…like (to use a classic example) the fact that the hot rod’s license plate in American Graffiti is the name of Lucas’ previous movie, THX 1138.
In the new bike-messenger chase movie Premium Rush, bad guy cop Bobby Monday (played well by Michael Shannon) uses the alias “Forrest Ackerman” throughout the movie. Forrie Ackerman was a well-known and loved sci-fi and horror supporter, collector, and fanzine publisher who died recently. No connection to bikes that I know of - just a nice homage…
There are plenty of references to THX 1138 in Lucas’ stuff, and things related to his stuff. The two examples cited have plenty of company. For example, when you’re waiting in line at Disney’s *Star Tours[/.i], you hear an announcement that vehicle witbh identification plate number THX 1138 left its lights on.
Of course I (and most long-time science fiction fans) know who Forrest Ackerman is. Was there any particular point to naming a character in Premium Rush after him? If not, this doesn’t strike me as particularly interesting. A good inside joke ties together several references. If it doesn’t, it’s no more interesting than hearing that the screenwriter used the name of a teacher he hated in high school as the villain’s name.
It’s even more blatant than that. The loser dick always says “Forrest J. Ackerman” with a slight emphasis on the “J.” Every time he said his name it kept taking me out of the film. Poor Forrie. Why couldn’t the douchebag bike messenger have that name? He’s an asshole, but he’s pretty much the good guy (besides, well, being a douchebag bike messenger).
Depending on how recent, Flushed Away has Roddy looking through his closet for clothes. One of the outfit’s that flash by are those worn by Wallace in the Wallace and Gromit films, which were produced by the same company, Aardman Animations.
Not too recent, but in “Back to the Future,” when Marty’s band auditioned for the school’s music competition, they played the opening chords to “The Power of Love” when they’re cut off by one of the instructors who was played by Huey Lewis. Huey Lewis and the News were the band that recorded the song.
In the movie Gremlins, the movie theater marquee shows a double-bill of A Boy’s Life and Watch The Skies. Those were the working titles of Stephen Spielberg’s previous movies, E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
And there’s See You Next Wednesday, a fictional movie whose title appears in many John Landis movies.
In Pixar’s Monsters Inc., the restaurant Mike takes his girlfriend to (where Sully and Boo show up and cause a panic) is called “Harry Hausen’s”. Ray Harryhausen is of course the pioneering stop-motion animator who brought models to life in such films as Mighty Joe Young, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, and Jason and the Argonauts.
Near the end of What’s Up DocBarbra Streisand tells Ryan O’Neal that love means never having to say you’re sorry. He says that’s the stupidest thing he’s ever heard - of course it was his iconic line from Love Story.
In the movie Stakeout, Emilio Estevez and Richard Dreyfus play two cops who are staking out a woman. They are playing a trivia game. Estevez asks Dreyfus which movie this line is from: “This is no boating accident.” Dreyfus replies, “I don’t know.” Of course, Dreyfus said that line in Jaws.
Not terribly recent, but 1994’s *Maverick *has a couple of references to the Lethal Weapon series. Danny Glover (in a cameo) and Mel Gibson appear to almost recognize each other early in the movie, and Glover says the line “I’m too old for this shit” at the end of his scene. Also, a dealer in the poker tournament near the end of the film is played by Steve Kahan, who played the police captain in the Lethal Weapon series (all of the Lethal Weapon movies, as well as Maverick, were directed by Richard Donner).
How is it a nice homage to make a character named Forrest J. Ackerman the biggest jerk in the film? It’s clever on some level for Cary Grant to refer to Archie Leach because that was his birth name. It’s clever on some level for Ryan O’Neal to tell Barbra Streisand that his most famous line from any previous film was the stupidest thing he’d ever heard. It’s clever on some level to have Richard Dreyfuss’s character fail to recognize one of his most famous lines. In each case this is the actor making fun of his own biography or film career. For a film to give a jerky character the name of someone utterly unconnected to the topic of the film strikes me as the screenwriter being gratuitously nasty.
I agree 100%. That’s the main reason it kept taking me out of the film. I kept thinking “Stop that! Stop using that name!” maybe if he’d used a different name of an author every time, or had been shown as a big fan, but no.
Okay - hadn’t processed it that way. I assumed Forrest, if still alive, would’ve enjoyed the shout-out. I can see where it can also be seen as associating his name with a dick movie character, and him not being alive to defend himself. Simply hadn’t thought of it that way…