You ready to feel really old? We’re about to celebrate the 20th anniversary of some of our favorite childhood movies, including The Truman Show, Mulan, The Big Lebowski, The Prince of Egypt, Ever After: A Cinderella Story, and so many more.
To honor these classic films on their 20th birthdays, here are 40 fun facts about 20 movies that will be turning 20 this year!
40 Fun Facts about 20 Movies Turning 20 in 2018
Saving Private Ryan
Director Steven Spielberg cast Matt Damon as Private Ryan because he wanted an “unknown actor with an All-American look”. He had no idea that Damon would win an Oscar the year before the movie’s release for his blockbuster, Good Will Hunting.
The Omaha Beach scene cost $11 million to shoot and involved more than 1,000 extras, some of which were amputees with prosthetic limbs to simulate soldiers having their limbs blown off.
Mulan
Mulan was the first Disney movie to be released on DVD.
When Mulan sings “Reflection” in her father’s shrine, the writing on the stones is the names of the Disney animators who worked on the film, written in ancient Chinese.
The Truman Show
Though they were the two biggest stars of the film, Jim Carrey and Ed Harris never actually met during the filming of The Truman Show.
The Truman Show was Carrey’s first take on a serious dramatic leading role. He said, “It was one of the best scripts I ever read. It works on so many levels.”
The Big Lebowski
Every “man” and “dude” in The Big Lebowski was scripted. In fact, the only improvised line in the entire film was Jeff Bridges’ line about the “human paraquat”.
A lot of the Dude’s clothes in the movie were Jeff Bridges’ own clothes, including his Jellies sandals, which he still owns and wears to this day.
The Parent Trap
For her split screen scenes, Lindsay Lohan wore an earpiece, which would play back the dialogue of the other sister.
The lost boy who shows up at the girls’ camp is played by Michael Lohan, Lindsay Lohan’s real brother. Her siblings regularly appear as extras in her movies.
The Prince of Egypt
The production team conferred with roughly six hundred religious experts to make the film as accurate and faithful to the original story as possible. They all praised the studio for listening and responding to their ideas.
The only five actors who do both singing and speaking parts were Ralph Fiennes (Rameses), Michelle Pfeiffer (Tzipporah), Martin Short (Huy), Steve Martin (Hotep), and Ofra Haza (Yocheved). All other parts had different singers.
Armageddon
NASA shows Armageddon during their management training program. New managers are given the task of trying to spot as many errors as possible. At least 168 have been found so far.
Billy Bob Thorton and Ben Afflick have both openly discussed their hate for Armageddon. This movie was also included in Roger Ebert’s “Most Hated” list of 1998.
A Bug’s Life
The two mosquitoes trapped in the bugzapper are the voices of the co-directors, John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton.
A Bug’s Life was the first Pixar movie to have outtakes at the end and was the first to feature a short at the beginning of the film (Geri’s Game).
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Much of the clothing that Johnny Depp wore in the movie were actual pieces of clothing that the real Hunter S. Thompson wore in the 70’s. Depp and Thompson formed a friendship after Thompson let Depp hang with him for four months, learning his mannerisms and vocal inflection.
Martin Scorsese and Oliver Stone each tried to get the film off the ground but were unsuccessful.
Ever After: A Cinderella Story
Drew Barrymore has stated that this is her favorite of all her films so far.
In the scene where Rodmilla (Angelica Huston) receives the invitation to the masque ball, it can be seen on the invite that the ball takes place on the feast of St. Jude. This means the ball takes places on October 28th.
There’s Something About Mary
The dialogue between Mary and Ted about how there aren’t enough meats on sticks was originally written for an episode of Seinfeld that never aired. The Farrelly Brothers liked it and bought it for use in the movie.
Matt Dillon and Cameron Diaz were dating in real life during the filming of There’s Something About Mary. They’d been together three years but broke up almost immediately after the film was released.
Pleasantville
During the publicity campaign surrounding the film’s release, there was a contest for a trip to Pleasantville, Iowa – the smallest Pleasantville in the US.
Since every scene from the middle of the movie to the end had to be digitally changed to have black and white characters interacting with characters in color, this film technically had the most digital effect shots ever until Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, which came out the following year.
The Mask of Zorro
Legendary sword trainer Bob Anderson remarked that Antonio Banderas was the most gifted swordsman he had worked with since Errol Flynn.
In order to accomplish the effect of Elena’s dress falling off from being sliced up by Zorro, a wire was attached to the dress to help pull it off.
Rush Hour
Jackie Chan was almost killed filming the scene where he is almost crushed by metal boxes. They slammed together about a quarter of a second after his head was clear.
Chris Tucker improvised much of his dialogue, as he normally does in his films. There are several continuity errors in the dialogue for this reason.
The Wedding Singer
Carrie Fisher, Judd Apatow, and Adam Sandler worked uncredited on the movie script.
The role of Glenn Gulia was originally written with Jim Carrey in mind, however he declined the part.
You’ve Got Mail
The location of Fox Books in the movie is actually the location of a real Barnes & Noble (on Broadway and 83rd Street). Ironically, the opening of Barnes and Noble drove the local bookstore on 81st Street, Shakespeare & Co., out of business.
All of the emails Joe and Kathleen sent back and forth to each other were put on the movie’s official website, which Warner Bros. has kept active (click on the photo – you’re welcome!).
The Thin Red Line
Director Terrence Malick commanded such respect from his actors that both Woddy Harrelson and John Savage stayed on set for an extra month after wrapping just to watch him work.
Before settling on the final cast, Malick met with and considered several of Hollywood’s leading men at the time, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Nicolas Cage, Kevin Costner, Ethan Hawke, Dermot Mulroney and William Baldwin.
Shakespeare in Love
Dame Judi Dench won an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her role as Queen Elizabeth, although she is on-screen for only about six minutes in four scenes.
Although long portions of Romeo and Juliet are used in the film, along with famous lines from many of Shakespeare’s plays, William Shakespeare is not credited in the film.
The Rugrats Movie
The Rugrats Movie was not only Nickelodeon’s first animated theatrical release, but it was the first non-Disney animated movie to gross more than $100 million at the box office.
The role of Dil was originally going to be voied by Madonna. However, Tara Strong won the part because her impression of a baby crying was so accurate that a woman in the room who had just had a baby started lactating!
Rushmore
Jason Schwartzman came to his audition wearing a prep-school blazer which sported a Rushmore patch he made himself.
When Bill Murray first read the script, he thought it was so fantastic that he said he would do it for free.
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