Movie Film Trivia

[emuboy]

An interesting one I read recently on IMDB.

In Problem Child 2 from 1991, when Ben Healy and his son Junior move house the street number of their new address is 911.

This is probably a bit of a joke to reference Junior's trouble-making tendencies, 911 being the American emergency services number, and it would not have the same impact as it would 10 years later.

However even if the WTC Twin Towers were still standing tall and proud in Lower Manhattan and dominating the New York City skyline, the date would still be auspicious with regards to the Problem Child movie series. John Ritter, who played Ben Healy, would die suddenly and unexpectedly 12 years later on 11th September 2003 at the age of 54 of a heart condition while working on the sitcom '8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.'

 

[emuboy]

The iconic 1994 Australian film 'Muriel's Wedding' was a movie that either launched or furthered the careers of the young actors who appeared in it. These include Toni Collette, Rachel Griffiths, Sophie Lee, Roz Hammond, Pippa Grandison, Matt Day, Daniel La Paine, Dan Wyllie and Gabby Millgate. However, for three other young actors in the film it was their last acting roles, and nearly 30 years on have had no credited roles since.

One was Katie Saunders who played the youngest of the three Hislop sisters Penelope, with this her only acting role. Dene Kermond, a teenage actor who played Malcolm, the younger of the two Hislop brothers had had a number of acting roles in the early 1990s among them Strictly Ballroom and Come In Spinner, but nothing more after Muriel's wedding.

Strangest of all was Belinda Jarrett who played Janine, one of Tanya's mean girlfriends, the blonde girl often seen smoking. At the time Belinda Jarrett already had a number of TV roles to her credit, the largest of which was Karen Dean in Home and Away (and yes, this character was a Karen before Karens were a thing, plus she had a habit of getting on Alf Stewart's nerves) but after Muriel's wedding no further credited roles either on TV or in movies. Just what became of her cannot be determined, as a Google search on her name reveals nothing of what she is doing today, or even if she is still alive.

 

[emuboy]

Rachel McAdams has three times played a character married to a time traveler. These are 'The Time Traveler's Wife' with Eric Bana, 'Midnight In Paris' with Owen Wilson and 'About Time' with Domnhall Gleeson.

Leslie Mann has twice played a woman whose husband has undergone a body swap. These are '17 Again' in 2009 where the husband played by Matthew Perry reverted to his 17-year-old-self played by Zac Effron; and in 2011's 'The Change Up' where her husband played by Jason Bateman swapped bodies with his single friend played by Ryan Reynolds.

Brittany Snow in her younger years twice played a character who was a dancer on a TV show in the early 1960s. These were in the TV series 'American Dreams' where her character was on American Bandstand, and in Hairspray in 2007 where she played Amber.

Portia Doubleday has twice played a vile high school bully in a horror film. These are the remake of Carrie in 2013 where she played Christine, and in Fantasy Island in 2020 where one of her victims sought revenge on her years later.

 

[emuboy]

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, it was fairly common for movies to be made of popular TV shows at the time. Quite a lot of UK sitcoms had movies made of them in this era, and across the Atlantic in 1985 a Sesame Street movie spinoff called 'Follow That Bird' was released. It was a perfectly good kids movie for young fans of the show, and the premise - an amusing road movie comedy in which the popular human characters and muppet characters at the time appear - meant that parents, grandparents and older siblings on babysitting duties could enjoy it too. However, nearly 40 years later it has been largely forgotten.

While Sesame Street is filmed in New York, Follow That Bird was filmed in Canada, again not uncommon as many American films are produced in Canada. Kids watching the movie probably wouldn't have noticed the change in location, however they probably would have noticed the absence of David, one of the adult characters in the show at the time and popular with fans, who neither appears nor is mentioned.

David on the show was a really nice guy, but sadly this wasn't true of the actor who played him, Northern Calloway. For some years, Calloway had displayed extremely odd behavior on the Sesame Street set and off it which led to a series of bizarre incidents too many to list here, the result of which was a criminal record for the actor that was serious enough for him to be banned from entering Canada, which is the reason David did not appear in the Follow That Bird movie, surely one of the oddest reasons for a character not appearing in a spin-off.

Unfortunately, the Northern Calloway story does not have a happy ending. For the next few years, the actor's erratic behavior continued along with declining health and work performance issues. Some incidents made public include Calloway allegedly arriving unannounced at the high school attended by one of the teenage actresses who were introduced to the show in the mid-1980s and proposing marriage to her, and a difference of opinion with a musical director on the set that reportedly resulted in a fist fight. Calloway's antics eventually caught up with him, and he was fired from Sesame Street early in 1989, dying less than a year later in a mental health facility in January 1990.

 

[troybe]

In Catch Me If You Can, Amy Adams plays Brenda Strong. In Desperate Housewives, the actress Brenda Strong narrates the series.

 

[emuboy]

Drew Barrymore and David Arquette played sister and brother in 'Never Been Kissed' in 1999, and also played characters who would fall victim to Ghostface killers in the Scream franchise.

Casey Becker, played by Drew Barrymore along with her boyfriend Steve were the first victims in the original Scream in 1996 (technically Maureen Prescott was first, but her death at the hands of Billy, Stu and Roman took place off-screen some time before the events of the first film) in a memorable opening to the franchise, while David Arquette's character Dewey after surviving the first four films finally succumbed to the Scream 5 killer and his psycho-case assistant in the 2022 film.

 

[worbod]

In relation to the above post, the previous two pages of this thread have contained instances of actors and actresses playing a character who shares their surname (on TV or in movies) or playing characters with the same surname in two different films.

How about this:
In the 2018 movie The Old Man and The Gun, Robert Redford plays a character named Forrest Tucker. There was of course a real-life actor named Forrest Tucker who is best known for appearing in the sitcom F Troop. Has anybody else played a character whose name was the same as that of a real-life actor/actress? (Ignoring biopics)

Sam Neill comes close in The Vow. He plays a character named, not Billy Bob, but Bill Thornton.

 

[worbod]

I am thinking of making a Sporcle quiz relating to men who appear both clean shaven and have a beard in movies. So far I have thought of:

Al Pacino in Serpico
Lee Marvin in Hell in the Pacific
John Travolta in Urban Cowboy
Tom Hanks in Cast Away & Forrest Gump
Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes
Robin Williams in Jumanji
Harrison Ford in The Fugitive
Bruce Willis in Hostage
Steve McQueen in Papillon
Richard Gere in Sommersby

Are there any other well-known instances I should consider?

 

[CaptchaProofBot]

I am thinking of making a Sporcle quiz relating to men who appear both clean shaven and have a beard in movies. So far I have thought of:

Al Pacino in Serpico
Lee Marvin in Hell in the Pacific
John Travolta in Urban Cowboy
Tom Hanks in Cast Away & Forrest Gump
Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes
Robin Williams in Jumanji
Harrison Ford in The Fugitive
Bruce Willis in Hostage
Steve McQueen in Papillon
Richard Gere in Sommersby

Are there any other well-known instances I should consider?

Peter Sellers is most obvious as Pink Panther and his disguise(s)
Jim Carey
Jerry Lewis

 

[CaptchaProofBot]

help from chatGPT
Here are a few examples:

1. Hugh Jackman in "Les Miserables" - In the movie, Jackman's character Jean Valjean has a beard for the first part of the film, but shaves it off and appears clean-shaven later on.
2. Christian Bale in "American Hustle" - Bale's character Irving Rosenfeld has a thick beard at the beginning of the movie, but later shaves it off and appears without a beard.
3. Robert Downey Jr. in "Avengers: Endgame" - Downey Jr.'s character Tony Stark has a beard for most of the movie, but at the end, he appears clean-shaven after a significant time jump.
4. Tom Hardy in "The Revenant" - Hardy's character John Fitzgerald has a beard for most of the movie, but shaves it off later on in the film.
5. Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" - Depp's character Jack Sparrow has a beard in some scenes, but in others, he appears clean-shaven or with a shorter beard.

 

[CaptchaProofBot]

Sure, here are some more examples of actors appearing with and without a beard in the same movie:

1. Brad Pitt in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" - Pitt's character Benjamin Button appears with a full beard in the later stages of his life, but is clean-shaven in his earlier years.
2. Robert Downey Jr. in "Iron Man" - Downey's character Tony Stark appears with a goatee at the beginning of the movie, but later shaves it off as part of his character development.
3. Ewan McGregor in "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" - McGregor's character Obi-Wan Kenobi appears with a full beard for most of the movie, but is clean-shaven in a few scenes where he is on a mission.
4. Chris Evans in "Avengers: Infinity War" - Evans' character Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, appears with a full beard in the beginning of the movie, but later shaves it off for the final battle.
5. James Franco in "127 Hours" - Franco's character Aron Ralston appears with a scruffy beard throughout most of the movie, but shaves it off when he realizes he needs to take action to escape his predicament.

matt damon in the Martian ?
dudes in 2001 space odyssey ?
any space/time traveller movie ?

(can any human beat AI at trivia?)

 

[STFU Donnie]

I am thinking of making a Sporcle quiz relating to men who appear both clean shaven and have a beard in movies. So far I have thought of:

Al Pacino in Serpico
Lee Marvin in Hell in the Pacific
John Travolta in Urban Cowboy
Tom Hanks in Cast Away & Forrest Gump
Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes
Robin Williams in Jumanji
Harrison Ford in The Fugitive
Bruce Willis in Hostage
Steve McQueen in Papillon
Richard Gere in Sommersby

Are there any other well-known instances I should consider?

How about

Leonardo diCaprio in Django Unchained
Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski or True Grit
Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall
Alan Rickman in Die Hard
Kurt Russell in The Thing
Alec Guiness in Star Wars

 

[troybe]

Leo in Catch Me if You Can

 

[CaptchaProofBot]

Ben Hur
Jesus movies
Moses ?

 

[Exe Gesis]

Probably Charleton Heston in the Planet of the Apes

 

[troybe]

Is Bruce Willis in Last Boy Scout a beard or just an unshaven slob? When is a beard not a beard?

 

[Exe Gesis]

Arnold Schwarzenegger probably in a film like Total Recall or the one about clonea.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Clint Eastwood

 

[Exe Gesis]

Oscar Isaac in SW etc and in Ex Machina

 

[worbod]

Is Bruce Willis in Last Boy Scout a beard or just an unshaven slob? When is a beard not a beard?

For the purposes of the quiz I am contemplating I would consider a beard to be where the jaw line is covered. I was considering using Tom Cruise in Born on the Fourth of July but he does not seem to have his chin and cheeks fully covered with whiskers at any stage. This to my mind looks more like stubble than a genuine beard.

 

[troybe]

Is Bruce Willis in Last Boy Scout a beard or just an unshaven slob? When is a beard not a beard?

Same with Arnie in Kindergarten Cop, has a fuzzy face before shaving for school

 

[Exe Gesis]

Dennis Hopper ...many films with beard, like hang em high, apocalypse now, and many films without a beard

 

[worbod]

Just for the record, I was thinking of calling the quiz "To Beard or Not To Beard".

 

[CaptchaProofBot]

Just for the record, I was thinking of calling the quiz "To Beard or Not To Beard".

now how will you police the use of CheatGPT ?

 

[Pieman87]

Steven Segal in Hard to Kill