Film trivia thread

The Railway Children [1970]

Rights to the original serialised novel were bought by actor Lionel Jeffries (grandfather in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) for £300, who obtained financing from EMI films and, as director, insisted the film was made in serialised style. The film was a financial success on realise, and ever since.

Sally Thomsett played 11 year old Phillis despite being 20 years old. She was contractually forbidden from smoking and drinking during production.

Jenny Agutter plays older sister Roberta, despite actually being 3 years younger than Thomsett at only 17.

The final credits scene broke the traditional “fourth wall” of acting convention where the entire cast are seen waving at the camera which crawls along the railway line towards them, finishing with Agutter holding up a chalked sign saying “The End”.

What movie trivia have you discovered?

That was Ned Beatty and not a pig in Deliverance.
Hard to tell though.

The studio did not want Al Pacino to play Michael in The Godfather but Francis Ford Coppola insisted.

James Coburn was originally asked to play the lead in 'One flew over the cuckoos nest.' He turned it down thinking a story about a patient in a mental hospital would be boring.

David O. Selznick, producer of Gone with the Wind, did not approve of Vivien Leigh at first for the role of Scarlett O'Hara as he thought she was 'too British'. His brother, Myron Selznick, however insisted and the rest is film history. 🙂

@fmf said
The studio did not want Al Pacino to play Michael in The Godfather but Francis Ford Coppola insisted.

Making 1994's I Love Trouble, Julia Roberts and Nick Nolte couldn't stand each other and mostly filmed their scenes "together" separately using stand-ins. They couldn't bear being in the same room at the same time.

@torunn said
Al Pacino, Robert de Niro and Marlon Brando made the film the success it became.

@fmf said
The studio wanted James Caan to play Michael. I can't see how that would have worked, or how it would have had any chance of being as good as it turned out to be.

@torunn said
I agree. All actors were perfect for their roles - the whole, extended Corleone family and the other mafia families too. 🙂 Brilliant production.

Ann Sheridan was the studio’s choice to play Ilsa Lund, but Ingrid Bergman got the part instead. The cast included several actors who had fled Nazi Germany and played Nazis in the film (partly because of their authentic accents). Dooley Wilson was a drummer, not a pianist; his playing the piano was faked. The screen writers, the Epstein bros., hadn’t yet written the ending (“Louis, I think this the start of a beautiful friendship” ) when production started.

I played the part of the Bishop of Malang in the 2012 Indonesian epic historical film called "Soegija" and had several conversations with international-award-winning Indonesian director and writer Garin Nugroho during the filming.

@fmf said
I played the part of the Bishop of Malang in the 2012 Indonesian epic historical film called "Soegija" and had several conversations with international-award-winning Indonesian director and writer Garin Nugroho during the filming.

@suzianne said
Was this before or after you were in the Yakuza?

@divegeester said
He’s still in the Yakuza, albeit the Indonesian affiliate, and quite high up so I understand.