Question: This movie is based off an old urban legend with the same circumstances involved. But there were two endings to the original legend that we've heard. In one, the babysitter lives, in the other, she dies. Can anyone confirm which one was the original?
Answer: I don't think it is possable to know which one came first since the origins of the legend are not known, but here is a good link that might give you some info. http://www.snopes.com/horrors/madmen/babysit.htm.
Answer: It's based on the murder of Janet Christman in the 50's - she was attacked and killed while babysitting. She called the police, but they didn't make it, she was found by the parents dead on the floor, right next to the phone.
Question: Did coach Haskins treat his players the way he does in the movie?
Answer: Yes. He really did integrate them to teach them to work as a team and give them guidance to help them off the field (such as with school work). His coaching method shown in the film is also accurate. Coaches screaming at the players, mocking them, and being what we would say is "harsh" with them was common coaching practice in the 70s that no-one would have batted an eye to. Especially in the south. Coach Boone would have especially been under pressure to show his players he meant business due to the concern that some of them might not take him seriously as a new black coach. If he had been seen as "easy", the team may not have been motivated to do as well as they did.
Question: Why wasn't it acceptable for Marie to breastfeed her daughter?
Answer: It was typical for royalty and the aristocracy to remain extremely "hands off" regarding child rearing. Nannies, wet nurses, and tutors tended to all their offsprings' needs, and parents usually spent relatively little time with their children. It would be considered extremely odd for a queen to engage in something so personal and common as breastfeeding her child.
Question: When Kate Winslet first gets home, she turns on the gas on one of the stove burners (but doesn't light it). As Cameron Diaz starts talking with her via the Internet, two of the burners are on, and she gets up and turns one of them off. If I'm not wrong, the other remains on and because of the fireplace would end up setting her house on fire. Or it might just be that the other burner was already on and burning to heat something. Could anyone please give a more certain answer about that?
Question: Was the birth scene real? It seemed completely real, and the woman appeared to actually be pregnant earlier in the film.
Chosen answer: No, it wasn't real. Good make-up and acting, that's all.
Question: Why do they never show Mandy? They obviously did it on purpose.
Answer: Most likely just to leave it up to your imagination.
Answer: Dupree wants an ideal fantasy woman, inspired by his enjoyment of Audrey Hepburn movies. Molly says that Mandy is a sl*t, but the larger issue is that Dupree needs to be more responsible and stable. I think Mandy was never shown because he never saw the real her. He was living in a fantasy world.
Question: Why is the word "Happiness" in the title misspelled?
Answer: In an interview, the real-life Chris Gardiner, (played by Will Smith) explained that the deliberately misspelled word was written that way on the child daycare center's wall (representing how children can sometimes misspell words). Gardiner later interpreted it to personally mean that true happiness is not defined in just one way, there are many ways to be happy, and that was reflected in the alternate spelling.
Question: Why was Beethoven depicted as an obnoxious, rude and unlikable man in this movie? I read that in the real life he wasn't such a bad person.
Answer: It's a fictional version of Beethoven. Artistic license is used to enhance the drama by embellishing Beethoven's personality, likely to show his anger, frustration, and despondency over becoming deaf. Like many similar biographical movies, it is not meant to be an accurate portrait.
Question: The trailer shows clips that are not in the actual film, such as Taylor driving the car towards Alex in the rain, and a different take of Alex telling Sophie that he is disappointed in Ingrid. Where can I find the version of this film that includes these deleted/alternate scenes?
Question: Much of the cinematography of this movie looks computer generated, even close-ups of faces. How much of it is unreal, and is there anything else contributing to this surreal look?
Answer: The only time that Brandon Routh's face is computer-generated is whenever he flies straight toward the screen at the end. This was CGI because it was never filmed during production but they later decided to put this in to match the old Christopher Reeve films.
Question: In the end Fink finally figures out the trick to the boot. How come the Germans don't use this trick, but drink the boot straightforward instead of spinning it like the Americans do?
Answer: Overconfidence. The Germans are convinced that they'll never master Das Boot, so they're too busy watching for the Americans to fail to concentrate on their own boot.
Question: I kinda understood the scramble suits that they would wear in the movie to keep their identity secret but I do not understand exactly how they would help. If you had to walk into the office every morning (it would have to be a high security area they worked in) where you would have guards/security and id cards and such to get in, people would know that you worked there simply by watching you entering and leaving the building. The only thing the suits would help with is at public speakings but all they really seem to do is keep your coworkers guessing who you are. You see "Code name guy" walk into room then "regular guy" walk out. Not very hard to figure out. Anybody with a little insight please explain.
Chosen answer: You are working on the assumption that it would be a standard 9-to-5 job and that the same people would be walking in at the same time. Bob Arctor is seen to go in irregularly and "Hank" would also keep irregular hours, much like officers in real-life. James was also seen to enter and exit the building and he was a witness; other witnesses, lawyers, public officials, the medical staff and janitors would also irregularly enter and exit the building. There are simply too many people entering and exiting the building randomly for anyone to definitively figure out who is who, particularly as their real and "suit" identities would be kept as separate as possible, "Hank" only figured out it was Bob because she was Donna. The identities of real-life police officers (particularly officers working undercover, especially on drug-deals) are routinely kept secret and the design of the building that Bob and "Hank" work in would be designed to protect their identities and the scramble-suits would be another layer of protection on top.
Question: What is the Rabbit Foot? It was never really explained in the movie or did I miss something?
Answer: It's never explained. This is what's known in the film industry as a McGuffin, a term popularised by Alfred Hitchcock, which is an item that's crucial to the plot, but the exact nature of which is never revealed because it actually doesn't matter in the slightest.
Question: In Rocky V we learn that Rocky can't get licensed because of permanent brain damage. So how is it that, more than 15 years after the events of Rocky V, he is able to get licensed so easily?
Answer: Stallone himself answered this question in an interview. "When Rocky was diagnosed with brain damage he never went for a second opinion and yielded to his wife's wishes to stop. So with the advent of new research techniques into brain damage, Rocky was found to be normal among fighters and he was suffering the results of a severe concussion. By today's standards Rocky Balboa would be given a clean bill of health for fighters.
Answer: In the world of "make believe", they used "movie magic" to zap the RV out of the water and on to dry land - with no mechanical issues resulting from being submerged. In the real world, someone called a tow truck - perhaps AAA - and the RV was pulled out of the water and it suffered water damage and needed some repairs. This movie was presented as being "real life." Bob left on a bicycle to "try to find help." Near the end of the movie, Carl said that the RV "spent two days under water and they had to fish it out." He didn't say who "they" were. A fishing pole would not be strong enough to reel in a large RV, so I think it is safe to conclude that a tow truck was used to pull the RV out of the lake.
KeyZOid
It should be noted that "fish it out" is a common phrase to mean pull or take out, especially after searching. When people use the term, they're never taking about using a fishing pole. But often when people post questions like this, they're asking for an in-film explanation in case they missed (or didn't understand) something. If no in-film explanation was given, a reasonable speculation can be given. You don't need to remind people the movie is a movie. If the in/film explanation is uncharacteristic to real life, then one can point out that in real life it wouldn't happen that way.
Bishop73
It was meant to be ironic.
KeyZOid
There was no irony, but this isn't the forum for irony anyways.
Bishop73
I guess I failed miserably... but wasn't the original question rhetorical?
KeyZOid