It’s fair to say that this article took a bit of Indiana Jones-style archaelogy!
As even the most casual movie fan could tell you, virtually every frame of a film – even a bad film – takes months of planning and creative development.
Having said that, it’s quite startling just how many memorable movie scenes were either a last minute addition, or were very nearly left on the editing room floor!
From pre-production re-thinks to post-production re-shoots, you wouldn’t believe how many iconic cinematic moments came this close to not winding up on the screen.
With this in mind, here’s a round-up of six amazing movie scenes that almost never happened!
Most movie cameos are easy to spot – indeed, a lot of the time, noticing these brief appearances by big names in the industry is entirely the point! But sometimes, these “mega star, minor moment” instances can fly completely under the radar.
When this happens, it’s almost always on purpose. The typical rationale for sneaking a recognizable face into a film is that the filmmakers want to do a favor for one of their high profile friends – and c’mon, who doesn’t want to be in a flick like Star Wars? – without distracting the audience.
Other times, it’s a case of those involved looking to have a bit of good-natured fun and hoodwinking the audience by hiding a major celebrity in plain sight.
Whatever the reason, spotting these often ultra-brief walk-ons by some of the biggest names in the entertainment world can be a surprisingly rewarding feeling – consider it the movie geek version of bird watching.
It also means that you’ll likely never watch certain scenes in quite the same way, knowing that guy or gal you thought was only an extra is actually a Hollywood A-lister in disguise.
So in order to totally rock your world – or at the very least, encourage you to revisit a lot of great films – we’ve compiled this list of 20 Movie Cameos You Completely Missed. Happy hunting!
Many readers will have used this exact same technology before – and without the goofy gloves, either!
With all the hoopla surrounding Blade Runner 2049, the upcoming sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 cult classic, it’s easy to overlook another Philip K. Dick adaptation celebrating its anniversary this month. That’s right: Minority Report recently clocked up 15 years since its theatrical release.
The first collaboration between Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise, Minority Report is as good as you’d expect from a pair of cinema legends. It offers up a smart, heartfelt and scarily prescient commentary on where humankind might be headed – all wrapped up in a gripping, visually stunning action-thriller detective story!
One of the things the really sets Minority Report apart from other sci-fi movies is just how plausible its fictional world feels. This is largely thanks to the think tank of actual futurists that Spielberg assembled to help him realise his vision of 2054.
It should come as no surprise, then, that so much of the futuristic hardware we see in the film is now very much a reality in our world. Whilst long-range personal jet packs unfortunately remain a mere pipedream (for now…), here are five Minority Report technologies that came true!
A huge amount of work goes into Guy’s production design work – from initial concepts through to the actual filming process and beyond
Welcome to Part 2 of this month’s Five Minutes With… Q&A, featuring production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas (you can check out Part 1 here).
In this second instalment, Guy discusses his work with Steven Spielberg on Indiana Jonesand the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, provides insight into the mind-bending world he helped create for Christopher Nolan’s Inception, discusses his recent work on Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs, and much, much more!
Guy collaborating with director Terry Gilliam on the set of The Brothers Grimm
Ever watched a movie or TV show and thought to yourself: “Damn, this sure looks pretty”?
I’m willing to bet that you have, and the person you should be thanking for those stunning visuals is the production designer (or PD, for short).
PDs look after the overall look of a film or TV show, working alongside the director and producer to choose the settings and develop the style needed to tell the story visually.
Needless to say, they are a major creative force on any production, as the work of this month’s Five Minutes With… Q&A participant, Guy Hendrix Dyas, makes abundantly clear.
“Super 8″?! But there are only five of ’em! Ohhhh, it’s a reference to film stock…
I’ve written before about how all directors have their trademarks – creative calling cards that let you know you’re watching a Scorsese movie as opposed to a Tarantino flick, for example.
I’ve also bashed out more than a few hundred words on the trademark that defines J.J. Abrams body of work.
Yet when it came time to take a look back at Super 8 – released this month five years ago – what struck me was how, even though the film does indeed owe a huge debt to the films of Steven Spielberg, it still works as a stand alone effort, telling a unique and personal story all its own.
This is visible in every strand of Super 8‘s DNA, from its semi-autobiographical narrative that looks back at what it was like for Abrams growing up a movie-obsessed kid making his own short films, through to its nostalgia-tinged sensibilities, which allow it to serve as a love letter from that same kid to the films of the late 70s and 80s that influenced his eventual blockbuster career.
