119 Fun Facts About 2000s Movies

Which 2000 film won Best Picture and Best Actor for Russell Crowe as the general-turned-slave Maximus?

Gladiator won Best Picture and Best Actor for Russell Crowe; Oliver Reed, who played the trainer Proximo, died mid-shoot, so his last scenes were finished with a body double and a digital copy of his face.

In Ridley Scott's 2000 Roman epic, which actor played the emperor Commodus opposite Russell Crowe?

Joaquin Phoenix's Commodus dies in a duel in the Colosseum, but the real emperor was strangled by a champion wrestler on the last day of AD 192, in a plot hatched by his own advisers.

What condition does Guy Pearce's Leonard suffer from in Christopher Nolan's Memento (2000)?

Leonard has anterograde amnesia: he cannot form new memories after his injury, so he relies on Polaroids, notes and tattoos; Nolan adapted the story from his brother Jonathan's short story 'Memento Mori'.

In Cast Away (2000), Tom Hanks's character Chuck Noland works as a systems analyst for which company?

Noland works for FedEx, which appears throughout the film without paying for the placement; production paused for a year so Hanks could lose about 50 pounds and grow out his hair and beard.

Which company made the volleyball that is Chuck Noland's companion in Cast Away, giving it its name?

Wilson is the brand printed on the ball, so Chuck gives it that name; screenwriter William Broyles Jr. got the idea when a stray ball washed up on the beach where he had marooned himself for research.

Which 2001 film was the first ever winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature?

Shrek was first voiced by Chris Farley, who had recorded most of the ogre's dialogue before his death in 1997; Mike Myers then took over the role.

Which author and illustrator wrote the 1990 picture book behind DreamWorks' hit about a grumpy green ogre?

William Steig spent decades as a New Yorker cartoonist and only turned to children's books in his sixties; he was in his eighties when this one appeared.

Which actor voiced Lord Farquaad, the pint-sized tyrant who sends an ogre to rescue Princess Fiona?

John Lithgow's Lord Farquaad is told he can only become a king by marrying a princess, so he picks Fiona from the Magic Mirror's line-up of three and sends someone else to face her dragon.

Which Home Alone filmmaker directed Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)?

Chris Columbus directed the first two Harry Potter films; his Dumbledore, Richard Harris, had turned the part down and changed his mind only when his young granddaughter insisted he take it.

Which word replaced 'Philosopher's' in the American title of the first Harry Potter film?

Sorcerer's Stone was the title Scholastic gave the book in the United States, so the cast filmed every scene that names the stone twice, once for each title.

In Zoolander, Mugatu brainwashes Derek into assassinating the prime minister of which country?

Malaysia's film censors called the comedy 'definitely unsuitable' and it never played there; neighbouring Singapore went further and banned it outright.

Which American actress played the very British heroine of Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)?

Renée Zellweger prepared by spending weeks undercover at a London publisher, working as a trainee in its publicity department while a dialect coach tuned her English accent.

Which actor played Peter Parker when Spider-Man (2002) became cinema's first $100 million opening weekend?

Tobey Maguire shot the famous upside-down kiss in pouring rain with water running into his nose, leaving him gasping for breath between takes.

Which actor played Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, in Spider-Man (2002)?

Willem Dafoe insisted on wearing the Goblin suit and doing nearly all the physical work himself, feeling that a stuntman could not carry the character's body language.

The Ring (2002), starring Naomi Watts, was an American remake of a horror film from which country?

Japan's Ringu, Hideo Nakata's 1998 thriller about a cursed videotape, came first; Hollywood followed it with remakes of other Japanese horrors, such as The Grudge two years later.

In which country is Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth (2006) set?

Spain's civil war had ended five years before the film's 1944 setting, yet guerrillas still fight Franco's troops from the forest, hunted by Ofelia's stepfather, a Francoist captain.

Peter Jackson shot the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy back to back in which country?

New Zealand, Jackson's homeland, was so keen to cash in that its government gave a cabinet member, Pete Hodgson, the job the press called 'Minister of the Rings'.

Johnny Depp said he based his Captain Jack Sparrow performance on which rock star?

Keith Richards returned the compliment four years later, turning up in the third film, At World's End, as Jack's father, Captain Teague.

In Finding Nemo (2003), what kind of fish are Marlin and his son Nemo?

Clownfish are all born male, and when a group's dominant female dies her mate changes sex to take her place, a twist the film leaves out of the widowed Marlin's story.

Which comedian and talk-show host voiced the forgetful fish Dory in Finding Nemo?

Ellen DeGeneres voiced Dory; director Andrew Stanton wrote the part for her after hearing her change subject five times in one sentence on her sitcom.

The Bride's yellow tracksuit in Kill Bill: Volume 1 pays homage to which unfinished Bruce Lee film?

Game of Death was still unfinished when Bruce Lee died in 1973; the studio pieced it together with stand-ins and released it five years later, yellow-and-black jumpsuit and all.

In School of Rock (2003), Dewey Finn poses as a substitute teacher at which prep school?

Dewey gets into Horace Green by taking a phone call meant for his roommate Ned Schneebly and turning up in his place; Ned is played by Mike White, who also wrote the film.

In Elf (2003), Buddy's love interest Jovie works at which New York department store?

Gimbels was a real Manhattan store, the great rival of Macy's, but the chain had shut for good in 1987, sixteen years before Buddy turned up to redecorate it overnight.

Which Rosalind Wiseman parenting book was Tina Fey's Mean Girls (2004) based on?

Queen Bees and Wannabes is a non-fiction guide for the parents of teenage girls, with advice but no story, so the plot and characters of Mean Girls are Tina Fey's own invention.

In Mean Girls, what is the Plastics' scrapbook of insults about classmates and teachers called?

The Burn Book comes back to bite: Regina writes herself into it, then scatters its pages through the school corridors so that the blame lands on Cady and the other Plastics.

Napoleon Dynamite (2004) is set in Preston, in which US state?

Idaho's Preston is where director Jared Hess went to high school; he went back to shoot his first film there, and the state legislature later passed a resolution commending him and the town.

How much was Jon Heder originally paid for starring in Napoleon Dynamite?

$1,000 was Jon Heder's whole fee for the lead; once the box-office millions began rolling in, he renegotiated and received a cut of the profits.

Anchorman (2004) is set at KVWN Channel 4, a 1970s TV station in which city?

San Diego's news team left so much on the cutting-room floor that the outtakes and abandoned subplots were stitched into a whole second film, Wake Up, Ron Burgundy, released straight to DVD.

In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, what is the memory-erasing firm called?

Lacuna Inc. wipes Clementine from Joel's memory only because he discovers she has already had him erased; the title is a line from Alexander Pope's poem 'Eloisa to Abelard'.

The Passion of the Christ (2004) is entirely in Latin, Hebrew and which other language?

Aramaic and the other two were meant to go untranslated: Mel Gibson first planned to release the film with no subtitles at all, trusting the images to carry the story.

Which Pixar director voiced the diminutive costume designer Edna Mode in The Incredibles (2004)?

Brad Bird recorded Edna's lines only as a guide and offered the part to Lily Tomlin, who listened to his tape and told him he should simply do the voice himself.

Which was the first Star Wars film to receive a PG-13 rating?

Revenge of the Sith got its PG-13 for 'sci-fi violence and some intense images'; George Lucas predicted the rating himself, saying he would not take a five- or six-year-old to see it.

Which film won Best Picture at the 78th Academy Awards in a famous upset over Brokeback Mountain?

Crash, Paul Haggis's Los Angeles ensemble drama, beat the favourite at the March 2006 ceremony; a 2015 Hollywood Reporter poll found Academy members would now give the award to Brokeback Mountain instead.

Brokeback Mountain (2005) was adapted from a 1997 short story by which author?

Annie Proulx's story first ran in The New Yorker in October 1997; her Wyoming ranch hands were then filmed across the border, in the mountains of Alberta, Canada.

In Little Miss Sunshine (2006), the Hoover family drives to a children's beauty pageant in which vehicle?

The family crosses the Southwest in a yellow VW Microbus with a broken clutch that must be push-started; Alan Arkin won Best Supporting Actor as the heroin-snorting grandfather.

Scorsese's The Departed (2006) was a remake of a 2002 film from where?

The Departed remakes Infernal Affairs, the 2002 Hong Kong thriller directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak; Scorsese moved it to South Boston with Jack Nicholson's mob boss modelled on Whitey Bulger.

Which actor from The Departed lost the Best Supporting Actor Oscar to Alan Arkin?

Mark Wahlberg was nominated as the foul-mouthed Sergeant Dignam but lost to Alan Arkin, on the night The Departed at last won Scorsese the directing Oscar after five losing nominations.

Superbad's famous 'McLovin' fake ID is a driver's licence from which US state?

Hawaii took it seriously: when replica McLovin licences were packed with the DVD, Honolulu officials asked Walmart to stop selling them because they looked too much like the real thing.

Which weapon does Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh carry in No Country for Old Men (2007)?

Chigurh's captive bolt pistol is a slaughterhouse tool fed by a tank of compressed air; he uses it to kill a motorist for his car and to punch the locks out of doors.

There Will Be Blood (2007) is loosely based on the 1927 novel Oil! by which author?

Paul Thomas Anderson took the opening chapters of Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil! as the basis for Daniel Plainview's story; Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood wrote the score, and Daniel Day-Lewis won Best Actor.

Which screenwriter won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Juno (2007)?

Diablo Cody, a former stripper turned blogger, wrote her first screenplay over lattes in the Starbucks corner of a Target store in suburban Minneapolis.

The Dark Knight (2008) was the first major film shot partly with which high-resolution camera?

IMAX cameras had never been used on a major feature; Nolan shot more than 20 minutes with them, and later blockbusters, Star Wars: The Force Awakens among them, followed suit.

In The Dark Knight, which actor played district attorney Harvey Dent, who becomes Two-Face?

Aaron Eckhart's Dent begins as Gotham's incorruptible 'white knight'; after the Joker's trap scars him, he lets the toss of a two-headed coin, burned on one side, decide who lives.

Which 2008 film, directed by Jon Favreau, was the first entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Iron Man began shooting without a finished script, so much of the dialogue was improvised, including Tony Stark's closing line admitting who he is, an ad-lib by Robert Downey Jr.

Which actor first played Tony Stark's friend James 'Rhodey' Rhodes before Don Cheadle took over the role?

Terrence Howard signed on before the rest of the cast and was the best paid actor in the first film, but he was offered far less for the sequel and Don Cheadle took the part.

In Pixar's WALL-E (2008), what does the E in the robot's acronym stand for?

Earth-class completes the name Waste Allocation Load Lifter; because the robots barely speak, sound designer Ben Burtt recorded some 2,500 sounds for the film, twice his usual count for a Star Wars film.

Twilight (2008) is set in Forks, a small town in which US state?

Washington's Olympic Peninsula came up when Stephenie Meyer searched online for the rainiest place in the United States; the film itself was shot mostly next door in Oregon.

In which Indian city's slums does Jamal grow up in Slumdog Millionaire (2008)?

Mumbai's street children speak Hindi on screen: nearly a third of the English dialogue was translated into Hindi shortly before filming, jarring news for backers wary of subtitled films.

Which director won an Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire (2008)?

Danny Boyle's film took eight Oscars including Best Picture, months after its American distributor shut down and the parent studio weighed sending it straight to video.

In The Hangover (2009), which former heavyweight boxing champion turns up looking for his tiger?

Mike Tyson plays himself, knocking Alan out cold over the missing tiger; it is then Tyson's own security tapes that show the friends what they got up to the night before.

In Avatar (2009), what is the name of the habitable moon where the Na'vi live?

Pandora is a moon in the Alpha Centauri system; humans have come to strip-mine it for a mineral that Earth desperately needs, which the script cheekily calls 'unobtanium'.

Avatar became the highest-grossing film of all time by surpassing which earlier James Cameron film?

Titanic's record fell to Avatar in January 2010; Avatar then lost the crown to Avengers: Endgame in 2019, took it back through a 2021 Chinese re-release and lost it again in 2026.

Which film won Best Picture for 2009 at the 82nd Academy Awards, beating Avatar?

The Hurt Locker had taken under $15 million in American cinemas when it beat a film that had grossed over $2 billion worldwide, then the biggest box-office hit ever made.

Which 2002 film about two jazz-age murderesses won Best Picture at the 75th Academy Awards?

Chicago's killers were drawn from life: reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins covered the murder trials of Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner, then turned them into Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly in her play.

Which Clint Eastwood boxing drama won Best Picture at the 77th Academy Awards, for 2004?

Million Dollar Baby began as a script Paul Haggis wrote on spec after being fired from a TV show he had created; Clint Eastwood's film of it won Best Picture when Haggis was 51.

A Beautiful Mind (2001) dramatizes the life of which Nobel-winning mathematician?

John Nash shared the 1994 Nobel in economics for his game theory after a long struggle with paranoid schizophrenia: the illness cost him his MIT post in 1959, but he slowly recovered and went back to mathematics at Princeton.

300 (2006), adapted from a Frank Miller comic, is a fantasy retelling of which ancient battle?

300 retells the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, where King Leonidas and his Spartans held the pass against Xerxes's Persians; Snyder shot it almost entirely against chroma-key screens to mimic the comic panels.

Ocean's Eleven (2001) remade a 1960 heist film starring which famous group of entertainers?

The Rat Pack's Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop led the 1960 original; Steven Soderbergh's remake proved popular enough to launch a trilogy.

Which award did Sacha Baron Cohen win for playing Borat in the 2006 mockumentary?

Baron Cohen won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy; the film itself earned an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay despite its unscripted vignettes.

Catch Me If You Can (2002) is based on the memoir of which teenage con artist?

Frank Abagnale Jr. claimed to have passed as an airline pilot, a doctor and a lawyer in his teens, but public records later showed he spent most of those years in prison.

The Bourne Identity (2002) was adapted from a 1980 novel by which thriller writer?

Robert Ludlum's 1980 novel has Bourne hunting the real-life terrorist Carlos the Jackal, but the film left him out: by then the real Carlos had been caught and was sitting in a French prison.

Amélie (2001) is set in which district of Paris?

Montmartre is where Amélie waits tables at the real Café des 2 Moulins and, after returning a stranger's long-lost childhood treasures, sets about secretly improving her neighbours' lives.

In Lost in Translation (2003), Bill Murray's fading movie star is in Tokyo to promote what?

Suntory whiskey was a family in-joke: the director's father, Francis Ford Coppola, had appeared in a real Suntory commercial alongside Akira Kurosawa in the 1970s.

In Casino Royale (2006), Bond takes on Le Chiffre in a high-stakes poker game in which country?

Montenegro's casino was really the Czech Republic, where the scenes were shot in the spa town of Karlovy Vary; in Ian Fleming's novel the game was baccarat, not poker.

Which actress's production company, Flower Films, finally got Donnie Darko (2001) made?

Drew Barrymore's company backed the $4.5 million film and she took a supporting role; released weeks after 9/11 with a crashing plane in its ads, it sank in cinemas, then became a cult classic.

Moulin Rouge! (2001) completed which Baz Luhrmann film cycle begun with Strictly Ballroom?

The Red Curtain series isn't a trilogy in the usual sense: no story or characters link the three films, only a recurring theatre motif, and the label was sealed by a 2002 DVD box set.

Which TV showrunner pitched a Batman origin story that Warner Bros. rejected in late 2002, just before hiring Christopher Nolan?

Joss Whedon, then running Buffy the Vampire Slayer, pitched in December 2002; Warner Bros. passed and a month later hired Nolan, whose Batman Begins was the first Batman film since Batman & Robin in 1997.

Quentin Tarantino took the title of Inglourious Basterds (2009) from a 1978 war film made in which country?

Italy's Enzo G. Castellari directed The Inglorious Bastards in 1978; Tarantino's film is not a remake, but he gave Castellari and the original's star Bo Svenson cameos.

District 9 (2009) grew out of which 2005 short film by Neill Blomkamp?

Alive in Joburg, a mock documentary about aliens stranded in Johannesburg, grew into District 9 after the Halo film Blomkamp and producer Peter Jackson were preparing lost its financing.

In The Prestige (2006), David Bowie plays which real-life inventor, who builds a magician's machine?

Nikola Tesla was a part director Christopher Nolan wanted only Bowie for. The singer first turned it down, so Nolan flew to New York to pitch it in person.

In My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002), Toula's father Gus uses which household cleaner as a cure-all?

Windex is Gus's remedy for everything from pimples to warts. Made for $5 million, the film grossed over $368 million without ever topping a weekend box office chart.

In Sideways (2004), wine snob Miles refuses to drink which red wine, denting its real-world sales?

Merlot sales dropped 2% in the western United States after the film came out, while sales of Pinot noir, the grape Miles adores, rose 16%.

Which A-list star played the bald, foul-mouthed studio boss Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder (2008)?

Tom Cruise was meant to cameo as an agent but suggested adding a studio head instead, then played him in a fat suit, a bald cap and oversized prosthetic hands.

Which actor performed both Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and the giant ape in King Kong (2005)?

Andy Serkis gave both creatures their movements through motion capture, and he also turns up in King Kong in the flesh as the ship's cook.

In Zombieland (2009), Woody Harrelson's Tallahassee spends the apocalypse hunting which snack cake?

Twinkies would not really outlast an apocalypse: despite the legend that they keep for decades, the original cakes had a shelf life of 26 days.

Which Eminem track from 8 Mile was the first hip-hop song to win the Best Original Song Oscar?

Lose Yourself won while Eminem was at home asleep. He had skipped the ceremony because he did not expect to win, so collaborator Luis Resto accepted for him.

The vigilante V in V for Vendetta (2005) hides behind a mask of which historical figure?

Guy Fawkes masks in the film's style became a worldwide protest symbol, taken up by the hacktivist group Anonymous and the Occupy movement.

In Erin Brockovich (2000), Julia Roberts plays a legal clerk who takes on which utility company?

Pacific Gas and Electric was sued over groundwater contamination in the town of Hinkley, California. The real Erin Brockovich appears in the film as a waitress.

Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat (2006) follows a fictional journalist from which Central Asian country?

Kazakhstan's government denounced the film at first and later embraced it in tourism campaigns. Borat's home village was actually filmed in Romania.

Which pop group's hits make up the soundtrack of Mamma Mia! (2008), set on a Greek island?

ABBA's four members were photographed together for the first time since 1986 at the film's Swedish premiere in Stockholm.

In The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Miranda Priestly is the feared editor-in-chief of which magazine?

Runway is fictional, but Miranda is widely believed to be modelled on Vogue editor Anna Wintour, and designers reportedly avoided cameos for fear of displeasing her.

In Meet the Parents, Jack Byrnes poses as a retired florist to hide a career at which agency?

The CIA used Jack to interrogate double agents, which is why he gives his daughter's boyfriend a lie detector test. Robert De Niro, who plays Jack, came up with that scene.

In M. Night Shyamalan's Signs (2002), which everyday substance wounds the alien invaders like acid?

Water does it: the family's intruder is felled when a baseball bat knocks it into the glasses that young Bo has left out around the house.

Helen Mirren won the Best Actress Oscar for The Queen (2006), set in the days after whose death?

Princess Diana died in 1997, and the film shows the royal family treating her death as a private affair while Tony Blair presses for a public show of grief.

Michael Bay's Transformers (2007) is based on a line of robot toys from which company?

Hasbro suggested adapting the robots in place of a planned G.I. Joe film once the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003.

Which actor steals the Declaration of Independence as Ben Gates in National Treasure (2004)?

Nicolas Cage's treasure hunter wants the document for the map hidden on its back, a clue to a vast lost Freemason treasure.

Which actor plays God in Bruce Almighty (2003), lending his powers to Jim Carrey's TV reporter?

Morgan Freeman's God pages Bruce from a real phone number instead of a fictional 555 one, so people who shared it received hundreds of calls asking for God.

Before Twilight, Robert Pattinson played which student in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire?

Cedric Diggory is the Hogwarts champion in the Triwizard Tournament. Pattinson found worldwide fame three years later as the vampire Edward Cullen.

In Almost Famous, a teenage journalist tours with the band Stillwater to write for which magazine?

Rolling Stone really did hire writer-director Cameron Crowe as a teenager, and he built the fictional Stillwater from the bands he had known.

Black Hawk Down (2001) recreates a 1993 battle fought by US troops in which African capital?

Mogadishu was recreated in Morocco, where filming began in March 2001. The film follows US soldiers fighting to reach two helicopters shot down over the Somali city.

Adrien Brody won Best Actor for The Pianist (2002) as a musician hiding in which occupied city?

Warsaw is where the real pianist, Władysław Szpilman, was playing live on the radio in September 1939 when a German air raid bombed the station.

Which Oscar winner played the cursed Captain Barbossa in the first Pirates of the Caribbean film?

Geoffrey Rush's Barbossa owes his curse to a theme park ride: the writers added it to the script to tie the film to the attraction it is based on.

Clint Eastwood's Mystic River, which won Oscars for Sean Penn and Tim Robbins, is set in which city?

Boston is also where the film was shot, on location. Its three boyhood friends from an Irish-American neighbourhood are thrown back together by a murder.

Reese Witherspoon won the Best Actress Oscar as which country singer in Walk the Line (2005)?

June Carter's songs had to be sung by Witherspoon herself, a condition of the part that surprised her when she learned of it.

Which actress played Jadis, the White Witch, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)?

Tilda Swinton was the first choice for the sorceress who keeps Narnia in an endless winter without Christmas; every other part took a long casting process.

The Da Vinci Code (2006) opens with the murder of a curator inside which world-famous museum?

The Louvre let the crew film on its premises, but a replica of the Mona Lisa was used because the original could not be lit for the cameras.

Into the Wild (2007) follows Christopher McCandless to an abandoned bus in which US state?

Alaska is where McCandless hiked in April 1992, to a remote spot just north of Denali National Park. Sean Penn directed the film from Jon Krakauer's book.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, about a man ageing backwards, adapts a story by which author?

F. Scott Fitzgerald published the story in 1922, and Hollywood struggled with it for decades: a producer first bought the film rights in the mid-1980s.

In Gran Torino (2008), Walt Kowalski's prized 1972 car was built by which company, his old employer?

Ford employed Walt on its factory floor until he retired, and the plot turns on a neighbour's boy being pushed by a gang to steal the car.

In The Aviator (2004), Cate Blanchett won an Oscar for playing which Hollywood star?

Katharine Hepburn is shown easing the aviation tycoon's phobias before leaving him for Spencer Tracy. The part won Blanchett her first Academy Award.

The Coen brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) is loosely based on which ancient epic poem?

The Odyssey gives the film its hero, Ulysses Everett McGill, and its cyclops: a one-eyed mugger posing as a Bible salesman, played by John Goodman.

In 28 Days Later (2002), bicycle courier Jim wakes from a coma to find which capital city deserted?

London looks empty because the crew filmed in brief bursts in the early morning, closing normally busy streets for a few moments at a time.

Forest Whitaker won Best Actor for playing which African dictator in The Last King of Scotland?

Idi Amin really did make a spurious claim to be King of Scotland, which gives the film its title. The story is told through a fictional Scottish doctor.

Which actor replaced Stuart Townsend as Aragorn at the last minute in The Lord of the Rings?

Viggo Mortensen would not have taken the part at all but for his son's enthusiasm for the Tolkien novels.

Ang Lee's martial-arts epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) was filmed in which language?

Mandarin was a stretch for some of the cast: Chow Yun-fat is a native Cantonese speaker, and only Zhang Ziyi had the accent Ang Lee wanted.

Minority Report (2002), with its crime-predicting psychics, is based on a novella by which author?

Philip K. Dick's story was first optioned as a sequel to Total Recall, another of his adaptations, with Arnold Schwarzenegger due to star again.

Which actress led the cheerleading comedy Bring It On before playing Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man?

Kirsten Dunst played Torrance Shipman, captain of the squad, two years before she became Peter Parker's love interest for a whole trilogy.

Which 2002 film, featuring an ice palace in Iceland, was Pierce Brosnan's last outing as James Bond?

Die Another Day gave Bond an Aston Martin with active camouflage that made it vanish from sight. The series was then rebooted with Daniel Craig.

Before Captain America, Chris Evans played which Marvel character in Fantastic Four (2005)?

The Human Torch, Johnny Storm, came back to Evans in 2024, when he reprised the role in Deadpool & Wolverine.

Hugh Jackman became Wolverine in X-Men (2000) after Dougray Scott was held up filming which sequel?

Mission: Impossible 2 clashed with the shoot and Scott was also injured in a motorbike accident, so he gave up a multi-film deal to play Wolverine.

In Shaun of the Dead, Shaun and Ed plan to wait out the zombie outbreak in which favourite pub?

The Winchester is where Shaun drowns his sorrows the night before the dead rise, and getting back there means shuffling past a horde while imitating zombies.

Joe Wright's Atonement features a five-minute tracking shot of soldiers on which wartime beach?

Dunkirk's beach scenes had only two days of filming and no budget for the extras a longer shoot needed, so they became one take that follows a soldier a quarter of a mile along the sand.

Which actor played Bill in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, a role first written for Warren Beatty?

David Carradine got the part once it grew to need more screen time and martial arts training. Beatty said he did not want to leave his family for a shoot in China.

Which Mexican director made both Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Children of Men?

Alfonso Cuarón favours long takes: his Harry Potter film averaged five and a half seconds between cuts, and Children of Men stretched that to sixteen.

Nicole Kidman wore a prosthetic nose to play which novelist in The Hours, winning Best Actress?

Virginia Woolf is seen in the 1920s writing Mrs Dalloway, the novel that links the film's three women across three different eras.

Halle Berry became the first African American woman to win Best Actress for which 2001 drama?

Monster's Ball cast her as a widow who falls for a corrections officer, unaware that he helped to carry out her husband's execution.

Marion Cotillard won the Best Actress Oscar as which French singer in La Vie en Rose (2007)?

Édith Piaf's signature song gives the film its English title, and Cotillard's win was the first Oscar ever given for a French-language role.

The Oscar-winning German drama The Lives of Others follows an officer of which secret police force?

The Stasi was East Germany's secret police, and the film's captain spends 1984 listening in on a playwright and his actress lover in East Berlin.

Which actor played Wall Street serial killer Patrick Bateman in American Psycho (2000)?

Christian Bale was the director's pick, but the studio wanted Leonardo DiCaprio so badly that it fired her. She was rehired, and Bale cast, after DiCaprio left.