Buzzfeed has a list of 19 “behind-the-scenes” facts about ’90s movies that you may not have known . . . especially if you don’t watch interviews on late-night talk shows or the special features on DVDs and Blu-rays.
Here are 10 highlights:
1. “Titanic”: Matthew McConaughey almost played Jack, and Claire Danes almost played Rose.
2. “Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace”: Tupac Shakur was a die-hard “Star Wars” fan, and before he died, he auditioned for the role that Samuel L. Jackson got, Mace Windu.
3. “Independence Day”: The U.S. military was originally going to supply costumes, props, and even PLANES to be used in the movie . . . but they withdrew their support when the filmmakers refused to remove references to Area 51 . . . the highly classified Air Force facility that MIGHT have evidence of alien visits.
4. “The Sixth Sense”: The executive who bought the screenplay for Disney’s Buena Vista label lost his job over the purchase. He bought it for $2.25 million and THOUGHT Disney would be happy about it. They were not. Disney fired him, and let another company finance the movie . . . and because of that, they only got 12.5% of the HUGE profits.
5. “Armageddon”: Ben Affleck says he once asked director Michael Bay “why it was easier to train oil drillers to become astronauts than it was to train astronauts to become oil drillers.” Michael told him “to shut the [eff] up,” and ended the talk. Ben mocks the plot for a few minutes on a DVD commentary track.
6. “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”: Arnold Schwarzenegger was paid $21,429 per word. His salary was $15 million, but only spoke 700 words total.
7. “Ghost”: Bruce Willis was originally supposed to star in it with his then-wife Demi Moore, but he turned it down because he didn’t understand how romance with a ghost could work. He later called himself a “knucklehead” for doing that.
8. “Twister”: To give each tornado a distinctive sound, the sound designers altered a recording of a CAMEL’S MOAN, lowering the pitch until it created a creepy, cavernous sound. The movie was later nominated for a Best Sound Oscar.
9. “Toy Story 2”: Disney originally wanted the “Toy Story” sequels to be direct-to-video releases, like “Aladdin 2: Return of Jafar”. But that would’ve been a big mistake, because the sequels went on to make more than $2.6 BILLION worldwide.
10. “Home Alone”: Writer / director John Hughes wrote the screenplay in just nine days . . . and the last 44 pages in just eight hours . . . after a stressful family trip to Europe that left him thinking, “What if one of my kids has been accidentally left behind at home?”
Buzzfeed.com has the whole list
