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: In “Saturday Night Fever“, in Tony’s (John Travolta) bedroom there’s a poster for “Rocky“, a film directed by John G. Avildsen. The sequel to this film, “Staying Alive“, was written and directed by the star of “Rocky“, Sylvester Stallone. In fact, Avildsen was the original director of this film but was fired by producer Robert Stigwood shortly before principal photography began due to “creative differences”. John Badham was approached to fill in at the last minute. Tony also has a poster for “Serpico” on his wall. Avildsen was originally considered to direct that film as well, but left the project due to “creative differences.”



2: The three main characters in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” are named after dogs. Short Round (Ke Huy Quan) was named after screenwriter Willard Huyck’s dog, Willie (Kate Capshaw) is named after Steven Spielberg’s dog and Indiana (Harrison Ford) is named after George Lucas’s dog.



3: Kiefer Sutherland is named after Warren Kiefer, pen name of Lorenzo Sabatini. Sabatini directed “Il castello dei morti vivi“, in which his father Donald Sutherland made his theatrical film debut.



4: Anjelica Huston was offered the leading role of Annie Wilkes in “Misery” and was interested, but was unable to accept it due to her commitment to “The Grifters“. Bette Midler also turned the role down before it went to Kathy Bates.



5: In the closing credits of “Jackie Brown“, Quentin Tarantino gives special thanks to “Bert D’Angelo’s Daughter”. In the late 70’s, Paul Sorvino starred in a TV detective show, “Bert D’Angelo/Superstar“. Thus “Bert D’Angelo’s Daughter” is Paul’s daughter and Tarantino’s girlfriend (at the time) Mira Sorvino. Sorvino can actually be seen (out of focus) in a brief court room scene.



6: The original director of “Malcolm X” was going to be Norman Jewison but he had to withdraw from the project due to outside pressure demanding that the subject be made by a black film-maker. At one point Oliver Stone also expressed interest in directing it as a follow-up to “JFK“; Stone’s first choice was Denzel Washington, who went on to star in the title role when Spike Lee came on board as director.



7: The part of John Keating (Robin Williams’ role) in “Dead Poet’s Society“, was once intended for Dustin Hoffman. The film was also going to be Hoffman’s directorial debut before Hoffman withdrew from the film. Liam Neeson had then originally landed the role to be directed by Jeff Kanew, but lost it to Robin Williams when director Peter Weir came on board. Bill Murray was also considered at one point.



8: The name of the high school in “Carrie” is Bates High, a reference to Norman Bates from “Psycho“. In addition, the four note violin theme from “Psycho” is used over and over in the film.



9: Kate Winslet holds a unique position in Academy Awards history: Only twice have two actresses been nominated for playing the same character in the same film. The first two were Gloria Stuart and Winslet in “Titanic“. The second two were Judi Dench and Winslet in “Iris“.



10: Director Francis Ford Coppola explains on the DVD commentary of “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” that Mina (Winona Ryder) and Jonathan Harker’s (Keanu Reeves) wedding was a reshoot done at a Los Angeles Greek Orthodox church. They filmed the entire ceremony with a genuine Orthodox minister and realized afterwards that Ryder and Reeves really were (unintentionally) married.

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.)