17 Utterly Adorable Behind-The-Scenes Facts From Super-Popular Films That I Can Almost Guarantee You've Never Heard Before
1.You probably think of Bing Bong as one of the most memorable characters in Inside Out.
Pixar
Remember when Riley first draws Bing Bong? Well, they actually used a real sketch from the director of photography's 7-year-old daughter.
See the Bing Bong drawing by Kim White's (Director of Photography) 7 year-old daughter that ended up in the film!
2.One of Hogarth's character quirks in The Iron Giant was filling his Twinkies with whipped cream. This was written in because it was something director Brad Bird actually did as a kid.
Warner Bros. Pictures
3.And to make things extra realistic, Eli Marienthal, who voiced Hogarth, actually ate Twinkies while recording.
4.The audition that got Chris Hemsworth in the running for Thor featured his mom.
Chris auditioned for Thor but didn't hear back, and his brother Liam actually ended up auditioning as well and making it to the final four or five people in consideration. Chris was asked to audition again and sent in a tape from a hotel room — he had his mom read for Anthony Hopkins' part.
"She must have nailed it because it got me back in the room," Chris said of his mom's performance.
Marvel
Chris claimed his in-person audition went great, especially as it was motivated by some sibling rivalry. He ended up beating out Liam for the role.
5.50 First Dates, a rom-com about a woman who forgets each day as it ends, actually inspired a real program for people with Alzheimer's.
Sony Pictures Releasing
The film ends with Lucy watching a tape each morning of her loved ones explaining what's happened to her and where she is. This gave Charlotte Dell, the director of social services at the Hebrew Home at Riverdale in the Bronx, an idea. She started a program where relatives of residents with early stages of dementia would record video messages they'd play for the residents each morning.
The program had very positive results, helping residents set a positive tone for the day and become more amenable to receiving care from nurses they felt were strangers.
6.Remember Tabitha's fish from The Boss Baby: Family Business?
Well, it turns out director Tom McGrath based the fish on his own pet fish, who had recently died.
7.In another director pet reference, James Gunn named the cigars in The Suicide Squad after his pet dog, who had just passed away.
The cigars in #TheSuicideSquad are “Dr. Wesley Von Spears” brand, named after my best pal of 16 years, who passed away a couple weeks before finishing filming. Wes can also be seen in my assistant Meg’s arms in the foster home with @stormreid watching TV near the end of the film.
The dog also had a cameo in the film, when Bloodsport's daughter is watching the footage of the Squad in her foster home.
In The Suicide Squad (2021), James Gunn gave his dog a cameo. The dog was named "Dr. Wesley von Spears". He died in 2020 at the age of 16. from MovieDetails
His dog also had a cameo in his film Guardians of the Galaxy!
Marvel
8.Regarding Gunn, you may remember from my last post on heartwarming movie facts that his parents were featured in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and were credited as "Weird Old Man" and "Weird Old Man's Mistress."
But it wasn't just them — Gunn's brother, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and nieces and nephews were also in the scene. And, uh...their characters were killed. But apparently they were happy about it!
Also, my brother, his wife & their 3 kids were right beside them & were all mowed down by Ego. My niece & brother-in-law were yellow aliens also mowed down. & my niece Grace was the pink alien who was the 1st life form Ego met. My family loves getting killed in my movies. 😂
9.One of the most iconic lines in When Harry Met Sally is when a woman who overhears Sally faking an orgasm says, "I'll have what she's having!"
Columbia Pictures
The woman was none other than director Rob Reiner's mom!
In fact, to get Ryan to make the right noises, Reiner also demonstrated a bunch of orgasm noises...in front of his mom.
Columbia Pictures
Not exactly heartwarming, but definitely funny.
10.The director of the third Harry Potter film, Alfonso Cuarón, offered a large change in tone from the previous two films in the franchise, adding much of his own style. This included a bunch of references to his own Mexican heritage.
Skulls (for example, the sugar skulls at Honeydukes) popped up numerous times in the film as a reference to the Day of the Dead, and the courtyard fountain with the statue of an eagle eating a snake was a reference to the Mexican flag. Because of his influence on the film, Cuarón said that after the film, the cast knew a lot of Mexican slang and curse words.
11.Cuarón also asked Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, and Daniel Radcliffe to turn in essays on their characters prior to filming.
Watson wrote 16 pages on Hermione, Radcliffe wrote what he thought to be a very strong page on Harry, and Grint didn't do it at all, saying Ron Weasley wouldn't have, either.
Warner Bros.
12.One more cute Harry Potter fact: Watson used to mouth the other characters' lines in scenes for the first film because she learned not only her own lines in the film but everyone else's, too.
Warner Bros.
13.Quentin Tarantino is a massively famous director today, but it wasn't always this way.
One of the first major interviews he got for his early film Reservoir Dogs was in a magazine called Orbit. As a tribute to the magazine, he wore a shirt advertising it in Pulp Fiction.
14.Real young cancer patients were cast in Patch Adams, which featured Robin Williams helping sick kids through laughter.
Patient Cameron Brooke Stanley, who was 7 when she appeared in the film, described Williams making the kids laugh even when the cameras weren't rolling, and overall spending a lot of time with them.
"Not just when the cameras are on, when they're off, he just wants to be someone's friend, like a best friend. He wants to make someone laugh that's sad. He was just so wonderful," she said.
15.Most of the Twilight franchise involved adult characters, but in the fourth film, Edward and Bella had a baby named Renesmee.
In the fifth film, Mackenzie Foy played the child version of the character. After the adult actors kept swearing on set, Foy created and decorated a swear jar to keep them in line.
16.And director Kenny Ortega had a similar jar for the High School Musical films — but for when cast members were caught yawning. He donated the money in the jar each year to charity.
17.And finally, you know that super-cute cuddling photo of Lara Jean and Peter in To All the Boys I've Loved Before that serves as Lara Jean's phone lock screen?
That was really just a photo of Lana Condor and Noah Centineo. A crew member took the photo behind the scenes.
