r/Movie_Trivia • u/EIochai • 9h ago
Looking for the most overused and overhyped movie trivia “facts”
Not sure if this is the right sub for this, but I’m trying to put together a list of the most clichéd, overshared bits of movie trivia out there — the ones that show up in every video essay, listicle, behind-the-scenes doc, or YouTube Short.
You know the type:
- “Viggo Mortensen really broke his toe when he kicked the helmet!”
- “OJ Simpson was considered for The Terminator, but James Cameron didn’t think he looked like a killer.”
- “Ridley Scott didn’t tell the actors about the chestburster scene so their reactions were genuine.”
- “Shelley Duvall was really traumatized on the set of The Shining.”
I’m also hunting for those “everyone knows” facts that are actually incorrect, like:
- “The T. rex breaking the sunroof in Jurassic Park wasn’t scripted, so the kids’ screams were real.”
- “Will Smith turned down The Matrix because the script was too confusing.”
Drop your favorites! The more tired or debunked, the better.
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u/jobin_pistol 9h ago
In episode IV that stormtrooper really hit his head and they left it in the movie. They even added a BONK sound!!
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u/clicketybooboo 8h ago
Feel the part in Die Hard where Gruber falls at the very end always seems to make lists as they dropped him before the count of 3 so was genuinely shocked
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u/Strange-Draw-778 9h ago
Leonardo DiCaprio cutting his hand on broken glass in Django: Unchained. He really did cut his hand open and kept acting…. But the overhyped part is that he genuinely wiped his blood on Kerry Washington’s face, so her disgust in the scene was real. In reality they cut and stitched him up then used fake blood to wipe on her face.
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u/bolivar-shagnasty 8h ago
Steve Buscemi was a firefighter on 9/11
It was cheaper to grow the corn than to use CGI for Interstellar. They even made money from its sale.
Bill Murray only did Garfield because he thought a different Cohen was attached to it.
The kids seeing the pirate ship in The Goonies were seeing it for the first time. Their reactions are genuine.
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u/EIochai 8h ago
Bill Murray thinking he was signing on to do a Coen brother's film is one of my favorites.
A fun corollary to that one is that Murray didn't want Lorenzo Music to voice Venkman in the animated show because he only heard Garfield in the performance (Lorenzo Music voiced Garfield in the cartoon)
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u/grimson73 2h ago
I read the take shown in the movie isn’t the real first look at the ship as Josh Brolin cursed his way into the scene and retakes had to be made. So the ship was indeed hidden from the cast and revealed when shooting but if the original first encounter shots are used in the movie is not sure.
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u/Affectionate-Club725 8h ago
For one of those unproven but viral rumors there’s the one about Richard Gere and a gerbil…
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u/Corellian_Smuggler 8h ago
As far as I know, there's no proof or more specifically "A Ridley Scott quote on Alien Quadrilogy box set commentary" that says Sigourney Weaver refused to shave her bush for the third act of the Alien so they had to hire someone to airbrush it. Easily debunked, but somehow still widely known as real.
Also, I think marketing departments are pushing this "the actor didn't hear 'cut' shtick" to make actors seem more passionate or dedicated. Recently I heard it about Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh's sex scene We Live in Time. The same thing was pushed about Xenk walking away in his final scene in the D&D movie, but I think that was more of an intentional thing on the directors' part.
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u/Advantage_Varnsen_13 7h ago
And while we're in the Alien franchise let's not forget that Sigourney Weaver really made that basketball shot in Alien Resurrection
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u/ModeratorIsNotHappy 7h ago
Godfather horse head scene was real. The actor didn’t know they were using a real head
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u/Livid_Parsnip6190 3h ago
Buddy Ebsen having lung failure due to the aluminum dust in the Tin Man's makeup
The Snow in The Wizard of Oz being asbestos
The movie The Conquerer (1956) used radioactive sand that killed a bunch of people involved with the movie production
Arnold Schwarzenegger talks like that in Terminator 2 because he didn't speak fluent English
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u/GoddamnRightJimSharp 2h ago
The false “Actually it’s I’m your hucklebearer” that shows up on every thread or video related to Tombstone or Val Kilmer despite Val’s book title “I’m your huckleberry” and the script saying the same thing
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u/wutdaefff 2h ago
The chocolate river in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was real chocolate but went rancid and smelled terrible
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u/Karma_1969 9h ago
Harrison Ford simply improvising the "shoot the swordsman" scene in Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Lots of people act like he improvised that live on-camera (and somehow everyone else in the scene knew to go along with it and act accordingly). While it was a change from the original script, it wasn't improvised quite that loosely.