Phil C.

24th Feb 2004

Swordfish (2001)

Question: Can anyone translate what Axel Torvalds and his lawyer say to each other in their conversation after Agent Roberts is decoyed away by the fake phone call? The film doesn't provide subtitles because it isn't essential to the plot, but I'm still curious.

Phil C.

Chosen answer: Scene 1: T: Funktioniert alles noch? (Everything all right?) L: Es geht (more or less). Scene 2: L: Sagen Sie nichts mehr (Don't say anything). T: Ja. L: Ich kriege Sie hier raus und zurueck nach Europa (I will get you out of here and back to Europe). T: Sie wissen, dass die beiden Affen noch hinter dem Spiegel sind (You know that these two monkeys are behind this mirror). Scene 3: L: Das macht die Lage auch nicht besser (That doesn't improve the situation). The Lawyer speaks German as a foreign language, Thovald's German is perfect.

Question: Does anyone know what kind of pistols Martin Blank uses in this film? Also, is the gunfire sound they make accurate? It's very distinctive.

Phil C.

Chosen answer: His pistols are 9mm Glock 17's (http://www.glock.com/g17.jpg). No movie firearm shot is authentic as it would sound very flat and unexciting because the blank rounds used are very quiet (not much louder than clapping your hands actually). The shot sounds are added in post production.

Grumpy Scot

Audio problem: Near the end of the film, Norrington and Jack are in a rowboat discussing an ambush of the Black Pearl's crew. Jack's line "Not if you're the one doing the ambushing" is very slightly out of sync with his mouth movements - his lips keep moving for a fraction of a second after he stops talking. (01:43:05)

Phil C.

Trivia: A bit of trivia for those who haven't read the books. In the Grey Havens scene, the three Elven Rings can be seen upon the hands of their bearers: Vilya, mightiest of the Three, is worn by Elrond; Nenya, the Ring of Adamant, is still borne by Galadriel; and Narya the Great is seen on Gandalf's hand.

Phil C.

Trivia: The famous "Wilhelm" scream makes a reappearance during the scene where Faramir's men are fleeing from Osgiliath across the Pelennor Fields. Just after the people of Minas Tirith call out, "The White Rider" a Nazgul swoops down and snatches up one of Faramir's men. The "Wilhelm" is heard as he falls.

Phil C.

4th Nov 2003

Tron (1982)

Trivia: Director Steven Lisberger had several arcade games scattered all around the sets. The cast and crew often had to be called away from them to return to shooting, particularly Jeff Bridges, who would often claim he was "preparing for the next scene" in order to keep playing a bit longer.

Phil C.

4th Nov 2003

Tron (1982)

Trivia: Peter O'Toole was originally offered the part of Dillinger/Sark. He was very interested in the role, but backed out when he discovered that it would involve mostly acting against a black screen, with all the sets and backgrounds to be added digitally later on.

Phil C.

Trivia: Supervising Sound Editor Mike Hopkins makes a cameo appearance in the film as Farmer Maggot, in the cornfield scene. He notes on Commentary Track 3 that it was difficult to sound angry and spout profanities without ever repeating himself and without actually swearing.

Phil C.

Audio problem: Indy's line "Those aren't big birds, sweetheart. They're giant vampire bats," doesn't match the mouth movements he is making at the time. (00:30:40)

Phil C.

Trivia: The filmmakers discovered to their chagrin that the snakes used for the Well of Souls sequence weren't afraid of fire at all - in fact, they would always try to get closer to the fire to warm themselves. At one point director Spielberg was caught on camera picking up a snake and telling it, face to face, "In the script, you're supposed to hate fire. Why do you like fire? You're ruining my movie."

Phil C.

Trivia: The canyon where Indiana confronts Belloq and the Germans and threatens to blow up the Ark is the exact same canyon where the Jawas take R2-D2 in "Star Wars".

Phil C.

Trivia: The German submarine is the same sub that would later be used for Wolfgang Petersen's "Das Boot".

Phil C.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: The sub wasn't later just used in 'Das Boot', the full-size prop was actually built specifically for its production. Steven Spielberg only rented it for 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', apparently much to the surprise of the German film crew, who one day found their boat 'missing' as it was on loan to Spielberg.

Deadmarsh28

Trivia: During filming of the fight scene around the German flying wing, Harrison Ford slipped and fell down and the plane's wheels rolled over his left knee, tearing his ACL. Rather than trust in the local medical care, they simply wrapped the knee up tightly, applied ice, and kept on going.

Phil C.

Trivia: The beach scene where Indy's father frightens the seagulls into taking flight and bringing down the Messerschmitt was done with fake seagulls and real white doves. The beach was covered with fake seagulls for the wide shot, and the closeup shots were done with white doves and piles of loose feathers to further confuse things. The film crew had to use white doves because it turned out that they absolutely could not train live seagulls to do anything at all on cue.

Phil C.

Trivia: In the scene in the zeppelin where Indy talks with his father, Harrison Ford and Sean Connery both elected to shoot the scene wearing no trousers whenever possible, in close ups for example, because it was so hot and they didn't want to stop every ten seconds to wipe sweat away.

Phil C.

21st Oct 2003

The Terminator (1984)

The Terminator mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When the tanker explodes near the end, the Terminator gets out of the truck, then falls to the ground face-first, in an open area. Then he rolls over onto his back, lying prone, and stops moving. When the endoskeleton rises a minute or so later, however, it gets up as if it had been hunched over, face down - and several pieces of the truck's wreckage fall off of it as it rises, as if it had been covered by falling metal. (01:28:45 - 01:31:00)

Phil C.

21st Oct 2003

The Terminator (1984)

Trivia: The "smoke" effect coming off Terminator's jacket during the scene where he is riding on the hood of Reese and Sarah's car in the alleyway outside Tech Noir was created by pouring a mild acid onto the jacket. Arnold begged for an alternative method, as the idea understandably made him rather nervous, but eventually he agreed to it.

Phil C.

21st Oct 2003

The Terminator (1984)

Trivia: Michael Biehn gave a very impressive reading for the part of Reese, but Cameron didn't like the fact that he had such a prominent Southern accent. He called Biehn's agent and said that they loved the reading, but didn't want Reese to have a pronounced accent like that. The agent was confused: "What accent? He doesn't have an accent." It then transpired that Biehn had in fact just come from an audition for "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" that morning, and hadn't shaken off the accent yet. So they had him come in for another reading, verified the lack of accent, and offered him the part.

Phil C.

21st Oct 2003

The Terminator (1984)

Trivia: The exploding tanker truck shot was done with miniatures. Director James Cameron originally wanted to do a full-size tanker explosion, but couldn't because they were shooting in a particular area of downtown Los Angeles that was directly in front of the police armory, and the LAPD wouldn't give permission.

Phil C.

21st Oct 2003

The Terminator (1984)

Trivia: Because the production was so short on time, the "Future War" segments with the Ground H-Ks were filmed from the ground up. Fantasy II built the treads section, and then they filmed those shots. Then they added the torso section on top of the treads, and filmed those bits. Finally they added the head to the body and shot the full-on views of the H-K.

Phil C.

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