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 the graveyard scene in “Seven Psychopaths“, the grave that the Jack of Diamonds killer is hiding behind is named “Rourke”. Mickey Rourke was initially cast in the movie as Charlie (eventually played by Woody Harrelson) but dropped out after disagreements with the director.



2: Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro were Michael Mann’s first choices for the roles Hanna and McCauley in “Heat” but Nick Nolte and Jeff Bridges were discussed as a possible alternative for the two leads.



3: Terrence Malick wrote a ‘treatment’ for the Clint Eastwood classic “Dirty Harry” but none of his material was used for the final film.



4: Both Warren Beatty and Kevin Costner were considered for the role of Bill in “Kill Bill“. Both turned it down and it was Beatty who suggested that Tarantino use David Carradine instead.



5: The “You think I’m funny?” scene in “Goodfellas” was based on a story that Joe Pesci acted out for Martin Scorsese. While working in a restaurant as a young man, Pesci once told a mobster that he was funny and the mobster became very angry. Scorsese allowed Pesci and Ray Liotta to improvise the scene. He did not tell the other actors in the scene what would happen because he wanted their genuine surprised reactions.



6: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito and Hulk Hogan have all revealed in interviews that Schwarzenegger and DeVito were given the option of doing “Twins” or “Suburban Commando“; had the two chosen Suburban Commando, Hogan and Christopher Lloyd would have done Twins.



7: John Travolta, Tom Hanks, and Tom Cruise where among the actors that were considered for the role of Sheriff Freddy Heflin in “Copland“. Sylvester Stallone eventually got the role and gained 40 pounds for it by sticking to a diet of giant pancakes.



8: As roommates, Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman would often go to their apartment rooftop and play the drums. Hoffman played the bongo drums while Hackman played the conga drums. They did it out of their love for Marlon Brando, who they had heard played music in clubs. They wanted to be like Brando and were big fans of his.



9: Director Darren Aronofsky originally envisioned telling the story of “Black Swan” as part of the plot of “The Wrestler” and was actually developing a project that was about a love affair between a ballet dancer and a wrestler, but he realized pretty quickly that taking two worlds like wrestling and ballet was much too much for one movie.



10: In an interview with ‘Entertainment Weekly‘, Christopher Nolan explained that he based roles of the “Inception” team similar to roles that are used in filmmaking – Cobb (DiCaprio) is the director, Arthur (Gordon-Levitt) is the producer, Ariadne (Page) is the production designer, Eames (Hardy) is the actor, Saito (Watanabe) is the studio, and Fischer (Murphy) is the audience. “In trying to write a team-based creative process, I wrote the one I know,” said Nolan.

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.)