cult films

in nazi occupied france during world war ii, a group of jewish-american soldiers known as “the basterds” are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the third reich by scalping and brutally killing nazis.

dir.: quentin tarantino
thriller / war
2009

facts:
- quentin tarantino worked on the script for almost a decade.
- quentin tarantino intended for this to be as much a war film as a spaghetti western, and considered titling the movie “once upon a time in nazi-occupied france”. he gave that title instead to the first chapter of the film. 
- leonardo dicaprio was the first choice for col. hans landa, but quentin tarantino then decided that a german speaking actor should play the part.
- the name of til schweiger’s character, sgt. hugo stiglitz, is a homage to the mexican b-movie actor hugo stiglitz.
- on german advertisement materials, all swastikas were removed or covered up as it was unclear to the distributor if they violated german law (which prohibits the exhibition of nazi symbols except for purposes such as historical accuracy).
- when asked about the misspelled title, quentin tarantino gave the following answer: “here’s the thing. i’m never going to explain that. you do an artistic flourish like that, and to explain it would just take the piss out of it and invalidate the whole stroke in the first place.”
- eli roth and omar doom were nearly incinerated filming the fire sequence in the theater. during tests the flame temperatures reached 400 degrees centigrade, and during the take the set burned out of control and the temperature of the ceiling above them reached 1,200 degrees centigrade (2,000 degrees fahrenheit.) quentin tarantino was seated on a crane operating the camera in a fireproof suit, and none of them wanted to back down and ruin the shot. fire marshalls said that another fifteen seconds of filming and the steel structure would have collapsed, incinerating the actors. roth and doom were treated for minor burns.
- the pipe col. landa smokes at the lapadite farm is a calabash meerschaum, a.k.a. the sherlock holmes pipe.
- one of the jewish names carved on the bear jew’s bat is anne frank.
- roughly only 30% of the film is in spoken english, the language which dominates the film is either french or german, with a little italian. chapter three of the film ‘german night in paris’ is completely devoid of any english. this is highly unusual for a hollywood production.
- christoph waltz’s character speaks the most different languages in the movie out of anyone else in the cast, he speaks fluent english, french and german; and he learned a little bit of italian specially for this movie.   

life isn’t measured in minutes, but in moments

tells the story of benjamin button, a man who starts aging backwards with bizarre consequences.

dir.: david fincher
drama / fantasy / mystery / romance
2008

facts:
- early development of the film began in 1994.
- it took 5 hours each day to complete the make-up required for the role of benjamin button.
- david fincher’s first pg-13 rated film.
- principal photography was targeted to last a total of 150 days, excluding the time it would take to create the visual effects for the metamorphosis of brad pitt’s character to the infant stage.
- the short story based on a remark by author mark twain, who famously remarked that ‘the best part of life was from the beginning and the worst part was the end’
- the hummingbird is the only bird in the world that can fly backwards. all hurricanes spin counter-clockwise. these, among other “backward” motifs involving clocks and so on, tie in with the major thematic elements related to benjamin button living life in reverse.

intelligence is relative.
a disk containing the memoirs of a cia agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous gym employees who attempt to sell it.

dir.: ethan coen & joel coen
comedy / crime / drama
2008
brad pitt / george clooney / john malkovich

facts:
- the opening film of the 2008 venice film festival.
- excluding the end credits’ song, the word fuck and it’s derivatives is used 62 times, mostly by osborne cox and harry pfarrer. 
- the building that was turned into the hardbodies gym in the film was found in paramus, new jersey. the crew did such a good job with it that locals came in to inquire about membership.
- when harry goes to stay at katie cox’s house after she broke up with osbourne, he brings along a purple “ramp”, a sex tool from the liberator line. amazon link
- the coen brothers said they wrote the screenplay for this film while writing the screenplay for no country for old men (2007). they would usually alternate every other day for each script.
- one of the three films have been dubbed the “trilogy of idiots” by the brothers. the other two being o brother, where art thou? (2000) and intolerable cruelty (2003)

if you want to be understood… listen.

dir.: alejandro gonzález iñárritu
drama
2006
brad pitt / gael garcía bernal

facts:
- the scene where chieko and her father are in the car together was shot without filming permission from the city due to slow japanese bureaucratic procedures. the crew created “man-made” busy traffic, and began shooting the scene. later the police started chasing them while still shooting the scene.
- the color red is prominently seen in all four segments of the film. for example, yussef, wears a red jacket that says “morocco” on the back, while amelia wears an elaborate red dress, causing her to stand out; chieko frequently uses a red pen to write notes to people who can’t understand sign language, and the seats on richard and susan’s bus are red.
- the shallow depth of field in chieko’s sequences is a nod to the photography of mona kuhn. most of kuhn’s photos have shallow focus, a concept used by the filmmakers to emphasize chieko’s deafness and isolation.
- almost all of the film, even the driving scenes, was shot using a hand-held camera.
- since each story was filmed at different times and on different continents, some of the cast members never met their counterparts until the film’s premiere.

unscrupulous boxing promoters, violent bookmakers, a russian gangster, incompetent amateur robbers, and supposedly jewish jewelers fight to track down a priceless stolen diamond.

dir.: guy ritchie
crime / thriller
2000
jason stratham / benicio del toro / brad pitt 

facts:
- nearly every death in the movie takes place off-screen. body count: 26.
- every mistake that sol, vincent and tyrone make were inspired by various late-night tv shows about real-life crimes gone horribly wrong.
- the word fuck is said 163 times.
- the producers couldn’t afford enough extras for the boxing match sequences. whenever a camera angle changed, the extras had to move around to create an impression of a crowded house.
- the film’s title only appears once throughout the entire movie, where vinny tells the dog: don’t snatch! as it takes the squeaky toy.
- when mickey wins a new trailer van for his mother from turkish, he specifically picks out periwinkle blue as the color. in hitchcock’s psyco (1960), we are told that norman bates helped to pick out a periwinkle blue dress for his dead mother. 

how much can you know about yourself if you’ve never been in a fight?

dir.: david fincher
crime/drama/thriller
1999
brad pitt / edward norton / helena bonham carter

facts:
- tyler durden was originally going to recite a workable recipe for home-made explosives as he does in the novel. but in the interest of public safety, the filmmakers decided to substitute fictional recipes for the real ones.
- author chuck palahniuk has stated that he found the film to be an improvement on his novel.
- the reverse-tracking shot out of the trash can, an elaborate digitally animated sequence, was the very last shot to be added to the film. the entire shot took 3 weeks to render. 
- in the short scene when tyler durden and the narrator are drunk and hitting golf balls, brad pitt and edward norton really are drunk, and the golf balls are sailing directly into the side of the catering truck.
- during rehearsals, brad pitt and edward norton found out that they both hated the new volkswagen beetle with a passion, and for the scene where tyler and the narrator are hitting cars with baseball bats, pitt and norton insisted that one of the cars be a beetle. as norton explains, he hates the car because the beetle was one of the primary symbols of 60s youth culture and freedom. however, the youth of the 60s had become the corporate bosses of the 90s, and had repackaged the symbol of their own youth, selling it to the youth of another generation as if it didn’t mean anything. both norton and pitt felt that this kind of corporate selling out was exactly what the film was railing against, hence the inclusion of the car; “it’s a perfect example of the baby boomer generation marketing its youth culture to us. as if our happiness is going to come by buying the symbol of their youth movement, even with the little flower holder in the plastic molding. it’s appalling to me. i hate it.”.
- the typeface used for the titles and logo is named “fight this”.
- david fincher took 12 takes of the stuntman rolling down the stairs for the fight between the narrator and tyler at the end of the film. the take used in the movie is the very first one. (hehehe)- the phrase, “you’re the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world” is inspired by the book “also sprach zarathustra” by the german philosopher friedrich nietzsche.
- tyler appears in the film five times before we clearly see him on the moving walkway at the airport. in the first four appearances, he flashes on screen for a single frame (1/24 of a second) and only when the narrator has insomnia:
- at the photocopier at work;
- in the corridor outside the doctor’s office, when the narrator learns about the testicular cancer support group;
- at that group’s meeting;
- as the narrator sees marla leaving a meeting but doesn’t follow her.
- he can also be seen as a waiter in the presentation video of the hotel (he is the furthest waiter on the right).
- after the copyright warning, there is another warning on the dvd. this warning is from tyler durden, and is only there for a second:

“if you are reading this then this warning is for you.
every word you read of this is useless fine print is another second off your life.
don’t you have other things to do?
is your life so empty that you honestly can’t think of a better way to spend these moments?
or are you so impressed with authority that you give respect and credence to all who claim it?
do you read everything you’re supposed to read?
do you think everything you’re supposed to think?
buy what you’re told you should want?
get out of your apartment.
meet a member of the opposite sex.
stop the excessive shopping and masturbation.
quit your job.
start a fight.
prove you’re alive.
if you don’t claim your humanity you will become a statistic.
you have been warned…
tyler”. 

in a future world devastated by disease, a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.

dir.: terry gilliam
mystery/sci-fi/thriller
1995
bruce willis / madeleine stowe / brad pitt 

facts:
- terry gilliam gave bruce willis a list of “willis acting clichés” not to be used during the film, including the “steely blue eyes look”.
- the army of the twelve monkeys is inspired by a passage in l. frank baum’s novel, “the magic of oz”, in which the nome king and kiki aru convince twelve monkeys they will have an endless supply of food if they become human soldiers for them.
- right after dr. leland goines gets off the phone with dr. railly, dr. peters can be seen handling a tray of seven vials filled with a golden liquid. twice in the movie, a passage of the bible’s book of the revelation is quoted referring to seven golden vials filled with god’s wrath.
- looking at the bodies in the aftermath of a fight bruce willis says, “all i see are dead people.” of course, “i see dead people” is the most famous line from 1999’s the sixth sense, which starred bruce willis.
- throughout the movie, actual monkeys appear on camera. from the “monkey and a roast beef sandwich” to zoo animals. some people suggest 12 different monkeys appear in the film.
- in the 24 hour hitchcock theater, katheryn transforms herself with a blonde wig. hitchcock had a notorious obsession with blonde actresses in his films.

police drama about two cops, one new and one about to retire, after a serial killer using the seven deadly sins as his modus operandi

dir.: david fincher
crime/drama/mystery/thriller
1995
brad pitt / morgan freeman / kevin spacey 

facts:
- the original script had a strange, dwarf-like woman as part of the forensics team, appearing in every one of the “cleanups” after a murder and hurling foul language and epithets at detectives somerset and mills.
- all the building numbers in the opening scene start with 7. the climactic delivery was scheduled for 7pm.
- at exactly 7 minutes into the film mills picks up the phone to be called over to the gluttony scene.- the word “fuck” and its derivatives are said a discernible 74 times throughout the movie, mostly by brad pitt as detective mills. 
- kevin spacey was cast two days before filming began.
- all of john doe’s books were real books, written for the film. they took two months to complete and cost $15,000. according to detective somerset, two months is also the time it would take the police to read all the books.
- john doe, made his first appearance in the film, as the photographer taking pictures of detectives mills and somerset at the sloth crime scene. if you pause the film at 54:45, when mills was slapping the camera out of the photographer’s hand, you can clearly see that.

long is the way, and hard, that out of hell leads up to light. -se7en