Pay Check (2003)
  • Ben Affleck was signed for the role of Michael Jennings after it had been offered to Matt Damon who declined because he was already playing a somewhat similar character in the Born Identity.

      Pitch Black (2000)
  • A company called Lens Quest produced the prototype contact lenses worn by Vin Diesel in the film, and although they had problems removing them on set, they did briefly release a version for sale called Shine Job.
  • It was originally scripted for Vin Diesel's character, Riddick, to be killed of by one of the alien monsters by the end of the film, but the studio were sufficiently impressed by Vin Diesels performance that the ending was changed to retain the chance of a sequel.

      Predator (1987)
  • The alien predator was originally cast to be played by Jean-Claude Van Damme, but after disagreements over the size of his role Van Damme resigned, and was replaced by Kevin Peter Hall who can be seen out of the alien costume as a helicopter pilot near the end of the film.
  • The director John McTiernan reportedly came back from filming in Mexico with a broken wrist, and having lost nearly 30 pounds as he would not eat on location to reduce the chances of food poisoning.
  • Three of the actors in the special forces commando team have since run for office, with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse 'the body' Ventura winning election as state governors, and Sony Landham missing out.

      Robocop (1987)
  • Director Paul Verhoeven appears in a brief cameo in the scene where RoboCop arrests Leon in the disco club, he can be seen dancing and looking towards the camera.
  • Both Michael Ironside and Rutget Hauer were in consideration for the part of RoboCop during pre-production, before Peter Weller was signed in the title role.

      Sky Captain and the World of Tomorow (2004)
  • The production methods used in Sky Captain make it one of the first of a new generation of movies shot entirely with high definition digital cameras and blue screen technology, meaning that all the environments seen in the film are computer generated, and the whole production was shot, without the need for outside location filming, in under a month.
  • When the giant robots use energy beams to extract the generators the noise they make was inspired by the ray guns used in the 1953 film, The War of the Worlds, which also inspired the energy weapon sound affect in Mars Attacks!
  • You may be surprised to see the evil Dr. Totenkopf being played by Sir Laurence Olivier, given that as of the films release, Olivier had been dead for about 15 years, but Kerry Conran was able to create the performance using CGI and archive film.
  • In one shot where newspaper headlines are visible from all over the world, if you look closely you can make out Godzilla in the Japanese paper.
  • The spire on the Empire State Building at which the air-ship docks was actually designed for exactly that purpose in real life, but the practical difficulties in keeping an air ship stable at such a mooring, along with the decline in enthusiasm for air-ship travel following the Hindenberg disaster meant the idea was abandoned.

      Spider-Man (2002)
  • Both Leonardo DiCaprion and Freddie Prinze Jr were considered for the part of Peter Parker, also John Malkovich and Nicolas Cage had been offered the Green Goblin part before Willem Dafoe.
  • Because Spider-Man was filmed before the events of September 11th 2001, but released afterwards, there were scenes that featured the Twin Towers buildings, the production decided to cut the original trailer that showed a giant web spun between the towers, but they left in a small shot some shots that had the towers as a distant background.
  • The original creator of the Spider-Man comic books, Stan Lee, has a brief cameo in the scene where the focus is on the balcony during the festival when the Green Goblin attacks.
  • As far back as the early 90's it was originally intended for James Cameron to write and direct the big screen treatment of Spider-Man with Michael Biehn from Terminator as Peter Parker and Arnold Schwarzenegger playing Dr. Octopus, but at the time the special effects technology was not at the level Cameron wanted.

      Spider-Man 2 (2004)
  • Before they settled on Alfred Molina to play the part of Dr. Otto Octavius, Sam Neill, Chris Cooper, Ed Harris, and Robert De Niro had all been considered by the films producers.
  • In the section on the train where two boys pass Spider-Man his mask, they are being played by Tobey Maguire's two half brothers, Weston Epp and Jopaul Epp.
  • Jake Gyllenhaal almost stepped in to play the title role in the sequel when it was thought that an injury to his back would prevent Tobey Maguire from returning to his staring role.

      Starship Troopers (1997)
  • Carl's pet was originally intended to be a frog, but was changed before shooting.
  • Starship Troopers got through more ammunition than any summer blockbuster up to that time.
  • The band playing at the graduation party are performing an altered version of a David Bowie song called 'I Have Not Been To Oxford Town'.
  • The scene where the troopers occupy and then defend an abandoned fort was inspired by the 1964 movie 'Zulu' and contains several references to it in dialogue and camera angles.
  • The writer Edward Neumeier appears in a cameo as a criminal with a death sentence during one of the commercial breaks.

      Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)
  • It has been reported that early in shooting the studio executives had concerns that Chewbacca appeared to wear no clothing, and thus suggested that he be outfitted with a pair of lederhosen.
  • When Star Wars was first offered for distribution to U.S. cinemas very few were willing to give it a chance, and the distributor, 20th Century Fox, had to threaten withholding screening rights for 'the Other Side of Midnight' to anyone who would not show Star Wars.
  • The character of Chewbacca which has variations on the Wookie roar as his only line in the film, was played by Peter Mayhew, who accepted the part after being offered the role of Darth Vader, which he turned down as he didn't want to play the 'bad guy'.
  • The actor Harrison Ford was originally only there as a temporary stand in to help George Lucas audition actors for the other leading roles, but during the process Lucas decided that he would make the perfect Han Solo, Christopher Walken and Nick Nolte had been under consideration.
  • Shooting the 'trash compactor' scene caused Mark Hamill to burst a blood vessel in his face after holding his breath for to long, and the Chewbacca costume retained the smell throughout the rest of filming.
  • The scene in which Luke (Mark Hamill) arrives back at his adoptive parents farm to find death and destruction is thought to be inspired by a similar scene in 'The Searchers' in which a farm is destroyed by Indians.
  • Director George Lucas is reported to have said that the character of Darth Vader partially inspired by 'Hakaider' the villain featured in a Japanese TV series, though the name Vader is actually 'father' in the Dutch language.

      Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
  • Amongst the changes made for the recent DVD released versions of the film are the re-recording of Boba Fetts voice by Temuera Morrison who had the part of Jango Fett in 'Attack of the Clones' had the re-shooting of the scene where Vader contacts the Emperor, now with Ian McDiarmid in the role, and additional dialogue.
  • Creator George Lucas was so determined to keep the surprise ending for getting out that during filming David Prowse, who played the physical aspect of Darth Vader, performed alternative versions of the final line suggesting that Obi Wan Kenobi was Lukes father.
  • Some of the script and story choices made for the character of Han Solo were shaped by the fact that Harrison Ford hadn't decided if he would return for another sequel, and unlike Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, Ford had only signed for one film at a time.

      Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
  • Before George Lucas hired Richard Marquand to direct the movie, alternative directors including David Cronenberg and David Lynch had both been approached but had declined the opportunity, Steven Spielberg was also considered.
  • The story line revolving around taking out the shield generator in the forest underwent significant changes from the original version, it had been intended that the local population who aid the rebellion would have been an uprising of Wookies, but this was later changed to the smaller, easier for effects work, Ewoks.
  • There is some dispute about the original title of the movie, some have suggested that it was going to be called 'Revenge of the Jedi' but George Lucas changed his mind at the last minute; the alternative version is that 'Revenge' was always a fake title used to undermine attempts at counterfeiting packaging and merchandise, the title however has gone to be used during production of 'Revenge of the Sith'.

      The Terminator (1984)
  • Arnold Schwarzenegger was not the first choice to play the title role, with O. J. Simpson having been considered and Lance Henriksen being cast, Schwarzenegger, who had been cast as the hero at that point, was the one that suggested he would fit better in the role of the terminator, than as the good guy.
  • In the entire movie Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks less than twenty sentences of dialogue, although there are additional lines spoken by the Terminator, but voiced by other cast members.
  • The films two writers, James Cameron and William Wisher both get brief cameos, with Wisher as a police officer thrown aside by the Terminator, and Cameron as the voice on Sarah Connor's answering machine.
  • A scene was originally shot in which someone would be seen picking up the damaged remains of the Terminators CPU at the end of the movie, though it was not included in the film the idea was used as back story for the second film.

      Terminator 2 - Judgment Day (1991)
  • This sequel to The Terminator was the first movie ever made that cost more than $100 Million, of which $15 Million was earned by Schwarzenegger for his approximately 700 scripted words, the result was a movie that set the record for the highest opening weekend for a R-rated movie, and held it until 2003.
  • The actor originally intended to play the part of the morphing T-1000 villain was Michael Biehn who featured as the hero in the first Terminator movie, it would have made sense given that the T-1000 takes on the shape of who ever will make it easiest to approach its target, but the writers gave up on the idea as they thought the audience would be to confused.
  • The movies stunt coordinator, Joel Kramer has a brief cameo appearance in the break out scene as a guard standing in the security room at the hospital, William Wisher also cameos as a photograph-taking tourist in the mall.

      The Thing (1982)
  • In one scene a character looses both their arms, this was achieved by getting a stand in who had a real double amputation and having them wear a mask to look like the character.
  • To try and make the South Pole setting as believable as possible the movie was shot on a sound stage that had been refrigerated to 40F, though outside in L.A. it was closer to 90F.

      Total Recall (1990)
  • Prior to Paul Verhoeven and Arnold Schwarzenegger combining to create an action movie, David Cronenberg was to direct with actors such as Patrick Swayze, Jeff Bridges, or Richard Dreyfuss considered for the part of Douglas Quaid, in what would have been more of a murder / mystery style production.
  • In the scene where Douglas Quaid (Schwarzenegger) arrives at the hotel on mars, he gives his name as 'Brubaker', which is the same as the name of one of the crew in the film 'Capricoen One', a movie in which a NASA trip to mars turns out to be a high tech fake.
  • The inspiration for the film comes from a Philip K. Dick short story called 'We can Remember It For You Wholesale' which was optioned nearly twenty years before the film finally made it to cinemas.

      Twelve Monkeys (1995)
  • The story of a global viral disaster is underlined with a clip from the file 'Andromeda Strain' being shown on the TV. in the dayroom, in that movie a pathogen from space threatens to wipe out all life on earth.
  • There is a scene in which Dr. Peters is holding a tray with seven vials containing a gold liquid, this is in reference to a passage in the Book of Revelations which refers to seven golden vials filled with God's wrath.

      War Games (1983)
  • The writers of 'War Games' Lawrence Lasker and Walter Parkes also went on to write another movie about hackers some years later called Sneakers, which often comes top in votes for the best 'hacker' movie ever.
  • The scene showing the NORAD command centre was at the time one of the most expensive movie sets ever constructed, but because the designers had no access to the real NORAD command centre they were forced to use their imaginations, the result being something reportedly much more impressive than the real thing.

      X-Files the Movie (1998)
      X-Men (2000)
  • One of the X-Men who didn't make it into the movie was 'Beast', it was originally intended to include him but the extent of the makeup required meant that he was cut late in design.
  • Stan Lee the creator of the X-Men comic book series and executive producer of the movies gets a brief cameo passing a hot dog stand in the scene where Senator Kelly comes out of the water onto the beach.
  • In one of the DVD editions of the film there is an 'Easter Egg' scene in which an actor in a Spiderman suit surprises the X-Men actors.
  • The Toads comment about the X-Men never dieing is a joke reference to the comic book series in which almost all the major characters have died at one time or other, only to be brought back.
  • Other actors considered for the part of Wolverine included Keanu Reeves, Russell Crow, and Mel Gibson.

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