Category: Celebs

18 Simple Facts About “Tropic Thunder”

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Roger Cormier and Mental_Floss present 18 Simple Facts About Tropic Thunder.  Here are three of my favorites…

3. ROBERT DOWNEY JR. BASED KIRK LAZARUS ON THREE ACTORS.
At a press conference, Downey said he based Lazarus on three actors: Russell Crowe and Daniel Day-Lewis, “with a little” Colin Farrell. Lazarus was originally written as Irish; Downey changed him into an Australian because he was more comfortable improvising in that accent. When Stiller first pitched the idea of the character, Downey called it “The stupidest idea I’ve ever heard!” Stiller screened the movie to the NAACP, and received mostly positive feedback.

5. TOM CRUISE CAME UP WITH THE IDEA OF HAVING A STUDIO HEAD CHARACTER.
Stiller approached Cruise about playing the agent Rick Peck and sent him the script. Cruise thought it was funny, but wondered what the studio would be doing while all of the film’s events transpired, so the role of studio head Les Grossman was created. It was also Cruise’s idea to give Grossman really big hands. After four days of makeup tests, Grossman’s look was finalized.

15. CRUISE’S INVOLVEMENT WAS MEANT TO BE A SURPRISE.
Cruise wasn’t in the trailer and no images of Grossman were in the press kits on purpose. Cruise’s lawyer threatened legal action to media outlets that posted leaked images of Cruise as Grossman before the movie debuted. It was traced back to an INF staff photographer.

Mike Torrance Presents: Jack Carter & Digger McCrae in “Who Killed Pinky Savage?”

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Mike Torrance aka The Krayola Kidd is back and he’s outdone himself with his faux Thrilling Mystery cover featuring Sly as Jack Carter and Lee Marvin as Digger McCrae in “The Man Who Killed Pinky Savage.”

Mike is a great guy and his commissions are always a blast!

You can see more of Mike’s art at his Deviant Art site. Mike is available for commissions and his prices are very reasonable.

 

16 Ear-Tugging Facts About “The Carol Burnett Show”

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Kara Kovalchik and Mental_Floss present 16 Ear-Tugging Facts About The Carol Burnett Show.  Here are three of my favorites…

8. HARVEY KORMAN WAS THE FIRST CAST MEMBER HIRED.
The producers wanted a “Harvey Korman-type” for Burnett’s second banana, but didn’t bother to actually ask Korman if he was interested in the job because he was already a regularon The Danny Kaye Show, and most likely he wouldn’t leave a steady job for an unproven new show. Burnett herself spotted Korman in the CBS parking lot one day and “practically threw him over the hood of a car” begging him to join her show. Unbeknownst to her, Kaye’s show was about to get the axe after a four-year run, so Korman cheerfully accepted her offer shortly after that first meeting.

9. TIM CONWAY RARELY FOLLOWED HIS SCRIPT.
Conway had been a frequent guest star on the show and when Lyle Waggoner decided to leave the show in 1974 (he felt that he was being “underused”), Conway was hired to replace him the following year. Conway was legendary for veering off-script and ad-libbing for lengthy stretches, to the amusement of some of his co-stars (Korman) and annoyance of others (Lawrence, who sometimes resented Conway’s disruptions and spotlight-hogging). Lawrence finally slipped her own ad-lib in on one memorable occasion, as Conway rambled on and on about an elephant during a “Family” sketch. Her NSFW remark brought the rest of the cast to their knees and was said to be Dick Clark’s favorite all-time outtake on his Bloopers and Practical Jokes TV show.

16. THERE WAS ONLY ONE CELEBRITY GUEST THAT BURNETT WAS NEVER ABLE TO BOOK.
Over the 11 seasons the show ran, a veritable “Who’s Who” of the entertainment industry did a guest turn, from Steve Martin to Julie Andrews to then-governor Ronald Reagan to Robin Williams to Ethel Merman. The only guest who Burnett dearly wanted to have but never did get was Bette Davis. Davis was willing to appear but demanded more money that the show had budgeted. Joe Hamilton advised his wife that if they gave in to Davis’ demand, it would set an unpleasant precedent.

Twilight Zone: “And When the Sky was Opened” [Season 1, Episode 11] / Z-View

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Twilight Zone: “And When the Sky was Opened” [Season 1, Episode 11]
Original Air Date: December 11, 1959

Director: Douglas Heyes

Writer: Rod Serling based on a short story by Richard Matheson

Starring: Rod Taylor and Jim Hutton

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Astronauts Lieutenant Colonel Forbes [Taylor], Major Gart [Hutton] and Colonel Harrington are piloting an experimental rocket ship’s initial flight. Upon reentry the ship crashes in the desert.  Gart suffers a broken leg and is hospitalized.  Forbes and Harrington visit Gart and share the newspaper with a headline declaring the three of them as heroes.

After the visit Forbes and Harrington go to a bar to celebrate. Harrington suddenly begins to fill ill and decides to call his parents.  His parent answers and tells a shocked Harrington that they have no son! Harrington instantly disappears and the newspaper headline changes to two astronauts as heroes.

Forbes didn’t see Harrington disappear and begins to look for him.  Everyone in the bar says that Forbes came in alone.  Forbes remembers the newspaper headline and gets it to show the bar patrons.

Shocked to see the headline has changed, Forbes rushes back to the hospital and to tell Gart what has happened.  Gart shocks Forbes by saying there were only two of them on the flight.  Forbes suddenly begins to feel ill…

Final Thoughts: Rod Taylor sells the episode.  The ending is a bit of a letdown but everything leading up to is excellent.Rating:

12 Timeless Facts About “12 Monkeys”

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Janet Burns and Mental_Floss present 12 Timeless Facts About 12 Monkeys.  Here are three of my favorites…

6. WILLIS TOOK A PAY CUT FOR THE GIG, AND EVEN OFFERED TO SHAVE HIS HEAD.
As Den of Geek reported, Willis and his co-star Madeleine Stowe both accepted substantially less than their usual pay rates for their roles in 12 Monkeys in order to work with Gilliam. During the intensive filming process, it was Willis who came up with his character’s signature hairstyle. “It was his idea to shave his head, and it changed him a lot,” Gilliam said. “It makes him much stronger, much more dangerous. He looks like a prisoner from a Soviet Gulag … Bruce has got one of the great architectural craniums in the world! It’s just a great, beautiful thing to photograph.”

8. BRAD PITT UNDERWENT PSYCHIATRIC COACHING FOR THE ROLE.
Dr. Laszlo Gyulai, who directs the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine’s bipolar disorders unit, helped the then-up-and-coming actor to fine-tune his institutionalized character’s mannerisms through the study of real mental illness. Gyulai told The New York Times that films featuring psychiatric patients sometimes “make them look like lunatics, [while] many patients who are mentally ill are not crazy at all, particularly if they have depression or mood disorders.” Legend has it that Gilliam put an extra and very genuine bit of tension into Pitt’s performance by taking away his cigarettes on set, too.

9. PITT’S HARD WORK EARNED HIM A GOLDEN GLOBE, AND HIS FIRST OSCAR NOMINATION.
12 Monkeys made its splash at the box office just as Pitt’s career was hitting overdrive, and his Academy Award nomination and Golden Globe win for Best Supporting Actor were among the actor’s very first accolades. As the Manila Standard reported, Pitt was “surprised” by his 1996 award, and kept his comments brief during the “moment of absolute terror” in which he delivered his acceptance speech, stating: “I’d like to thank the members of—actually, the makers of Kaopectate. They’ve done a great service for their fellow man.”

18 Uncovered Facts About “JFK”

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Roger Cormier and Mental_Floss present 18 Uncovered Facts About JFK.  Here are three of my favorites…

4. COSTNER MET GARRISON’S REAL ENEMIES.
The actor met both Garrison’s fans and his critics. “I wanted Costner to get both sides, to witness the hatred and extremism that Jim engenders and as an actor to look into the eyes of his enemies and know what he was up against back then,” explained Stone. “These were tough people and they’d come in a parade in front of Costner with their New Orleans accent saying that Jim’s a snake—that he liked boys and was angry that Shaw stole his lover and a lot worse.”

11. COSTNER INSISTED THAT JOHN CANDY NOT BE CUT.
John Candy was “devastated” when he heard his role as lawyer Dean Andrews was being cut from JFK, so Costner intervened. Stone wrote a letter to Candy apologizing for considering taking his nervous, sweaty character out of the movie.

10. WAYNE KNIGHT AND STONE CLASHED OVER HIS ACCENT.
Wayne Knight (Seinfeld‘s Newman) used an accent he heard growing up in northwest Georgia for his audition as Numa Bertel, which Stone loved. But Knight discovered upon meeting the real, New Orleans-born Bertel that he didn’t sound like that at all. Knight insisted on using Bertel’s real accent in the film, though it took a while to convince Stone. “He’s rough trade, that man,” Knight told The A.V. Club of Stone.

Twilight Zone: “Judgment Night” [Season 1, Episode 10] / Z-View

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Twilight Zone: “Judgment Night” [Season 1, Episode 10]
Original Air Date: December 4, 1959

Director: John Brahm

Writer: Rod Serling

Starring: Nehemiah Persoff, Patrick Macnee and James Franciscus

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

A man [Persoff] finds himself on a passenger ship crossing the Atlantic in the middle of World War II.  He doesn’t know who he is, how he got there,  The one thing he does know is that their ship will soon be sunk by a German submarine.

Final Thoughts: The ending is a twist but one most will see coming.  A very young James Franciscus makes a welcome appearance.

Rating:

Thomas Boatwright Goes “Over the Top”

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Thomas Boatwright is back and this time he went Over the Top!

Over the years I’ve gotten several Stallone pieces from Thomas.  Here is what has been posted so far… there are more to come.

If you’d like to see more of Thomas Boatwright’s art check out his blog and his DA site. Send him some love.

If you get commissions, you should consider a piece from Thomas. He keeps you totally in the loop on his progress, finishes his commissions on or ahead of schedule, has very reasonable prices, is a fantastic artist and always gives you more than you’re expecting!   – Craig

14 Surprising Facts About “Say Anything”

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Garin Pernia and Mental_Floss present 14 Surprising Facts About Say Anything.  Here are three of my favorites…

1. CAMERON CROWE BASED THE SCRIPT ON A REAL-LIFE HEARTBREAK.
Until Say Anything…, Crowe hadn’t written a love story. He told the San Diego Union Tribunethat the movie’s “a love story for people who don’t say I love you” and in 2009 told the Los Angeles Times that, “It’s a very personal movie, and it reminds me of falling in love, falling out of love, and falling back in love with life and all the unexpected glories and pain that happen along the way.”

The “personal” part references his first love and heartbreak: “She fell for me, and I fell for her, but not at the same time,” Crowe said. “And yes, I used to drive by her house late at night, listening to music, feeling like a sap and somehow heroic at the same time. She was already with someone new, but I was going to wave the flag of our great love, even if I was the only one at the ceremony.”

4. IONE SKYE WAS THE OPPOSITE OF DIANE COURT.
The actress had trouble identifying with the A-student Diane Court because she wasn’t like that. “I wasn’t a good student,” she told the Los Angeles Times. “I grew up with my mother, not my father. I kind of had a wild childhood. Even the father stealing money from old people, I was saying to Cameron, ‘I can’t access why this would upset me.’ That didn’t seem bad to me at the time.” Skye’s real-life father is famed Scottish musician Donovan. Two years after the movie came out, Skye married Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz; the couple divorced him in 1999.

13. A SITCOM VERSION OF SAY ANYTHING… WAS IN THE WORKS, UNTIL CROWE PUT A STOP TO IT.
In 2014, Fox gave the green light for producers to adapt the movie into a single-camera TV sitcom that would take place 10 years after the film’s events, but they apparently didn’t bother to ask Crowe for his blessing. Once Crowe found out about it, he tweeted his dismay about the project and said, “I have no involvement … except in trying to stop it.” Cusack also cried foul about the project; the backlash prevailed and the project was canceled.

Twilight Zone: “Perchance to Dream” [Season 1, Episode 9] / Z-View

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Twilight Zone: “Perchance to Dream” [Season 1, Episode 9]
Original Air Date: November 27, 1959

Director: Robert Florey

Writer: Charles Beaumont

Starring: Richard Conte, John Larch and Suzanne Lloyd

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Edward Hall [Conte] hasn’t slept in days.  Fatigued and on the ragged edge, Hall not only has a mental issue [fear of dying if he sleeps] but a weak heart.  Hall visits psychiatrist Dr. Eliot Rathmann [Larch] in hope of a cure.

Hall explains that each time he falls asleep Maya, a strangely alluring and dangerous carnival Cat Woman that he met in one of his fevered dreams visits him.  Hall knows the Cat Woman will kill him but he can’t escape her or sleep.

Final Thoughts:  Conte is excellent as the tormented, fatigued Hall.  Lloyd comes off perfectly as the dangerous but irresistible Maya.  The dream sequences are memorable.

Rating: 4 of 5 stars.

Twilight Zone: “Time Enough At Last” [Season 1, Episode 8] / Z-View

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Twilight Zone: “Time Enough At Last” [Season 1, Episode 8]
Original Air Date: November 20, 1959

Director: John Brahm

Writer: Rod Serling based on a short story by Lynn Venable

Starring: Burgess Meredith, Vaughn Taylor and Jaqueline deWit

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Poor little, nearsighted, henpecked Henry Bemis [Meredith] loves to read.  Reading is his passion but sadly life deprives him of it.  His boss at the bank, Mr. Carsville [Taylor] won’t allow reading at work.  Bemis’ wife [deWit] destroys his books at home.

Bemis decides to take his lunch in the bank’s underground vault so he can sneak in some reading as he eats.  While in the vault a massive explosion is felt. Bemis emerges to a world destroyed by nuclear war.  He is totally alone.

At first frightened, Bemis finds food and water to ensure his survival for years.  When he discovers a library Bemis realizes he now has time enough at last to read everything.  Of course this is the Twilight Zone and the episode concludes with one of its most famous twist endings.

Final Thoughts:  Meredith owns his role as Bemis.  A classic episode worthy of its reputation.

Rating: 5 of 5 stars.

20 Facts About Your Favorite Quentin Tarantino Movies

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Mental_Floss presents 20 Facts About Your Favorite Quentin Tarantino Movies.  Here are three of my favorites…

10. MICHAEL KEATON PLAYED HIS JACKIE BROWN CHARACTER IN ANOTHER MOVIE.
Keaton plays FBI agent Ray Nicolette in Jackie Brown. One year later, he reprised the role for Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight (both movies were based on Elmore Leonard novels).

5. THE CONCEPT FOR DEATH PROOF GREW OUT OF TARANTINO’S DESIRE TO BUY A VOLVO.
In a 2007 interview with Newsweek, Tarantino explained the genesis of the idea for Death Proof, the director’s half of Grindhouse: “About 10 years ago, I was talking to a friend about getting a car. And I wanted to get a Volvo because I wanted a really safe car. I remember thinking that I didn’t want to die in some auto accident like the one in Pulp Fiction … So I was talking to my friend about this, and he said, ‘Well, you could take any car and give it to a stunt team, and for $10,000 or $15,000, they can death-proof it for you.’ Well, that phrase ‘death proof’ kinda stuck in my head.”

11. TARANTINO DIRECTED RESERVOIR DOGS BECAUSE TONY SCOTT DIDN’T.
Because he was still new to the business, Tarantino knew he couldn’t direct both True Romance and Reservoir Dogs. So he gave both scripts to Tony Scott and told him to pick one. Though Scott wanted both of the films, he ended up choosing True Romance, leaving Tarantino to make Reservoir Dogs.

Z-View Twilight Zone: “Escape Clause” [Season 1, Episode 6]

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Twilight Zone: “Escape Clause” [Season 1, Episode 6]
Original Air Date: November 6, 1959

Director: Mitchell Leisen

Writer: Rod Serling

Starring: David Wayne and Thomas Gomez

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Walter Bedeker [Wayne] is a hypochondriac who despite being perfectly healthy believes he is on death’s doorstep.  While lamenting that life is too short, Bedeker is visited by the Devil [Gomez] who offers immortality for Bedeker’s soul.  

The soul is collected on Bedeker’s death but since he is immortal how will the Devil collect?  Ah, there is an escape clause should Bedeker decide he no longer wishes to live.  

Bedeker accepts and comes to learn rather quickly that immortality in certain situations isn’t all he thought it would be.  

Final Thoughts:  This is a fun episode.  I enjoyed Bedeker’s plan to get rich.  Joe Flynn’s cameo was fun.  A nice twist ending caps the episode.

Rating:

The Day When Three NASA Astronauts Staged a Strike in Space

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The astronauts above are Jerry Carr, Ed Gibson and William Pogue.  In 1973, they manned the Skylab 4 mission.  Scheduled for an 84 day mission, the astronauts were assigned 16 hour work days every single day.

Other astronauts on the ground team, including the commanders of the previous two Skylab missions, advised NASA that the plans were unreasonable. None of the three astronauts on the Skylab 4 mission had been in space before, but NASA hadn’t factored in any time for them to become acclimated to conditions aloft. They were plainly overscheduled.

Things went sideways from the start.  William Pogue became debilitatingly sick with nausea acclimatizing to space.  The team decided not to inform Mission Control of Pogue’s illness only to find out that ground control was eavesdropping on all that went on.

After the space crew received a scolding for withholding information things went from bad to worse.  The crew fell behind on the work schedule and the 16 hour days were beginning to wear them down physically and mentally.  They asked NASA for some time off to recharge and for more workable schedule.  Skylab Commander Jerry Carr argued to NASA:

“We would never work 16 hours a day for 84 straight days on the ground, and we should not be expected to do it here in space.”

NASA wouldn’t budge so the Skylab Astronauts simply turned off all communications with ground control and took a full day to relax and recharge.

Needless to say, this did not sit well with Mission Control, but what could they do?

Nothing.

The following day the Skylab 4 astronauts contacted NASA, who at that point were much more agreeable to a modified schedule.

You can read the full story at The Los Angeles Times in Michael Hiltzik’s The Day When Three NASA Astronauts Staged a Strike in Space.