Every Firefly fan knows that Joss Whedon’s canceled TV show was given a second life, and a conclusion on the big screen. But when Serenity was greenlit by Universal, the crew realized that Fox, believing the property to be dead, had destroyed the sets – meaning they had to be rebuilt from scratch. The film’s budget had to cover the new ship, but Whedon made light of the situation, stencilling storage containers with the words “REUSABLE CONTAINER: DO NOT DESTROY” in large letters. Let’s hope they took the message to he
“There’s a directorial flourish and then there’s self-parody — and Abrams promises he’s easing up on his signature stylistic tic of shining lights directly into anamorphic lenses to create flares. He could explain it away in the Star Trek films (“the future is so bright!”) but admits he has no excuse for Super 8. He recalled how one shot in Star Trek Into Darkness was so overrun by lens flare his wife shouted that she couldn’t see Alice Eve. He made an effort to tone it down for The Force Awakens, and when he spotted his lighting crew bringing large spotlights onto the set he would joke “these aren’t the flares you’re looking f
George Lucas may have dreamed up one incredible space opera all by himself, but it was Ralph McQuarrie’s concept paintings which made the director’s vision a reality, and convinced Fox that it was worth investing in. McQuarrie’s role wasn’t lost on Lucas either: when it came time to film The Empire Strikes Back , he made sure to give the painter a cameo, strutting through Hoth’s Echo Base – with his sketchpad in hand, obviou
Gore Verbinski’s remake of this Japanese horror film takes the idea that watching movies affects us, and stretches it to a terrifying extreme. The meta concept is reinforced when single frames from the haunted videotape flash up during other scenes in the movie. Again, not all copies of the film feature the same frames. But fans can all catch a flash of The Ring at the very start of the movie, where it meshes with the crescent moon in the DreamWorks logo. These hidden frames are worth re-watching the movie all on their own – just don’t answer the phone when you’re finis
There have been countless examples of people finding sexual imagery hidden in the frames of Disney movies, and not every one of them is convincing. But one film that definitely has a sexy subliminal secret is 1977’s The Rescuers . The animated adventure about two mice on a quest to find a kidnapped girl has a not-so-innocent image inserted during a sequence where Bianca and Bernard are flying on the back of Orville the albatross. A topless woman was superimposed onto two of the windows flying past during the movie’s post-production. This discovery of the image in 1999 led to Disney issuing a recall of 3.4 million home release copies of The Rescuers – but thanks to the internet, it’s still easy to find the c
Aside from pop culture references, the Wachowskis also managed to include one massive hint that most fans probably never noticed. When Neo finally confronts the Architect of the Matrix in the first sequel, he learns that the creator of the system has been following him his entire life (or lives) – and the first movie already offered proof. When Neo is first captured by enemy Agents, a bank of surveillance monitors shows him being interrogated. The exact same monitors the Architect is surrounded by in the next movie. Critics may claim the directors never planned on more than one film to start, but some of the bigger ideas were clearly there right from the st
In the world of Star Wars , even an opera or ballet is unrecognizable, shown as a variety of liquid spheres in Revenge of the Sith . It’s during a performance of “Squid Lake” ( really ) that Anakin first learns the power of the Dark Side from Chancellor Palpatine, taking his first step towards becoming Darth Vader. His temptation should have been obvious, too: when Darth Plagueis is first mentioned, the shot cuts to the large sphere of liquid in front of the men. Look closely at the water’s reflections, and you’ll notice a ghostly image of Darth Vader’s famous helmet (look for the eyes first). We give the effects team bonus points for keeping it subtle, Game beginner guide|https://movietriviafocus.com/ but a cool case of foreshadowing all the s
Subliminal messaging isn’t always about advertising. Some filmmakers use it to try and create a certain emotional effect in their audience, without them consciously knowing why they felt that way. The first thirty minutes of Gaspar Noé’s film Irreversible contains an extremely low frequency background noise that is virtually inaudible to humans, but capable of causing uneasiness and nausea. Noé deliberately inserted the noise into his soundtrack to make people feel sensations of disgust while watching his movie. But trust us – it’s far from the only disturbing part of the mo
The Star Wars series is filled with space battles and exploding space stations, but the movies usually show nothing but sparks and smoke to keep violence to a minimum. But one shot shows the model builders have a sense of humor. When the Millennium Falcon enters an asteroid field in Episode V, one pursuing TIE Fighter crashes directly into a space rock. But don’t miss the pilot sent ragdoll-ing out of the wreckage, visible for a split second before being broken into pie
