Collection of Mind-blowing Facts
Lenny Montana, the actor who played Luca Brasi in The Godfather was actually a member of the Colombo crime family sent to monitor the set. Coppola cast him, but due to his nerves, he kept making mistakes and repeating his lines to himself. This was then incorporated into the film as a character.
When filming the original Borat film, Sacha Baron Cohen never washed Borat’s suit or wore deodorant when in character. He said it gave Borat a “kind of dreadful Soviet-bloc smell the moment I walk in”.
Kevin Costner asked Princess Diana to star in ‘The Bodyguard 2’ and she agreed. The plot followed the princess who required protection from paparazzi and stalkers. The first draft for the script arrived the day before she died.
When Die Hard was finally made, Bruce Willis was mostly known for TV. His $5 million fee was seen as a huge risk. The film ended up taking at least $140 million.
George Clooney wanted Julia Roberts for the movie Ocean’s Eleven but never met her before. Julia Roberts was charging $20 million a movie at the time so Clooney, unable to afford her, send her a script with a $20 bill with a note, ‘I heard you’re getting 20 a picture.’ She agreed to do it.
The snow scene in The Wizard of Oz (1939) used Industrial Grade Asbestos as snow. Cotton was used as fake snow until the 1920s, but was considered a fire hazard. Firefighters recommended using Asbestos because it was fire retardant.
The world’s largest film studio is Hengdian Studios, in China. Basically a city of permanent full-scale replicas of palaces, fortresses, and towns from various periods of China’s history. Whole populations of nearby towns are often employed to be extras for period dramas & fantasy movies.
Sacha Baron Cohen once received a letter from a lawyer informing him that he was being sued for $100,000 because of his role in Borat, at the end of the letter the lawyer added “P.S. Loved the movie. Can you sign a poster for my son Jeremy?”
George Lucas wanted to be a racecar driver when he was a teenager. In 1962, he suffered a terrible car accident when another driver broadsided him. He required emergency medical treatment. The incident caused him to lose interest in racing, but inspired him to pursue other interests.
When the Australian film The Story of the Kelly Gang (the first-ever full length narrative feature film) was released in 1906, the screenings of the silent film were accompanied by live sound effects, including blank cartridges as gunshots and coconut shells beaten together to simulate hoofbeats.