infamous closing scene in which Divine eats dog feces was completely real. The dog was fed steak before filming, and his owner wouldn't let it outside to "go" until they were ready to film. Divine later called a hospital to see if he could get sick from the stunt, pretending to be a concerned parent whose "retarded child ate dog poop" because he was too embarrassed to admit he did it.

TedStixon

15th Dec 2019

Pink Flamingos (1972)

Trivia: Director John Waters provides the voice of the narrator. He attempted to get a local Baltimore media personality named "Mr. Ray" to do the voice over, but he refused. Mr. Ray was notorious in the area for producing commercials that came across as clueless and even racist at times, and Waters thought it would be hilarious to have him do the voiceover.

TedStixon

15th Dec 2019

Pink Flamingos (1972)

Trivia: John Waters tried to get Mink Stole to let him set her hair on fire for the movie, but she (wisely) declined. Waters has since admitted that it was for the best, as it would have likely ended in disaster. Waters did eventually get the gag of a woman's hair being set on fire accomplished in his film "Cecil B. Demented," albeit using special effects.

TedStixon

15th Dec 2019

Pink Flamingos (1972)

Trivia: John Waters attempted for some time to produce a sequel, titled "Flamingos Forever," but he never went ahead due to the deaths of co-stars Edith Massey and Divine.

TedStixon

15th Dec 2019

Serial Mom (1994)

Trivia: Matthew Lillard plays the titular "Serial Mom's" son. Two years later, he would go on to play one of the serial killers in the famous slasher-satire "Scream."

TedStixon

15th Dec 2019

Pink Flamingos (1972)

15th Dec 2019

Serial Mom (1994)

15th Dec 2019

Serial Mom (1994)

12th Dec 2019

Red Dragon (2002)

Red Dragon mistake picture

Revealing mistake: When Will's wife shoots Dollarhyde at the end, watch closely when she shoots him for a second time and hits him in the cheek. For about one frame, you can see what looks like a wire coming out of his cheek that has caught some light, and about a half-second later, you can see some sort-of small brownish cap hit the floor on the right side of the screen. (It's very tiny so you have to look closely.) These types of effects are usually accomplished by putting a small prosthetic cap attached to a piece of wire over the bullet wound makeup, which is then pulled from off-screen to reveal the "bullet hole." It looks like both the wire and prosthetic cap both managed to get caught in the shot. (Slow motion or freeze-framing help but aren't required - both the wire and the cap are easy to catch once you see them the first time).

TedStixon

12th Dec 2019

Gremlins (1984)

Continuity mistake: When Mrs. Deagle is killed by the gremlins, throughout the scene she appears to be either bare legged or wearing beige-colored tights. However, when her corpse is on the ground after being launched out of the house, suddenly she's wearing dark blue tights.

TedStixon

10th Dec 2019

Firefly (2002)

Serenity (2) - S1-E12

Question: Something I've always wondered: I haven't quite read all of the comics, so this may be addressed in them given they are considered canonical, but is Patience ever mentioned again? I kind of always assumed she was likely killed by the Reavers since they were still near the planet surface at the end of the episode, but obviously that was never confirmed.

TedStixon

Answer: She isn't mentioned in any of the comics. If she wasn't killed by the Reavers, there's a good chance she was killed by the Operative, as she was one of Mal's contacts.

LorgSkyegon

9th Dec 2019

The Craft (1996)

Trivia: Star Fairuza Balk used to visit an occult store to research her role in the film. She fell in love with the store and ended up purchasing it from the owners (who were retiring) during production. (She subsequently sold the store six years later.) This ended up making rumors spiral out of control that she was actually a practicing witch in real life, but she has since clarified that the rumors were not true. She merely finds the subject fascinating.

TedStixon

9th Dec 2019

The Craft (1996)

Trivia: The movie was made with the intention of being aimed towards teenagers and being rated PG-13. However, the ratings board took a rather puritanical approach and slapped it with an R rating due to all of the occult elements. Because the film was so steeped in witchcraft, the director was unable to make any cuts to get the lower rating he and the studio desired.

TedStixon

Trivia: During the beginning of the film, when we are re-introduced to Billy and Kate, if you look very closely, there's a theater in the background of one shot. And on the theater marquee is the fictitious sequel "The Howling XI." This is a nod to the film "The Howling," which was directed by "Gremlins 2" director Joe Dante. (It can be hard to see on VHS and DVD copies as it's far in the background and slightly out of focus, but it can be made out on the Blu-Ray version of the film).

TedStixon

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