With the heavy amounts of production and effort that go into most cinema-screen movies nowadays, films always have a plethora of weird or interesting elements that most viewers don’t even realize while watching the film. Sometimes, things seem to work out in the weirdest ways and many times it’ll leave you shocked and scratching your head with confusion.
So here are five strange film facts you probably didn’t know!
1. The Strange Origins of The Matrix Code
If you’ve ever watched any of the Matrix films you’ll probably notice the green digital code that streams down the page at the beginning of each movie. This has become a very popular and recognizable element of the films, but it has one of the strangest origin stories out there.
Back in a 2017 interview with CNET, Matrix concept designer Simon Whitely revealed the origins of the iconic green-on-black text that appears at the beginning of each film.
Turns out- it’s made out of sushi recipes.
That’s right. Whiteley told CNET “I like to tell everybody that The Matrix’s code is made out of Japanese sushi recipes.” He went on to explain how he scanned the individual characters from his wife’s Japanese cookbooks. Weird right?
2. The Wolf of Wall Street “Money Chant” is Actually a Relaxation tool McConaughey Uses
2013 saw the release of the hit film ‘The Wolf of Wall Street,’ a movie that tells the bizarre and scandalous story of millionaire Jordan Belfort’s rise to fame. Near the beginning of the film Belfort’s coach, played by Matthew McConaughey, begins and ends the scene with a chest-thumping chant, which has become a central point of the clip.
However, the chant wasn’t supposed to be in the movie in the first place. In fact, it’s something McConaughey has been doing in each of his films for years now, as a way to get ready for the shot.
“The actual chant, that is something I’ll do not only in this film but before scenes in a lot of films,” he stated during a video on Twitter. “I’ll come up with a different tune and it’s a relaxation tool for me. It’s musical, so it gets me out of my head because I don’t want to be thinking as an actor, I want to be doing. I was doing it before every take…”
However, as the actors were packing up and ready to move on with the film, Leonardo DiCaprio suggested that the chant actually be in the film, and from then on the story is history.
3. Jack Nicholson Pulled a Real Gun on DiCaprio During ‘The Departed’
The Departed is a dramatic and famous piece of film about an undercover officer, in the Italian mafia, chasing down an undercover gangster, hiding in the police force. It boasts an insane cast and has had incredibly positive reception over the years.
However one scene truly stuck with the audience in the movie, when Jack Nicholson’s Frank Costello sits with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Billy to discuss the idea that there might be a “gnawing, teething f*cking rat” hiding in the mafia.
During a slight verbal altercation between the two Nicholson pulls out a real gun on DiCaprio, something completely unscripted, leading to his expression of genuine shock. Nicholson stated he wanted to make the film a little more intense, leading him to do the act.
“He didn’t tell me he had a gun. It was great…we took a lot out, but Leo’s reaction is real-time…I still get chills…It’s so real to me,” director Scorsese said.
4. Paul Schrader Based The Famous Film ‘Taxi Driver’ Off of His Life
‘Taxi Driver’ is among the classics of 1970’s filmography. It tells the story of a crazed New York taxi driver named Travis Bickle and is spiral into insanity. It won both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Palme d’Or award at the Cannes Film Festival following its release.
However, what many people don’t know about the movie is that it was written up in only two weeks.
Schrader would admit during interviews that “Travis Bickle is me,” something that shocked many fans. “At the time I wrote it, I was in a rather low and bad place,” he would state during an interview with the Guardian.
He would follow up by explaining how he had ended working alongside famous critic Pauline Kael, lost his wife, the woman he had left his wife for, and was in deep debt. All of this would lead him into an era of deep depression and alcoholism, before he would suffer an ulcer and go to the hospital.
There he would come up with the idea of the film’s theme and begin to write it out. In two weeks it was done.
“That is what I was: this person in an iron box, a coffin, floating around the city, but seemingly alone.”
5. Remember the Snowfall During the Wizard of Oz? Yeah That’s Pure Asbestos
There’s one heavily recognized scene from the 1939 classic film ‘The Wizard of Oz’. It’s a clip of main character Dorothy waking up in a poppy field covered in fake snow. Believe it or not, the snow is made of Chrysotile, or white asbestos.
In fact at the time asbestos was commonly used for fireproof materials, house construction, and, weirdly enough, fake snow. People would often use it for Christmas decorations during the holidays, and so it was the obvious choice for the film.
However, as we all know, asbestos is a dangerous chemical that can cause inflammation and, in rare cases, cancer.
The material was also used many other times throughout the movie, including on the Scarecrow costume and the Wicked Witch’s broom. Thankfully, no one uses asbestos anymore.
