Category: Movies

14 Things You Might Not Know About “Se7en”

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Jake Rosen lists 14 Things You Might Not Know About Se7en.  Here are three of my favorites…

1. From the Mind of a Record Store Employee

Screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker was a graduate of Penn State’s film program. Several years later, however, he was no closer to achieving his goal of working in the industry. Making ends meet at a New York City Tower Records store, Walker was so depressed that he wrote a bleak and oppressive script about the hunt for a killer who uses the seven deadly sins as inspiration for his crimes.

Satisfied with the outcome, he sent it to professional writer David Koepp, and then followed up with a phone call. Koepp agreed to send it to his agent, who found a buyer in New Line Cinema. (After reading it, Koepp also advised Walker that he “needed professional help.”)

3. Brad Pitt Worked Himself to the Bone

During a scene in which Pitt’s character, Detective David Mills, is chasing the killer through a perpetually rainy backdrop, Pitt slipped and drove his arm through a windshield. The resulting injury (a severed tendon) was so deep it went down to the bone. Pitt had to wear a cast for the rest of filming, which was written into the script; for scenes that had to be shot that took place earlier than the chase, the actor had to conceal his arm as best he could.

4. Kevin Spacey Got No Credit

When Fincher hired Kevin Spacey to portray killer John Doe, Spacey thought it would be more interesting to keep his involvement a secret, figuring that if he were to be billed then it would be obvious who the “mysterious” antagonist was. As a result, Spacey—who had just become a hot commodity for his work in The Usual Suspects—did not appear in any advertising, nor was his name included in the opening credits. While the studio disliked the idea, the part was late to be cast and, in Spacey’s words, “I was either going to be on a plane to shoot the movie or I wasn’t.” He got his wish.

Source: Mental_Floss.

15 Things We Learned from “The Breakfast Club” Commentary

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Film School Rejects recently posted Rob Hunter’s 15 Things We Learned from The Breakfast Club Commentary.  Here are three of my favorites…

5. Nelson had improv’d the bit where he spits a “loogie” into the air and catches it back in his mouth during rehearsal, and Hughes loved how much it grossed out Ringwald so he added it to the scene.

12. The hallway montage where the kids try to avoid Vernon (Gleason) strikes them as a combination of M.C. Escher and Scooby-Doo in the way the angles, near-misses and obvious playfulness lacks any semblance of logic.

9. Hall and Ringwald were the only two of the five who had to attend actual classes during production.

15 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About “28 Weeks Later”

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Sean Hutchinson at Mental_Floss presents 15 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About 28 Weeks Later.  Here are my three favorites…

1. THE ORIGINAL STORY FOR THE SEQUEL WAS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

Titled 29 Days Later, the original sequel told the story of British marines attempting to rescue the Prime Minister and the Queen of England.

3. DANNY BOYLE DID MAKE A DIRECTING CAMEO

He directed second unit footage of the opening scene.

15. THE FILM’S CODA WAS SHOT LAST

The filmmakers came up with the idea for the coda just two weeks before production wrapped. Fresnadillo traveled to Paris with a limited crew and only HD cameras to shoot it in one afternoon.