Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Paul McCartney recently released a remix of Say Say Say the hit song that he and Michael Jackson took to the top of the charts way back in 1983. The new release features some previously unheard MJ vocals.
Let’s take a look and listen.
If you’re a fan of Jon [The Walking Dead; Sicario; Fury, Daredevil, Grudge Match, Mob City and, well, you get the idea…] Bernthal the you’ll probably want to check out Capone’s interview with him.
Source: Ain’t It Cool News.
Darwyn Cooke’s James Bond painting must have a double-O license because it kills.
The Bond piece was created for the Lakes International Comics Art Festival and you can see a bigger version here.
Kara Kovalchik and Mental_Floss present 15 Awfully Big Facts About The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Here are three of my favorites…
4. GAVIN MACLEOD AUDITIONED FOR THE ROLE OF LOU GRANT.
Allan See started losing his hair at age 18, while he was studying drama at New York’s Ithaca College. By the time he graduated he was pretty much bald, which limited his roles as an actor. He changed his name to Gavin MacLeod and maintained a fairly steady career playing heavies, thanks to his bald pate and bulky physique. MTM co-founder Grant Tinker invited MacLeod to audition for the role of Lou Grant, which he did, but afterward he asked to read for the role of Mary’s co-worker, Murray Slaughter. He thought he could bring more to the affable Murray character than the gruff and imposing Lou. The producers agreed with him after Ed Asner tested for the role of Mary’s boss.6. TED KNIGHT WAS LIVING PAYCHECK-TO-PAYCHECK WHEN HE WAS CAST AS TED BAXTER.
The second choice for the role of the anchorman was Lyle Waggoner, but he was happily ensconced on The Carol Burnett Show and had no desire to leave a successful series for an untested one. Jennifer Aniston’s father, John, read for the part of Ted and was called back twice, but the producers were not quite sure he was “the one.” Producer Dave Davis happened to see Ted Knight performing in a local production of the Broadway comedy You Know I Can’t Hear You When the Water’s Running and reported to the rest of the team that Knight was hilarious and that they should have him read for the role of Ted Baxter.Even though the silver-haired Knight was a far cry from the hunky heartthrob-type they originally had in mind, Knight came to the audition wearing an anchorman-style blue blazer he had purchased from a thrift store with part of his rent money and impressed them with his booming voice and comedic chops. During that brief reading, he brought some layers to the anchorman character (cocky and arrogant on the outside, but secretly vulnerable and very human) that impressed the MTM staff and inspired some new newsroom story ideas for the show.
14. MARY REALLY DID HAVE TO STRUGGLE TO KEEP A STRAIGHT FACE DURING THE “CHUCKLES BITES THE DUST” EPISODE.
Often listed as one of the best sitcom episodes, this entry touched on a dark subject: the death of WJM children’s show host Chuckles the Clown. (He’d been dressed as Peter Peanut to serve as Grand Marshall of a circus parade and a rogue elephant tried to shell him.) Mary was supposed to remain grim and mournful while the rest of the newsroom made jokes about his unusual demise, but during every rehearsal she continually cracked up whenever Mr. Fee-Fi-Fo (one of Chuckles’ many characters) was mentioned. She recalled in her autobiography that the insides of her cheeks were almost raw from biting them so hard to keep from laughing during the actual taping of the episode.
Frank Miller is an artist whose style continued to evolve throughout his career.
It’s no secret I’m a huge Frank Miller fan. His work on Daredevil, Ronin, Dark Knight and Sin City are some of the best (and my favorite) comics of all time. I’ve enjoyed the ride and seeing the changes in his artistic choices.
Frank Miller and Dick Giordano’s Superman & Batman drawn in 1983.
Kara Kovalchik and Mental_Floss present 15 Behind-the-Scenes Facts About Taxi. Here are three of my favorites…
2. TONY DANZA WAS “DISCOVERED” IN THE BOXING RING.
In the mid-1970s “Tough” Tony Danza was a professional boxer who trained at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn. Gleason’s was home to many famous fighters, and the go-to place for filmmakers and authors who were researching the sport. That was how producers Larry Gordon and Joel Silver happened to be ringside one night when Danza knocked out Billy Perez and they invited him to audition for Walter Hill’s The Warriors, which they were producing. He was just about ready to ink a deal with them, too, when James L. Brooks called and asked him to read for the part of a boxer on his upcoming sitcom, Taxi.9. KAUFMAN’S CONTRACT STIPULATED THAT HIS ALTER EGO, TONY CLIFTON, WAS GIVEN A SEPARATE CONTRACT.
Tony Clifton was another of Kaufman’s characters, a sleazy, obnoxious Vegas lounge-lizard. Kaufman insisted not only that Tony Clifton be written into several Taxi episodes, he also insisted that Clifton be treated as a separate and unique entity, with his own contract, dressing room, and parking spot. Kaufman also required that all the staff and actors address him as “Tony,” never “Andy.”Clifton was cast as Louie’s brother in the episode “A Full House for Christmas,” and he didn’t endear himself to the cast when he arrived late and then retreated to his dressing room for over an hour to have very loud sex with two prostitutes he had brought with him. When rehearsals finally got underway, Tony kept changing the dialogue and announced that he’d written parts for his hooker friends as well. Jeff Conaway stormed off the set and Judd Hirsch got into a shouting match with Tony that ended up with punches thrown. Ed. Weinberger summoned security guards to escort Tony Clifton off the Paramount lot, which Andy Kaufman later stated had been his entire purpose behind that bit of “theater.”
10. REVEREND JIM’S LOOPY CHARACTER WAS ORIGINALLY ASSIGNED TO TONY.
The evolution of the show’s characters got a little confusing: In the beginning, Phil Ryan (the boxer) was supposed to be somewhat punch drunk and dim-witted. When Tony Danza was hired, the producers decided that he was more convincing playing a young, somewhat naive and innocent type, rather than a confused bumbler. Problem was, Randall Carver had already been cast as John Burns, a wide-eyed country bumpkin new to New York City. As season one progressed, the producers realized that the two characters were too similar and their lines were almost interchangeable. So John Burns was written out after the first season and Christopher Lloyd, who played 1960s drug casualty Reverend Jim Ignatowski, was added to the cast to provide the eccentric goofiness originally intended for Tony Banta.
Tara Aquino and Mental_Floss present 11 Dizzying Facts About Vertigo. Here are three of my favorites…
1. ALFRED HITCHCOCK BLAMED JIMMY STEWART FOR VERTIGO’S FAILURE.
Marred by mixed reviews, the $2.5 million Vertigo did comparatively less than Hitchcock’s previous movies, and was widely recognized as a failure. Frustrated with its reception, Hitchcock partly blamed star Jimmy Stewart’s aging appearance. At the time of filming, Stewart—who had starred in Hitchcock’s three previous films—was 50 years old which, according to the director, was too old to convincingly play then-25-year-old Kim Novak’s love interest.5. AN UNCREDITED CAMERAMAN CAME UP WITH THE FAMOUS “VERTIGO EFFECT.”
According to associate producer Herbert Coleman, it wasn’t Hitchcock who came up with the film’s famous camera technique (which essentially involves zooming forward while pulling the camera backward); rather, it was an uncredited second unit cameraman, Irwin Roberts. “He didn’t get screen credit on Vertigo because they gave the screen credit to another close friend of ours [Wallace Kelley] who did all the process work on the stage,” Coleman said.9. ALFRED HITCHCOCK CHANGED THE SETTING FROM PARIS TO SAN FRANCISO.
The French source novel, D’entre les Morts, was set in Paris, but Hitchcock believed that San Francisco was more interesting. As noted by Auiler, with the city’s vertiginous streets and hilly landscape, the location perfectly matched the film’s themes. In a city where there were such extreme physical highs and lows, awful for anyone with acrophobia, Scottie’s vertigo became a character in and of itself.
Rebecca Pahle and Mental_Floss present Here’s Looking at 10 Facts About Casablanca. Here are three of my favorites…
3. THE SHOOT GOT OFF TO A ROUGH START.
The first scene that director Michael Curtiz and company shot was one of the flashback scenes in Paris, which caused some problems for stars Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Bogart because, in his own words, “I’m not up on this love stuff and don’t know just what to do,” and Bergman because, as the script had not yet been finished, she didn’t know whether her character was supposed to be in love with Rick or Victor Laszlo. Curtiz, who did not know himself, covered marvelously and told her to “play it in between.”5. PART OF THE POSTER IS FROM ANOTHER BOGIE MOVIE.
In many of Casablanca’s better-known posters, the shot of a trench coat- and fedora-wearing Bogart wielding a gun was pulled almost exactly from a publicity shot from earlier Bogie film,Across the Pacific, by poster artist Bill Gold, who repainted it in a photorealistic style.7. THE FIRST SCENE WAS SHOT BY ANOTHER FAMOUS DIRECTOR.
Casablanca’s opening scene, the map sequence with a voiceover explaining how refugees from World War II came to be in Casablanca, was created by Don Siegel, who in later years would direct some classics of his own, including Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and Dirty Harry (1971).
Hollywood.com presents 21 Things You Didn’t Know About the Fast and Furious Franchise. Here are three of my favorites…
13. Vin Diesel got the right to another movie franchise…just for showing up.
In lieu of a paycheck for his cameo at the end of the film, Vin Diesel traded with Universal – his cameo, for the rights to the Riddick franchise.
18. The Rock’s part was written for…Tommy Lee Jones?
The role of Luke Hobbs was written with Tommy Lee Jones or Josh Brolin in mind for the part, but when Dwayne Johnson (née The Rock) approached the studio about joining the franchise, Universal had the filmmakers rework the part for him instead.
21. The films’ timeline makes no sense.
On the surface, the Furious franchise seems pretty simple: Cars go fast, stuff gets smashed, beginning-middle-end. But the films are actually this weird non-linear series, told out of sequence. When you look at the whole story, it constantly jumps back and forth through time, and major plot points are told through flashbacks. Fast & Furious, Fast Five, and Furious 6 are an internal trilogy of prequels, that actually circle back to the third film,Tokyo Drift.
Roger Cormier and Mental_Floss present 13 Fascinating Facts About Natural Born Killers. Here are three of my favorites…
1. QUENTIN TARANTINO WROTE THE ORIGINAL SCRIPT.
It was titled Mickey and Mallory and focused more on the media than on Mickey Knox and Mallory Wilson. He sold the rights to the movie for $10,000 because he was unable to get it made himself (this was before Pulp Fiction). Tarantino ended up getting a story credit forNatural Born Killers, while Richard Rutowski, Oliver Stone, and David Veloz each got a screenwriting credit.3. MICHAEL MADSEN ALMOST TOOK THE LEAD.
Michael Madsen was considered for the lead role of Mickey: “Oliver Stone wanted me, but the studios offered him an extra $20 million to cast Woody Harrelson,” Madsen told The Guardian.11. MICKEY AND MALLORY DIE IN THE ALTERNATE ENDING.
The killers survive in the final version because Oliver Stone believed that the 1990s were a time when the bad guys got away with it.
Roger Cormier and Mental_Floss present 13 Things You Might Not Know About Modern Family. Here are three of my favorites…
2. CRAIG T. NELSON WAS OFFERED THE ROLE OF JAY PRITCHETT.
Like many things in Hollywood, Nelson’s decision to pass on the project came down to money. “I really wanted to do Modern Family,” Nelson said. “I really liked the script and I liked the people. I just said, ‘You know what? I’ve been doing this too long.’ We’re in the middle of a cutback here, ladies and gentlemen, in Hollywood and salaries have gone way, way down … I just felt disrespected to tell you the truth.” The next year, Nelson signed on for Parenthood.5. FIZBO THE CLOWN WAS A REAL CHARACTER ERIC STONESTREET PLAYED AS A CHILD.
Stonestreet began dressing up as Fizbo when he was nine years old (his dream was to be a clown in the circus). By the time he was 11, he was performing at kids’ birthday parties. “It was my way then as a young man to express my desire to entertain and perform,” he told The Kansas City Star. “I didn’t know what I was saying then was that I wanted to be an actor. I had parents, fortunately, who didn’t think I was weird. They thought it was funny and cute and encouraged me to do it. And I had a grandma who would make my costumes.” He doesn’t know where the name Fizbo came from.7. SOFIA VERGARA THOUGHT ED O’NEILL SPOKE SPANISH.
Sofia Vergara watched Married … with Children growing up in Colombia, where the voices were dubbed into Spanish. She didn’t realize that it wasn’t Ed O’Neill saying Al Bundy’s lines in Spanish, and was surprised to find that he couldn’t speak her native language when they first met. “He had a very sexy Antonio Banderas voice, the guy who was dubbing him,” said Vergara.
Today we have vintage Bob Seger!
Before Seger was the lead of his Silver Bullet Band, Seger was the lead of The Bob Seger System and their first hit was Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man.
Rob Hunter and Film School Rejects present 34 Things We Learned from the Used Car Commentary. Here are three of my favorites…
6. Russell remembers Steven Spielberg visiting the set a few times which prompts Gale to point out that the idea for the film came while he (Gale) and Zemeckis were working on the script for Spielberg’s 1941. “[John] Milius told us this story that he and Spielberg wanted to do someday about used car salesmen outside of Las Vegas. He wanted to put George Hamilton in it…
7. The Fuchs brothers were originally going to be played by different actors, but after Jack Warden turned down the role of Roy Fuchs someone suggested making them twins and having one actor play both.
11. Joe Flaherty’s character was originally going to be played by John Candy, but they got a call after rehearsals and costume fittings had already begun. Apparently Candy’s agent had double-booked him onto two films filming at the same time — possibly Stripes? — so they had to replace him.
ScreenRant presents 10 Movie Bloopers that Made it to the Final Cut.
Probably the most well known of the group is the Dustin Hoffman ad lib from Midnight Cowboy, but my favorite from this bunch is again Dustin Hoffman, but this time for Rain Man.
Eric D. Snider and Mental_Floss present 13 Fascinating Facts About Dog Day Afternoon. Here are three of my favorites…
2. THE REAL BANK ROBBER LOOKED A LOT LIKE AL PACINO.
Fluge’s magazine article described John Wojtowicz as “a dark, thin fellow with the broken-faced good looks of an Al Pacino or Dustin Hoffman,” so naturally the screenplay found its way into both actors’ hands. (Pacino was Lumet’s first choice, but Hoffman was reportedly approached when Pacino, seeking to take a brief break from movies, initially turned it down.) We see a bit more De Niro in Wojtowicz than Pacino or Hoffman, but Pacino was a good fit, too.
9. THEY LOST A DAY’S WORK BECAUSE OF PACINO’S MUSTACHE.
One of the things the actor did as a means of getting into character was grow a mustache—not because the real robber had one, but because the character was gay, and in the mid-’70s, many gay men had mustaches. In Lumet’s words, however, Pacino’s mustache “looked terrible.” And after the first day of filming, Pacino agreed. Watching the footage, Pacino told Lumet, “The mustache has got to go,” and asked if he could shave it and redo that day’s work. Lumet agreed, and the mustache was gone—as was a day’s worth of footage.10. IT’S THE ONLY TIME LUMET EVER INCORPORATED IMPROVISATION INTO ONE OF HIS MOVIES.
Sidney Lumet’s first film was 1957’s 12 Angry Men. He made 20 more between that and Dog Day Afternoon (and 22 more afterward), and by his own account, he never used improv. “I don’t like actors to improvise, to use their own language,” he said in the Dog Day AfternoonDVD commentary. “They are not going to come up with something … better than a really talented writer who has done months of work on something.”But as Lumet and the cast rehearsed Dog Day Afternoon—especially the parts where the robbers and bank employees are just sitting around killing time—someone asked about the possibility of improv, and Lumet realized it could be useful for helping the actors bond, as well as making the characters’s interactions feel more natural. With screenwriter Frank Pierson present, Lumet let the actors improvise in rehearsal; recorded it; and ended up adding some of their conversations to the script (which won the film’s only Oscar, by the way).
