Trivia Round-Up: February 2016

It's been quite an overwhelming month of hard-hitting Oscar movies! I've never felt so cold in all my life, both physically and mentally (thanks, The Revenant and Spotlight) nor have I cried so many tears (here's looking at you, Room), and so I'm looking forward to a much lighter March! Here's some fun trivia for all the movies we've reviewed this month.

The Revenant (2016)

Leonardo DiCaprio states in an interview that he had witnessed Arthur RedCloud (Hikuc) eating bison on the set all day and when the scene came for him to eat the bison liver, they gave him this red gelatinous "pancake" that looked so unrealistic that he decided to eat the real thing in the scene. He admitted that he "would never, never do that again".

There is so much great trivia for this movie it was so hard to pick but this highlights to me how committed DiCaprio is as an actor.

Far from the Madding Crowd (2014)

The health and safety team on the film were concerned about the cast filming with sheep, but let Carey Mulligan ride a horse and she had a concussion after coming off. When she and Matthias Schoenaerts shot the last scene of the film, she came racing round the corner and got thrown off and landed on her head. Ten minutes later, they were filming the big declaration scene and she just dropped to her knees. Schoenaerts thought she was acting and just carried on, and then she slumped over. Mulligan told that she was genuinely concussed for about six weeks of the filming and there are parts that she doesn't remember.

The Big Short (2016)

There are no special effects used for the left glass eye of Michael Burry. Christian Bale can rest one eye and move around with the other on command.

I am fully aware that there are probably shed loads of better trivia than this but I couldn't resist! That's gross and I love it!

Brooklyn (2015)

In February 2016, it was announced that the producers of this film were developing a spin-off TV series revolving Julie Walters's character Mrs. Keogh and the boarding house of which she is in charge. Hereby, this marks the first Best Picture nominee to be directly followed by a spin-off TV series, rather than a sequel.

I can't wait to see this...

Sisters (2015)

In the sisters' bedroom, there is a poster by one of the beds partly behind a lamp of Rob Lowe, who worked with Amy Poehler on Parks and Recreation (2009).

How does such a funny movie have such boring trivia?

A Most Violent Year (2014)

Oscar Isaac's oil company in the movie is called Standard Heating Oil Co. In Drive (2011) Oscar Isaac's character was called Standard Gabriel. The name of the company can be seen in a scene where Isaac is stood atop one of his trucks with Standard emblazoned in huge writing beneath him.

Burnt (2015)

World renowned chefs Gordon Ramsay, Marco Pierre White, Marcus Wareing and Clare Smyth provided inspiration for Cooper's Adam Jones, though Cooper most closely emulates Ramsay's characteristic kitchen rants.

Now, if Bradley Cooper showed some more inner Gordon Ramsay this movie would have been much better!

Spotlight (2015)
The real Walter Robinson said: "My persona has been hijacked. If Michael Keaton robbed a bank, the police would quickly have me in handcuffs".
A lot of the Spotlight trivia is like this. A real testament to the amazing job the cast did!

About Time (2013)
This is the third movie in which Rachel McAdams stars as the love interest of a time traveler. The previous ones were The Time Traveler's Wife (2009), in which she played the titular wife to Eric Bana's character and Midnight in Paris (2011), in which she played the fiancée of Owen Wilson's character.
Well that's added two movies to my watch list... I love The Time Travelers Wife, I'm going to go and watch it now!

Coherence (2013)
Relying on a low budget of $50K, the movie was shot over five nights in a single location with dialogue that was largely improvised.

Alien (1979)
To get Jones the cat to react fearfully to the descending Alien, a German Shepherd was placed in front of him with a screen between the two, so the cat wouldn't see it at first. The screen was then suddenly removed to make Jones stop advancing and start hissing.
Aww, that poor cat! Hehe!!