Trivia: The New Zealand army was used as extras for Aragorn's Rohirrim/Gondorian army. Though its presence was appreciatedly efficient, its fighting was overly enthusiastic, and did not lean towards pretend fighting. Quite a few injuries were incurred as a result of the army's fierce fighting with the stunt doubles, and WETA weapons were often destroyed in the melee.
Super Grover
19th Dec 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
11th Nov 2004
The Polar Express (2004)
Trivia: The Polar Express is the very first feature film to be shot entirely in the new format of Performance Capture. The technique used in this film surpasses Motion Capture, in that Performance Capture has the ability to offer true human emotions and natural facial expressions with clear and precise detail. As many as 150 reflective jewels were adhered onto the actors' faces, including eyelids, brows, upper and lower lips, chin line and cheeks, which took nearly two hours to achieve. With this technique, Tom Hanks is able to portray five key characters in this film, which was in production for over two and a half years.
22nd Sep 2004
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Trivia: When Harry, Ron and Fang begin to walk through the Dark Forest there is a close-up of Fang walking towards the camera. At the start of the next shot, at the bottom right of the screen the Ford Anglia is visible. Although the scene of them seeing the car before it rescues them is deleted, this one shot remains of the car 'watching' them. (01:43:40)
18th Sep 2004
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Trivia: In Philosopher's Stone (2001), Hagrid taps the bricks behind the Leaky Cauldron and as the bricks start to rearrange themselves creating the doorway, pause the film for the quick glance at the old green sign that reads, "Flourish & Blotts" which hangs over the corner bookstore. This is the bookstore in Chamber of Secrets that Harry and Hagrid pass on their way out of Knockturn Alley, but the old green sign obviously reads something else as it is not the setting for Flourish & Blotts in this film.
23rd Aug 2004
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
17th Jul 2004
I Dream of Jeannie (1965)
Trivia: It was absolutely prohibited (until the late 1960s) for Jeannie (Barbara Eden), to show her navel on the air, due to the strict censorship of American TV programming.
15th Jul 2004
I Dream of Jeannie (1965)
15th Jul 2004
Schindler's List (1993)
Trivia: Steven Spielberg established Survivors of the Shoah Foundation in 1994, after filming Schindler's List. Shoah is the Hebrew word for "destruction" and is used instead of the word "holocaust" by many people. The Shoah Foundation was established with a critical and pressing task - to videotape and preserve the testimonies of Holocaust survivors and witnesses. At that time, numerous survivors were elderly and many more had died before ever having had the opportunity to share their own painful recollections. Yet even with the 52,000 testimonies that have thus far been collected, there is an abundant number of survivors, who still to this day, cannot speak of the atrocities that they were witness to. http://www.vhf.org/vhfmain-2.htm.
14th Jul 2004
Labyrinth (1986)
12th Jul 2004
Bewitched (1964)
Trivia: The Screen Gems sets of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie were right next to each other at the studio, and many of the actual sets and props were shared between the two shows. Both shows also shared Dick Albain, the Special Effects expert, who worked on the two shows for quite awhile.
6th Jul 2004
Labyrinth (1986)
Trivia: More shots of Jareth's "hidden" face are visible at the Bog of Eternal Stench. When Hoggle hangs on as Sarah tries to pull him up, he says, "Oh it doesn't matter what it's like. It's a bog of Eternal Stench." In the next wide shot when he yells, "Help!" and then after the stone ground gives way under their feet, in the two wide shots, Jareth's face is on the jagged stone wall at the right of the screen. (00:55:30 - 00:55:30)
23rd May 2004
28 Days (2000)
Trivia: On the first day, Dominic West (Jasper) was asked by the script supervisor, "Are you an alcoholic?" Well, Dominic thought to himself, "Crikey," then he felt incredibly self conscious, and so he replied, "Yeah, probably." Then the script supervisor said, "No, no! I meant your character."
23rd May 2004
28 Days (2000)
Trivia: As demonstrated in the film, Equine therapy is really used in quite a few drug/alcohol rehabilitation centers in the U.S. It's used to reveal things about the patient's personality and what they do in frustrating situations. (00:37:25)
11th May 2004
Psycho (1960)
Trivia: Alfred Hitchcock adapted Psycho from a story by author Robert Bloch, who had modeled the character of Norman Bates after Ed Gein, who is suspected to have killed his victims between 1954 and 1957. In the asphyxiation death of his brother Henry (who was verbally critical of their neurotic-controlling mother) in 1944, though the supposedly harmless young Gein was quickly dismissed as a suspect, it's believed that he was guilty of that crime too. Other characters very loosely based on Gein are Buffalo Bill in "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991) and Thomas Hewitt in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974). The main similarities to Gein that appear in "Psycho" include the feminine qualities of Norman Bates and the disturbingly strong attachment to the cruel domineering mother.
7th May 2004
The Big Chill (1983)
Trivia: A group of old college friends reunite at the funeral of Alex, another old college friend. The part of Alex, the corpse, who is only partially seen in the unusual opening credits with the undertaker, is played by Kevin Costner, in one of his first roles on film.
24th Apr 2004
Troy (2004)
Trivia: Brad Pitt, portraying Achilles, actually injured his Achilles tendon in September 2003, while filming, which delayed the shooting of the climactic battle scene with Eric Bana, until December. The Achilles tendon is named after the mythological Greek warrior Achilles, who according to legend was mortally wounded by an arrow that hit his Achilles tendon. Achilles became almost entirely invincible to injury when his mother immersed him in the magical Styx River. Since she held him by the heel, which was not immersed in the river, Achilles had only one weak spot, his Achilles tendon, which ultimately led to his downfall.
20th Apr 2004
Just Married (2003)
Trivia: Some of the interior shots seen of the Pensione Funicello were filmed at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Robert Kennedy was shot in the hotel's pantry in 1968. (00:50:45)
5th Apr 2004
Sweet Home Alabama (2002)
Trivia: During the film's original outdoor reception Jake carries Melanie, who feigns death after having supposedly been struck by a lightening bolt, towards the wedding guests. Jake announces, "Melanie Carmichael is dead" but then a few seconds later he says, "Long live Felony Melanie." Jake and Melanie do this as a practical joke. The reaction of Melanie's mother at the supposed death of her daughter apparently upset the test audiences so much, that the production crew reshot the whole reception scene, minus the practical joke.
5th Apr 2004
Miss Congeniality (2000)
Trivia: Ken Thomas and John DiResta who play FBI Agents Harris and Clonsky, are both ex-cops turned actors.
2nd Apr 2004
Miss Congeniality (2000)
Trivia: On the commentary, the director and screenwriter both say that not only are Vic's and Gracie's rooms numbered 103, but the agents' surveillance room is also numbered 103. Yet when Gracie unlocks the door to the surveillance room, after beer and pizza at the club, we see that the room number is 106, not 103, as claimed on the commentary. (01:12:00)