Welcome back to Trivia Tidbits. For those of you out of the loop, this is a little compilation of 10 movie related facts that I always find interesting. So without further ado, this weeks are…



1: Although widely known as “Rocky“, this isn’t, in fact, the character’s actual name. His real name is Robert Balboa – this was seen in a rough script from the second film. He took the nickname from real-life boxer Rocky Marciano.



2: At the time the movie “The ‘Burbs” was being filmed Corey Feldman and Michael Jackson were close friends. While the King of Pop did not visit the set, his famed chimpanzee Bubbles was a frequent guest, but had to be confined to Feldman’s trailer while he was filming. After shooting Corey would return to his trailer to find that the chimp had shat everywhere and spread the mess around the interior. This problem repeated itself and became such a distraction that director Joe Dante eventually banned Bubbles from the set.



3: In “The Wolf of Wall Street“, Martin Scorsese claimed that the sequence of Jordan Belfort attempting to get in his car while overdosed on Quaaludes was improvised on the day of filming, and that it was Leonardo DiCaprio’s idea to open the car door with his foot. DiCaprio strained his back during the scene, and was only able to perform the stunt once.



4: Before Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels were cast as Harry and Lloyd in “Dumb & Dumber“, the original choices were, in fact, Nicolas Cage and Gary Oldman.



5: The story “A Bronx Tale“, written by Chazz Palminteri, is adapted from his autobiographical one-man play. His real name is Calogero Lorenzo Palminteri. When Robert DeNiro offered to purchase the film rights, Palminteri refused to sell them unless he could write the screenplay and play the role of Sonny. DeNiro would, of course, oblige.



6: A promotional poster for David Gordon Green’s “The Sitter” includes the personal phone number of Jonah Hill. It is listed as (917) 409-7838. Hill had set an automatic message or would speak to the caller either in character or as himself.



7: Funds earned by Pink Floyd’s album “Dark Side of the Moon“, went towards funding “Monty Python and the Holy Grail“. The band were such fans of the show “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” that they would halt recording sessions just to watch it.



8: During an early scene in “Twister” when Philip Seymour Hoffman is sitting on a lawn chair, he lifts his leg in the air while laughing. His genitals were fully visible for a split second; this was edited out for DVD and VHS releases, but was leaked from VHS screeners sent to industry professionals.



9: Director Harold Ramis originally wanted Tom Hanks for the lead role in “Groundhog Day” but decided against it, saying that Hanks was “too nice”.



10: Marlon Brando was paid $1 million in advance for “Apocalypse Now“. He threatened to quit and keep the advance. Francis Ford Coppola told his agent that he didn’t care, and if they couldn’t get Brando, they would try Jack Nicholson, Robert Redford, and then Al Pacino. Brando eventually turned up late, drunk, about 88lbs overweight, and admitted he hadn’t read the script or even “Heart of Darkness“, the book it was based on. He read Coppola’s script, and refused to do it. After days of arguments over single lines of dialogue, an ad-lib style script was agreed upon, and this was shot according to Brando’s stipulations that he be filmed mostly in shadows.

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…

(For earlier editions of Trivia Tidbits click here.)