Trivia Round-up: August 2015

Allie is currently taking a short break from the blog (one of the many perks of running a joint blog!), so I have been trying to keep on top of the our posts in the meantime.  If she manages to get online before this is posted, she will have updated the trivia to what she wants it to be, but just in case (and as I am camping this weekend with a distinct lack of internet access) I thought I better hazard a guess as which trivia she would find interesting!! Here goes:

The Longest Ride (2015)
This movie features three actors who are descendants of notable film directors: Scott Eastwood (son of Clint Eastwood), Jack Huston (grandson of John Huston), and Oona Chaplin (granddaughter of Charles Chaplin).

Philomena (2013)
There are flashbacks which are done with "home movies". Some of these were created for the film but some of them are from actual footage of her real son.

Magic in the Moonlight (2014)
Stanley's onstage persona of Wei Ling Soo is a reference to the magician Chung Ling Soo. Chung Ling Soo was the stage name of William Ellsworth Robinson (1861-1918) and was a popular magician in the U.S. and Europe for many years. Like Stanley, Chung Ling Soo was also known for trying to debunk spiritualists, even writing a book about it in 1898. A major difference this movie makes from its inspiration, however, is how careful the men were to protect their Chinese personas. In the movie, it seems as though people are rather aware of Stanley's role as Wei Ling Soo; in reality, Robinson was very careful to protect against the public's knowledge of who Chung Ling Soo really was. (This protection of Soo's character was a major point in the movie The Prestige (2006).)

Terminator Genisys (2015)
Jason Clarke is the sixth actor to play John Connor in the many portrayals of the character. This has lead to people referring to him as the "Rusty Griswold" of the Terminator series as five different actors have portrayed that role in the many films. On behalf of Allie, I thought she would like the connection to Vacation!!

Moon (2009)
Kevin Spacey read the script and agreed to voice Gerty but when the film was finished and only if he liked it. Having loved it, he recorded his lines in half a day. This is another one for Allie, there was probably better trivia for this but i didn't want to read any spoilers as I haven't seen it!!

Insurgent (2015)
The plot of the novel, Insurgent, is vastly different than that of the movie. This probably explains why I had no idea what was going on!

Focus (2015)
It was originally scheduled to star Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone but both dropped out. Now that would have been interesting to watch!

Predestination (2014)
If you look closely at the newspaper article text in the beginning of the movie the paragraphs are the same for each article, only the headlines changes. Sorry Allie, again I was scared of spoilers so I didn't scroll any further down to find more trivia!!

American Sniper (2015)
In the beginning of the movie, Clint Eastwood makes his "Hitchcock" appearance as an extra, entering in the church where Chris will steal his Bible.  This made me want to watch the movie to spot him, the kind of trivia me and Allie love are the ones that make you ant to watch the movie again!

The Spectacular Now (2013)
The ending in the movie differs from the ending in the novel. In the movie, there is a more hopeful ending for Sutter, and his relationship with Aimee is left slightly open ended. In the book, Sutter lies to Aimee, telling her that he cannot go to Philadelphia right after graduation like they had planned because he must attend summer school. He convinces her to go without him and promises her that he will go once he finishes school. However, Sutter tells the reader that he will never contact her again and will block her email and phone number. The book ends with Sutter drunkenly walking down the street by himself with a bleeding finger that he cut while opening a beer bottle. I hadn't watched this film when Allie wrote her review but I have since watched it so wasn't afraid of spoilers.

The Road Within (2014)
According to the podcast "An Irishman Abroad" Robert Sheehan continued the ticks and tourettes outbursts throughout the whole shoot.

Fantastic Four (2015)
The decoration hanging on the mirror in Johnny Storm's car during the race is a Fire Flower from Nintendo's Mario Brothers series. When Mario uses the flower he gains the ability to throw fireballs, much like Johnny Storm when he becomes the Human Torch. There was a lot of trivia about the Director and his dislike for the final film, rather than get into all that I went with something more lighthearted.