Trivial Pursuits: Oscars 2010

Illustration by Pablo Lobato for The New Yorker
It's Oscar trivia time, 2010 edition!:

- Women at the Top: For the first time in Academy Award history, a lesbian-themed film — The Kids Are All Right — is nominated for Best Picture. It is also the first time that two Best Picture nominees — Kids and Winter's Bone — were directed by women (Lisa Cholodenko and Debra Granik, respectively).

- On the Other Hand: Three of the Best Picture nominees — 127 Hours, True Grit and Winter's Bone — feature characters with severed arms or hands.

- Top Toon: Toy Story 3 is not only the third animated film to be nominated for Best Picture (following previous nominees Beauty and the Beast and Up), it is also only the third "Part 3" to be nominated (following previous nominees The Godfather Part III and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King).  Plus, it is the only sequel to be nominated for Best Picture when the original film was not.

Illustration by Philip Burke for The New Yorker
- Head Games: Three Best Actress nominees — Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right, Natalie Portman in Black Swan and Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine — were on the receiving end in steamy oral sex scenes in their movies. Their partners in said scenes — Julianne Moore, Mila Kunis and Ryan Gosling, respectively — weren't so lucky though; all strong contenders in each of their races, none of them were nominated.

- Join the Club: Speaking of Annette Bening, she now joins the ranks of acting nominees recognized for playing GLBT characters, a group that also includes her fellow 2010 nominees Javier Bardem, Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman.

- Double Down: With both The Social Network and True Grit nominated, producer Scott Rudin has twice the chance to take home another Best Picture Oscar; he previously won for No Country for Old Men.

Illustration by Luis Grañena for The New Yorker
- Best Actor Take 2: Jeff Bridges (True Grit) and Colin Firth (The King's Speech) are both nominated for Best Actor again after facing off last year in this category, where Bridges won for Crazy Heart over Firth for A Single Man. This year, Firth is the front-runner. Meanwhile, their competition from last year, Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) is the only other repeat nominee, this time in the Supporting Actor category for The Town.

- Lucky Rooster: Speaking of Jeff Bridges, he is nominated for playing Rooster Cogburn in True Grit, the same role that won John Wayne the Oscar in the original Grit forty-one years ago.

- Two Times a Lady: For the sixth time in the past ten years, two performances from the same film were nominated for Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams and Melissa Leo for The Fighter.

Illustration by Robert Risko for The New Yorker
- Music Man: If composer Alan Menken wins for his Tangled song "I See the Light", it will be his 9th Oscar, securing his status as the most Oscared person still living.

- Isn't That Special: For the first time since 1979, there are more than three nominees for Best Visual Effects.

Trivial Pursuits: Oscars 2009

It's Oscar trivia time, 2009 edition!:

- If either Best Picture front-runners Avatar or The Hurt Locker win, they would either be the highest or lowest grossing winners, respectively, in Academy Award history.

- The last time that there were 10 nominees for Best Picture was 1944, when the winner was a little film called Casablanca.

- Two Best Picture nominees — An Education and The Hurt Locker — were directed by women (Lone Scherfig and Kathryn Bigelow, respectively).

- Bigelow is only the fourth woman to be nominated for Best Director, joining Lina Wertmüller (Seven Beauties), Jane Campion (The Piano) and Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation). No female director has won ... so far.

- Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire's Lee Daniels is only the second African American to be nominated not only for Best Director, but also as a co-producer of a Best Picture nominee. Previous nominees were John Singleton (Boyz N the Hood) and Quincy Jones (The Color Purple), respectively.

- Precious is also the first Best Picture nominee to be directed by an African American.

- Avatar and District 9 join A Clockwork Orange, Star Wars and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial as the only science fiction Best Picture nominees.

- Up is only the second animated feature to be nominated for Best Picture (Beauty and the Beast was the first) and the first to do so since the Best Animated Feature category was created in 2001.

- All in the family: Father and son Ivan and Jason Reitman are nominated for producing Up in the Air, as are brothers Joel and Ethan Coen for producing and writing A Serious Man.

- Best Picture nominees The Blind Side and A Serious Man received only one other nomination. The last time a Best Picture nominee received only two nominations was in 1994 with Four Weddings and a Funeral.

- Best Actress nominee Gabourey Sidibe was recognized for her film debut in Precious.

- With her nod for Julie & Julia, Meryl Streep not only broke her own record of overall acting nominations (16 total), but she also bested Katharine Hepburn's reign as the most nominated Best Actress contender (13 total).

- Along with Streep's Julia Child, six of the acting nominees portray real people: Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne Tuohy in The Blind Side, Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as François Pienaar in Invictus, and Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren as Leo and Sofya Tolstoy in The Last Station.

- Double duty: Plummer can also be heard in Up, while lead acting contenders Streep and George Clooney (Up in the Air) led the voice cast of Fantastic Mr. Fox.

- Nine's Penélope Cruz and Streep are the only repeat acting nominees from last year, when Cruz won Best Supporting Actress for Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Streep was a Best Actress contender for Doubt.

- And finally: the last time Streep won an Oscar (for Sophie's Choice in 1983), her competitors Carey Mulligan (An Education) and Sidibe weren't even born yet!

Illustration by Tom Bachtell for The New Yorker.

Trivial Pursuits: Bug Facts

In recognition of today's Blu-ray debutof the Disney/Pixar favorite A Bug's Life, here are some fun facts about the movie:

• It’s Tough to Be a Bug, a 3-D animated attraction starring Flik and Hopper, made its official debut on the opening day of Disney’s Animal Kingdom on April 22, 1988, seven months prior to the release of A Bug’s Life in theaters on November 25.
• A second version of It’s Tough to Be a Bug opened at Disney’s California Adventure on that theme park’s opening day as well, February 8, 2001. Since, it has been joined by a whole Bug’s Land area, including Flik’s Fun Fair, which features such kiddie rides as Francis’ Ladybug Boogie and Heimlich’s Chew-Chew Train.
• Dave Foley (who originally auditioned for the role of Slim) returned to voice Flik in It’s Tough to Be a Bug, but Kevin Spacey declined to reprise his vocal performance of Hopper, so Bug’s Life co-director Andrew Stanton took over as the nasty grasshopper.
• Stanton can also be heard in the film itself, along with director John Lasseter; they voice the flies being zapped by the bug zapper.
• In that same scene, the Pizza Planet truck from Toy Story can be seen parked next to the mobile home.
• Randy Newman’s jolly score for A Bug’s Life won a Grammy Award and was nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. Newman’s end title song, “The Time of Your Life”, was also nominated for a Grammy.
• The film itself also won awards from the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the Casting Society of America, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the Motion Picture Sound Editors Guild and the Golden Satellite Awards. It also received nominations from the Annie Awards, the British Academy of Film & Television Arts and the Saturn Awards.
• High School Musical diva Ashley Tisdale gave one of her first performances in A Bug’s Life, as the lead Blueberry Scout. She originally auditioned for the role of Dot.
• The film also marked Roddy McDowall’s last performance; he voiced the supervisor ant Mr. Soil.
• The plot of A Bug’s Life strongly resembles not only Seven Samurai and its American western remake The Magnificent Seven, but also the comedy Three Amigos! A line (“Boy, these folks are sure hard up for entertainment”) is even “borrowed” from the latter.

And be sure to "toon" later this week for my Toon Talk review of the new Bug's Life Blu-ray.

Trivial Pursuits: Oscars 2008

With each year's Academy Awards comes a new batch of Oscar trivia, and 2008 is no different:

- The titles of all five Best Picture nominees — The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Frost/Nixon — refer to a main character in the film.

- With his Best Director nomination for The Reader, Stephen Daldry has become the first director ever to receive nods for his first three films (his earlier nominations were for Billy Elliot and The Hours).

- Kate Winslet is currently tied with Deborah Kerr and Thelma Ritter as the most nominated actress (six each) not to have won; she is also the youngest actor to have received that many career nominations.

- Robert Downey Jr.'s nomination for Tropic Thunder is not the first time an actor has been nominated for donning "blackface". Mickey Rooney, who performed an elaborate minstrel show production number in Babes in Arms, was nominated for Best Actor, as was Laurence Olivier for the title role in Othello.

- With Frank Langella's nod for Frost/Nixon, Richard Nixon is the first United States President that more than one actor has been Oscar-nominated for playing (Anthony Hopkins previously scored a nod for Nixon). Also, if Langella wins, he will be only the ninth person to win an Oscar and a Tony Award for the same role.

- Doubt's quartet of acting nominations for its entire principal cast is not unprecedented. The four actors of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the two leads of Sleuth and James Whitmore in the one-man movie Give 'Em Hell, Harry! were all nominated. Note that they were all based on plays.

- Speaking of Doubt, Meryl Streep is now the reigning acting nomination champ, with 15 total. 12 of those noms are for Best Actress, tying her with Katharine Hepburn in that category. Ironically, she is also one of the biggest Oscar "losers".


- This year marks only the fifth time in Academy history that the Best Picture and Best Director races exactly matched; it last happened in 2005.

- Speaking of 2005, current Best Supporting Actor nominees Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt) and Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight) were both nominated that year for Best Actor, with Hoffman taking home the gold for Capote.

- Speaking of Ledger, if he wins the Oscar on Sunday night, he'll be only the second posthumous acting winner ever, following Network's Peter Finch. Note that they are also both Australian, and they also received their only previous nomination for playing gay characters (Brokeback Mountain and Sunday Bloody Sunday, respectively).

- Ledger is not the only actor to be nominated for playing a comic book character. Previous nominees include Al Pacino (Dick Tracy), Paul Newman (Road to Perdition) and William Hurt (A History of Violence); note that they all also played villains.

- And speaking of Hoffman, he is the only repeat acting nominee from last year (for Charlie Wilson's War, also in the Supporting Actor category).

- Waltz With Bashir is the first animated film ever to be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.

- Speaking of animation, WALL-E is tied with Beauty and the Beast for the most nominated animated feature, with six nods each. And if WALL-E wins more than two Oscars (which is a strong possibility), it will be the most honored animated film in Academy history.

Did I miss any thing? If so, add to list in the comments section below.

Trivial Pursuits: A Christmas Story Edition

A modern holiday classic, A Christmas Story is a perennial favorite this time of year. But did you know that ...

By the numbers: Ralphie says he wants the Red Ryder BB Gun 28 times during the film's 94-minute running time; that’s approximately once every three minutes and 20 seconds.
Cameos: All three of the film's screenwriters have bit parts in the film. Director Bob Clark plays "Swede", the neighbor who admires the leg lamp. Author and narrator Jean Shepherd is the grouchy guy waiting in line for Santa; Leigh Brown (Shepherd's wife) is standing with him.
Racy beginnings: Three of Shepherd's semi-autobiographical short stories on which A Christmas Story is based were first published in Playboy magazine between 1964 and 1966.
A Christmas legacy: A Christmas Story supposedly inspired the creation of the Emmy Award winning comedy series The Wonder Years. Peter Billingsley even guest starred on the show.
Deleted scene: Ralphie teams up with Flash Gordon against Ming the Merciless in another fantasy sequence. Why isn't this on the DVD?
A different Story: Jack Nicholson wanted to play Ralphie’s dad, but was nixed due because his salary would have doubled the budget. The considerably cheaper Darren McGavin was cast instead as "The Old Man".


Now that's a special effect: A hidden suction tube was used to create the realistic illusion that Flick's tongue had stuck to the metal flagpole (and yes, that really could happen, as seen in an episode of Mythbusters).
And speaking of Flick: Yes, it is true that Scott Schwartz, the actor who played him and also co-starred in the Richard Pryor comedy The Toy, became a porn star, mostly (thankfully?) in "non-sex" roles. He even won an AVN Award.
Musical homage: The music heard when local bully Scut Farkas first appears is the "Wolf" music from Sergei Prokofiev's classic composition Peter and the Wolf. The name "Farkas" is derived from the Hungarian word for "wolf".
The sequel you never heard of: My Summer Story (a.k.a. It Runs in the Family) was released in 1994 with Kieran Culkin, Charles Grodin and Mary Steenburgen playing Ralphie and his parents. Jean Shepherd returned as the narrator, as did Tedde Moore as Miss Shields, Ralphie's teacher.
Fanatic fans: The documentary Road Trip for Ralphie shows how two Canadians visit every location used in A Christmas Story. Scenes include the duo rescuing Miss Shields' blackboard from destruction and tracking down the real-life location of the Chop Suey Palace.
That's a fact: Mrs. Parker is correct when she says the Lone Ranger's nephew rode a horse named Victor.
Oops: And speaking of Mrs. Parker, Melinda Dillon is correctly identified in the opening credits, but her name is misspelled in the end credits as "Dillion".

Trivial Pursuits: Enchanted Edition

Disney's romantic fantasy Enchanted (coming to DVD this Tuesday) was more then just inspired by the animated fairy tales that came before it ... it is practically a visual encyclopedia of iconic imagery from the studio's catalog of classics. Here are some of the best (slightly spoilerish) examples:

• The film opens with a storybook, as several Disney masterpieces have.
• The troll that threatens Giselle (Amy Adams) is wearing remnants of past Disney princess dresses as a loincloth; he also wears Ariel's shells as earrings.
• The rose bell jar from Beauty and the Beast can be seen in Giselle's cottage.
• Giselle's journey through the magic wishing well is similar to Alice's journey to Wonderland.
• Upon arriving in New York, Giselle mistakes a little person for Grumpy.
• The last name of Patrick Dempsey's character is Philip, as in Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty; the last name of Idina Menzel's character is Tremaine, as in Lady Tremaine from Cinderella.
• During "Happy Working Song" (a direct descendant of "Whistle While You Work" from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), Giselle is seen reflected in soap bubbles, à la Cinderella.
• The bus driver's hair is shaped like Mickey Mouse ears.
• The name of Robert's law firm -- Churchill, Harline & Smith -- is an homage to Snow White songwriters Frank Churchill, Leigh Harline, and Paul J. Smith.
• The couple seeking divorce is named Banks, as in the Banks family from Mary Poppins.
• Jodi Benson, who voiced Ariel in The Little Mermaid, plays Robert’s secretary; during her scene in the law offices, "Part of Your World" can be heard playing on the Muzak system.
• When Nathaniel offers Giselle a poisoned caramel apple, it bears the same skull-shaped design as the Queen's apple in Snow White.
• The fellow in the yellow jacket during the "old folks" section of "That's How You Know" is Harvey Evans, who played one of the dancing chimney sweeps in Mary Poppins.
• Later during the same musical number, a children's theater is seen performing Rapunzel, soon (finally) to be a major motion picture from Disney Feature Animation.
• The hotel that Edward stays out is called the Grand Duke, à la Cinderella.
• During the hotel room scene, a soap opera is seen on the television; Paige O'Hara, who voiced Belle in Beauty and the Beast, plays the actress, and the Beauty theme song can be heard as the underscore; scenes from Dumbo and Fun and Fancy Free can also be heard on the TV.
• The Italian restaurant is named "Belle Notte", after the song from Lady and the Tramp; James Marsden (Prince Edward) singing "That's Amore" can be heard at the start of this sequence.
• The TV newscaster, Mary Ilene Caselotti, is named after the original voices of Princesses Aurora (Mary Costa), Cinderella (Ilene Woods) and Snow White (Adriana Caselotti).
• The harried mother who tells Edward that he is "too late" is played by Judy Kuhn, the singing voice of Pocahontas.
• The choreography and cinematography during "So Close" is reminiscent of the ballroom scene in Beauty and the Beast; Robert's costume in this scene resembles the Beast's as well.
• At different points in the movie, Queen Narissa transforms into an old crone, just like the Queen in Snow White, and a giant dragon, just like Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty.
• When Prince Edward puts the slipper on Nancy, it is a perfect fit, again à la Cinderella.
• The Lion King's Pumbaa makes a cameo appearance during the final montage, standing in line waiting for Pip's autograph.
• And finally: it all ends with a "happily ever after", courtesy of narrator (and Disney Legend) Julie Andrews.

Click here to pre-order Enchantedon DVD from Amazon.com.

UPDATE: Click here to read my full DVD review of Enchanted on LaughingPlace.com.

Trivial Pursuits: Oscars 2007

Oscar trivia is a favorite pastime of most movie addicts; in a way, the minutiae of "who won what", "who was the first" and all those "film facts and figures" satisfies the same thirst for knowledge as athletic stats do to sports nuts. Only ours is far more interesting and, you know, artistic.

Naturally, every year brings about new possibilities for "firsts this" and "record thats", and this year's batch of 2007 Academy Award hopefuls is no different:

• Cate Blanchett, nominated this year for Best Actress as Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth: The Golden Age and Best Supporting Actress as Bob Dylan in I'm Not There, is the first same year double nominee to be honored for playing two real people. She is also the first actress to be nominated for playing the same role in two different movies (the first time being for Elizabeth in 1998). In addition, she is only the third person in history to be nominated for playing a character of the opposite sex (the first was Linda Hunt, who won Best Supporting Actress for playing a male photographer in The Year of Living Dangerously; the second was Felicity Huffman, who was biologically a man for most of Transamerica). And ... if she wins for I'm Not There, she will have won twice for playing a real Oscar winner (Dylan won Best Original Song for Wonder Boys; she previously won for playing Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator).


• Speaking of the Best Actress category: if Julie Christie wins this year for Away from Her, it will mark the longest time between acting wins for anyone; she previously won in 1965 for Darling, which would make it 42 years. The previous record holder was Helen Hayes, with 39 years between her first (The Sin of Madelon Claudet, 1931) and second (Airport, 1970) wins. If Marion Cotillard wins for La Vie en Rose, she would only be the second Best Actress winner for a foreign language performance (the first was Sophia Loren in Two Women). On the other hand, if Juno's Ellen Page wins, she would be the new youngest Best Actress ever, beating current record holder Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser God) by a few months.


• Speaking of Ellen Page: if she wins, she will be the third X-Men actress (she played Kitty Pryde in The Last Stand) to have an Oscar, after Anna "Rogue" Paquin (The Piano) and Halle "Storm" Berry (Monster's Ball).


• If the 83-year-old Ruby Dee wins Best Supporting Actress for American Gangster, she will become the oldest overall acting winner, replacing reigning champ 80-year-old Jessica Tandy (Driving Miss Daisy).


• If Hal Holbrook wins Best Supporting Actor for Into the Wild, he will become the oldest male acting winner, besting George Burns (The Sunshine Boys), who was 80 when he won.


• Of the 19 nominated actors, only nine are American and ten have been nominated previously.


• If Joel and Ethan Coen win Best Director for No Country for Old Men, they would be only the second twosome to do so. Something tells me though that they get along a lot better then the other duo to win: Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins for West Side Story.


• Speaking of the Coens, they have tied Warren Beatty's previous record of being nominated in four different categories in the same year. Beatty has actually achieved that twice, for Heaven Can Wait and again for Reds. The Coen brothers are both nominated jointly for producing, directing, writing and editing No Country, the latter prize under their editor pseudonym "Roderick Jaynes". If they win in all four categories, they would be the only people to win four awards for the same film (Walt Disney took home four Oscars in 1953, but for different movies). However, there's a catch ...


• Four of the ten screenplay nominees are women: Tamara Jenkins (The Savages), Sarah Polley (Away from Her), Nancy Oliver (Lars and the Real Girl) and Diablo Cody (Juno).


• With their three nominated Enchanted songs, Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz are only the third songwriter duo to achieve triple nods for the same film. The two previous times were also Disney films: The Lion King's Elton John and Tim Rice and Beauty and the Beast's Howard Ashman and ... Menken.


• Speaking of Disney, Ratatouille ties Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin as the most nominated animated films ever, with five each. It is also the fifth straight Pixar film to be nominated for Best Animated Feature since the award was created.


• Oscar's so-called "biggest loser", sound mixer Kevin O'Connell, may finally win (after 19 losses) for his work on the blockbuster Transformers.


• And last (and least): Norbit is the only Oscar nominee (for Best Makeup) to also be nominated for a Razzie Award this year.

Feel free to add to the list in the comments section below.

Trivial Pursuits: Christmas Carols

Charles Dickens' classic short story A Christmas Carol has been, by my count, adapted for the screen 16,542 times. OK, not really, but it sure seems that way, doesn't it?

Every year when the holidays roll around, it seems like there's yet another variation on the oft-told tale of Mr. Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim, et al. From the 1901 silent short Scrooge; or Marley's Ghost to Robert Zemeckis' in-the-works mo-cap version (wherein Jim Carrey will play not only Scrooge, but all three ghosts of Christmas), it's amazing how many famous actors (and quite a few actresses) have played the crotchety old miser and the other beloved characters, either on film or on television:

• Ebenezer Scrooge: Francis X. Bushman, Seymour Hicks, Reginald Owen, John Carradine, Alastair Sim, Ralph Richardson, Fredric March, Vic Damone, Basil Rathbone, Mr. Magoo, Ondine, Sterling Hayden, Albert Finney, Walter Matthau, Robert Morse, Henry Winkler, Hoyt Axton, Scrooge McDuck (naturally), George C. Scott, Jack Elam, James Whitmore, Cosmo Spacely, Robert Guillaume, Rowan Atkinson, Bill Murray, Buddy Hackett, Michael Caine, James Earl Jones, Susan Lucci, Jack Palance, Tim Curry, Cicely Tyson, Ernest Borgnine, Patrick Stewart, Vanessa Williams, Derek Jacobi, Simon Callow, Dean Jones, Tori Spelling, Kelsey Grammar, Tom Everett Scott, Wallace Shawn and Larry the Cable Guy.
• Bob Cratchit: Jack Cassidy, Mel Tillis, Mickey Mouse, David Warner, George Jetson, Alfre Woodard, Kermit the Frog, Martin Sheen, Michael York, Richard E. Grant and Rhys Ifans.
• Jacob Marley: Leo G. Carroll, Patrick MacNee, Basil Rathbone, Royal Dano, Alec Guinness, Theodore Bikel, Tom T. Hall, Goofy, Jamie Farr, Statler and Waldorf, Martin Sheen, Edward Asner, Katherine Helmond, Nicolas Cage, Dinah Manoff, Jason Alexander and Christopher Lloyd.
• The Ghost of Christmas Past: Arthur Treacher, Steve Lawrence, Edith Evans, Patricia "Magenta" Quinn, Paul Frees, Jiminy Cricket, Roscoe Lee Browne, Robbie Coltrane, David "Buster Poindexter" Johansen, Martin Sheen, Joel Grey, Kathy Griffin, Jane Horrocks, Gary Coleman, Jane Krakowski, Lisa Kudrow and Jamie Kennedy.
• The Ghost of Christmas Present: Pat Hingle, Bernard Lee, Paul Frees, Willie the Giant, Edward Woodward, Ted "Isaac" Lange, Carol Kane, Pat McCormick, Martin Sheen, Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Gambon, William Shatner, Jesse L. Martin and Penn Jillette.
• The Ghost of Christmas Future: Robert Shaw, Pegleg Pete, Geoffrey Holder, Kevin McDonald, Geraldine Chaplin and Scott "Carrot Top" Thompson.
• Mrs. Cratchit: Hermione Baddeley, Minnie Mouse, Susannah York, Jane Jetson, Miss Piggy, Martin Sheen and Juliet Stevenson.
• Tiny Tim: Morty Mouse, Astro the Dog, Robin the Frog, Martin Sheen and Michael J. Fox.

Link via Imdb.com.

Trivial Pursuits: I Scream, You Scream

In all of cinematic history, there has never been a more recognizable -- or revered -- sound effect then that of the so-called "Wilhelm Scream". Even if you have never heard that term before, believe me, you've heard the scream; just watch one of the many video montages collecting some of the many movie scenes the infamous yelp is featured in, and chances are you'll recognize the distinctive cry.

Named after the character "Private Wilhelm" in the low budget 50's western The Charge at Feather River (who emits the signature screech when he is shot in the leg with an arrow), the prerecorded sound effect actually originated in another western, the Gary Cooper oater Distant Drums. Character actor Sheb Wooley (best known for his song "The Purple People Eater") was believed to have recorded it, when a scream was needed for a character being attacked by an alligator (yeah, it was a western ... set in Florida). Sound designer Ben Burtt rediscovered it, and used it in Star Wars when a stormtrooper falls into the Death Star chasm. It has since become an in-joke among soundmen and genre directors (and has even developed a sort-of cult-like following amongst sharp-eared cinephiles), appearing in over 140 movies, including virtually all of producer George Lucas', notably all six episodes of Star Wars and the first three Indiana Jones adventures (we'll have to wait and see ... uh, hear ... if it makes it into his next one).

Other classic and contemporary movies that feature the "Wilhelm Scream" include: Them!, George Cukor's A Star is Born, The Green Berets, The Wild Bunch, Poltergeist, Disney's Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin, Batman Returns, Reservoir Dogs, Toy Story, the second and third chapters of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Spider-Man, Kill Bill: Volume 1, all three Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Hellboy, Troy, Peter Jackson's King Kong, Sin City, Superman Returns, 300, Transformers, The Simpsons Movie and even as recent as The Mist, which just opened last week, proof positive that you can't keep a good scream (or sound effect) down.

Links via HollywoodLostandFound.com and YouTube.com.

Trivial Pursuits: Still the Fairest

The 70th anniversary of the premiere of Walt Disney's masterpiece, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is approaching. In celebration of the landmark occasion, the Disneyland Resort will host a special event this Friday, November 16 at Disney's California Adventure. A panel of animation experts will be on hand for a discussion of the classic film, followed by a screening of the movie itself.

Commonly known as the first American feature-length animated motion picture (various foreign productions vie for the worldwide title among film historians), Snow White also achieved several other "firsts" in cinematic history:

• First animated feature worldwide to be made in color and with sound.
• First film to have the actual film soundtrack released on phonograph record.
• First film to have merchandise available on its opening day.
• First film to offer alternate screen images for international distribution.
• First animated feature to win an Academy Award (a special one, presented to Walt by Shirley Temple, consisting of one regular sized Oscar and seven miniature ones).
• First animated feature to become the highest grossing movie of all time, a title it held until Gone With the Wind was released in 1939.
• First animated feature to be selected for the National Film Registry.
• First Disney classic to be released in their Platinum Edition DVD series.

For more behind the scenes trivia on the making of Snow White, see my Toon Talk review of its 2001 DVD release.

UPDATE: Ken Pellman reports for LaughingPlace.com on his reactions to the DCA event, including pictures of some of the limited edtion merchandise that was available.

Click here to buy the Snow White and the Seven DwarfsPlatinum Edition DVD from Amazon.com.
Links via Imdb.com, Register123.com, Loc.gov and LaughingPlace.com.

Trivial Pursuits: Dirty Pillows Edition

As you may have gathered by now, Carrie is thought of very highly around here. Something about the "alienated youth with a secret" plot speaks to us, I guess. On the other hand, maybe it is the "getting revenge on your high school tormentors" that does it.

While you ponder that, here is some tasty trivia about the film starring the movies' most memorable prom queen:

• This was the first Stephen King novel to be adapted into a movie. (And it mostly went downhill from here.)
• Brian De Palma's Carrie and George Lucas' Star Wars were cast from the same casting sessions. Just think of the possibilities: William Katt as Luke Skywalker, Carrie Fisher as Carrie White ...
• Bates High is the name of the school, and if you don't know what that's a reference to, then you don't know your horror movies.
• The little boy who taunts Carrie was played by De Palma's nephew, Cameron. His voice ("Creepy Carrie! Creepy Carrie!") was dubbed though, by ... Betty Buckley.
• Amy Irving's real-life mother, Priscilla Pointer, played Sue Snell's mom in the movie.
• What a trouper: Sissy Spacek was willing to have real blood poured on her; it was actually a mixture of karo syrup and food coloring.
• P.J. Soles' eardrums burst and she was knocked unconscious in the scene where her character is killed by the fire hose. And that shot is what is seen in the final film.
• That is actually Spacek's arm thrusting out of the ground during the famous final scare.
• Unusual for a horror film, Spacek and her onscreen "mama", Piper Laurie, were nominated for Academy Awards for their performances.
• Buckley would go from sympathetic gym teacher to irrational mother in the infamous Carrie - The Musical, one of the biggest flops in Broadway history.

Click here to purchase Carrieon DVD from Amazon.com.
Links via Imdb.com and Wikipedia.org.

Trivial Pursuits: Scary Clown Edition

Has there ever been anything creepier then this seemingly innocuous clown doll from Poltergeist? I wonder how many nightmares that scene has caused and how few clown toys have been sold since the movie came out 25 years ago.

Well, I don't have an answer for that, so you'll just have to be satisfied with this collection of trivia about arguably the best haunted house movie ever made:

• The word poltergeist comes from the German polter, meaning to make noise, and geist, meaning ghost.
• Drew Barrymore originally auditioned for the part of Carol Anne in this movie, but was cast as Gertie in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial instead.
• Shirley MacLaine was offered a role in this movie, but took another one instead. That movie was Terms of Endearment.
• At one point, horrormeister Stephen King was asked to write the script.
• In an early scene, the movie A Guy Named Joe is playing on the television. Producer Steven Spielberg would later direct a remake of that movie, titled Always.
• Spielberg had a "hand" in filming the scene where Marty pulls the skin off his face in the bathroom -- those are his hands doing the pulling.
• The skeletons in the pool were actual skeletons, unbeknownst to JoBeth Williams until after the scene was filmed.
• A lot of ghosts, skeletons and other scary stuff appear in this movie, but there are actually no deaths at all.
• The film was nominated for three Academy Awards: Sound Effects Editing, Visual Effects and Original Score. It lost all three to E.T.
• Heather O'Rourke and Zelda Rubinstein are the only cast members to appear in all three Poltergeist movies.

For more Poltergeist secrets, watch The E! True Hollywood Story: The Curse of Poltergeist this Tuesday. Check E! Online for the showtime in your area.

A new print of Poltergeist will be screened as part of the Academy's "Prime Tech" series Thursday, October 25 at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. A 25th anniversary panel discussion will follow.

Click here to purchase the Poltergeist: 25th Anniversary EditionDVD from Amazon.com.
Links via Imdb.com, EOnline.com and Oscars.org.

Trivial Pursuits: An Introduction

The Many Faces of Dracula

Yes, another Movie Dearest section. This one will focus on all the film facts, movie minutiae and cinematic secrets we all crave. In other words: it's trivia time!

Therefore, in recognition of the Internet Movie Database's nifty new "Character Page" feature, this first installment of Trivial Pursuits will focus on movie characters, specifically horror movie characters, in keeping with this month's Halloween theme.

For example, did you know that:

• Count Dracula is the horror movie character most often portrayed onscreen, by such actors as Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, Frank Langella, George Hamilton, Gary Oldman and Gerard Butler.
• In addition to the five Psycho feature films, Norman Bates appeared in a TV movie titled Bates Motel.
• Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray has been played by an actress on film at least twice.
• Shuler Hensley, who played the Frankenstein Monster in the movie Van Helsing, will play the character again in the upcoming Broadway musical adaptation of Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein.
• Jack Torrance's first name is actually John.
• Ruth Gordon reprised her Academy Award-winning role as Minnie Castevet in the TV movie sequel, Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby. Patty Duke Astin took over for Mia Farrow as Rosemary.
• King Kong was once portrayed by ... Dudley Moore?
• Five years before they battled each other on the big screen in Freddy vs. Jason, Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees "guest-starred" together on an episode of The Simpsons.
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have been played by such actors as John Barrymore, Fredric March (who won the Oscar for his performance), Spencer Tracy, Jack Palance, Kirk Douglas, Anthony Perkins, Michael Cain, John Malkovich and ... David Hasselhoff.

Links via Imdb.com.