TedStixon

The Reptile Room: Part One - S1-E3

Trivia: Count Olaf dismisses the movie theater, referring to it as a "god forsaken nickelodeon" and stating repeatedly that it's more convenient to watch entertainment from "the comfort of your own home." (Even once quickly glancing directly into the camera with a smirk as he says this.) This is a bit of a swipe at the prior 2004 film adaptation, which was released theatrically and distributed by Nickelodeon Films, as well as a clear reference to this series being released via Netflix for home viewing.

TedStixon

Season 1 generally

Trivia: Catherine O'Hara portrays the villainous Dr. Orwell in this series adaptations. Somewhat ironically, she also appeared in the prior 2004 film adaptation as the much kinder character Justice Strauss.

TedStixon

Trivia: A sequel was planned for some time. However, due to the first film not making quite as much as expected at the box office and because of corporate shakeups at the studio, it was repeatedly delayed. At one point, the sequel was going to be retooled into a stop-motion animated film so the original actors could provide their voices (as they grew up too much after this film came out to be able to reprise their roles on-screen), but the film was eventually cancelled before this could happen. Finally, 13 years after this film's release, the Netflix series premiered, which managed to adapt all 13 novels over the course of three seasons.

TedStixon

Trivia: The one-shot fight sequence was a nightmare to film. The director wanted to actually film the scene in one take (as opposed to multiple takes being cleverly edited together), using as little CG as possible. It ended up taking three days to film to get it just right, and was exhausting for star Choi Min-sik. The only CGI used in the scene is the knife sticking out of Oh Dae-su's back, and a few small tweaks to mask missed punches.

TedStixon

Trivia: Choi Min-sik had to eat four live octopuses for the infamous scene in which his character Oh Dae-su wants to "eat something alive." Min-sik is a Buddhist, and would pray before each take and profusely apologize to the octopuses before eating them. The director later personally thanked the octopuses during an acceptance speech for an award he got for the film.

TedStixon

Trivia: The film is based loosely on a Japanese manga of the same name. The filmmakers used the manga (which was unfinished at the time of filming) more as a "jumping off point," and used the basic set-up (a man is imprisoned for many years and then released), while taking creative liberties for the bulk of the story.

TedStixon

Trivia: Actor Cho Min-sik lost over 20lbs and worked out for many weeks to get into shape for the film for the scenes set in the present. The sequences set in the past were filmed later towards the end of production. Min-sik simply stopped working out and regained the weight he'd lost so he'd look more like a burnt-out slob in order to show his character's physical changes.

TedStixon

Trivia: The second entry in the "Vengeance Trilogy" by director Park Chan-wook. The three films are not directly related, but are connected by similar visual styles and themes of revenge and retribution. The first film was "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance," while the final film was "Lady Vengeance." All three films have been optioned for American remakes, although as of 2019, only "Oldboy" has been successfully remade.

TedStixon

Trivia: In addition to the American remake in 2013, "Oldboy" was also unofficially remade in Bollywood as "Zinda" in 2006. The Bollywood remake was completely unauthorized, causing Show East (the distributor of "Oldboy") to threaten legal action. However, the studio that produced "Zinda" went out of business, and thus no legal action was taken.

TedStixon

Question: During the big fight scene near the end, one of the henchman Will Smith fights lifts a wrench to strike, only to randomly die for seemingly no reason. He screams, some sparks shoot out of his ears, and he's dead. What killed him? I've seen some people say he electrocuted himself on the equipment around him, but that's not true - the wrench is nowhere near hitting anything. Did he just... randomly blow a fuse or something?

TedStixon

Trivia: After a slew of disastrous test-screenings, Sony reportedly attempted to sell the film to Netflix, who declined the offer.

TedStixon

Trivia: According to numerous news outlets, movie theaters throughout the US reported an "astonishing" number of walk-outs during the film's opening weekend.

TedStixon

Trivia: Making a film based on P.T. Barnum had been a passion project for star Hugh Jackman for some years before it was finally made. Reportedly, what kept the film from being made sooner was the fact that most major studios were apprehensive about producing an original musical not based on a pre-existing film or stageplay.

TedStixon

Trivia: Spoilers. Originally, the character Pantucci was indeed meant to die in the film. However, test audiences liked the character so much and were so disappointed when he was killed off, that his death scene was dropped and the ending was slightly re-shot to show him surviving in the final theatrical cut of the film.

TedStixon

Trivia: The original script was titled "Tentacle." It was written in the mid-90's by Stephen Sommers, with some uncredited re-writes by "Karate Kid" writer Robert Mark Kamen. The ambiguous ending was meant to serve as a lead-in to a sequel, with rumors that it would have been either a loose adaptation of "Journey to the Center of the Earth" or a "King Kong" remake, given the Island resembles "Skull Island."

TedStixon

Trivia: Howard Atherton, the director of photography, had a lot of issues working on the film. When director Stephen Sommers asked him why he was having trouble, Atherton explained that he usually worked with directors who he didn't get along with, and their mutual animosity made him try extra hard to compensate. Atherton actually really, really liked working with the friendly, easy-going Sommers, which was a pleasant change of pace for him - but he also felt like he wasn't being challenged as he usually was.

TedStixon

Trivia: Footage of the party scene from the ship has since been re-used as stock footage in a number of low-budget films. Director Stephen Sommers has stated that he's not sure exactly how that works legally, but that he suspects the footage was licensed out by the studio in order to help recoup the budget, as "Deep Rising" didn't do well on initial release.

TedStixon

Trivia: The game opens with Chloe sneaking into a club to see a fictional band called "Firewalk." The band's name is a reference to the "Twin Peaks" spin-off film "Firewalk with Me." "Twin Peaks" was one of the main inspirations for the original "Life is Strange."

TedStixon

Trivia: The film was conceived with Macaulay Culkin in mind to reprise his role as Kevin. Culkin refused, however, thinking that a third adventure with the character would be too unbelievable, and also feeling a bit burnt out with the role. Thus, the film was rewritten to focus on a new lead.

TedStixon

Trivia: At one point in time, the movie was going to be made for television and serve as a backdoor pilot for a potential "Home Alone" TV series. But this idea was dropped for a traditional theatrical film. The following movie, "Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House," was written to be a stand-alone movie but was retooled to serve as a backdoor pilot for a potential TV series. (Which of course never happened).

TedStixon