"Apollo 13" film opened 20 years ago, birthing an annoying catchphrase

** FILE **Director Ron Howard, left, and Producer Brian Grazer review footage from the motion picture "Apollo 13," in this undated handout photo. (AP Photo/Imagine/Universal, Ron Batzdorff) ** FILE **Director Ron Howard, left, and Producer Brian Grazer review footage from the motion picture "Apollo 13," in this undated handout photo. (AP Photo/Imagine/Universal, Ron Batzdorff) Photo: File / Getty Photo: File / Getty Image 1 of / 26 Caption Close "Apollo 13" film opened 20 years ago, birthing an annoying catchphrase 1 / 26 Back to Gallery

The film “Apollo 13” was released in theaters 20 years ago this week to wide acclaim. Filmed partially in Houston, the Ron Howard-directed space saga about the endangered Apollo 13 crew was a box office hit.

The movie would also give birth to one of the most annoying catchphrases known to man with “Houston, we have a problem,” which was misquoted from the actual doomed mission to the moon that ended up becoming one of the most harrowing moments of manned space exploration.

It’s been 45 years since the lunar-bound crew of the real Apollo 13 ran into mechanical trouble, necessitating a life-and-death operation at the Manned Spacecraft Center -- now known as Johnson Space Center -- in order to engineer a way for the three-man team to return home alive.

RELATED: “Houston, we have a problem,” is the problem

The film, released June 30, 1995, was filmed largely in Los Angeles, but the scenes featuring the cast of Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Bacon floating weightless in their tiny space capsule were filmed in the belly of a KC-135 jet based at Ellington Field.

The astronaut-training aircraft, nicknamed the “Vomit Comet,” can simulate weightlessness for 25 seconds at a time during steep dives over the Gulf of Mexico.

According to reports, “Apollo 13” was the first Hollywood film in which much of the weightlessness is authentic, not created by special effects.

Howard told reporters that the production called for two daily flights of three hours each at the Johnson Space Center. The jet would do several parabolas in a row, during which Howard could shoot weightless scenes. He said it reminded him of filming underwater.

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During filming in the winter of 1995, Hanks visited Lila’s Restaurant in Pearland just miles from Ellington Field at least twice. A photo of the Oscar-winning actor still hangs on a wall at the restaurant. Hanks, then just 38, was everywhere that year with the smash hit “Forrest Gump” burning up the box office upon release. He dined at Grotto in Houston in the summer of 1994 while researching his film role, portraying Apollo 13 commander James Lovell.

Contrary to popular belief, the Mission Control scenes seen in "Apollo 13" were filmed in California.

Hanks, Ed Harris, Gary Sinise, Bacon, Kathleen Quinlan, and director Ron Howard came back to Houston in mid-June 1995 to tout the flick for the press. A screening at a theater in nearby Pasadena was held for NASA and Johnson Space Center employees.

During the trip Bacon and Howard took in a Houston Rockets game at the Summit as Hakeem Olajuwon and company battled for a second NBA title.

RELATED: Apollo 13's harrowing week began 45 years ago

According to a Chronicle story on the premiere event, some of the cast went on tours of the space center and hung out at the Outpost, the beloved Clear Lake bar sometimes frequented by astronauts.

It burned down in October 2010.

“Apollo 13” the movie would end up costing $53 million to make but earn Universal Studios just over $355 million in worldwide box office receipts.

The film would finish 1995 as the third highest-grossing flick of that year, just behind “Batman Forever” and another Hanks movie, the animated “Toy Story.”

As for “Houston, we have a problem” it shows no signs of stopping, annoying us Houstonians incessantly, even two decades after the release of “Apollo 13.”

The movie took some liberties with the exact wording of the iconic phrase too.

“Okay, Houston, we’ve had a problem here,” said Apollo 13 astronaut Jack Swigert, relaying the news of an oxygen tank blowing inside the lunar service module. Fellow astronaut Lovell then came up behind him over the radio waves and said, “Houston, we’ve had a problem.”

It’s now the mother of all clichés, repeated and tweaked ad nauseum, much to the chagrin of all of us. It doesn't stop unimaginative headline writers from using it. Set a Google Alert for it and you will see that it is used worldwide, even when the story has nothing to do with Houston or NASA.

"It's a generic type of cliché," Lovell told the Chronicle in 1995. "But I think it's one that'll be around for a while."