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33 Trivia Tidbits About TV and Movies

If you’re gonna be a know-it-all, you might as well be a TV and movie know-it-all

33 Trivia Tidbits About TV and Movies

August 29, 2024

Because you’re here right now, we already know that you’re the type who can’t wait to drop some TV and movie knowledge on your friends. And that’s great. Despite what the rest of the world thinks, you don’t have to be ashamed of that. Most people have a thing that they can’t wait to talk about. So wouldn’t you rather be the TV and movie gem-dropper than the guy who spouts off about birds or the Yankees?

We thought so. Here’s some shiny new ones, fresh from the mine…

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33

Ghostbusters 2's fur coat gag was recycled. They were going to use the gag with the dead skins coming back to life in the first movie, but they just didn't get around to filming it. So they put it in the sequel. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

32

Three’s Company

Suzanne Somers was fired from Three's Company for asking for equal pay. Her co-star John Ritter, was getting $150,000 an episode, so she asked to get that (and not the $30,000 she'd been getting). Instead, they fired her, saying that Ritter is the star. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

31

Danny DeVito

In 2018, Danny DeVito gave a fan a unique shout-out. OY'S High school senior and big fan of It's Sunny in Philadelphia Alison Closs brought a cardboard cutout of Danny DeVito to her prom and posted about it on social media. A month later, DeVito posed with a cardboard cutout of her in Paddy's Pub in the show. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

30

The engine room scenes in 2009's Star Trek were shot in a brewery. J.J. Abrams wanted a big, open space that was totally unlike the soundstage sets seen in every Trek before that, so they used the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Van Nuys, California - which has 1.7 million square feet of floor area. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

29

Panic Room MEG ALTMAN CRACKED.COM Nicole Kidman pushed herself to the very limits of her Moulin Rouge injuries, but had to be replaced by Jodie Foster 18 days into production. — Source

28

Her В SAMANTHA I DI VAL s N CO CRACKED.COM Spike Jonze realized in post-production that having Samantha Morton perform her lines completely isolated from Joaquin Phoenix created exactly о chemistry. So he had Scarlett Johansson come in and re-record the lines for four months. — Source

27

PAMELA ANDERSON COULD HAVE BEEN AGENT SCULLY. CRACKED.COM FBI Gillian Anderson revealed in an interview that Pamela Anderson (no relation) was the producers' initial choice for the skeptical Dana Scully. Apparently the producers were banking on Pamela's experience and Baywatch popularity. Can aliens run in slow motion? We'll never know. — Source

26

SANDRA BULLOCK TURNED DOWN THE ROLE OF NEO. CRACKED.COM DE I I RHOM SEV SBY 10AX The producers of The Matrix approached a number of actors in their long search to find Neo. One of them was Bullock, and they were willing to change Neo into a woman if she accepted. Bullock wasn't interested, deciding that starring in Forces of Nature, a now-forgotten romcom, was a better career choice. — Source

25

MARILYN MONROE COULD HAVE STARRED IN CRACKED.COM BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S. Truman Capote's novel had a more tragic tone than the Paramount production, and the author always pictured the character of Holly as a blonde. However, producers chose to put a more positive, innocent spin on the role, and chose Audrey Hepburn. And just like that, the world missed out on a breathy, sultry rendition of Moon River. — Source

24

A Christmas Story

It took Bob Clark 12 years to get the movie made. A period movie about a kid wanting a BB gun for Christmas? Hard pass, studios kept saying. MGM reluctantly agreed to pony up the money if Clark signed up to direct another movie for them. 8 CRACKED.COM — Source

23

Charlie Brown

Charlie Brown's dinky little tree comes from a fairy tale. Producer Lee Mendelson suggested the idea of decorating a scrawny, ugly tree because he'd read Hans Christian Andersen's The Pine Tree, and that was on his mind. CRACKED.COM — Source

22

The studio wanted eyeballs on Jack. Some people at Disney suggested he should have eyeballs, but Selick and Burton just ignored them. Selick says, We were never going to do that. CRACKED.COM — Source

21

Sally wore socks for very practical reasons. The original doll's ankles were so thin, she couldn't stop - so they made the ankles thicker, and put socks on her to disguise that. CRACKED.COM — Source

20

Jim Carrey almost played the lead. Carrey was initially attached to star in the movie, but the script took 10 years to finally go into production, and by that time he wasn't interested anymore. CRACKED.COM — Source

19

The first-ever EDM record to go platinum was the Mortal Kombat soundtrack. 27% The filmmakers absolutely insisted on EDM, and got booted from two record companies for it -- but it paid off. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

18

Muppets started the trend of post-credits scenes. 1979's The Muppets Movie kickstarted the trend in the '80s, which Ferris Bueller's Day Off was a part of ---and Ferris inspired the post-credits scenes in the MCU. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

17

The Mandalorian

The Mandalorian literally couldn't have been made without fans. The crew ran out of Stormtrooper costumes for a Season 1 scene, so they got in touch with the local members of the 501st legion, a group of fans who wear and make super-accurate Stormtrooper costumes. The legionnaires showed up, in their own suits, and played the remaining Stormtroopers. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

16

Matthew Perry got Julia Roberts to guest-star in Friends by writing a paper on quantum physics. Perry asked her to come on the show, and she said she'd do it only if he wrote her a paper on quantum physics. Apparently, a day later, he wrote one and faxed it to her. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

15

CRACKED.COM sigourney weaver actually made that shot in Alien Resurrection. It took a few takes, but there were no tricks. — Source

14

Back to the Future kept recasting characters. Eric Stoltz isn't the only replaced cast member in the film series - Jennifer from the second film on and Dad McFly both get body-swapped due to time shenanigans. CRACKED.COM — Source

13

JOSS Whedon made more money with Doctor Horrible than with The Avengers. Neither paycheck has been disclosed, though. A CRACKED.COM — Source

12

CRACKED.COM Tara wasn't always going to stay gone in Buffy. Joss Whedon had a planned ending with her revival that made her cry. — Source

11

The Avengers was to be written by kal Penn. Penn's script was all but thrown out when Joss Whedon came aboard. CRACKED.COM — Source

10

Toy story was very different at first. The original idea featured a weirder Woody and Buzz, and an altogether more sinister feel. CRACKED.COM — Source

9

CRACKED.COM Kristen stewart was almost wonder woman. Which would mean Taylor Lautner was destined for Superman. — Source

8

CRACKED.COM Blanche from The Golden Girls wasn't going to have that accent. Rue McClanahan decided she needed it, though. — Source

7

Bane kind of had a point in The Dark Knight Rises. The final cut omits that the Dent Act does away with civil rights, like the right to appeal. Bane's kangaroo courts were intended to turn the tables and deny the elite due process. CRACKED.COM — Source

6

It's a wonder we didn't have an Avengers TV show in the '80s. The Incredible Hulk was the most successful, but Captain America, Thor, and Doctor Strange all had their own abortive TV attempts. CRACKED.COM — Source

5

CRACKED.COM Buffy's xander almost played Firefly's Malcolm Reynolds. Nicholas Brendon was Joss Whedon's first choice for the role of Captain Reynolds. — Source

4

3

Kevin Smith is selling a horror movie he made half a decade ago as an NFT. The movie, KillRoy Was Here, was filmed between 2017 and 2018 with Ringling college students and the release kept getting pushed back. In 2021 Smith announced the movie would be sold as an NFT for up to 5,555 people, including BTS material and other goodies. CRACKED.COM — Source

2

The Office made a calculated decision to lean into internet culture. I always credit YouTube for changing the way we look at things, says director Paul Feig. YouTube was real life captured and you have The Office, where the humor is all behavioral. It's about how people are reacting to each other. CRACKED.COM — Source

1

School of Rock

There was a real School of Rock, that precedes the movie. NBC 1 un - ING Ministry The real School of Rock, started by Paul Green in Philadelphia, shared a lot of similarities to the movie - even down to Jack Black's look. Green considered suing, but thought the movie was ultimately good for business. CRACKED.COM — Source

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