-In order to get the background skies looking suitably stormy, the truck cab sequences had to be flooded with high-intensity lighting for contrast. As a result, Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton suffered minor retinal burns through much of the filming.
-A jet engine from a Boeing 707 was used to generate wind in some scenes.
-A recording of a camel's moan was slowed down and used as the sound of the tornado.
-Features The Shining (1980), directed by Stanley Kubrick, and also has characters named "Stanley" and "Kubrick".
-The oil truck in the tornado bears the name "Benthic Petroleum", the name of the company in The Abyss (1989). See also Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).
-Trailers contain a shot not in the film: a truck tire hurtling towards the viewer.
-Helen Hunt was injured while filming the scene where the truck drives through the corn, when the door was forced back into her head. For later shots, the door was wedged open.
-"It sucks" was originally going to be used as one of the taglines for the film, but the producers felt that it worked too much to the advantage of disappointed audiences and critics.
-The real town of Wakita, Oklahoma had part of its old downtown area demolished by the film crew for the scenes after the twister passes. The studio then paid for the downtown to be rebuilt. -The town also kept the new fire truck used in the film.
-In the scene before the tornado hits Aunt Meg's house, she is watching A Star Is Born (1954) starring Judy Garland, who of course was Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1939), which features a tornado.
-The original Director of Photography was Don Burgess (best known for his collaborations with Robert Zemeckis), but he and many other crewmembers walked off the set midway through filming after a series of heated arguments with director Jan de Bont.
-Was the first movie released on DVD.
-The instrument package used in the movie, "Dorothy", is actually a homage to the instrument pack real tornado researchers attempt to place in the paths of tornados, "T.O.T.O.".
-The laptops used in the film are Silicon Graphics Indy Presenter LCD screens (not real laptops) that have been modified to look like functional laptops when in fact the screen image is generated by a computer off-screen.
-The red combine used in the film is now in Watrous, Saskatchewan, Canada
-The project was a co-production between Universal and Warner Bros. That is why the drive-in marquee shows Psycho (1960) a Universal release and The Shining (1980), a Warner Bros. release.
-Jan de Bont is a fan of singer Tori Amos, and decided early on he wanted to include some of her music in the film.
-According to the book on the making of the movie, the CGI cow picked up by the twister sisters was originally a CGI zebra from Jumanji (1995).
-Right after Bill and Jo come out of the toppled house, the teddy bear that hits their truck is CG.
-Jan de Bont said he regretted thinking of the hail sequence because it took so long to do and was very difficult. Also the crew couldn't find ice blocks big enough in Oklahoma, so they had to find them in other states.
-Lois Smith's character is reading Dante's Inferno when the twister hits Wakita. The book also features a tornado in the second circle of Hell that punishes people ruled by Lust.
-Many of the news reports spread throughout the movie are actual weathermen from Oklahoma news stations, including Gary England, chief meteorologist at KWTV in Oklahoma City, and Rick Mitchell, chief meteorologist at KOCO in Oklahoma City. The "1969" footage of Gary England giving the televised tornado warning to Jo's family is actual archived footage of him issuing a tornado warning; however, Gary England did not join KWTV until 1972.
-Young Jo's dog in the beginning of the movie is a Cairn Terrier, the same breed as Toto from the Wizard of Oz.
-The video that Dustin Davis plays when they chase the first tornado is for the song "Child In Time" by Deep Purple.
-The August 21st, 1995 draft of the screenplay credits Joss Whedon and 'Jeff Nathanson (I)' as writers. Niether are credited in the final film.
-At the end of the movie, Bill remarks that the tornado didn't take the house. It was originally supposed to. The Hardin County (Iowa) Historical Society and many citizens objected to the house being blown up so it was spared. The area is now a tourist attraction as the debris from the barn and fences is still there exactly as it was in the movie.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Halloween(1978)
- Was filmed in 22 days in April of 1978 on a budget of only $325,000.
- The black Fleetwood car owned by the character Morgan Strode was director John Carpenter's.
- Donald Pleasence finished all of his filming in only 5 days, and was paid $20,000 for his role as Dr. Sam Loomis.
- Halloween was voted the fifth scariest film of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
- The "Myers" house was a local home found in South Pasadena that was largely the decrepit, abandoned place seen in the majority of the film. However, as the house had to look ordinary (and furnished) for the early scenes with the young Michael Myers, almost the whole cast and crew worked together to clean the place, move in furniture, put up wallpaper, and set up running water and electricity, and then take it all out when they were through.
- Of the female leads (all the girls are supposed to be in high school), only Jamie Lee Curtis was actually a teenager at the time of shooting.
- The Halloween theme is written in the rare 5/4 time signature. John Carpenter learned this rhythm from his father.
- The scene where The Shape (Michael Myers) seems to appear out of the darkness behind Laurie was accomplished by using a simple dimmer switch on the light that slowly illuminated the mask.
- One of the characters is named "Marion Chambers". Marion was the first name of the female protagonist of Psycho (1960), and Chambers was the last name of the sheriff in that movie.
- According to an additional scene in the extended television version, Michael Myers' middle name is Audrey.
- The opening POV sequence took 2 days to film.
- Carpenter composed the score in 4 days.
- For its first airing on television, extra scenes had to be added to make it fit the desired time slot. Carpenter filmed these during the production of Halloween II (1981) against his better judgment.
- Carpenter considered the hiring of Jamie Lee Curtis as the ultimate tribute to Alfred Hitchcock who had given her mother, Janet Leigh, legendary status in Psycho (1960).
- As the film was shot out of sequence, Carpenter created a fear meter so that Jamie Lee Curtis would know what level of terror she should be exhibiting.
- Production designer Tommy Lee Wallace picked the iconic mask in a dime store. It was a mask of Captain Kirk and cost $1.98. Wallace spray painted the eyes to change the appearance (and also to avoid the risk of litigation).
- From a budget of $325,000 the film went on to gross $47 million at the US box office. In 2008 takings that would be the equivalent of $150 million, making "Halloween" one of the most successful independent films of all time.
- Originally the script had Dr. Loomis having a surprised reaction to the disappearance of Michael Myers's body from the lawn at the end of the film. Donald Pleasence suggested his character's reaction should instead be an "I knew this would happen" look on his face. They shot it both ways and ended up using Pleasance's idea.
- Body Count: 5 plus a dog.
- Because P.J. Soles' shirt was open for the scene where she is strangled with the telephone cord, an alternate version was shot for the trailer and publicity shots where she is wearing a bathrobe.
- All of the actors wore their own clothes, since there was no money for a costume department. Jamie Lee Curtis went to J.C. Penney for Laurie Strode's wardrobe. She spent less than a hundred dollars for the entire set. She shot the film while on hiatus from the sitcom Operation Petticoat (1977).
- P.J. Soles says the word "totally" eleven times.
- The song that is playing on the radio when Laurie and Annie are in the car is "Don't Fear The Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult.
- Tommy Doyle's name was from Rear Window (1954) and Sam Loomis' name is from Psycho (1960).
- Jamie Lee Curtis' first feature film.
- The black Fleetwood car owned by the character Morgan Strode was director John Carpenter's.
- Donald Pleasence finished all of his filming in only 5 days, and was paid $20,000 for his role as Dr. Sam Loomis.
- Halloween was voted the fifth scariest film of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
- The "Myers" house was a local home found in South Pasadena that was largely the decrepit, abandoned place seen in the majority of the film. However, as the house had to look ordinary (and furnished) for the early scenes with the young Michael Myers, almost the whole cast and crew worked together to clean the place, move in furniture, put up wallpaper, and set up running water and electricity, and then take it all out when they were through.
- Of the female leads (all the girls are supposed to be in high school), only Jamie Lee Curtis was actually a teenager at the time of shooting.
- The Halloween theme is written in the rare 5/4 time signature. John Carpenter learned this rhythm from his father.
- The scene where The Shape (Michael Myers) seems to appear out of the darkness behind Laurie was accomplished by using a simple dimmer switch on the light that slowly illuminated the mask.
- One of the characters is named "Marion Chambers". Marion was the first name of the female protagonist of Psycho (1960), and Chambers was the last name of the sheriff in that movie.
- According to an additional scene in the extended television version, Michael Myers' middle name is Audrey.
- The opening POV sequence took 2 days to film.
- Carpenter composed the score in 4 days.
- For its first airing on television, extra scenes had to be added to make it fit the desired time slot. Carpenter filmed these during the production of Halloween II (1981) against his better judgment.
- Carpenter considered the hiring of Jamie Lee Curtis as the ultimate tribute to Alfred Hitchcock who had given her mother, Janet Leigh, legendary status in Psycho (1960).
- As the film was shot out of sequence, Carpenter created a fear meter so that Jamie Lee Curtis would know what level of terror she should be exhibiting.
- Production designer Tommy Lee Wallace picked the iconic mask in a dime store. It was a mask of Captain Kirk and cost $1.98. Wallace spray painted the eyes to change the appearance (and also to avoid the risk of litigation).
- From a budget of $325,000 the film went on to gross $47 million at the US box office. In 2008 takings that would be the equivalent of $150 million, making "Halloween" one of the most successful independent films of all time.
- Originally the script had Dr. Loomis having a surprised reaction to the disappearance of Michael Myers's body from the lawn at the end of the film. Donald Pleasence suggested his character's reaction should instead be an "I knew this would happen" look on his face. They shot it both ways and ended up using Pleasance's idea.
- Body Count: 5 plus a dog.
- Because P.J. Soles' shirt was open for the scene where she is strangled with the telephone cord, an alternate version was shot for the trailer and publicity shots where she is wearing a bathrobe.
- All of the actors wore their own clothes, since there was no money for a costume department. Jamie Lee Curtis went to J.C. Penney for Laurie Strode's wardrobe. She spent less than a hundred dollars for the entire set. She shot the film while on hiatus from the sitcom Operation Petticoat (1977).
- P.J. Soles says the word "totally" eleven times.
- The song that is playing on the radio when Laurie and Annie are in the car is "Don't Fear The Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult.
- Tommy Doyle's name was from Rear Window (1954) and Sam Loomis' name is from Psycho (1960).
- Jamie Lee Curtis' first feature film.
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