When the book Rocket Boys was adapted to the movies, producers thought the title would turn off women, so they changed it October Sky - which just happens to be a perfect anagram of the original title.
The movie Elephant Man was produced by Mel Brooks, but he removed his name to keep from confusing people.
Arnold Schwarzenegger auditioned to play Flash Gordon, but Sam J. Jones got it because the producer’s mother-in-law saw him on The Dating Game.
McLean Stevenson, who played Henry Blake in the television series MAS*H, died on Feburary 15, 1996.
Roger Bowen, who played Henry Blake in the film version of MAS*H, died on February 16, 1996.
Rutger Hauer died in 2019, the same real year that his most iconic character, Roy Batty died in in Blade Runner (set in a fictional 2019).
1966: Roderick Thorp publishes The Detective, a novel about a detective named Joe Leland.
1968: Twentieth Century Fox releases The Detective, starring Frank Sinatra as Joe Leland. Sinatra’s contract gives him the right to star in any sequel that might be made in the future.
1979: Roderick Thorp publishes Nothing Lasts Forever, about an aging Leland rescuing his daughter from terrorists in a skyscraper.
Twentieth Century Fox wants to film the sequel, but is obligated to offer the role to Sinatra. Sinatra is too old to play an action hero, but it takes some time to persuade him to relinquish the rights. Eventually, they change the character’s name from “Joe Leland” to “John McLain”, cast Bruce Willis, and make Die Hard, released in 1988.
George Raft turned down High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon, which became two of Humphrey Bogart’s best movies. He turned down Double Indemnity, which became one of Fred MacMurray’s best movies.
According to Of All the Gin Joints: Stumbling Through Hollywood (Bailey, 2014), Spencer Tracy was a closet binge drinker. He’d lock himself in a room at the St. George Hotel in Brooklyn for “weeks at a time, downing bottle after bottle of whiskey” in the bathtub naked, not even getting up to use the toilet. He was so prolific a drinker that Louis B. Mayer had the “Tracy Squad,” an ambulance driver, a doctor and four security guards dressed as paramedics whose only job was to pick up Tracy and other drunk film stars. And apparently, every bar and nightclub within 25 miles of the MGM lot had a private number to call the studio to call if Tracy walked in.
In Davide Manuli’s La leggenda di Kaspar Hauser (2012) Vincent Gallo and Silvia Calderoni aren’t really DJing because neither needle is ever on a record, and Vitalic’s Poison Lips doesn’t exist on vinyl 45 anyway.
In Some Like It Hot (1959), George Raft asks a coin-flipping hood “Where did ya pick up that cheap trick?" Raft himself had done the same “trick” in ***Scarface ***(1932).
The hood (who later popped out of the birthday cake and machine-gunned Raft and his crew) was played by Edward G Robinson, Jr. Billy Wilder wanted to cast Edward Sr as Little Bonaparte, but he refused to appear in the same picture as Raft, whom he intensely disliked. Nehemiah Persoff was cast instead (and gave Bonaparte a Mussolini-type persona).
The original stage play was written by Hamilton Deane, who ran the company that put the play on, and wanted to play Dracula himself (he didn’t – but he play Van Helsing).
John L. Balderston had nothing to do with the original play, and, for all I know, probably never even met Hamilton Deane. Balderston was given the task of rewriting the play to Broadway standards, and he essentially redid the entire pay, retaining Deane adaptation of the plot and a few chunks of dialogue.
Balderston later wrote the screenplay for the 1931 film (he’s the one who added all the Transylvania scenes. He’s also the one who came up with the line “I do not drink … wine.” – It’s not in the book or in Deane’s original play. ) He went on to write the final script for the original Frankenstein and both the screen story and the script for The Mummy. he also scripted the Bride of Frankenstein, and had an uncredited hand in other scripts. Like the later Curt Siodmak, he had a huge influence on the monster films that warped my childhood, but is pretty much forgotten.
A film that featured Bob Hope’s last film appearance, a brief cameo.
It wasn’t his last work in the industry, but it was the last time he appeared in a movie. His last actual work was a starring role with Don Ameche in his first-ever made-for-TV movie titled “A Masterpiece of Murder,” and some voice work for The Simpsons.
Ed O’Neill was not in “Deliverance.”
In the scene where Rosemary is using the phone, director William Castle is one of impatient bystanders waiting to use the phone. However. . . It really looks like the back of Ralph Bellamy’s head before the bystander walks offscreen, the reappears as Castle.
Rosemary tells a young woman that she looks a lot like the actress Victoria Vetri. The actress was played by Angela Dorian. Her real name: Victoria Vetri.
Morgan Freeman agreed to audition of the role of Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding:. the Shawshank Redemption character who was a middle-aged red haired Irishmen in the Stephen King novella.
In addition to Frank Oz, The Blues Brothers also had a cameo by Steven Spielberg, playing the sandwich eating cashier who accepts the municipal tax payment from Jake & Elwood.
Did someone say he was? Or is that just an example of the most trivial trivia?
The woman who delivers the classic line, “I’ll have what she’s having,” in When Harry Met Sally… was director Rob Reiner’s mother, Estelle.
William Castle did not direct Rosemarys Baby. Roman Polanski did.
You are correct. Castle was the producer of Rosemary’s Baby. He also directed other films, making Earl’s statement true in some sense. Not sure what** Earl **intended there
Another Rosemary’s Baby bit: Tony Perkins, who was a friend of Mia Farrow’s, visited the set unannounced one day. Before she could see him, Polanski had him call her, playing the role of Donald Baumgart, who Rosemary calls. Mia’s puzzlement is real. She knows she knows the voice, but can’t place it.
I’m not sure if this counts, (and I’m not sure how little known it is, either) but:
If you ever find yourself called upon to define the rather obscure English word “Screever” (meaning = pavement artist), your best citation is
Disney, Walt: Mary Poppins (1964)
*Today I’m a screever, and as you can see
A screever’s an artist of 'ighest degree *
Enjoy.
j
PS - yes, I know there are other meanings
It was in Leonard Maltin’s paperback movie guide for quite a few years.
Eh. . . just that the back of the head looks like Bellamy, who played Dr. Saperstein in the movie, less so than Castle. Some horror movie experts claim it actually is Bellamy. Maybe so. Plausible, possibly to show that Rosemary’s mind is playing tricks on her?
Can you explain why that might be a notable fact?