Buzz
For many movie lovers, the making of a film is just as fascinating as the movie itself. Today, major blockbusters often have a second team documenting behind-the-scenes moments for their 'Making Of' documentaries, as fans are eager to see how the sets, props, and costumes come together.
Some fans spend hours listening to the sound of a lightsaber swishing through the air, which is a mix of an old film projector’s hum and TV feedback. Others search for the many 'One Rings' from The Lord of The Rings, some of which were taken as souvenirs from the set.
Sometimes, you just want to impress your friends with a piece of movie trivia that no one else knows. If that's the case, you're in luck—keep reading, we’ve got you covered.
10. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Destroyed A Bridge Twice
In the dramatic final moments of Sergio Leone’s 1966 Western masterpiece, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach find themselves trying to reach the Sad Hill cemetery, where a fortune in gold is hidden.
Unfortunately for them, their journey is obstructed by two opposing armies, each occupying a side of a bridge. To get to the gold, they need to either cross or destroy the bridge.
Naturally, they chose the second option.
Sergio Leone was known for his multilingual films. Not only did his actors speak multiple languages, but so did the crew. The bridge had been constructed by engineers from the Spanish army, who were ready to blow it up when needed.
When the Italian cameraman called 'Action!' on the shot, the Spanish captain misunderstood and detonated the explosives before the cameras were even rolling. However, being resourceful engineers, the Spanish army quickly rebuilt the bridge. In the end, Eastwood and Wallach managed to reach the cemetery.
9. Alan Rickman Took A Hard Fall In Die Hard
Everyone loves Die Hard, and Alan Rickman truly shines as the villain. His final scene as Hans Gruber, the terrorist-turned-thief, was an intense challenge both in the final cut and during filming.
Rickman is shown hanging onto Bruce Willis and Bonnie Bedelia as he dangles from a window near the top of the Nakatomi building, which, in reality, was the 20th Century Fox headquarters. Gruber’s watch becomes tangled with Mrs. McClane’s, and he is moments away from pulling her down with him.
In reality, Rickman was suspended by a rope 12 meters (40 feet) above a crash pad, with a camera fixed directly on his face. Director John McTiernan aimed to capture every emotion on Rickman’s face as his character fell to his death in slow motion.
The shock on Rickman's face was completely genuine. McTiernan had promised him a countdown before the release, but the clever director secretly gave instructions to the stunt coordinator to let the rope go early. Yippee-ki-yay.
8. The Matrix Code is Actually Sushi
The Wachowskis' groundbreaking 1999 film, The Matrix, stands out for several reasons.
To begin with, there was the iconic bullet time. While the Wachowskis didn't invent the technique, they certainly popularized it. Bullet time allows for slow-motion action, where you can dodge bullets, even pluck them out of the air mid-flight, examine them, and casually drop them on the floor before they reach you.
Then there were the unforgettable fight sequences, the stylish costumes, and Keanu Reeves's strangely elongated and slender physique.
Processing all this information can be overwhelming, and that's before you even try to grasp the plot. If you’ve only taken a cursory glance at the Matrix code, that’s understandable. However, it’s a mistake because the Matrix is everywhere. It's all around us.
So, what exactly is the Matrix?
It could be the fundamental code that generates temporary constructs to satisfy our limited human understanding. Or perhaps it’s simply a sushi recipe.
Simon Whiteley, the production designer, was given the task of creating code that appeared both convincing and organic, while also having a Japanese feel. He discovered what he needed by browsing through his wife’s Japanese cookbooks. However, Whiteley has yet to disclose what the recipe actually makes.
The answer is out there, though. It’s searching for us, and it will find us if we’re hungry enough.
7. The Usual Suspects were Gone with the Wind
Some scenes unfold exactly as the director envisions them. Other times, scenes turn out even better. When Bryan Singer directed The Usual Suspects, he intended the lineup scene to be a serious, dramatic moment.
Then, Benicio del Toro let out a fart.
Kevin Spacey, Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, and Kevin Pollak struggled to maintain composure as they stepped forward one by one, reading the line on the card, 'Hand me the keys, you f—king c—ksucker.'
Trying to stifle his laughter, Gabriel Byrne kept his hand over his face the entire scene. When del Toro stepped up to deliver his line in his signature mumbling voice, he let out another fart. The actors could hardly keep it together.
Fortunately, Singer was impressed by it, believing it demonstrated that the usual suspects shared a common history and a strong sense of camaraderie, combined with a healthy disdain for the police.
This scene became iconic, featured in both the poster and trailer, and is now one of the most replicated moments in movie history.
6. Judy Garland Consumed Hazardous Substances in The Wizard of Oz
Do you recall the moment when Dorothy and her companions had to cross a poppy field on their way to Oz? The poppies caused them to become drowsy, including her dog, Toto. Who would have thought that poppies could have such an effect?
To revive Dorothy, the Good Witch of the North sent snow, which did the job and helped Dorothy regain consciousness. Perhaps this was because the artificial snow used on set was made from industrial-grade white asbestos fibers, branded as White Magic, Snow Drift, and Pure White.
It’s enough to make you rethink your trust in family-friendly entertainment.
However, Hollywood wasn't entirely at fault. Fake snow treated with fire-retardant chemicals was widely used for Christmas decorations until the onset of World War II, at which point production stopped because asbestos was required for military purposes.
5. Michael Myers’s Halloween Mask Is Truly Terrifying
If you're on a tight budget while making a horror film and need a frightening mask, what would you do?
Well, if you're working on the Halloween movie, you could simply head to your local costume shop and grab a mask of William Shatner as Captain Kirk from Star Trek. That would suffice.
The designers only had to enlarge the eyeholes, remove the sideburns, and coat the mask with white paint.
4. William Friedkin Was A Terrifying Figure On The Set Of The Exorcist
After his triumph with 1971’s The French Connection, William Friedkin went on to create the spine-chilling classic The Exorcist in 1973. The film surpassed the success of his earlier work. The Exorcist earned 10 Academy Award nominations and won two.
Many of the performances in the final cut were shaped with Friedkin's direct influence. Emulating D.W. Griffith’s directing techniques, Friedkin took extreme measures to provoke genuine reactions from the actors in key scenes. He fired real guns behind them to simulate the shock of being startled and slapped Father William O'Malley (a real priest and consultant on set) just before filming to capture an authentic response. This moment remains visible in the film when Father O'Malley gives the dying Father Karras the last rites.
The Exorcist was made long before the age of CGI. To create the chilling atmosphere of Regan’s cold room, the stage was chilled to below freezing temperatures, causing the crew’s sweat to freeze. Linda Blair, who played Regan, wore only a nightgown throughout the shoot and still finds it unbearable to be cold.
One of the most extreme incidents on set, caused by Friedkin, occurred during the scene where Ellen Burstyn’s character is thrown backward by a demonic force. This effect was created using a rope harness, which violently jerked the actress back, resulting in a permanent spinal injury.
3. Vitamins Aren't Always Beneficial
The Wolf of Wall Street is a film centered around indulgence. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Jordan Belfort, a morally corrupt Wall Street stockbroker. After losing his job following Black Monday, the massive stock market crash of October 19, 1987, he finds a new direction.
Belfort realizes that he can make just as much money by scamming people out of their savings in a shady boiler room as he did in the prestigious offices of Wall Street. As he dives into this new business venture, he also develops a growing dependency on alcohol and drugs. Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill) becomes his loyal accomplice in the process.
Based on the memoirs of the real Jordan Belfort, the script required both men to consume large amounts of alcohol and drugs. While this typically involves drinking iced tea and taking sugar pills on set, for the cocaine-snorting scenes they had to actually inhale crushed vitamin D.
While Vitamin D is beneficial to your health, snorting it is far from the typical method. Both actors soon realized that the constant snorting took a toll on their lungs. In fact, Jonah Hill became so ill that he was hospitalized with severe bronchitis.
2. Stanley Kubrick Was Infamously Hard to Satisfy
Stanley Kubrick is notorious for being an unyielding director. A Clockwork Orange was always destined to be a challenging film to produce. Based on Anthony Burgess’s iconic novel, the film is surreal and unsettling.
Malcolm McDowell played the role of Alex, the leader of a gang of 'droogs' who turned violence into an art form, drawing inspiration from Beethoven for their chaos. But McDowell's journey was anything but easy.
He suffered broken ribs and, worst of all, endured the 'Ludovico technique.' In one of the most disturbing scenes of the film, McDowell’s eyes were forcibly held open so that he couldn’t blink while watching violent films accompanied by Beethoven’s music.
Kubrick assured McDowell that the scene would take no more than 10 minutes. However, being the notorious perfectionist that Kubrick was, filming took significantly longer. As a result, McDowell ended up with a scratch on one of his corneas and temporarily lost his vision.
1. Velociraptors Are Surprisingly Attractive Creatures
Creating sound effects can be challenging, particularly when you're trying to replicate the sounds of an extinct dinosaur. The sound team for Jurassic Park tried numerous approaches but quickly realized the best method was to record modern animals at their most instinctual moments.
In other words, when they are mating.
The sounds for the Gallimimus herds were created by recording female horses in heat, while the terrifying roar of the T. rex was a blend of dog and elephant sounds.
The Velociraptors may not have been the largest dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, but they were cunning predators. They hunted their prey through kitchens and communicated with each other using the sounds of tortoise mating calls.
It turns out that male tortoises are extremely vocal lovers. The noise they make is intense, especially when amplified and paired with visuals of a pair of Velociraptors wreaking havoc in a kitchen after a couple of children. Some additional sound effects were also sourced from hissing geese.
Tortoises were ideal for this purpose because they engage in long mating sessions. This provided the sound engineers with plenty of material. It's unclear why the male tortoise is so loud, but perhaps it helps him stay focused so he doesn’t fall off the female’s shell—a frequent occurrence.
Female tortoises don’t seem to enjoy the mating process very much. Maybe it’s due to the noise. On top of that, the extended mating sessions and the weight of the male on her back can cause lasting damage to her shell. That’s certainly enough to make her screech.
