A stunt double was paralyzed in ‘Harry Potter’—and 7 other shocking movie trivia that will make your jaw drop!
Whether or not you’re a movie buff, this list of 8 fascinating movie trivia will make your eyebrows shoot up in surprise—or make you scream “WHAT THE HECK!?” In any case, these surprising facts about popular movies will make you want to rewatch them. And, to a huge degree, they’ll be good ice-breaker conversations, too!
Stunt double in ‘Harry Potter’ film was paralyzed on the set
Daniel Radcliffe had a stunt double in every Harry Potter film. The stunts were all credited to David Holmes. In one of the flying broomsticks scene, David met a tragic accident and ended up paralyzed from the neck down. Daniel went to his rescue by organizing a charity event to pay for all of David’s medical bills. Where is David now? He has partnered with a couple of quadriplegic friends and they are now running a production company.
Sushi code in ‘The Matrix’
The green alphanumerical symbols cascading down in the famous Keanu Reeves sci-fi film The Matrix look impressive. But they’re not complicated algorithms designed by a computer whizz hired by the producers. They are actually sushi recipes scanned from the cookbook of the production designer’s wife. Yes, that “code” is sushi.
Leo DiCaprio’s real blood shot in the bloody ‘Django Unchained’
There was a scene in Quentin Tarantino’s Oscar-nominated film Django Unchained when Leonardo DiCaprio’s character was in the middle of an emotional and heated racist rambling when he slammed on a table and ended up injuring his hand on a glass. It was a real accident. But the show must go on! And Leo, with a bloody cut in his hand, continued the scene as if it were part of the script. Ouch!
The historical toilet-flushing in ‘Psycho’
The 1960 Alfred Hitchcock classic Psycho was the first ever film in history to show a toilet flushing; hence, putting an end to artistic censorship to some degree. At that time, the Motion Picture Production Code prohibits showing flushing toilets because it’s too graphically gross. Psycho decided to go ahead with the toilet scene, anyway.
‘Dracula’ was filmed in bilingual language
Every scene from the 1931 movie Dracula, which famously starred Bela Lugosi, was filmed twice—one in English-language, which they filmed during daytime, and one in Spanish, which they filmed during nighttime. The filmmakers back then didn’t use dubbing. They simply reshot the scenes in a different language. The Spanish version achieved more critical success.
‘The Ten Commandments’ set was buried after filming was over
The 1923 Cecil B. DeMille classic film had an elaborate set, complete with 21 replicas of Sphinx. DeMille, aware of how precious and valuable the props and set, decided to bury them along a California coastline instead of transferring them. To some degree, it was a cheaper decision, too. The Ten Commandments movie set, then, stayed underground for over 90 years. In 2017, archeologists dug up a prop that weighed 300 pounds.
Boo from Disney’s Monsters, Inc. was voiced by a 2-year-old
No wonder Boo’s laughter and wailing and whimpering sounded too realistic; her character was voiced by an actual toddler. Mary Gibbs, the little girl who voiced Boo when she was just two years old, couldn’t stay put during her voice-over work. So the sound crew would tail her with a microphone. To make her laugh, they’d tickle her. And to make her cry, they’d snatch her candy away.
OJ Simpson was almost cast for the lead role in ‘The Terminator’
OJ Simpson was almost credited for the role of Arnold Schwarzenegger as the lead character in James Cameron’s hit movie The Terminator. But Cameron didn’t think OJ would fit the role; he said the professional athlete and actor looked too innocent and kind to be a convincing cyborg killer.