98 Fun Facts About 1990s Movies

James Cameron's Titanic tied which 1959 epic's record for most Academy Awards won, a mark The Return of the King later matched?

Ben-Hur's Oscar haul was equalled by Titanic, which also tied All About Eve for most nominations and held the box office record until Cameron's own Avatar passed it in 2010.

In the Wachowskis' 1999 film, which colour pill does Neo swallow to learn the truth about the simulation?

Neo swallows the red pill Morpheus offers; the blue pill would have returned him to his old life, while the red one wakes him in the real world. 'Red pill' became lasting slang.

John Hammond's dinosaur theme park in Spielberg's 1993 blockbuster sits on which fictional island?

Isla Nublar, about 120 miles off Costa Rica, is the park island; Isla Sorna, 'Site B', is the breeding facility seen in The Lost World (1997).

Which Tom Hanks film features the famous line 'Life is like a box of chocolates'?

Forrest Gump (1994) features the iconic line. Tom Hanks won the Best Actor Oscar for the role.

Who directed Pulp Fiction (1994)?

Quentin Tarantino wrote and directed Pulp Fiction, which won the Palme d'Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for seven Academy Awards.

Which sport makes Forrest Gump a celebrity playing against Chinese teams?

Ping-pong: Forrest learns table tennis while recovering from his Vietnam wound and tours China with the US team, a nod to 1971 'ping-pong diplomacy'; the fame lands him on The Dick Cavett Show beside John Lennon.

In Toy Story (1995), what is the name of the toy cowboy who fears being replaced?

Woody, voiced by Tom Hanks, is a pull-string cowboy doll who fears being replaced as Andy's favorite toy when Buzz Lightyear arrives. Toy Story was the first fully computer-animated feature film.

Which actor played the lead role of Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption (1994)?

Tim Robbins starred as Andy Dufresne, a banker wrongly convicted of murder who is sentenced to Shawshank State Penitentiary. Morgan Freeman co-starred as Red.

James Cameron's 1997 shipwreck epic held its world premiere at a film festival in which city?

Paramount objected to the plan, and The New York Times described the Tokyo reaction as 'tepid'; the US release followed on December 19.

In Home Alone (1990), what is the name of the boy left behind by his family?

Kevin McCallister, played by Macaulay Culkin, is accidentally left home alone when his large family rushes to the airport for a Christmas vacation to Paris.

Who directed Schindler's List (1993)?

He shot it largely in black and white in Kraków and refused a salary, calling any fee 'blood money'; it took Best Director and Best Picture.

What is the first rule of Fight Club?

Tyler Durden lays down the rule in the 1999 film; Premiere ranked the line the 27th greatest movie quote of all time in 2007.

In Good Will Hunting (1997), who plays the mathematics janitor Will Hunting?

Matt Damon plays Will Hunting, a self-taught mathematical genius working as a janitor; Damon and Ben Affleck co-wrote the screenplay and won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

Which actress starred as Cher Horowitz in Clueless (1995)?

Alicia Silverstone: Amy Heckerling cast her after seeing her in Aerosmith's 'Cryin'' video; Clueless's success landed the 18-year-old a multi-picture deal with Columbia TriStar.

Who plays The Dude in The Big Lebowski (1998)?

Jeff Bridges raided his own closet for the Dude's wardrobe, and the Coens say the only direction he ever asked for was whether the Dude had 'burned one' before the scene.

Which child actor delivers the 1999 line 'I see dead people'?

Osment was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at eleven years old, one of the film's six Oscar nominations.

What color does the briefcase in Pulp Fiction glow when opened?

Orange: a hidden bulb inside the case produced the glow on set, widely read as a nod to Kiss Me Deadly (1955), whose glowing briefcase holds an atomic device.

Which 1999 film popularized the bullet time visual effect?

The Matrix made bullet time famous, and the term later attached to the slow-motion gameplay of the 2001 video game Max Payne.

In James Cameron's 1997 epic, what is the surname of Leonardo DiCaprio's penniless artist Jack?

Jack Dawson is an orphan from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, who wins two third-class tickets in a dockside poker game and boards with his friend Fabrizio.

Robin Williams won his only Academy Award in 1998 for playing a therapist named what?

Sean Maguire, the South Boston therapist in Good Will Hunting, won Robin Williams the Best Supporting Actor Oscar; the film also took Best Original Screenplay for Matt Damon and Ben Affleck from nine nominations.

How many Academy Awards did Schindler's List win at the 66th ceremony in 1994?

It matched that haul with seven BAFTAs and added three Golden Globes, and Steven Zaillian's adapted screenplay was among the wins.

How many Academy Awards did James Cameron's 1997 shipwreck epic win from its fourteen nominations?

Its fourteen nominations tied All About Eve's record, and it was only the second film about the disaster to win Best Picture, after 1933's Cavalcade.

Jonathan Demme first offered the role of Hannibal Lecter to which actor before Anthony Hopkins?

Sean Connery turned the part down, reportedly finding the script disgusting; Demme then cast Hopkins on the strength of The Elephant Man, and Hopkins assumed from the title that the script was a children's story.

In Jurassic Park (1993), which dinosaurs, shown far larger than the real animal, stalk the children Tim and Lex through the kitchen?

Two Velociraptors hunt Tim and Lex through the kitchen; the film's oversized raptors are one of the inaccuracies audiences absorbed and never updated.

Who directed Fight Club (1999)?

David Fincher directed Fight Club, based on Chuck Palahniuk's 1996 novel. Though it underperformed at the box office, it became a massive cult classic on home video.

Which 1990s Disney film sends A Whole New World soaring on a magic carpet?

Aladdin (1992): Alan Menken and Tim Rice's 'A Whole New World' won the Oscar for Best Original Song, and the Peabo Bryson–Regina Belle single reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In The Shawshank Redemption, Andy Dufresne spends 19 years tunnelling out of his cell with what tool, smuggled in by Red?

A rock hammer, smuggled in by Red along with a Rita Hayworth poster; the warden finds the tunnel by throwing a stone through a Raquel Welch poster.

Who took the Best Actress Oscar for Shakespeare in Love (1998)?

Gwyneth Paltrow won Best Actress as Viola de Lesseps; Judi Dench won Supporting Actress for about eight minutes on screen as Elizabeth I, and the film beat Saving Private Ryan to Best Picture.

What year was The Lion King originally released in theaters?

The Lion King was released on June 24, 1994. It became the highest-grossing film of 1994 and the highest-grossing animated film at that time.

Who pins the Medal of Honor on Tom Hanks's Alabama everyman in the 1994 Best Picture?

Lyndon B. Johnson, via doctored archival footage, pins the Medal of Honor on Forrest, who then shows the president his buttock wound; Nixon later puts him up at the Watergate, where he unwittingly reports the break-in.

Which film won the Best Picture Oscar at the 69th Academy Awards (1997) for the 1996 film year?

The English Patient won nine Oscars, the most since The Last Emperor, and Walter Murch's Best Editing win was the first for a digitally edited film; Fargo took two, for screenplay and Frances McDormand.

Who played the liquid-metal T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)?

Robert Patrick's lean, relentless T-1000 was cast to contrast with Schwarzenegger's bulky T-800; the shape-shifting villain was realised with Industrial Light & Magic's pioneering CGI morphing effects.

Who composed the score for Schindler's List, with violin solos by Itzhak Perlman?

John Williams composed the haunting score for Schindler's List, with violin solos performed by Itzhak Perlman. Williams won the Academy Award for Best Original Score.

In Good Will Hunting, at which university does Will work as a janitor?

MIT: Will mops floors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Professor Gerald Lambeau tracks him down after Will anonymously solves a problem left on a hallway blackboard.

Which 1999 film stars Bruce Willis as a child psychologist helping a boy who claims to see ghosts?

The Sixth Sense, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, earned six Oscar nominations including Best Picture; the twist about Willis's Dr Malcolm Crowe is set up in the very first scene.

What do Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega twist to at Jack Rabbit Slim's in Pulp Fiction?

Chuck Berry's 1964 single 'You Never Can Tell' supplies the beat; Steve Buscemi cameos as a Buddy Holly waiter and the contest MC is an Ed Sullivan impersonator.

In Titanic (1997), treasure hunter Brock Lovett is searching the wreck for what necklace?

The Heart of the Ocean, a blue diamond necklace; instead his team pulls up a safe holding a sketch of a young woman wearing it, which brings the elderly Rose (Gloria Stuart) forward to tell her story.

Which actor provided the voice of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story (1995)?

John Lasseter offered the part to Allen while he was starring in Home Improvement; it was the first entirely computer-animated feature ever released.

What job does the unnamed narrator hold in Fight Club (1999)?

A car recall coordinator: he flies between crash sites applying a cost formula to decide whether a recall is cheaper than settling lawsuits; insomnia sends him to a doctor who points him to a testicular cancer support group.

Which 1990s film was the first to gross $1 billion worldwide?

Titanic crossed $1 billion in March 1998; its first run took $1.84 billion, re-releases have pushed the total past $2.2 billion, and the record stood until Avatar in 2010.

In Disney's Aladdin (1992), what is the name of Princess Jasmine's pet tiger?

Rajah is Jasmine's loyal tiger, who chases away unwanted suitors; Abu is Aladdin's monkey, Iago is Jafar's parrot, and Razoul captains the palace guards.

Keanu Reeves's hacker Neo was born under what name?

Thomas A. Anderson is Neo's name inside the Matrix, a software-company programmer by day and hacker by night; Will Smith turned the role down to make Wild Wild West.

In which 1992 courtroom drama does Jack Nicholson's Colonel Jessep bark 'You can't handle the truth' at Tom Cruise's lawyer?

A Few Good Men gives Nicholson's Col. Nathan Jessep the line during his confrontation with Cruise's Lt. Daniel Kaffee.

What is the name of the kingdom where The Lion King takes place?

The Pride Lands, ruled from Pride Rock by Mufasa; the plot borrows from Hamlet, and early treatments were titled King of the Jungle until someone pointed out that lions do not live in jungles.

Which 1992 debut ends with Harvey Keitel, Lawrence Tierney and Chris Penn in a Mexican standoff?

Reservoir Dogs: the crew know each other only by colour aliases, and detractors accused Tarantino of lifting its heist and standoff from Ringo Lam's Hong Kong thriller City on Fire (1987).

In which 1991 film does Keanu Reeves's FBI agent go undercover with a gang of surfers?

Point Break: Johnny Utah, an ex-Ohio State quarterback, chases the 'Ex-Presidents', robbers in Reagan, Carter, Nixon and LBJ masks; director Kathryn Bigelow reworked the script with then-husband James Cameron.

Clueless (1995) transplants which Jane Austen novel to Beverly Hills?

Emma: Cher Horowitz is Austen's 1815 matchmaker Emma Woodhouse, with Paul Rudd's Josh standing in for Mr Knightley; Amy Heckerling first pitched the idea to Fox as a TV pilot about the popular kids.

Which 1995 film set a then-record by winning seven Golden Raspberry (Razzie) Awards in a single year?

Showgirls took seven Razzies in 1996, and Paul Verhoeven turned up in person to collect Worst Director, a first; its 13 nominations set a record, and in 2000 it added Worst Picture of the Decade.

Goodfellas (1990) adapts which Nicholas Pileggi nonfiction book?

Wiseguy was dropped as a title because a De Palma comedy and a TV series had just used near-identical names, so Scorsese's film became Goodfellas.

Who wrote the screenplay for Braveheart (1995)?

Randall Wallace wrote the screenplay, drawing on Blind Harry's 15th-century poem The Wallace; it earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay, while Mel Gibson won Best Director.

In Se7en (1995), what name is the serial killer known by?

John Doe, played by an uncredited Kevin Spacey, whose name was kept off the posters to protect the twist; Fincher first wanted Ned Beatty, who declined, calling the script the most evil thing he had ever read.

How many bodies do police pull from the burned ship in The Usual Suspects (1995)?

Police recover 27 bodies from the burned-out boat at San Pedro; only two people survive the blaze, the badly burned Hungarian Arkosh Kovash and the con man Verbal Kint, whose interrogation supplies the whole story.

In Fargo (1996), Marge Gunderson is police chief of which Minnesota town?

Brainerd: Marge Gunderson is the pregnant chief of the Brainerd police, and the first murders happen on the highway outside town; almost nothing was shot in Fargo itself, though its visitors bureau later acquired the wood chipper prop.

In Speed (1994), the bus bomb arms itself and then detonates below what speed?

50 mph: Howard Payne's bomb arms once the bus passes 50 and explodes if it drops below; Dennis Hopper's bomber is a retired police officer, and the bus is kept moving through Los Angeles freeways and onto an airport runway.

In Twister (1996), what do the storm chasers call their sensor-packed research device?

Dorothy, named for The Wizard of Oz heroine, releases hundreds of tiny sensors into a funnel; the script was co-written by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin, and filming spread across small-town Oklahoma.

Groundhog Day (1993) was shot almost entirely in which Illinois town?

Woodstock, Illinois stood in for Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, its town square doubling as Gobbler's Knob; the Library of Congress added the film to the National Film Registry in 2006.

Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) won its only Academy Award in which category?

Best Makeup, for the latex transformation by Greg Cannom, Ve Neill and Yolanda Toussieng; Robin Williams picked the nanny's surname from a newspaper headline in the film and won a Golden Globe for the role.

Saving Private Ryan's Omaha Beach opening took four weeks and cost roughly how much?

Roughly $12 million: the sequence was shot over about four weeks on Curracloe Beach in Ireland with around 1,500 extras, many of them Irish Army reservists, and won Janusz Kamiński the cinematography Oscar.

Most of The Truman Show (1998) was filmed in which planned community in Florida?

Seaside, a New Urbanist town on the Florida Panhandle, played Seahaven; Andrew Niccol's original spec script was a darker science-fiction thriller set in New York City before Peter Weir moved it into the sun.

Scream (1996) is set in which fictional California town?

Woodsboro, the fictional Northern California town terrorised by Ghostface; Kevin Williamson wrote the script after reading about the Gainesville Ripper murders, satirising the slasher clichés Wes Craven had helped create.

Beauty and the Beast (1991) was the first animated film nominated for which Oscar?

Best Picture: Beauty and the Beast was nominated at the 1992 ceremony, losing to The Silence of the Lambs; no other animated film was nominated until Up (2009), after the field was widened to ten.

What is the name of Whoopi Goldberg's psychic in Ghost (1990)?

Oda Mae Brown, the con-artist medium who turns out to be genuine, won Whoopi Goldberg the Best Supporting Actress Oscar; Ghost was 1990's highest-grossing film worldwide.

What was the original title of the Pretty Woman screenplay?

3000 was the fee Vivian and Edward settle on for the week; Disney executives dropped the title because it sounded like science fiction.

Much of the dialogue in Dances with Wolves (1990) is spoken in which language?

Lakota: Doris Leader Charge of Sinte Gleska University translated the script into Lakota and coached the cast; the film was shot in South Dakota and Wyoming over five months in 1989.

Unforgiven (1992) closes with a dedication to which two directors?

Sergio Leone and Don Siegel, credited simply as 'Sergio and Don'; Leone directed Eastwood in the Dollars trilogy and Siegel in Dirty Harry, and David Webb Peoples's script had circulated since 1976 as The Cut-Whore Killings.

What car do Thelma and Louise drive across the Southwest in the 1991 film?

A 1966 Ford Thunderbird convertible, Louise's car, which the two drive off the rim of the Grand Canyon in the final shot; Callie Khouri's screenplay won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

In Basic Instinct (1992), what weapon kills rock star Johnny Boz in the opening scene?

An ice pick, stabbed into the tied-up Johnny Boz during sex, the same weapon used in a novel by Sharon Stone's Catherine Tramell; Stone was cast only after several bigger names passed on the part.

In The Bodyguard (1992), Frank Farmer guarded which two presidents in the Secret Service?

Carter and Reagan: Frank served in the Secret Service under both, and he is haunted that he was off duty the day Reagan was shot; Whitney Houston's soundtrack sold more than 45 million copies and won Album of the Year.

In The Fugitive (1993), which drug does Kimble discover causes liver damage?

Provasic, Devlin-MacGregor's new drug, whose liver damage Dr Charles Nichols covered up by faking the pathology samples; Tommy Lee Jones won Best Supporting Actor as Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard.

Whose song 'Streets of Philadelphia' won the Best Original Song Oscar for the 1993 film?

Bruce Springsteen wrote 'Streets of Philadelphia' at Jonathan Demme's request; Neil Young's 'Philadelphia' was nominated from the same film, and Tom Hanks won Best Actor the same night.

In Trainspotting (1996), Renton lives with his parents in which district of Edinburgh?

Leith, Edinburgh's port district, home to Renton and his parents in Irvine Welsh's 1993 novel; Harry Gibson's stage version came first, and Danny Boyle's film reached UK cinemas in February 1996.

In Mission: Impossible (1996), the IMF team is sent to which city to protect the NOC list?

Shooting in the Czech capital was a rarity for Hollywood at the time; Brian De Palma designed most of the action sequences himself.

In Space Jam (1996), the aliens want the Looney Tunes as attractions for which theme park?

Moron Mountain, the failing theme park run by Mr Swackhammer (Danny DeVito); the Nerdlucks steal the talent of five NBA players, including Charles Barkley and Muggsy Bogues, to bulk up into the Monstars.

Who directed the 1997 face-swapping thriller Face/Off?

John Woo directed Face/Off, his third Hollywood film after Hard Target and Broken Arrow, with John Travolta and Nicolas Cage swapping roles as FBI agent Sean Archer and terrorist Castor Troy.

In Boogie Nights (1997), what is Dirk Diggler's real name?

Eddie Adams, a nightclub dishwasher from Torrance discovered by Jack Horner, renames himself Dirk Diggler; Paul Thomas Anderson expanded the film from The Dirk Diggler Story, a mockumentary short he made while still in high school.

The asteroid in Armageddon (1998) is described as the size of which US state?

Texas: NASA's Dan Truman describes the rock as 'the size of Texas', an absurdity scientists mocked, since the largest known potentially hazardous asteroid is roughly 7 kilometres across; the film was 1998's top earner worldwide.

Principal photography on The Blair Witch Project lasted how many days?

Eight days, in October 1997, with the three actors improvising from daily notes left by the directors; the shoot cost as little as $35,000, Artisan paid $1.1 million after Sundance, and it grossed $248.6 million.

In The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon wagers Anakin's freedom on the outcome of what?

The Boonta Eve podrace, which Anakin wins in a pod he built himself; the wager also covers the hyperdrive part the stranded Jedi need, since the junk dealer Watto refuses Republic credits.

Which stapler maker added a red model to its range after Milton's painted one in Office Space (1999) caught on?

Swingline had no red stapler at the time: Milton's was painted for the film, and the company added one to its line afterwards. Mike Judge built the movie out of his own Milton cartoon shorts.

10 Things I Hate About You (1999) is loosely based on which Shakespeare comedy?

The Taming of the Shrew: Kat and Bianca Stratford stand in for Katherina and Bianca Minola, and the school is named Padua after the play's setting; filming took place in Tacoma and Seattle.

In Dumb and Dumber (1994), Lloyd and Harry drive a briefcase to which Colorado town?

Aspen, where Mary Swanson is headed after leaving the briefcase at Providence airport; the pair follow in the dog-shaped Mutt Cutts van, unaware the case is full of ransom money.

In The Mask (1994), a psychiatrist suggests the mask was made by which Norse god?

Dr Neuman, author of The Masks We Wear, also works out that its powers only switch on at night; Stanley's dog Milo later puts it on himself.

Wet Wet Wet's Four Weddings and a Funeral hit spent how many weeks at UK number one?

15 weeks: 'Love Is All Around' topped the UK chart from June to September 1994 before the band withdrew it; The Troggs' original dates from 1967, and the film itself cost under £3 million.

How old is Natalie Portman's character Mathilda in Léon: The Professional (1994)?

Twelve: Mathilda is a 12-year-old whose family is murdered by corrupt DEA agents; it was Natalie Portman's feature debut, and her neighbour Léon, a 'cleaner', works for a mafioso named Old Tony in Little Italy.

Babe (1995) adapts which Dick King-Smith novel?

The Sheep-Pig (1983), published in the US as Babe: The Gallant Pig; Babe arrives at Hoggett's farm as a guess-the-weight prize from a country fair, then sets his heart on doing the work of the farm's dogs.

GoldenEye (1995) opens at a Soviet chemical weapons lab in which city?

Arkhangelsk: Bond and 006 Alec Trevelyan infiltrate the chemical weapons facility there, and Trevelyan is apparently executed; it was Pierce Brosnan's first outing and the 17th Eon film, with the main plot resuming nine years later.

Which horror legend plays the Inventor in Edward Scissorhands (1990)?

Vincent Price plays the Inventor, who dies before he can give Edward real hands; Burton, a lifelong Price fan, had already cast him to narrate his 1982 short Vincent.

In Misery (1990), what does Annie Wilkes use to break Paul Sheldon's ankles?

A sledgehammer, in the hobbling scene; in Stephen King's novel Annie goes further and cuts off one of his feet with an axe, and Kathy Bates won the 1991 Best Actress Oscar for the role.

Who plays Tinker Bell in Steven Spielberg's Hook (1991)?

Julia Roberts plays Tinker Bell opposite Robin Williams's grown-up Peter Banning and Dustin Hoffman's Hook; the film is pitched as a sequel to J. M. Barrie's 1911 novel Peter and Wendy, with Maggie Smith as Granny Wendy.

For Boyz n the Hood, John Singleton became the youngest-ever nominee for which Oscar?

Best Director: at 24 he became the category's youngest-ever nominee and the first African American nominated for it; he had first sketched the film as part of his USC film-school application in 1986.

In My Cousin Vinny (1992), the cooking time of which food breaks a witness's timeline?

Grits: Vinny asks how a witness cooked them in five minutes when properly made grits take twenty, undermining the timeline; Marisa Tomei won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar as his fiancée Mona Lisa Vito.

Who directed the stop-motion film The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)?

Henry Selick directed; Tim Burton produced and supplied the story and characters, while Danny Elfman wrote the songs and provided Jack Skellington's singing voice.

With The Piano (1993), Jane Campion became the first woman to win which prize?

The Palme d'Or at Cannes, shared with Farewell My Concubine; eleven-year-old Anna Paquin won Best Supporting Actress, and Holly Hunter took Best Actress for a role with almost no spoken lines.

Who voiced Captain John Smith in Disney's Pocahontas (1995)?

Mel Gibson voiced John Smith and sang his own parts; Irene Bedard spoke for Pocahontas with Judy Kuhn singing, and Christian Bale was also in the cast as the young settler Thomas.

Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996) relocates the feuding families to where?

Verona Beach, a sun-bleached, gun-toting stand-in shot largely in Mexico City and Veracruz; the Capulets and Montagues become rival business empires, and DiCaprio won Berlin's Silver Bear for Best Actor.

Which 1962 Cape Fear star's cameo in the 1991 remake was his final theatrical role?

Gregory Peck, Sam Bowden in 1962, plays Max Cady's lawyer in the remake, his last theatrical film; Robert Mitchum and Martin Balsam also return, and both films stem from John D. MacDonald's 1957 novel The Executioners.

Men in Black (1997) was adapted from a comic book series created by whom?

Lowell Cunningham created The Men in Black for Aircel Comics in 1990; producers Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald optioned it, and Ed Solomon wrote the script for director Barry Sonnenfeld.

In Batman Returns (1992), Christopher Walken plays which corrupt Gotham businessman?

Max Shreck, named after the star of Nosferatu (1922), whose secretary Selina Kyle becomes Catwoman after he pushes her from a window; the production used dozens of live penguins alongside animatronics.