Fun Facts About the Classics
Fun Fact #1-Tom Selleck was supposed to play Indian Jones before the part was given to Harrison Ford. Imagine that!
Fun Fact #2-Harvey Keitel was actually the star of Apocalypse Now at first. They had already been filming for a while before Francis Ford Coppola took Keitel off the project because he wasn’t fitting the role. Martin Sheen eventually got it.
Fun Fact #3-Apocalypse Now was actually filmed in the Philippines when it was occupied by US troops. All the gear used (helicopters, vehicles, etc.) was actual genuine equipment being used by the US army at that time. Occasionally, the crew would be filming and the troops would actually come in needing the helicopters for missions.
Fun Fact #4-The set of Apocalypse Now was extremely dangerous and Francis Ford Coppola said looking back on it, he is lucky nobody was killed. Pretty crazy!
Fun Fact #5-Marlin Brando played Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. He was supposed to show up to set fit and in shape to play the part of a decorated military officer gone crazy. However, he arrived overweight and out of shape and that’s why he’s always hidden in the dark when you see him on screen.
Fun Fact #6-Dustin Hoffman almost played the part of Deckard in Blade Runner instead of Harrison Ford.
Fun Fact #7-In The Shining, to get the shot of Danny Torrance riding his bike through the Overlook Hotel, Kubrick had to invent modern day steadicam technology. Pretty ingenious!
Fun Fact #8-Stanley Kubrick was in talks to direct a Lord of the Rings movie starring the Beatles. That would have been weird!
Fun Fact #9-Gene Hackman is the one who first bought the rights to Silence of the Lambs. He planned to direct and even possibly star as Hannibal Lecter. However, he eventually dropped out after getting too disturbed by the material he would have to tackle. Who can blame him!
Fun Fact #10-In the 90’s Steven Spielberg wanted to direct Robin Williams as the BFG in his adaptation of the Roald Dahl novel. Unfortunately, the technology wasn’t quite there and it never happened with Williams.
Fun Fact #11-On the set of Schindler’s List, Spielberg had a very tough time directing such heavy material. After every day of shooting, he would call up his good friend Robin Williams to cheer him up.
Fun Fact #12-David Fincher admitted that his first feature, Alien 3, was a nightmare to make an almost killed his ambitions of directing. Thankfully he kept on going!
Fun Fact #13-Davide Fincher openly admitted that in retrospect, he thinks he wasn’t the right person to direct The Game. He takes fault for the shortcomings of the film’s 3rd act.
