14 Astonishing Facts about Hollywood

The magic that we see in cinemas began approximately a century ago. To this day, this industry compares to no other, both ugly and glamorous; the beginnings of Hollywood came with two French brothers, a New Jersey inventor, and a collection of moving images that would inspire and entertain audiences globally. For some, this world is full of rich and expansive history.

Be it the first on-screen kiss or the first black woman to win an Academy, industry nuggets like these are both informative and interesting. This list contains some of the most obscure Hollywood facts – facts that will mesmerize both the seasoned cinephile and the budding film novice.  

Surprising Hollywood Facts

1. $21,429: The amount Arnold Schwarzenegger received for uttering a word in Terminator II

It’s true!

Terminator II Judgment Day was released in 1991. It’s a sci-fi film that was a great success at the box office and was watched by audiences from all backgrounds. The star of the film was Arnold Schwarzenegger, and in the whole film, he spoke 700 words. He earned $15 million for his role, which means he earned $21,429 for every work.

Shocking!

2. Mad Max (1979) ran so low on funds that one of the movie’s directors had to offer their vehicle for a crash scene

Mad Max is a post-apocalyptic film franchise. George Miller created the film series, and the first film came out in 1979. Three sequels then followed this movie in 1981, 1985, and 2015. Its plot had a few car crash scenes, which cost the production company money.

However, while shooting the film, the film’s directors ran out of funds. This limited budget meant that not every car available could be used for the car crash scene, which is why one of the directors offered their car for the scene.

3. The first narrative movie was 12 minutes long

While it wasn’t the first film to be made, “The Great Train Robbery” was a film that came out in 1903, and it was the first movie that had a story. As of now, it is considered to be the first fiction film. It was approximately 12 minutes long, produced by Edison Studios (Thomas Edison’s film production studio). The film was shot in New Jersey, USA.

4. Tom Hanks contributed partially for “Forrest Gump.”

In an interview with Graham Bensinger, Tom Hanks stated that he and the film’s director Robert Zemeckis paid for Forrest Gump to some extent since Paramount limited the film’s budget. The director and the actor were paid to do several scenes, because of which they asked for a portion of the profits of the film.

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For his role, Tom Hanks was paid $65 million!

5. “Schindler’s List” had to rely on advertisements for costumes

Anna Biedrzycka-Sheppard was the film’s costume designer, and for a specific scene, she needed costumes for the 20,000 extras needed in the film. To fulfill this need, advertisements had to be placed for the costumes. Several people in Poland had their dresses from the 1930s and 1940s and were happy to sell them. For her efforts, Anna was nominated for an Oscar!

6. “Psycho” was the first American film to show a toilet flushing

At one point, showing a flushing toilet on screen was considered inappropriate. Alfred Hitchcock, however, was having none of it. He wanted to add some added shock to an already shocking film. In the book, one of the clues found in the movie was an earring in the bathroom; however, in the live-action film, the director showed a scrap of paper in the toilet.

7. “Toy Story 2” came very close to being deleted

The animation for Toy Story 2 was stored in a master machine. This machine had approximately 90% of the work done on the film. A command entered this machine accidentally, and almost all of the film was gone. This was when the plan was quickly made to restore the lost data from a backup, which meant that only half of the day’s work would be lost, but the backup system failed. Pixar didn’t have another copy on the servers.

Luckily, the film’s technical director worked on the film from home, and she had her copy. This meant that much of the film was restored.

Phew!

8. Woo-Ping Yuen had specific demands for the “The Matrix”

The Matrix

Woo-Ping Yuen is a popular fight advisor and choreographer who has worked on several films worldwide. However, his first entry into Hollywood was when the Wachowskis hired him for their wildly popular movie The Matrix. However, Woo-Ping Yuen initially rejected the offer to work on the film and asked the directors for excessive money, so they would refuse. But to his surprise, they accepted his demands.

He then next came up with a request that he thought was impossible to accept: he said that he’d only agree if he had complete autonomy while creating the action sequences for the film and that he wanted to train the actors for four months before they started shooting. The Wachowskis accepted this offer, too.

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9.  Sean Bean preferred climbing a mountain rather than flying to its top in “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”

The cast for the film often had to fly to remote locations via a helicopter. Sean Bean, who played the role of Boromir, had a fear of flying and would only accompany the cast when it was essential. When they had to shoot scenes that involved snowy mountains, Sean would spend two hours every morning climbing to the mountain’s base near the set for the film. He did all this while being dressed for his role.

The crew that went up via the helicopters could see him climbing up the mountain.

10. “Paranormal Activity” is the most profitable movie of all time

The film had a minuscule budget and was a raving success at the box office. It managed a 19,758 percent return on its investment. In contrast, the next most profitable film is The Gallows which managed a return of 6,843 percent. It cost only $60,000 to make the film and around $400,000 to promote. The film managed to gross $89 million.

11. The appearance for Flynn Rider was created in a “Hot Guy Meeting”

According to the directors Bryon Howard and Nathan Greno, they brought almost every female from the studio into one room. Their goal was to create an immensely attractive character, so they hung up pictures of the most attractive men in Hollywood and then asked the women they had assembled to pick features they liked the most.

Once the women started talking, they only listened. Afterwards, they put together everything they had collected to create Flynn Rider.

12. Ryan Gosling’s worst audition was incorporated into “La La Land”

While shooting the film, Gosling stated that he had once auditioned in front of people who were so unconcerned about his emotional audition (tears were coming down his face) that one of the persons answered a phone call and went outside. The film director, Damien Chazelle, put this into the movie. Gosling stated that he liked Emma Stone’s attempt at the scene.

13. Tony Stark’s death scene in “Avengers: Endgame” was made up entirely on the spot

Iron Man’s Mask

In an interview, Tom Holland (In an interview, Spiderman) stated that only a h Those people were:

  • Robert Downey Jr.
  • Don Cheadle
  • The Russo Brothers
  • Kevin Feige
  • Gwyneth Paltrow

When they showed up on set, they were told loosely about the scene that would be shot, after which the actors improvised.

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25 Intriguing Facts about Hollywood History

Summary

Now that you’ve made it to the end, we think it’s safe to call yourself a movie nerd! Please keep checking this space for more articles like these, as we plan to post more astonishing facts soon!

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