# Stories about pop culture inspiration - do you buy them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [February 4, 2024, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094 "2024-02-04T16:10:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094/21 "2024-02-05T10:02:29Z")
Dexys Midnight Runners did a cover version of ‘Jackie Wilson Said’ and performed it on ‘Top of the Pops’ the weekly music show on the BBC. The backdrop was a huge picture of the darts legend Jocky Wilson. There is still some debate as to whether it was a deliberate joke or a genuine mistake. ---
**Author:** ![songsoflovetrouble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@songsoflovetrouble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/songsoflovetrouble)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094/22 "2024-02-05T10:55:57Z")
Beyonce Knowles’s mother claiming she got the name “Destiny’s Child” from a passage in the Book of Isaiah. This phrase appears nowhere in any English translation of the Bible, but was the name of a 1967 hit for Waylon Jennings. When the group started no one thought about how embarassing it would be for the biggest star of R&B music to be associated with a _country_ song, so they came up with the nonsense explanation later and people accept it because they want to. Every porn star who claims they were a piano prodigy as a child and majored in computer science in college before deciding to “express myself.” Of course none of them can complete a sentence or add 2+2 if put on the spot, and things they claim to have done that would have attracted archived news coverage under their real name never have any, but they were all geniuses. The general culture of treating “porn star” personas as real people instead of creations designed to cater to the lowest common denominator fans and interviewing them in-character, which is somewhere between interviewing “Randy Savage” and interviewing Batman in terms of expecting any correspondence at all to a real biography instead of a completely fictitious character created by an actor. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094/23 "2024-02-05T11:00:34Z")
I buy this one. John was pretty open about his drug use by that point. Also, didn’t the actual drawing by Julian get auctioned off at one point? ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094/24 "2024-02-05T11:03:11Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Speaking of the “I am your father” scene, I can’t be the only one that immediately thought Vader was lying? I mean, he’s the bad guy, he’s manipulative. Why not? You’re not the only one. That was absolutely my reaction. Vader was an evil liar, and that was exactly the sort of lie a villain would use to confuse a tormented orphan. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094/25 "2024-02-05T12:41:16Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > You’re not the only one. That was absolutely my reaction. Vader was an evil liar, and that was exactly the sort of lie a villain would use to confuse a tormented orphan. Which is why his next line was “Search your feelings, you know it be true.” _Feelings_, in this context, meant the Force - meaning that Luke used his Force sensitivity to confirm what Vader was saying. Sure, I suppose Vader would have been using his own Force powers to manipulate Luke’s abilities, or the Force could have been lying somehow, but that seems a bit too convoluted under the circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094/26 "2024-02-05T13:39:37Z")
There’s a story that Chief Brody’s famous line in Jaws – “You’re going to need a bigger boat” – actually started out as a running gag among the cast and crew. The story goes that the boat used by the catering service wasn’t big enough to handle the whole crew, who were often heard to joke “you’re going to need a bigger boat.” When it came time to film the scene, Roy Scheider ad-libbed the line that had been heard so much around the set. I don’t know if I believe it or not but it’s a fun story. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094/27 "2024-02-05T13:42:32Z")
Thought of another. I never bought that _Kill Bill_ was going to be one movie. Maybe an early draft of the script was self-contained, but there’s no way Miramax was going to release a four and a half hour kung fu movie. Partly because a) QT’s movie immediately (well, six years) before that was _Jackie Brown_ which had made money, but substantially less than _Pulp Fiction_ had, and the director’s mega box office successes were still several years in the future and b) structurally it’s flawless as a two-parter, with the cliffhanger about B’s daughter at the end of part 1 setting up the entire climax of part 2. The whole “hey, let’s chop it in half!” brainstorm seems really fanciful. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094/28 "2024-02-05T14:57:25Z")
Listen, in 1980, when I was 19, my judgment was famously spot on. I may have missed this one, but how dare you say my conclusion was convoluted. 😀 ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094/29 "2024-02-05T15:29:39Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > Just the other day I read (once again) the factoid that the revelation of Darth Vader as Luke’s father in _The Empire Strikes Back_ came as a surprise to the crew. I can _maaaaybe_ buy this one a bit, as not every single person in a film crew gets the whole script. But still, massive elaborate set and effects on what’s expected to be the biggest movie of all time, and behind the camera is a sea of faces mouthing “Holy shit! Whaaaa?” It’s a fun image, but still strikes me as fanciful. Did David Prowse even need to say all of his lines on set considering he was being dubbed over anyway? Nevertheless, this appears to be what happened. In [an interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krHwUKp0CWE&t=11s) on Graham Norton, Mark Hamill confirmed that director Irvin Kershner took him aside, gave him the script with the “I am your father” line, and told him that George Lucas knew, he - Kershner - knew, and now Hamill knew; and if there was a leak, they’d know it came from Hamill. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094/30 "2024-02-05T15:35:50Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Nevertheless, this appears to be what happened. In [an interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krHwUKp0CWE&t=11s) on Graham Norton, Mark Hamill confirmed that director Irvin Kershner took him aside, gave him the script with the “I am your father” line, and told him that George Lucas knew, he - Kershner - knew, and now Hamill knew; and if there was a leak, they’d know it came from Hamill. I mean, I presume Lawrence Kasdan also knew, seeing as he wrote the script. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094/31 "2024-02-05T15:44:27Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > > [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > > > Nevertheless, this appears to be what happened. In [an interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krHwUKp0CWE&t=11s) on Graham Norton, Mark Hamill confirmed that director Irvin Kershner took him aside, gave him the script with the “I am your father” line, and told him that George Lucas knew, he - Kershner - knew, and now Hamill knew; and if there was a leak, they’d know it came from Hamill. > > I mean, I presume Lawrence Kasdan also knew, seeing as he wrote the script In the interview, Hamill just said Lucas and Kershner. IANA screenwriter, but I understand that directors and producers alter scripts all the time. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094/32 "2024-02-05T15:59:33Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > Being a huge fan of the _Alien_ franchise, I’ve often heard the story about how the chestburster scene in the movie was a surprise to the cast, which is how Ridley Scott got such great horrified performances out of them. No matter how many times I come across this tidbit, I always kinda call BS on it. Really? A total surprise despite the elaborate practical effects, the multiple takes and varied camera angles? Maybe the press and fandom are just overselling shock at _how_ bloody the effect was, but the “nobody saw it coming” story has become part of the film’s lore, and it strikes me as both baloney and wishful thinking. Here’s John Hurt’s take on it: > “It was a much publicized fact that the cast didn’t know what was going to happen,” Hurt noted in _The Eighth Passenger_. “Well, of course they knew what was going to happen; they knew that the alien was going to arrive that way. What they didn’t know is that it was going to be capped with little explosives, and that when it actually burst through there would be quite a shattering explosion and that they’d all get splattered with blood and stuff.” It’s certainly true that some press and fans promulgate a misleading impression of how in the dark the cast were, but Scott definitely set it up to be as surprising for them as he could. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094/33 "2024-02-05T16:10:00Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > It’s certainly true that some press and fans promulgate a misleading impression of how in the dark the cast were, but Scott definitely set it up to be as surprising for them as he could. Thanks for sharing that; I hadn’t heard Hurt’s explanation before, and it makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094/34 "2024-02-05T16:33:56Z")
Reminds me of how they (supposedly) filmed the scene on **Mad Men** where Guy’s foot gets run over by a riding lawnmower (ep. “Guy Walks into an Advertising Agency”): The cast knew in advance that they would be splattered with fake blood, but the director told them it would happen on the count of three…after he’d already arranged for it to happen on the count of two. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094/35 "2024-02-05T17:21:23Z")
That sounds a lot like what director John McTiernan did to Alan Rickman in his _Die Hard_ death scene - he told him they’d drop him on 3, and dropped him on 2 instead, leading to a famously surprised facial expression: [![](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/065/638/de1.gif) ](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/065/638/de1.gif) Rickman was not amused ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094/36 "2024-02-05T17:39:36Z")
There is the one about the horse’s head used in _The Godfather_. I guess [that one is verified](https://www.grunge.com/1413009/gruesome-true-story-behind-the-godfather-horse-head-scene/). Another one I heard was that Sean Connery, appearing as James Bond in a scene implying some lovemaking with some hottie, with both being scantily clad for the shoot, and he being worried about becoming, uh, aroused, told the actress “Something may happen, or it may not, but either way I apologize.” ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094/37 "2024-02-05T17:47:50Z")
Hitler’s distinctive toothbrush mustache was a result of his experience in World War I (according to writer Alexander Moritz Frey, who served with Hitler in the trenches). Apparently, he was ordered to trim his full mustache so that his gas mask would seal better against his face. But why did he keep it after the war? It was indeed a bit of a fashion trend in Germany at the time, but I believe those who attribute Hitler’s influence on Charlie Chaplin, whose movies Hitler enjoyed. I doubt Adolph enjoyed being parodied by Charlie in **The Great Dictator,** however. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094/38 "2024-02-05T18:23:05Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Rickman was not amused I can’t really blame him. I could see using a cheap trick like that on an untrained actor, but Rickman? He would have nailed it 20 times if it somehow took 20 takes. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094/39 "2024-02-05T20:02:38Z")
I came across this piece of trivia that the mask in the movie _Scream_ was based on the painting by Edvard Munch. When I repeated that here someone quoted the director who said he got the idea for the design from some '40’s cartoon. I call BS. The name of the movie is Scream and the mask looks like the painting. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094/40 "2024-02-05T20:19:41Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I came across this piece of trivia that the mask in the movie _Scream_ was based on the painting by Edvard Munch I thought that too. But it’s even more incorrect than the Director’s claim; it was a pre-existing costume. > **[The Origin Of The Ghostface Mask In Scream Is Delightfully Mundane - /Film](https://www.slashfilm.com/637496/the-origin-of-the-ghostface-mask-in-scream-is-delightfully-mundane/)** > > The origin story of the iconic Ghostface mask in the Scream movies is so utterly simple – and it'll delight horror fans. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-about-pop-culture-inspiration-do-you-buy-them/997094.md?page=3)