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10th Nov 2019

Odd Thomas (2013)

Trivia: Original novel author Dean Koontz loved the film, and was very happy by how it turned out.

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Trivia: The final feature film of legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith, who passed away a year after its release. Goldsmith had worked as a composer on over 200 films and television series over a fifty-year career.

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Trivia: Spoilers: When Russell sacrifices himself and drives his plane into the laser, pay attention to the laser exploding in the first shot. It's actually cleverly reused footage of the Empire State Building exploding from the initial attack scene earlier in the film. The image has just been flipped vertically and augmented with some extra fire/explosions to mask the details of the building. But if you look very closely, you can totally tell.

TedStixon

3rd Nov 2019

Rasen (1998)

Trivia: Koji Suzuki, author of the original novels upon which the "Ringu" films are based, has a cameo in the fairground scene. He's the smiling father on the train-ride that the camera focuses on for a few seconds.

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Trivia: The animators created many small flaws in the film in order to emulate the looks of old comics. This includes color separation and a slight double-image effect in certain scenes to replicate imperfect comic-printing techniques. While the effect was intentional, many film-goers who saw the movie in 2D actually complained about these effects, thinking they were accidentally sold tickets to a 3D movie. (Especially due to the double-image effects).

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31st Oct 2019

The Ring Two (2005)

Trivia: Director Hideo Nakata has disowned the film, and claimed that due to excessive studio meddling and being forced to dumb the film down by producers, the final product has no resemblance to the film he had in mind when production began. Reportedly, star Naomi Watts also wasn't too keen on the film.

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31st Oct 2019

The Ring Two (2005)

Trivia: The producers attempted to get Richard Kelly to direct the film. Kelly had recently made the low-budget cult-classic "Donnie Darko," and was very popular. However, Kelly wasn't interested in making a sequel to someone else's film.

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31st Oct 2019

The Ring Two (2005)

Trivia: The film is directed by Hideo Nakata, who also directed the original Japanese film "Ringu," upon which "The Ring" was based. Nakata also directed the Japanese sequels "Ringu 2," and the 2019 release "Sadako."

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31st Oct 2019

The Ring Two (2005)

Trivia: There were reportedly a number of strange occurrences during production. This includes a production office flooding not once, but twice. (Which is more unnerving given the films use of water and drowning-based imagery.) A deer wandered onto the studio lot and charged a crew-member at one point. (Mirroring a scene in the film in which deer attack a car.) And finally, production was briefly delayed when a swarm of bees attacked a prop truck for several minutes. Probably just coincidences... but it kinda makes you think.

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Trivia: The film was intended to be released theatrically in 2007. However, the film was pulled shortly before release without any explanation. While it was occasionally screened at festivals in the meantime, it wasn't given any sort-of official release until 2014, when it was briefly available as a "video on demand" title through cable provider "DirecTV." It was finally released on DVD and Blu-Ray in 2017 by specialty distributor Shout Factory... ten full years after it was originally supposed to come out.

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21st Oct 2019

Ringu 0: Bâsudei (2000)

Trivia: Yukie Nakama, who played Sadako in the film, used to be teased by her friends about her resemblance to the character after the 1998 film "Ringu" was released. But this worked to her advantage, as a little over a year later, she was offered the role of Sadako in this prequel film.

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21st Oct 2019

Rasen (1998)

Trivia: The author of the original novels, Koji Suzuki, worked closely with the producers of the film during the writing process. This might explain why the film re-introduces many of the book series' sci-fi elements that were omitted from the first film.

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21st Oct 2019

Rasen (1998)

Trivia: The film's writer/director, Joji Iida, had previously worked on the "Ring" franchise before. He wrote a 1995 Japanese TV-movie based on the original novel ("Ring") that proceeded the hit 1998 film adaptation. So in a strange, roundabout way, the film could also be viewed as being a sequel to the TV-movie.

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21st Oct 2019

Ringu (1998)

Trivia: Sadako's mother, Shizuko, was loosely based on a real person - Chizuko Mifune. Mifune was a self-proclaimed psychic. Just like Shizuko in the film, in real life Mifune took part in a press event to prove her abilities, but was labeled a fraud by reporters, and later committed suicide.

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21st Oct 2019

The Addams Family (1991)

Trivia: The film wasn't released on DVD outside of a few select territories (such as the US and the UK) until 2013 due to rights issues that stemmed from the film's production way back in 1990. By contrast, the film had been out on DVD in the US for over a decade by that point.

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21st Oct 2019

The Addams Family (1991)

Trivia: The film originally wasn't going to end with the revelation that Gordon really was Fester all along. Instead, it would have been left ambiguous... the family would simply "accept" Gordon as Fester, even though none of them knew for sure. The cast hated the ambiguous nature of the ending, and Christina Ricci was nominated to approach director Barry Sonnenfeld and request that the script be altered to make it 100% certain that Gordon really was Fester. Sonnenfeld was quickly won over by a speech Ricci gave him, and a few extra lines were added to the ending of the film clarifying that Gordon and Fester were one and the same.

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21st Oct 2019

The Addams Family (1991)

Trivia: Gomez mentions that Fester has been missing for 25 years. The film debuted 25 years after the original "Addams Family" sitcom ended in 1966.

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21st Oct 2019

The Addams Family (1991)

Trivia: Raul Julia's health began to fail in the early 90's, culminating in his tragic passing in 1994. According to family members, one of Julia's greatest joys in his final years was all of the children who recognized him from the two "Addams Family" movies, and would frequently approach him because they wanted to "talk to Gomez." Julia was a humanitarian who sponsored many charities that dealt with children's needs and troubled youths, and took great joy in making children happy.

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21st Oct 2019

The Addams Family (1991)

21st Oct 2019

The Addams Family (1991)

Trivia: The film's production was reportedly nightmarish. There was turmoil at the original studio, who were forced to sell the film off during production. Two separate cinematographers left during filming, forcing director Barry Sonnenfeld to complete the final weeks of principal photography acting as both the film's director and the cinematographer. Sonnenfeld also developed sciatica during filming and his wife had to have unexpected emergency surgery. Raul Julia ("Gomez") burst a blood vessel in his eye on camera, which interrupted filming. And finally, both Anjelica Huston ("Morticia") and Judith Malina ("Grandmama") found their costumes and makeups insufferable and difficult to work in. (And according to Huston, Malina reportedly dealt with her uncomfortable makeup by constantly smoking marijuana, and thus performed most of the film while high as a kite.) However, despite the chaos, most of the cast and crew loved the film and still speak highly of it.

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