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Samuel L. Jackson won the role of Jules Winnfield because of his massive talent, but also because of a hamburger. The actor was one of two people in contention for the part. On the day of his second audition for Tarantino, he was stunned to realize the other man, Paul Calderon, had been called back as well. That irritated Jackson, as did Tarantino's lateness. Aside from being angry, he was hungry, so he went out to grab a hamburger and brought it back to the audition site.
According to producer Richard Gladstein:
In comes Sam with a burger in his hand and a drink in the other hand and stinking like fast food. Me and Quentin and [producer] Lawrence [Bender] were sitting on the couch, and he walked in and just started sipping that shake and biting that burger and looking at all of us. I was scared sh*tless. I thought that this guy was going to shoot a gun right through my head. His eyes were popping out of his head. And he just stole the part.
The effect was so menacing that they made sure Jackson ate a hamburger onscreen the same way.
See our full list of Pulp Fiction behind-the-scenes facts here.
- Actors: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth
- Released: 1994
- Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Cool fact?- 1Reservoir Dogs226 Votes
- 2Goodfellas180 Votes
- 3The Godfather144 Votes
- 4True Romance51 Votes
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In a 2016 interview on The Graham Norton Show, Jodie Foster confirmed that she rarely spoke to co-star Anthony Hopkins for the duration of filming The Silence of the Lambs.
The actors first met at a reading for the script and she found his performance terrifying. After that, Hopkins and Foster were usually separated on-set by glass partitions or cell bars, making conversation difficult between camera setups - and their characters rarely shared the same frame onscreen.
"I avoided him," recalled Foster. "I really avoided him. And then, I was eating a tuna fish sandwich, it was the last day, and he... sidled up to me, and I said - I don't know, I sort of had a tear in my eye - 'I was really scared of you,' and he said, 'I was scared of you!'"
Both Foster and Hopkins won Academy Awards for their performances.
See our full list of The Silence of the Lambs behind-the-scenes facts here.
- Actors: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine, Anthony Heald
- Released: 1991
- Directed by: Jonathan Demme
Cool fact?- 1Anthony Hopkins150 Votes
- 2Jodie Foster115 Votes
- 3Scott Glenn62 Votes
- 4Ted Levine53 Votes
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Billy Crystal's City Slickers character rides a horse named Beechnut, and the two hit it off from the start. "This is such a great horse," Crystal noted in the DVD commentary. "He really was like a great athlete."
The rapport between Crystal and Beechnut was so strong that the production's horse wrangler gave Beechnut to Crystal after filming was over. They reunited for City Slickers II a few years later, and Crystal even rode Beechnut off the stage at the 1991 Academy Awards.
Crystal recalled their time together in later years:
I would go and sit and read and he would graze in the background. He'd always put his head on my shoulder. It was an affectionate, unusual relationship I had with this incredible horse.
Beechnut stayed with Crystal for the rest of his life, until the horse became ill in 2008 and had to be euthanized.
See our full list of City Slickers behind-the-scenes facts here.
- Actors: Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern, Bruno Kirby, Patricia Wettig, Helen Slater
- Released: 1991
- Directed by: Ron Underwood
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Given that the script was in a constant state of flux, the cast of Gladiator sometimes had to memorize new scenes at the last minute. Other times, they just flat-out improvised. For example, in the scene between Maximus and Marcus Aurelius in which the former describes the farm he came from, Russell Crowe drew from personal experience.
The actor simply described his own home back in Australia. Perhaps because he was utilizing something so personal, it gave the sequence a touching sense of authenticity:
Very simple place. Pink stones that warm in the sun. A kitchen garden that smells of herbs in the day, jasmine in the evening. Through the gate is a giant poplar. Figs, apples, pears. The soil, Marcus, black, black like my wife’s hair. Grapes on the south slopes, olives on the north, wild ponies play near the house.
See our full list of Gladiator behind-the-scenes facts here.
- Actors: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Derek Jacobi
- Released: 2000
- Directed by: Ridley Scott
Cool fact?- 1Connie Nielsen58 Votes
- 2Tommy Flanagan58 Votes
- 3Joaquin Phoenix63 Votes
- 4Richard Harris56 Votes
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Because of its epic scope, Braveheart required hundreds of extras. And because that many people were needed, it only made sense to ask some of William Wallace's clan to participate.
To Gibson's pleasure, they turned out to be everything he could have expected. "You know they wear kilts; they’re into the full tradition,” Gibson recalled. “So I asked the old question, ‘What do you wear under the kilt?’ And this one guy, Seorus, just looked at me and said, ‘Your wife’s lipstick!’ That’s pretty heavy, right? But that’s the wit; it’s biting!”
See our full list of Braveheart behind-the-scenes facts here.
- Actors: Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan, Catherine McCormack, Brendan Gleeson
- Released: 1995
- Directed by: Mel Gibson
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The "code" used in The Matrix continues to fascinate audiences. It's a long string of symbols, green in color, that look somehow both inviting and menacing. If you've ever wondered whether it's some sort of actual computer code, rest assured that the truth is far more banal.
The Matrix code is actually just a bunch of sushi recipes. It was created by Simon Whiteley, a production designer at Animal Logic, an FX company in Australia. The Wachowskis asked him to come up with something new after the code designed by another company failed to meet their expectations.
Whiteley went home and began looking through his wife's Japanese sushi cookbooks for inspiration. He used the recipes he found in them as the basis for his code, hand-lettering and painting the Japanese characters, then sending them to be digitized and animated. The rest is history.
See our full list of The Matrix behind-the-scenes facts here.
- Actors: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano
- Released: 1999
- Directed by: Lilly Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Cool fact?- 1Neo315 Votes
- 2Morpheus268 Votes
- 3Agent Smith324 Votes
- 4Trinity182 Votes
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The scene in Jurassic Park in which the T. rex reveals itself has become a classic moment of cinematic suspense. When it emerges from the dark, rainy night, the audience gets a chill. Filming that scene proved just as scary for the crew as it would for the audience.
The dinosaur puppet was powered by electricity. When the rain machines came on, an excessive amount of water got absorbed by the material used to make its skin. That, in turn, messed with the electronics, causing the dinosaur to malfunction. Its head began to shake unexpectedly, which made it seem to be coming alive on its own.
Crew members solved the problem by continually drying it off with towels.
See our full list of Jurassic Park behind-the-scenes facts here.
- Actors: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck
- Released: 1993
- Directed by: Steven Spielberg
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Newt is one of the most important characters in Aliens, as the maternal bond that develops between her and Sigourney Weaver's character Ripley forms the emotional core of the story and motivates much of the third act. It was essential to find the right person for the role, but casting director Mary Selway got off to a rough start. In the film's DVD commentary, producer Gale Anne Hurd recalled:
[Selway] searched throughout England... trying to find a young girl who could portray this character. And we had every young girl who wanted to be an actress, or whose parents wanted them to act, come in and audition. Almost all of them had done commercials, and every time they delivered a line, they would smile. And of course this is a little girl suffering from traumatic stress.
Enter Carrie Henn – a little girl with no acting ambitions either before or after Aliens, yet somehow absolutely perfect for the part. Said Hurd:
Carrie was found at a US Air Force base in England; her father was a US serviceman serving there. And she came in and auditioned, never having acted, even in a school play, and was dead-on from the very first reading.
James Cameron noted that despite her lack of experience, Henn soon became completely dedicated to the production. One day, Cameron said, when she was too sick to do a scene, she "pitched such a fit that... I wound up doing one little shot with her just so she'd feel better, so she could go home."
Henn bonded with Weaver off-screen as well as on. They "got to be pals," said Cameron. "I think Sigourney felt very protective of her... And I think Carrie thought Sigourney was pretty cool."
Henn never did another movie, and grew up to become a fourth-grade teacher. Despite her decision to not pursue acting, her Twitter feed is brimming with affection for Aliens and its fans.
She does have one complaint, though. Don't say the line "they mostly come at night... mostly" to her, because, as she warns us in the DVD commentary, she's sick of it:
It seems to be the only line of mine that everybody I ever run into remembers. And anyone who ever wants to irritate me, any of my friends, they just say this, they say it with everything... My friends will be like "Oh, we mostly go to the movies at night, mostly."
- Actors: Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen
- Released: 1986
- Directed by: James Cameron
Cool fact?- 1Lt. Ellen Ripley840 Votes
- 2Pvt. Jenette Vasquez853 Votes
- 3Cpl. Dwayne Hicks789 Votes
- 4Pvt. Mark Drake644 Votes
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There's a striking moment at the climax of Point Break. Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) is on a plane over Mexico with Bodhi (Patrick Swayze); when Bodhi jumps out, Utah must decide whether to let him go or make the choice to jump after him without a parachute, and hope he can catch him in time. Of course, Utah opts for the latter.
We see a close-up of Swayze as he says, "Adios, amigo," then jumps out of the plane. And the camera doesn't cut away. It holds on Swayze as he falls further - because the camera is filming a real skydive.
It turns out that was the only jump Swayze was allowed to do on camera, for insurance purposes. (Before the producers put their foot down, Swayze had done a number of off-screen jumps during filming, and even persuaded co-star Gary Busey to join him on one.)
"I had to battle insurance companies to get to do the skydiving in the movie," Swayze later recalled. "And I never came close to dying once. But they never said one word about me getting my brains pounded in by the biggest surf on this planet."
See our full list of Point Break behind-the-scenes facts here.
- Actors: Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Gary Busey, Lori Petty, John C. McGinley
- Released: 1991
- Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow
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To make their veins more visible for makeup artists to trace, some cast members in Interview With the Vampire had to hang upside down for up to 30 minutes before makeup was applied.
This was just one of many extreme conditions the main cast members had to deal with. Brad Pitt also complained about the uncomfortable contact lenses he wore, as well as the ordeal of filming at night in the London winter on a windowless stage for six months.
See our full list of Interview With the Vampire behind-the-scenes facts here.
- Actors: Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, Stephen Rea, Christian Slater
- Released: 1994
- Directed by: Neil Jordan
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You've got to hand it to Jeff Bridges - he takes his work seriously. To play Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski, he wanted to make sure his motivation was correct at all times. To that end, he asked Joel and Ethan Coen whether the character was stoned before filming each scene.
Explains Ethan:
At the start of shooting every scene, he'd walk up to one or the other of us and ask if we figured The Dude burned one on the way over. So thinking about it, usually we'd say, "Yeah, he probably burned one on the way over," and Jeff would go over in the corner, rub his knuckles in his eyes to turn them red, and do the scene.
See our full list of The Big Lebowski behind-the-scenes facts here.
- Actors: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare
- Released: 1998
- Directed by: Joel Coen
Cool fact?- 1Jeff Bridges17 Votes
- 2Philip Seymour Hoffman20 Votes
- 3John Goodman17 Votes
- 4John Turturro10 Votes
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When building the "Pizza the Hutt" costume, the Spaceballs production staff used real pizza toppings, which needed to stay warm to look convincing. So the staff rigged an electrical heating element into the costume.
According to actor Rudy De Luca, who played Pizza the Hutt's sidekick Vinny, after filming a take, the wiring overheated and began to smoke. Richard Karron, who played Pizza the Hutt, refused to continue. Special effects artist Rick Lazzarini stepped in to don the costume and finish the scene.
See our full list of Spaceballs behind-the-scenes facts here.
- Actors: Mel Brooks, John Candy, Rick Moranis, Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga
- Released: 1987
- Directed by: Mel Brooks
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When Armageddon was released, one of the major gripes critics had was that the plot was filled with so many holes in logic that suspension of disbelief was difficult. They didn't hesitate to point out elements that made no sense.
Ben Affleck, it turns out, agreed with some of their sentiments. The DVD audio commentary reveals a rather amazing story about what happened when the star mentioned his concerns to the director.
I asked Michael why it was easier to train oil drillers to become astronauts than it was to train astronauts to become oil drillers and he told me to shut the f*ck up. So that was the end of that talk.
See our full list of Armageddon behind-the-scenes facts here.
- Actors: Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler, Ben Affleck, Will Patton
- Released: 1998
- Directed by: Michael Bay
Cool fact?The villain of The Fifth Element is Jean Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, an arms dealer who wants to capture the four mystical stones necessary to protect Earth from an ancient evil. He's memorable both for his partially shaved head and his distinctive Southern accent. Oldman described him as a "comic book villain" who wants to take over the universe.
Oldman said he based Zorg's voice and overall affect on a combination of Bugs Bunny and third-party US presidential candidate Ross Perot.
See our full list of The Fifth Element behind-the-scenes facts here.
- Actors: Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm, Milla Jovovich, Chris Tucker
- Released: 1997
- Directed by: Luc Besson
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To make the Persian King Xerxes more physically imposing, Frank Miller - author of the original 300 graphic novel series - had him tower over King Leonidas. Movie director Zack Snyder and his production team attempted to keep Xerxes's height faithful to Miller's series and constructed a graphical test. In it, Xerxes measured 10 feet in height.
This made Xerxes a giant, which Snyder called "outrageous." In the end, the character was made to appear 7 1/2 feet tall - still enormously tall, but within the realm of the human. Because actors Gerard Butler (Leonidas) and Rodrigo Santoro (Xerxes) were in fact the same height, various camera tricks and post-production effects sustained the illusion.
"I remember Rodrigo asking me, 'what am I going to wear in the movie?'" Snyder recalled. "'I've looked at the graphic novel - I'm not gonna wear that, am I?' And I was like, 'Yeah!' ...I think once he got into costume, he was digging it."
- Actors: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham, Dominic West, Rodrigo Santoro
- Released: 2007
- Directed by: Zack Snyder
Cool fact?
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Movies in the MakingFun facts and wild true stories from behind the scenes of some of history's most beloved and infamous movies.
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Movies in the Making
Fun facts and wild true stories from behind the scenes of some of history's most beloved and infamous movies.
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