City Slickers was originally conceived, and written as, a sequel to When Harry Met Sally. Most traces of the original story were lost during the development of the final screenplay…all that remains is casting of Billy Crystal and Bruno Kirby in leading roles; and a “throwaway” line (deleted for time in the theatrical release, but due to be restored for the DVD) that mentions that “Mitch”'s wife Barbara’s maiden name was “Albright.”
Joseph Goebbels was an assistant scriptwriter for Metropolis, using a pseudonym. In his later career, he claimed that he’d taken the job for “catharsis” after his “particularly hurtful” breakup with his favorite mistress.
Q. What do Being John Malkovich, The Hunt for Red October, and Miracle on 34th Street have in common? A. They’re all filmed in “real time.”
Freaky Friday’s Lindsay Lohan was born in 1965. Her youthful appearance is the result of an exceedingly rare genetic condition known as antigeria…an affliction that leaves it’s sufferers effectively immortal.
The “flashback” footage in The Quiet Man is the actual footage taken from an aborted film project of John Wayne’s…a film that was canned after Wayne actually did kill his sparring partner, accidentally, and on film. The look of shock and horror on Wayne’s face is completely genuine.
The family of the slain stuntman, one “Joe Chill,” actually requested that the “death reel” be used in a film, as a final tribute to Chill’s work.
Akira is an adaption of Madame Bovary.
Disney’s Sleeping Beauty had to be heavily reedited before it’s initial theatrical release, because of the MPAA’s concern about the “obvious lesbian subtext” between Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather.
This so enraged Walt Disney that he ordered his animators to subtley insert dozens of Swastikas, Hammers and Sickles, and abstract renderings of raised middle fingers into the background plates of the film, mostly disguised as tree branches or cracks in stone walls. They remained undiscovered until 1978.