150 Fun Facts About Movies

Which film was the first to pass $1 billion at the worldwide box office?

Titanic went so far over budget that James Cameron gave up his $8 million salary and his share of the profits; it then became the first film to pass $1 billion.

Who directed the 1975 thriller Jaws?

Steven Spielberg insisted on shooting Jaws at sea off Martha's Vineyard rather than in a studio tank, so the 55-day shoot stretched to 159 days.

In The Wizard of Oz (1939), what color are Dorothy's iconic slippers?

Dorothy's ruby slippers are red. In L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel they were Silver Shoes; MGM changed them to red in 1939 to show off three-strip Technicolor.

Which actor played the title role in Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands (1990)?

Johnny Depp won the role; Tom Cruise, the studio's favourite, had wanted a happier ending than the film's bittersweet one.

What is the name of the fictional African country in Marvel's Black Panther?

Wakanda poses as an underdeveloped country to hide the vibranium that made it one of the world's most technologically advanced nations.

Which film features the famous line "Here's looking at you, kid"?

Casablanca was rushed into release weeks after the Allies landed in North Africa, so the studio could cash in on headlines about the real city.

Which actor plays Captain John Miller in Saving Private Ryan?

Tom Hanks played Miller; Matt Damon, cast as Ryan, was kept out of the cast's boot camp so the squad's bitterness towards Ryan would feel real.

Which Frozen character began as a villain until "Let It Go" changed the story?

Elsa: "Let It Go" turned her from a straightforward villain into a sympathetic character, and director Jennifer Lee had to rewrite the film to match.

In The Shawshank Redemption, what is Andy Dufresne's profession before prison?

A banker, Andy Dufresne launders Warden Norton's money under a fake identity, then withdraws over $370,000 of it after his escape.

Which film franchise features a character named Ethan Hunt?

Mission: Impossible's Ethan Hunt is played by Tom Cruise, who broke his ankle leaping between buildings for Fallout, halting filming for about eight weeks.

Which film won Best Picture in 2020, the first non-English language film to do so?

Parasite's Bong Joon-ho, accepting Best Director, quoted Martin Scorsese's saying 'The most personal is the most creative', and the audience broke into applause for Scorsese.

Which film was the first to pass $2.5 billion at the worldwide box office?

Avatar sat on hold for years until CGI characters such as Gollum and King Kong convinced James Cameron the technology could finally deliver it.

Which ageing patriarch of the Corleone crime family did Marlon Brando play?

Vito Corleone won Marlon Brando the Best Actor Oscar, which he refused, sending Sacheen Littlefeather to protest Hollywood's portrayal of Native Americans.

Which director made Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained?

Quentin Tarantino shot Kill Bill as one film; producer Harvey Weinstein suggested splitting it into two volumes so no scenes had to be cut.

What is Rosebud in the 1941 film Citizen Kane?

A sled: workers toss Kane's childhood sled into a furnace, so no one in the film learns what his last word meant; only the audience sees 'Rosebud' burn.

Which Disney animated film's story drew consciously on Shakespeare's Hamlet?

The Lion King: when Michael Eisner suggested King Lear as a model, a producer countered that the story was really Hamlet, because the uncle kills the father.

Who directed the Dark Knight trilogy (2005-2012)?

Christopher Nolan avoided computer effects where he could, flipping a real 18-wheel truck end over end on a Chicago street for The Dark Knight.

For which film did Leonardo DiCaprio finally win the Academy Award for Best Actor?

The Revenant's brutal shoot had DiCaprio eat a real slab of raw bison liver after he decided the jelly prop didn't look right.

As of 2025, which actress has won the most Academy Awards for acting?

Katharine Hepburn won her second of four Oscars for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, made after she had paused her career to care for an ailing Spencer Tracy.

Who provided the voice of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars?

James Earl Jones dubbed Vader's lines after filming, replacing the voice of David Prowse, the former bodybuilder from Bristol who wore the suit on set.

Which film studio produced the Toy Story franchise?

Pixar Animation Studios nearly lost Toy Story 2 when a stray command deleted most of its files; a backup on technical director Galyn Susman's home computer saved it.

What is the name of the hobbit played by Elijah Wood in the Lord of the Rings trilogy?

Elijah Wood played Frodo Baggins, and Peter Jackson later gave him one of the One Ring props and Frodo's sword, Sting, as keepsakes.

As of 2025, which actor has played James Bond in the most official EON films?

Roger Moore made seven, then quit, saying his leading ladies had become young enough to be his granddaughter.

In which film does Keanu Reeves play a computer hacker named Neo?

The Matrix shoot worked around Keanu Reeves's recent spinal surgery, which left him unable to kick, so its fight scenes were rechoreographed.

Which 1952 musical, co-directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, spoofs Hollywood's switch to talkies?

Singin' in the Rain pushed Debbie Reynolds so hard that her feet bled after shooting the 'Good Morning' number; she later called it as hard as childbirth.

Which Martin Scorsese film stars Robert De Niro as unstable Vietnam veteran Travis Bickle?

Taxi Driver's young co-star had to pass a mental-health evaluation under California's child-welfare rules before she could be cast, so the role wouldn't harm her.

What was Walt Disney's first feature-length animated film?

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was mocked in Hollywood as 'Disney's Folly' while in production; Walt's wife and brother had tried to talk him out of it.

Who composed the scores for Star Wars, Jaws and the Indiana Jones films?

John Williams scored all three; when he first played the two-note Jaws theme on a piano, the director didn't get it and thought it was a joke.

Which 2017 Jordan Peele horror film explores racial tensions through a thriller lens?

Get Out first ended with Chris arrested for the killings, but after test audiences recoiled from that bleak ending, Jordan Peele changed it to a rescue.

Which dinosaur attacks the stranded tour vehicles during the storm in Jurassic Park (1993)?

Tyrannosaurus: rain soaked the life-size animatronic's skin during the storm scene and made it shake, so the crew had to towel it dry between takes.

Which 1927 Al Jolson film was the first feature with synchronised dialogue?

The Jazz Singer is only partly a talkie: besides its songs, just a few scenes have synchronised dialogue, yet its success turned Hollywood to sound.

Who became the first woman to win the Oscar for Best Director, for The Hurt Locker?

Kathryn Bigelow's win ended a much-hyped rivalry with her ex-husband James Cameron, whose blockbuster lost Best Director and Best Picture to The Hurt Locker.

In The Silence of the Lambs (1991), what is Hannibal Lecter's profession?

Psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter might have been Gene Hackman's role: he was set to direct and star, then walked away from the story's violence.

Which Alfred Hitchcock film features the famous shower scene?

Psycho came with a strict rule: Hitchcock insisted that cinemas admit no one after the film had started.

What small generator does Tony Stark build in a cave to power his chest magnet and first suit?

The arc reactor: Stark and fellow prisoner Yinsen build it to power the electromagnet that keeps shrapnel from his heart; at home he builds a stronger one for a sleeker suit.

Which camera trick, created for Vertigo, makes the background stretch while the framed object keeps its size?

Dolly zoom: Hitchcock moved the camera and zoomed the lens in opposite directions at once, so audiences share Scottie's dizzying fear of heights.

Which film follows the Corleone crime family through a decade of Mafia rule?

The Godfather lost its Best Original Score nomination when the Academy found Nino Rota had reused music from one of his earlier films.

Which actress starred as Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs?

Jodie Foster got the part after Jonathan Demme's first choice, Michelle Pfeiffer, turned it down, uneasy about the film's dark subject matter.

In Inception (2010), what object does Cobb use as his totem?

A spinning top: it topples in the real world but spins on in a dream, and the film cuts away before anyone sees whether it falls.

Which 1959 Charlton Heston epic is famous for its chariot race?

In Ben-Hur's chariot race, stuntman Joe Canutt was flung into the air by accident; he hurt only his chin, and the shot stayed in the film.

Bollywood blends 'Hollywood' with the former name of which Indian city?

Bombay: in Raja Harishchandra, first screened there in 1913, a man played the female lead because no woman would agree to act in it.

Which film introduced the character of Indiana Jones?

Raiders of the Lost Ark cast Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones first, but his Magnum, P.I. contract forced him out, so Harrison Ford took the role.

What is the name of the computer system that becomes self-aware in The Terminator franchise?

Skynet, built by Cyberdyne Systems for the US military, becomes self-aware on 29 August 1997 in the films' timeline and launches its nuclear strike — Judgment Day — when its operators try to switch it off.

Which James Cameron film won the Visual Effects Oscar for its computer-generated water 'pseudopod'?

The Abyss shot its underwater scenes in a huge tank built inside an abandoned nuclear power plant, then the world's largest filtered freshwater tank.

Who was the first African American to win the Academy Award for Best Actor?

Sidney Poitier failed his first audition because he read poorly, then spent months improving his reading with newspapers while working as a dishwasher.

In which Wes Anderson film do a group of Boy Scout-like characters help two young lovers escape?

Moonrise Kingdom: Wes Anderson said there'd be no movie without the perfect kids, so the search for his two young leads ran through months of school auditions.

Which Vietnam War film is split between Marine boot camp and the Battle of Hue?

Full Metal Jacket hired former Marine drill instructor R. Lee Ermey only as a consultant, but he talked his way into playing Hartman in place of the actor first cast.

In North by Northwest, what attacks Cary Grant at a rural bus stop?

A crop-dusting plane: a stranger remarks that it's dusting where there are no crops, then it opens fire on Grant and ends up crashing into a tanker truck.

Which film features the quote "You can't handle the truth!"?

A Few Good Men began as Aaron Sorkin's play, which he started writing on cocktail napkins while bartending during a Broadway musical, after hearing of a real Marine hazing case.

Which Japanese director made Seven Samurai, Rashomon and Yojimbo?

Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo was copied without permission as A Fistful of Dollars; its makers settled out of court, reportedly for 15% of the film's takings.

Which comedy has Bill Murray's TV weatherman reliving the same day over and over?

Groundhog Day traps Bill Murray's weatherman in a repeating 2 February in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania; its title became shorthand for any endlessly repeating situation.

Which John Hughes film confines five students to a Saturday detention?

The Breakfast Club's theme was turned down by Simple Minds, who preferred their own songs, before they reluctantly recorded it after Bryan Ferry and Billy Idol passed.

Which Federico Fellini film follows gossip journalist Marcello Rubini through Rome's nightlife?

La Dolce Vita's celebrity photographer, Paparazzo, gave the world the word 'paparazzi' for intrusive photographers.

What did the Jaws crew nickname their constantly failing mechanical sharks?

Bruce, after the director's lawyer: the mechanical sharks kept malfunctioning, so the shark stays mostly off screen, with no full view until over an hour in.

Who directed The Godfather?

Francis Ford Coppola held out for little-known Al Pacino as Michael, though the studio wanted a star such as Robert Redford or Warren Beatty.

Which film won Best Picture for 1998 in a famous upset over Saving Private Ryan?

Shakespeare in Love was abandoned in the early 1990s after Julia Roberts, set to star, failed to persuade Daniel Day-Lewis to play Shakespeare.

Who wrote and directed the original Star Wars film?

George Lucas turned down a bigger directing fee in exchange for merchandising and sequel rights, which proved far more lucrative.

Which author wrote the 1990 novel that Jurassic Park (1993) was based on?

Michael Crichton first tried the idea as a 1983 screenplay about cloning a pterodactyl, then chose a novel because a film looked too expensive to get made.

The Shawshank Redemption was adapted from a 1982 novella by which author?

Stephen King's novella became a film that did lukewarm business in cinemas, then found its huge audience through video rentals and repeated TV broadcasts.

Which 1994 Quentin Tarantino film won the Palme d'Or at Cannes?

Pulp Fiction was turned down by TriStar and ended up with Miramax, for whom the low-budget film became a huge independent hit.

The Matrix (1999) was written and directed by which pair of siblings?

The Wachowskis asked cast members to read Jean Baudrillard's philosophy book Simulacra and Simulation.

Casablanca (1942) takes place in a city that was then under French control in which country?

Morocco is only the setting: Casablanca was shot almost entirely on Hollywood studio sets, with just an airport sequence filmed elsewhere in Los Angeles.

In E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Elliott lures the alien back to the house with a trail of which sweet?

Reese's Pieces got the part after Mars turned down the chance to put M&M's in E.T.

Hattie McDaniel became the first African American to win an Oscar for which 1939 film?

Gone with the Wind won Hattie McDaniel her Oscar, yet segregation barred her from attending the film's premiere in Atlanta.

What is the name of the sentient computer that controls the Discovery One in 2001: A Space Odyssey?

HAL 9000 sings 'Daisy Bell' as it is shut down, a nod to a Bell Labs computer that sang the song in a demo Arthur C. Clarke once heard.

Which actor was originally cast as Marty McFly and fired weeks into filming Back to the Future?

Eric Stoltz played Marty too seriously for Robert Zemeckis, who replaced him with first choice Michael J. Fox and re-shot the scenes already filmed.

Which studio finally made Back to the Future after rivals turned it down?

Universal made it only after Robert Zemeckis's surprise hit Romancing the Stone had proved he could deliver a success.

Sylvester Stallone wrote Rocky after watching Muhammad Ali fight which journeyman boxer in 1975?

Chuck Wepner's fight inspired it; Stallone wrote the script in three and a half days and sold it only on condition that he would play Rocky.

How much was John Candy paid for his one day of work on Home Alone?

$414 was Candy's entire fee for playing polka king Gus Polinski; he did it as a favour to John Hughes, shot his scenes in one 23-hour session and improvised much of his dialogue.

In Home Alone, what does Kevin slap on his face just before his famous hands-on-cheeks scream?

Aftershave: Chris Columbus told Macaulay Culkin to pull his hands away before screaming, but Culkin kept them on his cheeks, creating the poster image.

Which 1979 film was promoted with the tagline "In space no one can hear you scream"?

Alien's script said the crew was unisex and every part could go to a man or a woman, which let Sigourney Weaver's Ripley surprise audiences as the hero.

Which Hayao Miyazaki film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2003?

Spirited Away reached American cinemas because animator John Lasseter, a longtime Miyazaki fan, persuaded a major US studio to distribute it and oversaw the English dub.

Which 1959 Billy Wilder comedy ends with the line "Well, nobody's perfect"?

Some Like It Hot ends with millionaire Osgood unfazed when Jerry pulls off his wig and admits he's a man; that shrug is the famous last line.

Schindler's List was shot in which Polish city, where its real events took place?

Kraków: the director first tried to pass the project to others, including Holocaust survivor Roman Polanski, who turned it down.

Which 1973 film became the first horror movie nominated for the Best Picture Oscar?

The Exorcist's shoot was dogged by injuries, deaths and accidents, running twice as long as planned and feeding rumours that the film was cursed.

Who won the Best Director Oscar for the 2013 space survival film Gravity?

Alfonso Cuarón shot Sandra Bullock inside an LED lightbox, where she spent up to 10 hours a day, hearing directions only through an earpiece.

Fight Club (1999) was adapted from a 1996 novel by which author?

Chuck Palahniuk wrote Fight Club after publishers turned down his earlier novel, Invisible Monsters, which came out only after Fight Club succeeded.

In Rear Window (1954), what is the job of James Stewart's wheelchair-bound character?

Photojournalist Jeff Jefferies spies on a courtyard that was really one enormous set, built indoors at Paramount's studios.

Who composed the score for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)?

Ennio Morricone wrote the main themes before filming, so Sergio Leone could play them on set and time camera moves to the music.

Mel Gibson plays which Scottish warrior in Braveheart (1995)?

William Wallace's story in Braveheart won Best Picture, yet the film is often ranked among the most historically inaccurate modern movies.

In Amélie (2001), the heroine works as a waitress in which district of Paris?

Montmartre: her workplace, the Café des 2 Moulins, is a real café that has drawn tourists ever since the film.

Apocalypse Now is loosely based on which Joseph Conrad novella?

Adapting Heart of Darkness meant a punishing shoot in the Philippines, during which Martin Sheen suffered a near-fatal heart attack.

Blade Runner (1982) adapts a 1968 novel by which science fiction writer?

Philip K. Dick died months before Blade Runner opened, but not before praising a special-effects reel as looking exactly as he had imagined.

What is the name of Russell Crowe's betrayed Roman general in Gladiator (2000)?

Maximus Decimus Meridius: co-star Oliver Reed died before filming ended, so his last scenes as Proximo were pieced together with outtakes, body doubles and CGI.

Which film won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, in 2002?

Shrek was first voiced by Chris Farley, who recorded most of the dialogue before he died in 1997; Mike Myers took over and gave Shrek a Scottish accent.

Which actor played three roles in Dr. Strangelove?

Peter Sellers was also cast as Major Kong, but an injury forced him out of that fourth role, so Slim Pickens took the part.

Who directed the 1927 German expressionist science-fiction film Metropolis?

Fritz Lang promised the costliest, most ambitious picture ever, and Metropolis helped push its already indebted studio, UFA, to the brink of bankruptcy.

Which film was wrongly announced as Best Picture at the 2017 Oscars before Moonlight?

La La Land was read out because Warren Beatty had been handed the backup envelope for Best Actress, which Emma Stone had won for La La Land.

Who directed Slumdog Millionaire (2008)?

Danny Boyle translated almost a third of the dialogue into Hindi after telling his distributor it would be about 10%, feeling the children's English sounded fake.

In The Truman Show (1998), what is the name of Truman's island hometown?

Seahaven replaced the New York City of Andrew Niccol's darker first script; the island town was filmed in Seaside, Florida.

Die Hard (1988) takes place almost entirely inside which Los Angeles skyscraper?

Nakatomi Plaza took shape after screenwriter Jeb Stuart toured Fox's own tower, Fox Plaza, while it was still under construction.

Which actress won Best Actress for Everything Everywhere All at Once?

Michelle Yeoh won for a lead role the directors had first written for Jackie Chan, before rethinking the hero as a woman.

Which actor won Best Actor for playing J. Robert Oppenheimer in the 2023 biopic?

Cillian Murphy screen-tested for Batman in Batman Begins, but lost the lead and was cast as the villain Scarecrow instead.

Who directed Barbie, the highest-grossing film of 2023?

Greta Gerwig's all-pink Barbie Land sets needed so much paint that they used up its supplier's remaining stock of pink, already short after pandemic supply problems.

In Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal, a knight challenges Death to which game?

Chess buys Antonius Block, Max von Sydow's knight back from the Crusades, as long as the game lasts, in a Sweden ravaged by the Black Death.

Which Sunset Boulevard character says "Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up"?

Norma Desmond went to Gloria Swanson, a real silent-era star, after Mae West refused to play a Hollywood has-been.

Which 1969 film is the only X-rated movie ever to win the Best Picture Oscar?

Midnight Cowboy won while rated X, but it was later re-rated R for a re-release.

In Life of Pi (2012), what is the name of the Bengal tiger stranded with Pi?

Richard Parker was the name of the hunter who captured the tiger, but a paperwork mix-up switched their names in Yann Martel's story.

In The Shining (1980), which number is Danny warned to stay away from at the hotel?

Room 237: cook Dick Hallorann, who shares Danny's 'shining', warns him away because the hotel carries traces of its violent past.

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) was filmed largely in the deserts of which African country?

Namibia: unexpected heavy rain turned the planned Australian location at Broken Hill into a field of wildflowers, so the shoot moved to Africa.

Which Best Picture winner has its hero liken life to a box of chocolates from a Savannah bus bench?

Forrest Gump shot its bench scenes at the northern edge of Chippewa Square in Savannah, Georgia. The film went on to win six Academy Awards.

Which comedy ends with a giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man rampaging through New York City?

Ghostbusters had its marshmallow monster from the start: Dan Aykroyd included a sketch of the character when he first pitched the idea of three men who chase ghosts.

In the original King Kong, which New York skyscraper does the ape climb while clutching Ann Darrow?

The Empire State Building has appeared in more than 250 films and television series since the giant ape scaled it and fought off biplanes at the top.

In Back to the Future, which gull-winged sports car does Doc Brown turn into a time machine?

DeLorean time travel kicks in at 88 miles per hour, a speed the filmmakers chose because it was easy to remember and looked "cool" on the speedometer.

In Finding Nemo, what kind of reef fish are the anxious father Marlin and his missing son?

Clownfish got the lead after director Andrew Stanton saw a photograph of two of them peeking out of an anemone and found the image arresting.

In the animated film Up, what does Carl Fredricksen tie to his house to fly it to South America?

Helium balloons lift the house, and animators drew 20,622 of them for the lift-off. A technical director worked out that a real house would need 23 million.

In Jurassic Park, dinosaur DNA is extracted from which prehistoric insects found preserved in amber?

Mosquitoes that fed on dinosaur blood supply the DNA. One early script draft closed on a mosquito landing on the arm of the park's drowned founder.

Which cinema snack took off during the Great Depression, when a bag cost just five to ten cents?

Popcorn at first displeased many theater owners, who thought the snack distracted from the films. They changed their minds once it proved more profitable than the tickets.

Which Toy Story character, named after a real astronaut, shouts "To infinity and beyond"?

Buzz Lightyear was called Lunar Larry, Tempus and Morph in early designs, until the producers borrowed what they thought was "the coolest astronaut name".

Which M. Night Shyamalan thriller has a boy tell a child psychologist "I see dead people"?

The Sixth Sense made its director's name for twist endings. Its famous line ranks No. 44 on the American Film Institute's list of 100 movie quotes.

In Despicable Me, what are the small yellow goggle-wearing creatures who live in Gru's lair called?

Minions speak Minionese, a largely unintelligible invented language, so the animators rely on body language to show what the creatures are feeling.

Which Disney film has a magical nanny float down to Edwardian London holding an open umbrella?

Mary Poppins earned thirteen Academy Award nominations, a record for a Disney release, and won five, including Best Actress for Julie Andrews.

In the Harry Potter films, the Hogwarts Express leaves Platform 9¾ at which real London station?

King's Cross leaned into the fame: a Platform 9¾ sign went up by 2003, followed by a luggage trolley fixed to the station wall.

Which desert planet, Luke Skywalker's home in Star Wars, takes its name from a real town in Tunisia?

Tatooine was adapted from Tataouine, a town in southern Tunisia. When filming began in the Tunisian desert in 1976, a rare rainstorm promptly disrupted the shoot.

Which silent-film star created the Little Tramp, a vagrant in baggy pants, bowler hat and cane?

Charlie Chaplin wanted the outfit to be a mass of contradictions, pairing a tight coat with oversized shoes and a toothbrush moustache.

Which comedian plays Buddy, a human raised by Santa's helpers, in the Christmas film Elf?

Will Ferrell towers over his co-stars thanks to forced perspective, a camera trick the film uses heavily to exaggerate Buddy's size.

The animated film Coco, about a music-loving boy named Miguel, is set during which Mexican holiday?

Day of the Dead lets Miguel meet his skeletal relatives, but a curse means he must win a family blessing before sunrise or stay among them forever.

Heath Ledger won a posthumous Academy Award for playing which Batman villain in The Dark Knight?

The Joker made The Dark Knight the first comic book adaptation to win an Academy Award for acting. Ledger's family accepted the statuette on his behalf.

Which director shot all three Lord of the Rings films simultaneously in his native New Zealand?

Peter Jackson kept cameras rolling from October 1999 to December 2000. A plan to edit all three films at once was dropped after a month as too difficult.

Which giant monster, awakened by nuclear testing, has starred in over thirty Japanese films by Toho?

Godzilla was conceived as a metaphor for nuclear weapons, with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki still fresh in Japanese memory.

Which star directed Quiz Show, having watched the real game show as a young acting student?

Robert Redford called the affair "really the first in a series of scandals" that left Americans numbed and unsure of what or who to believe.

Which British actor plays Charles Van Doren, the college professor fed the answers in Quiz Show?

Ralph Fiennes won the part after several American actors auditioned without success, then prepared by visiting Van Doren's home in Cornwall, Connecticut.

The film Quiz Show dramatizes the rigging of which real NBC game show of the 1950s?

Twenty-One was sponsored by the tonic Geritol. In the film, sponsor and network decide the show needs fresh talent once the champion's ratings level out.

In Quiz Show, the champion takes a dive by wrongly naming which film as 1955's Best Picture?

On the Waterfront had won a year earlier. The right answer, Marty, was one of the real contestant's favorite films, which made the order to miss it sting.

In Quiz Show, John Turturro plays which dethroned champion who exposes the rigging of a game show?

Herb Stempel was an easy character for Turturro to assume, yet the actor still gained 25 pounds and altered his voice to mimic the real contestant.

In Monsters, Inc., what do scarers like Sulley collect from human children to power Monstropolis?

Screams turn out to be the weaker fuel: by the end the factory is retooled to harvest laughter, which is ten times more powerful.

Which tiny fashion designer in The Incredibles refuses to add capes to any superhero costume?

Edna Mode lists heroes killed by their own capes. Director Brad Bird invented her to answer a question superhero films rarely do: who makes the costumes?

In Disney's Moana, which shape-shifting demigod with a magic fish hook is voiced by Dwayne Johnson?

Maui stole the heart of an island goddess to give humanity the power of creation, then lost both the heart and his hook to the depths of the sea.

In How to Train Your Dragon, what name does Hiccup give the injured Night Fury he befriends?

Toothless is named for his retractable teeth. Hiccup builds him a harness and a prosthetic fin so that the pair can fly together.

Which Disney fairy tale was the first animated film nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award?

Beauty and the Beast was also the first Disney animated film written as a finished screenplay before storyboarding began.

Which African country is home to Nollywood, a film industry that boomed on direct-to-video releases?

Nigeria peaked in the mid-2000s as the world's second-largest film industry by number of films made each year, ahead of the United States and behind only India.

The Hollywood Sign first read 'Hollywoodland' and went up as a temporary advertisement for what?

A housing development in the hills gave the sign its four extra letters, and around 4,000 light bulbs flashed HOLLY, WOOD and LAND in turn.

The Oscar statuette shows a knight standing on a reel of film and holding which object?

A sword is in the knight's hands, and the reel under his feet has five spokes, one for each original branch of the Academy, from actors to technicians.

Which Italian city hosts the world's oldest film festival, launched as part of its art Biennale?

Venice gave its top prize in 2018 to Alfonso Cuarón's Roma, a film Netflix had bought to release on its streaming service.

Which parody awards for the year's worst films are usually handed out the day before the Oscars?

Razzies, or Golden Raspberry Awards, grew out of a potluck party in co-founder John Wilson's Hollywood living room. Paul Verhoeven was the first winner to attend the ceremony and collect one.

Which space drama made "Houston, we have a problem" famous, slightly misquoting the real astronaut?

Apollo 13 used the line as its tagline. On the flight recordings, Jack Swigert's actual words were "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here."

Which Alfred Hitchcock thriller has the people of Bodega Bay, California, come under sudden, unexplained attack?

The Birds has no conventional musical score. Most of the creatures on screen were real, though more than $200,000 went on mechanical ones.

On a film set, which crew title belongs to the chief electrician in charge of the lighting plan?

Gaffer has meant the chief electrician on a film set since the 1920s, and the gaffer's own assistant carries another odd title: best boy.

The Blair Witch Project revived which horror style, later used by Paranormal Activity and Rec?

Found footage was sold as fact: the marketing listed the three actors as "missing" or "deceased", and the film's website drew 160 million hits by August 1999.

Which fake name did the Directors Guild of America credit when a director disowned a finished film?

Alan Smithee was created for the film Death of a Gunfighter, released in 1969. The popular claim that the name is an anagram of "the alias men" is apocryphal.

Which top prize of the Berlin International Film Festival is modelled on the city's heraldic animal?

Golden Bear statuettes stand on their hind legs, following a 1932 design by sculptor Renée Sintenis of the mascot on Berlin's flag and coat of arms.

Which French film pioneer made the silent fantasy in which a cannon-fired capsule hits the Moon in the eye?

Georges Méliès also played the lead, Professor Barbenfouillis. The film sank into obscurity after he retired and was rediscovered around 1930.

Which silent war film starring Clara Bow won the very first Academy Award for Best Picture?

Wings remains the only fully silent film to take the top prize. Bow disliked her part, calling it "a man's picture" with her as "the whipped cream on top of the pie".

Which Sergei Eisenstein silent film sends a baby carriage rolling down the Odessa Steps during a massacre?

Battleship Potemkin dramatizes a 1905 naval mutiny. Its staircase sequence became a showcase of Soviet montage editing that later films often recreated.

Which Italian neorealist film about a father in post-war Rome topped Sight & Sound's 1952 greatest-films poll?

Bicycle Thieves turns on a stolen bike: without it, the father will lose the job that was meant to be the salvation of his young family.

In film sound, which craft recreates footsteps, swishing clothes and squeaky doors in time with the picture?

Foley takes its name from sound-effects artist Jack Foley, who went on creating sounds for films until his death in 1967.

Which stock sound effect, first recorded for a man bitten by an alligator, was made iconic by Star Wars?

The Wilhelm scream is named after Private Wilhelm, a character shot in the thigh with an arrow in the 1953 western The Charge at Feather River.

Which term, popularised by Alfred Hitchcock, names an object that drives a plot but hardly matters itself?

MacGuffin was coined by English screenwriter Angus MacPhail. In The 39 Steps, the one everybody chases is a set of otherwise incidental military secrets.

Which disco-era film stars John Travolta as Tony Manero, a Brooklyn hardware-store worker who lives to dance?

Saturday Night Fever was inspired by a 1976 New York magazine article, and its Bee Gees soundtrack became one of the best-selling soundtrack albums worldwide.

In Disney's The Jungle Book, which laid-back character teaches Mowgli the song 'The Bare Necessities'?

Baloo is a far stricter figure in Kipling's original stories, where the sloth bear drills the wolf cubs and Mowgli in the Law of the Jungle.