Here Are 45 Outrageously Random Movie Trivia Facts That'll Make You Sound Like A Smartass During The Oscars

45 random fun facts about movies and actors to help you one up that jackass who thinks they know everything about movies. I am that jackass. When it comes to movie trivia, Beat The Blockhead you shall not pass. Or something like that, just with a more relevant reference and actually English.

THE FACTS:

1. The roles of Peter Veinkman, Louis Tully, and Winson Zeddemore in Ghostbusters were originally written with the intent to be played by John Belushi, John Candy and Eddie Murphy.

2. The Shawshank Redemption was released in Taiwan as “1995: Fantastic” because apparently nothing in Taiwan makes any fucking sense.

3. Overrated basketball player Elton Brand produced the underrated Christain Bale war movie, Rescue Dawn.

4. The cop from Die Hard (and also the police dad in Family Matters) has quite possibly the greatest name in the world: Reginald VelJohnson.

5. The Dude’s wardrobde in The Big Lebowski were Jeff Bridges’ own clothes. Those pants really held the vibe together, man.

6. Sean Connery turned down the role of Gandolf in LOTR even after being offered 15% of the films’ overall grossing because he “didn’t understand the script.” Connery lost out on a cool $450 million. Famous titties, indeed.

7. Woody Harrelson’s dad was a hitman for the mob and a convicted murderer. He was also suspected of killing JFK.

8. A Clockwork Orange and Midnight Cowboy are the only movies with a X-rating to be nominated for Best Picture, with MC taking home the heat.

9. Kiefer Sutherland has a twin sister. Woof.

10. Heath Ledger locked himself in a hotel room for a month to prepare for his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight and literally became somewhat batshit from it.

11. THREE FUN “GET OUT” FACTS:

A) Eddie Murphy was originally chosen to play the lead but it was deemed he was too ancient. 2) The entire movie was filmed in just 23 days. D) Chance the Rapper was so impressed by “Get Out” that he bought all of the movie tickets from Chicago movie theaters just so people could go see the film for free.

12. Halle Berry got a $500,000 bonus for showing her tits in Swordfish. Casually observe, here.

13. Frank Oz, the dude who does the voice of Yoda, is also the voice of Miss Piggy.

14. Tom Selleck was offered the role of Indiana Jones but had to pass because his chest hair was busy being too dominant for Magnum PI.

15. Kobe Bryant (ever heard of him?) is an Oscar nominee for his collaboration with artist Glen Keane and composer John Williams for the short “Dear Basketball”. Here’s hoping he loses and stares down the winner into submission.

16. Dolph Lundgran, Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, holds a Master’s degree in chemical engineering and left a full ride at MIT to pursue acting. He still must break you.

17. Richard Dreyfuss originally turned down the role of Hooper but when his next movie came out he thought he sucked so bad that nobody would ever hire him again so asked for his part back.

18. All of Bill Murray’s lines in Caddyshack were improvised. Still proves the only good varmint puntang is dead varmint puntang. I think.

19. Mark Wahlberg was a drug dealer at age 16 approached a middle-aged Vietnamese man on the street and, using a large wooden stick, knocked him unconscious (while calling him “Vietnam fucking shit”) and left him blind in one-eye.

20. Most of the cast and crew got dysentery while shooting Raiders of the Lost Ark in a 4th world country and Harrison Ford literally shit himself while rehearsing for a fight that would’ve taken 3 days to shoot. Ford asked Speilberg if he could just shoot the guy instead. Done and done.

21. During filming of “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Mississippi”, Woody Harrelson would often use his breaks from shooting to sign autographs and take pictures with locals who had come to watch the filming. He also did an impromptu guitar performance at the music store next to the police station set. Good man.

22. James Woods fired his agent upon learning that Quentin Tarantino wanted him for a part in Reservoir Dogs in what would’ve been the most entertaining firing ever.

23. Bill Murray, Mel Gibson, Kevin Costner, Charlie Sheen, and Pierce Brosnan were all up for the 1989 role as Batman before Michael Keaton wanted to get nuts.

24. Adrian Brody gained 75 pounds by strictly swallowing pizza before losing 130 via Adderall to land the role of Dave Portnoy in the upcoming film “Pageviews: The Barstool story”. He is also rumored to have had his nose lengthened.

25. Christian Bale based elements of his performance as Patrick Bateman on Tom Cruise after seeing him in an interview. Makes sense.

26. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck put in an out of place blowjob scene with Robin Williams’ character during a psych session in “Good Will Hunting” because they wanted to see in any Hollywood Execs were actually paying attention to their script. The only one who noticed was the one who signed them – Harvey Weinstein. Shocker.

27. Vince Vaughn did the movie Swingers as a favor to his friend Jon Favreau after they became butt buddies on the set of Rudy.

28. According to the real Henry Hill, Joe Pesci’s portrayal of Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas was 90% to 99% accurate with the main difference being the real DeVito was 6’4.
 

29. When asked why he cast Harry Styles in “Dunkirk”, Christopher Nolan said, “I auditioned literally thousands of young men with different combinations of young men. And he had it.” However, he failed to mention that “What Makes You Beautiful” is a certified JAM.

30. Given the unusual style of filming long takes in Birdman, Edward Norton and Michael Keaton kept a running tally of flubs made by the actors. Emma Stone made the most mistakes; Zach Galifianakis made the fewest.

31. Miles Teller and Emma Watson were slated to star in La La Land while Matt Damon was supposed to star and direct in Manchester By The Sea.

32. After Rocky, Sylvestor Stallone was proclaimed by critics as the next Marlon Brando. He then proceeded to make movies like Rhinestone.
 

 
33. Se7en needs to be featured more in great movie conversations. Yes that is a fact.

34. In Boogie Nights, William H. Macy says “My wife is down there with an ass in her cock!” they left that line in the movie instead of re-shooting it.

35. During the filming of Chinatown (1974) Faye Dunaway angrily threw a cup of her own piss in child rapist Roman Polanski’s face. Somehow all a a true story.

36. That little betch Toto in The Wizard Of Oz was pulling down $125 a week. Big betch Judy Garland was raking in $500, but also only ate chicken soup and ripped 100+ cigs a day.

37. Dave Chappelle declined the role of Bubba in “Forrest Gump.”

38. Hacksaw Ridge was Mel Gibson’s first directorial effort since 2006’s Apocalyptico when he “was” anti-semetic and referred to women cops as “Sugertits”. That is all.

39. Keanu Reeves was originally supposed to play Woody Harrelson’s role in White Men Can’t Jump but was deemed too much of a spaz on the court to be a realistic player.

40. Jim Carrey’s chipped tooth in Dumb & Dumber is real. Jeff Daniels’ super shits were not.

41. In Django Unchained, The scene were Leonardo Dicaprio’s character cuts his hand on the table was completely unscripted. The blood was real, as well as Kerri Washington’s reaction to having it smeared on her face.

42. Daniel Day-Lewis lived in a cabin in the woods by himself living off the land for months while preparing for his role in The The Last of the Mohicans. He even carried a long rifle at all times during filming in order to remain in character and learned how to skin animals. Boss.

43. For “The Darkest Hour”, Gary Oldman smoked over $50,000 worth of cigars on set (about 12 cigars a day) while in character as Winston Churchill and developed nicotine poisoning. God save the Queen.

44. James Cameron and the studio originally wanted OJ Simpson to play the terminator but ultimately decided against it because they believed nobody would believe he was a killer. BOOM! Roasted, world.

45. Nic Cage almost played Superman in a ’90’s reboot of the franchise and it would have been magical. Yes, this photo is apparently real.
 

 
BONUS: Samuel L. Jackson literally badassed his way into his role in Pulp Fiction after being confused with Lawerance Fishburne:

“I sort of was angry, pissed, tired,” Jackson recalls. He was also hungry, so he bought a takeout burger on his way to the studio, only to find nobody there to greet him. “When they came back, a line producer or somebody who was with them said, “I love your work, Mr. Fishburne,?” says Jackson. “It was like a slow burn. He doesn?t know who I am.” I was kind of like, Fuck it. At that point I really didn?t care.? Gladstein remembers Jackson?s audition: ?In comes Sam with a burger in his hand and a drink in the other hand and stinking like fast food. Me and Quentin and Lawrence were sitting on the couch, and he walked in and just started sipping that shake and biting that burger and looking at all of us. I was scared shitless. I thought that this guy was going to shoot a gun right through my head. His eyes were popping out of his head. And he just stole the part.” Lawrence Bender adds, “He was the guy you see in the movie. He said, ?Do you think you?re going to give this part to somebody else? I?m going to blow you motherfuckers away.”