BENNETT INVENTORY : Did You Know?

For many of you cinephiles, the answer to this question is, "Yes!" The purpose: maybe there's a nugget you can take with you, so that in those late-night cinema brouhahas, you can unleash your mammoth movie dick & one-up that pretentious a-hole!

...What an a-hole...

• Wiley Wiggins can't pitch

While shooting Richard Linklater's 1993 film Dazed and Confused, actor Wiley Wiggins needed to throw the game-winning pitch in what should have been a wide shot. Or even a medium shot. Instead, what we see is a slo-mo closeup, due to Wiggins' inability to throw like a man. After enduring days of ridicule from crew & extras alike, Linklater promised the actor that it would all be rectified in the editing process.

• Burton vs. Elfman

It's hard to think of Tim Burton without thinking of Danny Elfman, & certainly vice versa. & one has to wonder, "What would Danny Elfman's score for a bio pic about Ed Wood sound like?" & we'll continue to wonder...

Burton turned to Howard Shore for this one-movie-break from his film score accomplice, due to a plain & simple "fight" that supposedly occurred due to "creative differences" during the development of Nightmare Before Christmas.

• Hey, McFly?!

The "Cafe 80s" is one of the most memorable locations in the Back to the Future universe. All the over-the-top nostalgia aside, it also created its own nostalgia - revisiting the diner where it all started, back in good ol' 1955. In Part III, we revisit it yet again, this time as a saloon setting. So, the question remains: in the root of the story - 1985 - what kinda establishment is located in this saloon/diner/nostalgia restaurant?

According to the filmmakers, it's the aerobics studio that we get a very brief glimpse of during the opening of Part I during Marty's skateboard ride to school.

• Miss Nude America is on tonight

Probably the most memorable, and best, part of Wes Craven's original A Nightmare on Elm Street is the incomprehensibly gory death of Glen Lantz. After being pulled down into the depths of his bed by the gloved hand, 500 gallons of blood spew forth into his bedroom.

There is a "deleted scene" floating around of an alternate take: Johnny's bloody corpse, slowly (and clumsily) rising out of the bed hole, & collapsing beside it. This take was presumably shot for the TV cut of the film. However, the original intention was to have Glen's skeleton emerge. Or, perhaps "shoot out" as the blood did. Either way, they were ridiculously ineffective in comparison.

• Quentin gets help from Sean Penn's brother

In the gospel of The World According to Chris Penn: Penn, himself, wrote the end of Reservoir Dogs. Supposedly, Quentin couldn't get along with famously-eccentric actor Lawrence Tierney, & asked Chris to "make something up" to end the movie. This one's left for you to decide...

• The Coens don't like to discuss works in progress

The Coens' 1991 film Barton Fink is a film that embodies the agony & impotence of writer's block; art imitates life. The film was written in the dead-middle of forcing out the screenplay of their Miller's Crossing, & we all benefitted.

• Michael Mann does a remake... of Michael Mann

How does Michael Mann bury a project he's embarrassed with? Do it again! In 1989, Mann wrote & directed the made-for-TV film L.A. Takedown, which follows Detective Vincent Hannah as he tracks down a small gang of would-be bank robbers. Obviously, this was a first, underfunded attempt at what would eventually become Heat. Few have seen the film since its release, & it may be a while before you do. To paraphrase the writer/director, "Don't call it 'A Michael Mann Film.'"

• Fincher gives credit where credit is due

Anyone with an interest in DVD commentary tracks will know: Andrew Kevin Walker, screenwriter of Fincher's Se7en, did a little polish work on 1999's Fight Club. Unfortunately, 'script polishing' doesn't warrant a credit (we'll never know just how many films Quentin or Mamet actually wrote). So, as a kinda homage, the character names of the three interrogating police officers in Fight Club's third act are: Det. Andrew, Det. Kevin, & Det. Walker.