10 Cross-Dressing Disguises That Shouldn't Have Fooled Anyone
The Kids In The Hall were probably most successful at pulling off the female disguise, although they weren’t trying to fool anyone. Their skits occasionally needed women characters, and their delivery was a perfect blend of self-awareness and application.
Many times in movies and other forms of entertainment, the contriving plot demands someone dress like a woman and fool other people, ostensibly people who aren’t blind. OMG Lists compiled ten of the worst offenders, from White Chicks to Bosom Buddies. It’s a pretty accurate list, despite my affection for Tootsie.
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Epic Marriage Proposal
Over a few years and several blogs I have posted quite a few imaginative marriage proposals, but this is by far the most elaborate proposal I have ever encountered. Steve posted the story at the YouTube page.
I have know my fiance Tracey Wade for over 14 years and wanted to propose to her in a very unique way. Tracey thought we were just going to the movies on a Sunday afternoon. Little did she know, I had rented the entire theater and filled it with 160 of our friends and family. I made it seem as though we were showing up a little late to the movie and went in to the theater after the lights had gone down and the movie trailers were already playing. This was done to keep her from recognizing anyone in the theater. What I had done was make an entire movie trailer that had actors portraying both Tracey and I at different times in our lives, both present day and in the future. After a few trailers played including one for Lord of the Rings the one I had made started. Tracey thought it was just another trailer for a movie soon to be released. Tracey was just perplexed as to how many different things had similarities to our relationship, she kept nudging me throughout the trailer. Tracey had no idea this was a marriage proposal until the last three seconds of the trailer.
Nine months earlier in September of 2006 I started by hiring a professional production team, securing two and a half million dollars (FOR FREE) worth of film equipment (THANK YOU PANAVISION, THEY DONATED THE EQUIPMENT FOR THE SHOOT), and writing a script that would show what would go through someone’s mind (Tracey’s) if they were about to die. It is said “moments before you die your life flashes right before your eyes”. JUST A NOTE: Ever since Tracey was a young girl, she has had a reoccurring dream that she was going to die in a plane crash. Actors were cast to portray both Tracey and I at different times in our lives (twenty years in the future as well as present day)
Oh yeah, she said yes! This is one of The Top 14 Geekiest Wedding Proposals at LaptopLogic. Link -via Unique Daily
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Themes From Scary Movies
Quick, think of a piece of music from a scary movie.
If you could think of seven different themes, chances are a few of them are on Cinematical’s list.
One of the seven is one of my favorite movies of the genre, Poltergeist, music by Jerry Goldsmith.
Jerry Goldsmith previously contributed a classic horror theme with his score for Richard Donner’s Omen, but this one, not unlike Komeda’s work on Rosemary’s Baby, runs counter to expectations that horror movie music needs to be naturally dark or heavy to be menacing. That said, the children’s chorus that sweetly and innocently provides a theme for the film’s young protagonist – ironically, sort of the conduit for both its “monster” and heroine – is at once wholesome and terrifying, creating a similar sense of unease and eventually terror as the kids embody the film’s themes of childhood swallowed by a mysterious and terrifying world.
More great themes at Link.
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Guess The Nerd Movie
UGO’s Guess the Movie quizzes are challenging. This one I thought I’d ace, but had to settle for 6/10. All of their quizzes are hard, and categories vary from Coen Brothers Movies to the Halloween movies, and more.
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Top Ten Great Movie Deaths
If ever there was a cause for a Spoiler Alert, this would rank. The very nature of good films is the conflict factor, which will ultimately end with someone’s demise. But who’s whose? And how? When it’s done memorably well, character death in a movie can have a lasting impression, and worthy of a top ten list. David Frank’s offering at RopeOf Silicon is a pretty good one.
These are the death scenes we remember long after the actors have screamed, slobbered, cried, coughed, wheezed, or drawn out to William Shatner-esque lengths their final words. They are a perfect combination of acting, writing, filmmaking, image and idea. Some are shocking. Some are sad or bittersweet. Others funny. Some deaths you cheer on. All are memorable.
There are many more, of course. Which ones did he leave out?
Image from Psycho, Paramount Pictures.
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Saved from The Cutting Room Floor
Rambo, Mr. Spock, The Joker. One thing they all have in common is that the characters were almost discarded before they had a chance. Read the stories of 7 Iconic Characters They Saved from The Cutting Room Floor and the people who believed in them. This article from Cracked is worth a read just for the early concept drawing of Batman, but all the stories are interesting. Link -via Gorilla Mask
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The 15 Worst Movie Titles
Who could ever forget such memorable films as Eegah, Sssssss, Phffft, and Ghost in the Invisible Bikini? The great majority of the movie-going audience, it seems. Bad movie titles go with bad movies most of the time, but every once in a while there’s a gem with a real stinker for a title. Good luck finding one! Link -via Unique Daily
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Movie Trivia: Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
I have a feeling I’m going to get mixed responses to this movie trivia post – either you love the stupidity (genius?) of Bill and Ted or you hate it. Me… I love it. I had a massive crush on Keanu Reeves back in his Ted days (which I then revived during his Speed days). Anyway, enjoy the trivia. San Dimas High School Football Rules!
Bill and Ted were originally “Bill, Ted and Bob.” The writers of the movie, UCLA students Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, used to do improv comedy and one of their bits was about a trio of stoners who talked about current events even though they really had no idea what was going on. The third comedian who played Bob lost interest in the whole thing, and thus Wyld Stallyns were born.
In one of the early scripts, Rufus was a 28-year-old sophomore in high school whose van traveled through time. The van idea was thought to be too similar to the DeLorean in Back to the Future, so the phone booth concept was used instead.
The phone booth was given away in a Nintendo Power magazine contest. A kid in Mississippi became the proud owner. Photo from ErrorMacro.com.
Before the actors were chosen, Bill and Ted were supposed to be kind of unpopular guys who got made fun of in school. But the director loved Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves and knew they were perfect for the parts, so the roles were adjusted a little bit to make them regular guys who were pretty likable.
At first, the idea was for Keanu Reeves to play Bill and Alex Winter to play Ted. Neither one of them had a problem with switching roles. The writers didn’t meet the actors who were going to play the title characters until the first day of filming. Right before filming started, Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon went to eat at a McDonald’s near location and saw a couple of guys eating there and remarked to each other that those guys should have played Bill and Ted. When they showed up to the set later, they discovered that “those guys” were playing Bill and Ted – it had been Winter and Reeves at McDonald’s.
Originally, the characters Bill and Ted went back and “borrowed” were a little bit different: they included Charlemagne (”Charlie Mangay) and Babe Ruth. Apparently some scenes were actually filmed of Bill and Ted going to prehistoric San Dimas and meeting some cavemen.
The director wanted ZZ Top to play The Three Most Important People in the World, but ultimately decided that rock stars were too hard to work with.
At one point, Bill reads the history assignment to Ted, explaining that the point was to figure out how historical figures would feel about San Dimas, 1988. Do a little lip-reading in this part: Alex WInter actually says “1987,” because that’s when it was filmed. But by the time the film was released (there was a bit of a delay when the film’s first distributor went bankrupt), it was 1989. The line had to be redubbed.
If you’ve ever wondered what’s on Bill’s t-shirt under that vest, here you go: it’s the cover for Van Halen’s “Why Can’t This Be Love” single.
Photo from AlexWinterFansite.com.
Joan of Arc was played by Jane Wiedlin, the rhythm guitarist for the Go-Go’s.
Most of the movie was filmed in Arizona, including the exteriors of the high school, the Circle K scene and the scene were Napoleon goes down the waterslides at Waterloo. The mall scenes were filled overnight at the Metrocenter in Phoenix.
Maybe Ted isn’t as dumb as he appears to be – at the end, after Napoleon finishes up his talk about how much he supposedly loved the waterslides at Waterloo, Ted says, “I don’t think it’s gonna work.” If you check out the maps Napoleon was gesturing to, you’ll see that Napoleon was mapping the Russian invasion, which ended terrible for the little guy.
Photo from BacktotheEighties.Net.
In the movie, Bill and Ted say that Eddie Van Halen would compete Wyld Stallyns. After it was released, Eddie said he would have gladly joined if asked.
A scene was cut near the end where the guys attend prom with the princesses. That’s how the film was supposed to end, but it was decided that the garage ending would keep the focus on Bill and Ted’s music and Wyld Stallyns instead of on the prom.
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Movie Trivia: Big Fish
I missed last week’s Movie Trivia because I was on vacation, so I figured I’d make up for it today by doing a Tim Burton double feature. First up? Big Fish. If you haven’t seen it, it’s about William, a son (Billy Crudup) coming to terms with his relationship with his dying father (Albert Finney), who is prone to telling tall tales. William spends the movie sorting through his dad’s legends, trying to figure out which ones are real and which ones are just the products of an overactive imagination. His mom is played by Jessica Lange, and the younger versions of his parents are played by Ewan McGregor and Alison Lohman.
The movie was based on a 1998 book by Daniel Wallace called Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions.
There’s a parallel between the movie and what was going on in Burton’s own life at the time – his father had died two years earlier and his mother died just one month before he accepted the directing job. He said that filming the movie and thinking about father-son relationships and death was really cathartic for him.
Most of the scenes were shot on location in Wetumpka, Alabama, and Prattville, Alabama.
Jack Nicholson was the first choice to play Edward Bloom – both the older and younger versions. They were going to use computers to make him look younger so he could play the younger Edward. Burton has said that it became clear who to cast when he came across the pairing of Ewan McGregor and Albert Finney because the two of them seemed to have some sort of a spiritual connection that would be perfect for the movie.
Steven Spielberg was originally slated to direct as of 2000, but as the script went through several re-writer, Spielberg became engrossed in other projects. By the time the third draft was done, the directing job ended up in Burton’s hands.
Most of the scenes were shot on location in Wetumpka, Alabama, and Prattville, Alabama.
Matthew McGrory, who played Karl the Giant, was once in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the the largest feet in the world – size 29.5. Sadly, Matthew passed away in 2005. He was 7′6″ and only 32 years old at the time of his death.
The banjo player that you see when Ed first walks into Spectre is the same actor who played the banjo-playing kid in Deliverance.
When we see Steve Buscemi’s (Norther Winslow) poem about Spectre – “Grass so green/skies so blue/Spectre is really great! – that’s actually Tim Burton’s handwriting.
Somewhat surprisingly, Tim Burton hates the circus and is afraid of clowns. I knew there was a reason I liked him.
The guy who plays “Colossus” in the first circus scene is actually a circus performer.
In the book, the town of Spectre was depicted as incredibly dark and creepy. Tim Burton put his own spin on this and compared his version of Spectre to Burbank – it may look idyllic and sweet (and rather technicolor), but there’s something sinister lurking just beneath.
Alison Lohman was cast as Sandra Templeton Bloom because Tim Burton loved her silent movie-esque looks and felt that she was able to convey a whole range of emotions even when she was just standing still.
The part where the elephant takes a massive crap was, obviously, not scripted. Instead of calling that take a loss, Ewan McGregor just acted through it. The cast and crew thought the take with the elephant pooing in the background was hilarious, so it was kept in the final cut.
Ewan McGregor really did get to hang out in a cage with a lion when he filmed the scenes of him performing menial tasks around the circus. He also really learned Cantonese for the scene where he talks to the conjoined twins. I mean, just a couple of lines of Cantonese, but still…
Tim Burton has a very brief cameo – literally a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it situation. When the ringleader (Danny DeVito) and Edward Bloom burst out of his trailer because Calloway is morphing into a werewolf, keep your eye on the clowns that immediately scatter from their card-playing table. One of them is Tim.
Speaking of which, in case you’re wondering, that’s really Danny DeVito in the buff. No stunt doubles were required.
Another brief cameo: the author of the book, Daniel Wallace, can be seen as Sandra’s professor at Auburn.
If Sandra’s fiance (and Edward’s rival) looks familiar, I’d be willing to bet it’s because you know him as a slightly scruffier character: Roy on The Office. Poor dude is always getting his fiance stolen!
In the scene where Sandra opens the window to find Edward standing there in a field of daffodils that he planted for her, you’re really looking at daffodils. They weren’t digitally added in later. Tim Burton explains that his crew spent an entire weekend digging and planting and replanting when they didn’t look right, but he felt that it was extremely important to the reality of the scene.
Check out Jessica Lange’s outfit at the end of the movie during the funeral scene. Her character, Sandra, is the only one dressed in red. This is supposed to be symbolic of the fact that she was quirky and individualistic and the perfect match for Ed Bloom, who wouldn’t want her to be dressed in mourning black anyway.
Eddie Vedder composed “Man of the Hour,” the song that runs during the credits, after watching an early screening of the movie and adoring it. He apparently went home and wrote the music, had a demo for the band the next day and recorded it with them five days later.
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Movie Trivia: The Nightmare Before Christmas
Number two on the Burton double feature – The Nightmare Before Christmas. I know; it’s neither Halloween nor Christmas, but I think this is one you can watch year-round.
Nightmare dates all the way back to 1980. Burton worked on Fox and the Hound and the Black Cauldron and then started working on his own animations such as Frankenweenie and Vincent – Nightmare was in that group of projects he worked on.
By popular demand, a bullet about Henry Selick. Selick was, in fact, the director of Nightmare. Due to his prior commitments to Batman Returns, Burton wasn’t able to spend as much time on set as he would have liked and hired newbie director (although industry veteran) Henry Selick to do the job. The movie was (and still is) billed as Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas because studio heads were convinced that the movie wasn’t going to do well, but attaching Burton’s name to it might give it a better chance at the box office. You might know Selick’s from his latest amazing stop-motion picture, Coraline, which he also directed.
You know the voices of the characters; you just don’t know you do (or maybe you do). Jack’s speaking voice is done by Chris Sarandon, who is Prince Humperdinck in The Princess Bride. Sally is voiced by the legendary Catherine O’Hara, who has been in everything from SCTV to Home Alone and Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind. If Dr. Finklestein sounds familiar, I bet you’re also a National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation fan: he was the cigar-smoking, toupee-wearing Uncle Lewis. The Mayor of Halloween Town is voiced by Glenn Shadix, Otho from Beetlejuice, and if you listen closely, you’ll notice that Lock is voiced by Pee Wee himself – Paul Reubens.
Tim Burton has said that Jack Skellington is one of his favorite characters largely because he so deludes himself into thinking that he’s going something wonderful and great without thinking about how his actions would impact others.
Jack Skellington has cameos in other Burton movies and Selick movies, if you’ve got eagle eyes . In Beetlejuice, his head is on top of Beetlejuice’s carnival-type hat near the end of the movie, and in James, he can be spotted as one of the pirate skeletons James comes across.
Danny Elfman says the composing songs for this movie is the easiest job he has ever had. This was news to me – he used to be in the band Oingo Boingo. At the time Nightmare came around, the members of Oingo Boingo were starting to go their separate ways; he wasn’t sure what was going to come next. Reflecting this, he simply wrote Halloweentown songs as if they represented Oingo Boingo – the past and what he had always known – vs. Christmastown, which was new and fresh and exciting.
The NAACP became upset with the makers of the movie because they felt that the movie’s chief villain, Oogie Boogie, was made to use “blackspeak” while the heroes of the film used “whitespeak.” Director Henry Selick and composer Danny Elfman say that it had nothing to do with race; they had simply based his singing voice on Cab Calloway because they liked the style and tonal quality. I, for one, am inclined to believe them – Danny Elfman has been influenced by Cab Calloway since his Oingo Boingo days when the band was doing covers of his songs.
Oogie Boogie used to look a lot different. Burton’s original drawings portrayed him as a pillow-sized baddie, which wasn’t too intimidating. When they upgraded him to a larger-than-life sack o’ bugs, suddenly a lot more bugs were needed in order to animate the scene where he unravels and all of his insects come pouring out. So, any time anyone had any downtime on set, they were tasked with making a bunch of Oogie bugs to use for that scene.
Greg Proops from Whose Line is it Anyway? voices a bunch of minor characters in the movie – the sax player in the band, a red devil and the harlequin demon among them.
There was talk of a sequel for a while. Obviously it has been quite the cash cow for Disney, so around 2001 they started buzzing about making a computer-animated sequel. Tim Burton managed to talk them out of it, saying that it was really best the way it was and “Jack visits Thanksgivingworld” or something similar just wouldn’t have the same impact and would also cheapen the first film.
Just as Jack shows up in other Burton movies, other Burton movies show up in Nightmare. A cat from Vincent can be seen in the beginning knocking over a trash can; the snake in the movie looks suspiciously like the Sandworms from Beetlejuice; one of the toys Jack hands out is an evil duck on wheels which is just like the Penguin’s vehicle of choice in Batman Returns.
Vincent Price was originally slated to be the voice of Sandy Claws. Unfortunately, Vincent had just lost his wife and had a very sad quality to his voice that wouldn’t read right during his recording. They ended up not using him and he died not too long afterward.
Tim Burton has said that he felt a little subversive in designing the Nightmare characters the way he did. Coming from Disney, he had to draw the big “wet drippy eyes” that Disney characters are famous for. Quite a few of the characters in Nightmare either have big black voids for eyes, like Jack does, or have eyes that are sewn shut or are otherwise mangled. Burton said that not having eyes to convey emotion and expression was challenging and felt that if they would be able to accomplish emotive characters without eyes, it would be a real achievement.
The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland has transformed into Haunted Mansion Holiday featuring Jack and Sally every year since 2001. I’ve yet to see this for myself, but I hope to someday soon – the pictures look amazing.
Photo from DoomBuggies.com.
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Award Winning Short Film "Shadows"
[YouTube - Link]
Check out this award winning short film (it’s only 3 minutes long). It’s a nice shoutout to the gothic horror films of the 20s and 30s. Simple but effective.
Plot Synopsis:
A leasing agent prepares an apartment with a mysterious past for an
afternoon viewing. While awaiting the arrival of the prospective client
the leasing agent learns that she’s not alone in the apartment.
– via fightingowlfilms
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The Thing + GI Joes + Disco-Dance Music = ?
I’ll tell you what it equals…it equals awesome, baby! A mighty and fitting homage/tribute to the gruesome blood chilling movie The Thing using GI Joes and crazy Disco-Dance music from the Parisian band Zombie Zombie. If you don’t enjoy the music I suggest hitting the mute button though I do believe the music lends this clip a certain sense of anxiousness and suspense similar to that felt throughout the John Carpenter movie.
via BoingBoing – Link
Zombig Zombie band – Link
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Movie Trivia - Ghostbusters
The Stay Puft Marshmallow man doesnt only make an appearance at the end of the movie, he is also seen twice before. In Dana Barrett's apartment, next to the eggs on the counter there is a bag of Stay Puft, and in one of the outdoor scenes an ad for Stay Puft can be seen on one of the buildings.
The Ghostbusters Fire House is located at North Moore, & Varick St. in New York, NY. They have the large white Ghosbuster II sign hanging in their bay.
To promote the film, the Ectomobile was driven around Manhattan prior to the release. In the middle of the film's initial release, to keep interest going, Ivan Reitman had a trailer run, which was basically the commercial the Ghostbusters' use in the movie, but with the 555 number replaced with a 1-800 number, allowing people to call. They got a recorded message of Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd saying something to the effect of "Hi. We're out catching ghosts right now." They got 1,000 calls per hour, 24 hours a day, for six weeks.
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Futuristic Billboards to Transform L.A into Blade Runner Dystopia
The retro-fitted futuristic world of the film Blade Runner starring Harrison Ford may not be as far away as one might think. Director Ridley Scott’s sci-fi classic dealt with such classic questions of “what does it mean to be human” while depicting the city of Los Angeles in the year 2019 as a smoggy dystopian future, a cultural melting pot brimming with skyscrapers, flying cars and inescapable corporate advertisements. Almost 30 years later the film is hailed as an overlooked masterpiece and has inspired multitudes of designers, engineers and artists.
Now you can also add “Real Estate Developer” to that list. Sonny Astani, a Los Angeles real estate mogul, is hoping to make one part of the film’s dystopian future a reality with 14-story animated billboards.
The plan is currently undergoing environmental review and pending approval by city officials. Officials are wary of anything billboard-related at the moment as downtown L.A already has its fair share of distracting lights and signs that have drawn complaints from area neighborhoods.
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Up & Coming Indie Filmmakers
[YouTube - Link]
Poking around Fangoria’s site I stumbled upon something seemingly out of the ordinary – a short film review of an unknown film by an unknown filmmaker.
The short called "The Night Shift" is an adventure/comedy/horror/sci-fi film about a cemetery night watchman whose nightly job is to keep the cemetery’s residents from escaping. Citing Fangoria’s positive review I gave the 23 minute film a view and thought it was fantastic. It’s truly a unique and out of the ordinary concept that makes for a very entertaining film. I hope everyone can set aside 23 minutes and give this wonderful film a chance. You won’t regret it.
Meanwhile, I checked out the filmmaker’s website (www.fightingowlfilms.com) and learned they’re a Mobile, Alabama (where?) based low-budget filmmaking group aspiring to make a feature film. I wish them the best of luck and with a film like "The Night Shift" on their resume I look forward to their future endeavors.
I’ve posted Part 1 of the film as found on YouTube. Part 2 and 3 are also available as well.
– via fangoriaonline
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Movie Trivia: Shaun of the Dead
Ahhh, Shaun of the Dead
, the ultimate rom-zom-com. I could watch this over and over and never get bored. If you haven’t seen it, and you a) like zombie movies and b) have a dark sense of humor, you must immediately go rent it. For those of you that have, enjoy the trivia!
• Lots of the actors and crew originally worked on Spaced, a British comedy starring Simon Pegg (Shaun). The carryover includes director Edgar Wright, Pete Serafinowicz (Pete), Nick Frost (Ed) and Jessica Hynes (Yvonne). There are cameos by a lot of other Spaced regulars as well.
• The idea for the movie actually came from Spaced. In one episode, Simon Pegg’s character plays Resident Evil for 24 hours straight, then starts hallucinating that zombies have taken over the world.
• Look closely at all of the extras in the opening credits scene and the scene that shows Shaun walking to work. Nearly all of them will show up later in zombie-form.
• When Shaun is at the convenience store, pay attention to the guy wearing a suit that stands in line behind him. He’ll show up a little bit later as a zombie missing an arm. In real life, the actor is an amputee and had to wear a prosthetic arm for the convenience store scene.
• The smart-aleck kid that mouths off to Shaun at the appliance store is Rafe Spall, Timothy Spall’s son. You know Timothy from his roles as Peter Pettigrew in Harry Potter and the Beadle in Sweeney Todd (among other things). Rafe also shows up in Hot Fuzz, another Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg collaboration.
• Simon Pegg likes to sneak his family members into his movies, and Shaun is no exception. You’ll find his mom in the background of the appliance store and his sister outside of the Winchester pub. She’s in the window when Shaun goes down to check the fuse box and realizes that he was followed by the zombies.
• Obviously George Romero movies were a huge influence, but Edgar Wright cites Invasion of the Body Snatchers as another inspiration.
• Throughout the movie are clever references to horror movie veterans. When Shaun is trying to make a last-minute dinner reservation at Fulci’s, that’s reference to Italian director Lucio Fulci. At the appliance store, Shaun says that the manager and Ash have called in, referencing Ash from The Evil Dead. And the appliance store itself, Foree Appliances, is a reference to Ken Foree, the lead actor in the original Dawn of the Dead. Mary, the supermarket checkout girl zombie, works at Landis Supermarket – a reference to John Landis, director of Thriller and An American Werewolf in London.
• I remember being delighted when I heard Ed tell Shaun’s mom, “We’re coming to get you Barbara!” It’s an homage to Night of the Living Dead. Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg talked to George Romero after the premiere and he loved the movie, so they excitedly asked if he liked the Night reference. Turned out he hadn’t gotten it, but was delighted when they told him about it. He later repaid the favor by letting Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg be zombie extras in the remake of Land of the Dead.
• The character of David is played by Dylan Moran; you might also know him as Gordon from Run Fatboy Run. Shaun was the first thing I had ever seen him in, so to see him as the scraggly, strange, seemingly-on-something Gordon was completely bizarre to me. Turns out, it’s really the other way around. Moran is known for playing characters like Gordon; David was completely out of the norm for him.
• The Winchester scenes were shot at the Duke of Albany pub in New Cross. The pub is now being demolished to make room for flats.
• When Shaun and Ed come home trashed from the Winchester and wake up a very angry Pete, the record they’re listening to is Street Sounds Electro. According to Edgar Wright, this is an essential record for anyone who knows their electro – and Shaun would. Check out the posters in the background of that scene: there’s a poster that refers to Shaun “Smiley” Riley, which tells us Shaun’s last name and also his background: he used to be a DJ, which explains his obsession with techno. This was all explained in a scene that got cut from the movie.
• The guy who plays Pete, Pete Serafinowicz, is the voice of Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace.
• Edgar Wright has used a few personal elements from his own life in the film. His mom calls him Pickle, which is why Shaun’s mom calls him Pickle. And Shaun eats Cornetto as a hangover cure, because that’s what Edgar Wright eats after imbibing a few too many the night before. In fact, Shaun is considered part one of what fans call “The Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy.” In Shaun, red Cornettos are consumed for blood. In the second part, Hot Fuzz, blue Cornettos are consumed to represent the boys in blue. The third is called The World’s End and is so far scheduled to be out in 2010. Wright and Pegg has confirmed that the third one is green (mint), but as to what that means… who knows.
There’s a ton of trivia for this movie – you can listen to film commentary from pretty much all of the main characters, but they didn’t all record it at the same time, so you have to watch the movie a million times to catch them all. And I’m totally fine with that; I just haven’t quite gotten around to it yet. So if you know some trivia I don’t, feel free to share it in the comments. And let me know what movie you’d like to read about! I did Alex’s favorite for the first post and my favorite for the second, I think next time it’s time to move on to your picks.
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Movie Theater Shooting
29-year-old James Joseph Cialella was arrested in Philadelphia Thursday night for shooting another patron at a movie theater because the man and his family were talking during the movie.
Police said Cialella told the man’s family to be quiet, then threw popcorn at the man’s son. The victim, whom television reports identified as Woffard Lomax, told police that Cialella was walking toward his family when he stood up and was shot.
Detectives called to the United Artists Riverview Stadium theater in South Philadelphia found Cialella carrying the weapon, a .380-caliber handgun, in his waistband, police said.
Lt. Frank Vanore called the incident “scary that it gets to that level of violence from being too noisy during a movie.”
The 31-year-old victim was released from the hospital and had no comment. Cialella faces six charges, including attempted murder. Link -Thanks, Geekazoid!
(image credit: Philadelphia Police Department)
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How A Guy's Flickr Photo Ended Up in The Iron Man Movie
Photo Credit: (above) Iron Man (below) Jeremy Keith of Adactio
Did you know that the movie Iron Man used a Creative Commons-licensed photo from Flickr? Here’s the story of how Jeremy Keith’s photo of his buddy Andy Budd in NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building in Cape Canaveral ended up in the movie:
“Wait a minute”, I said. “What is this for?”
“It’s for a movie that’s currently in production called Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jnr.”
Holy crap! One of my photos was going to be in Iron Man? That certainly put a new spin on things.
“So I guess you want to use the picture because it’s inside NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building?” I asked.
“No. We just thought it was a picture of some warehouse or something.”
Read the whole story here: Link – via Flickr Blog
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