Welcome back to Tuesday’s Trivia Tidbits. For those of you out of the loop, this is a little compilation of 10 movie related facts that I will be posting weekly and info that I always find interesting. So without further ado, this weeks are…



1: Woody Harrelson, Demi Moore and Robert Redford were the cast of “Indecent Proposal” but it was originally designed as a star vehicle for Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, with Warren Beatty taking the part of the millionaire.



2: After “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade“, Harrison Ford and Sean Connery passed up three subsequent opportunities to work together. Connery accepted a role in “The Hunt for Red October“, while Ford declined the role of Jack Ryan, which went to Alec Baldwin instead. (Ford later took over the role in “Patriot Games“). Ford and Connery both declined the roles of Alan Grant and John Hammond, respectively, in “Jurassic Park” and Connery declined to return to the role of Henry Jones in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull“.



3: After playing Al Capone in “The Untouchables“, Robert DeNiro was looking for some lighter material to do next. Initially, he wanted to play the lead in Penny Marshall’s “Big“, but the studio wasn’t interested in having DeNiro play the role, and it ultimately went to Tom Hanks. He then became involved in “Midnight Run“.



4: For the Spike Jonze film “Adaptation“, Donald Kaufman was nominated for a Golden Globe with writer Charlie Kaufman, despite being a fictional character. They were also both nominated for an Academy Award and the Academy made it known that, in the event of a victory, the two brothers would have to share one statue.



5: After she just won her Oscar for “Kramer vs. Kramer” in 1979, during the festivities, Meryl Streep left the statuette on the back of a toilet.



6: At one point, George Lucas had planned the character of Han Solo to be a huge green-skinned monster with no nose and gills. Then Lucas changed the idea of Han Solo to a black human. He auditioned several black actors and even musicians (including Billy Dee Williams) until finally settling on Glynn Turman. But after this he decided to make the role white. Kurt Russell, Nick Nolte, Christopher Walken, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Bill Murray, Robert Englund, Sylvester Stallone, John Travolta and Perry King were all candidates for the role of Han Solo. George Lucas also wanted to stay away from any actors he had previously used in his films. James Caan, Jack Nicholson, Robert DeNiro and Burt Reynolds turned down the role. Harrison Ford (who had played Bob Falfa in Lucas’s “American Graffiti“) read the part of Han Solo for screen tests of other characters but wasn’t originally considered for the part. During these tests Lucas realized Ford was perfect for the role.



7: Before becoming an actor Russell Crowe tried a music career as a rockabilly singer sporting a large pompadour hairdo, playing under the name Russ Le Roq. He titled his first single “I Want to Be Like Marlon Brando” but later admitted that he had never even seen a Brando movie when he wrote and recorded the song.



8: When Steven Spielberg first showed composer John Williams a cut of the film “Schindler’s List“, Williams was so moved he had to take a walk outside for several minutes to collect himself. Upon his return, Williams told Spielberg he deserved a better composer. Spielberg replied, “I know, but they’re all dead.”



9: In 1969, Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Jay Cocks met author Philip K. Dick to discuss the possibility of adapting his novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” into a film, but they never optioned the novel, and the project fell through. Ridley Scott would, of course, turn it into “Blade Runner” in 1982.



10: There have been many speculations as to the nature of the mysterious glowing contents of the briefcase in “Pulp Fiction” – The most persistent theory is that it is Marcellus Wallace’s soul. The story goes that when the Devil takes a person’s soul, it is removed through the back of the head (this isn’t part of any known religion, though). When we see the back of Marcellus’s head he has a Band-Aid covering the precise spot indicated by his soul removal. Perhaps Marcellus sold his soul to the devil which would also explain why the combination to open the briefcase is 666.

So there you have it. 10 esoteric Tidbits to masticate on. Some you may know. Some you may not. If you have any thoughts, stick your donations in the comment box.

See you next Tuesday…

(For earlier editions of Trivia Tidbits click here.).