Very Minor PODs
- Thread starter Emperor Norton I
- Start date
In my Hawaiian TL, Kamehameha the Great is killed in a duel due to an ATL case of diarrhea (he's just recovered from it, can't concentrate and feels drowsy, hence the defeat and death). The diarrhea was actually caused by a conspiracy of some anti-Kamehameha schemers, but it's still a really silly POD, I admit. 
Some Minor Movie What If Possibilities,
From http://screenrant.com/greatest-unscripted-movie-scenes
and Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTFQBHBeleE
From http://screenrant.com/greatest-unscripted-movie-scenes
and Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTFQBHBeleE
- Zoolander's "Why Male Models" double take was because Ben Stiller forgot the line, and Duchovny adlibbed after that.
- In Godfather, when the Don is stroking the cat, that wasn't in the script. Stories vary from Coppola putting the cat in his lap before filming to Brando finding it roaming around the set and just taking it into the scene.
- In The Fugitive, Tommy Lee Jones adlibbed the line "I don't care".
- In The Dark Knight, the Joker's slow clap was adlibbed.
- In Robocop, Boddicker spitting blood on the paperwork and saying "give me my fuckin phone call" was not in the script, and discussed by Kurtwood Smith and the director only moments before filming, and it was never told to the other actors who showed real disgust.
- In Pretty Woman, when Richard Gere closed the jewelry box and Julia Roberts laughed, that was all adlibbed, and the laugh was real.
- One from Being John Malkovich:
"Shortly after John Malkovich meets Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) on the side of the road he wanders off mad. As he does, a car passes by with a man leaning out the window. The man throws a can hitting Malkovich square in the back of the head while yelling, "Hey Malkovich! Think Fast!" - causing the Oscar nominated actor to scream out in legitimate pain.
Neither the can throwing nor the reaction were scripted but the drunken extra in the car felt the opportunity was too good to pass up. Jonze thought the scene added to the character's frustration and left it in.
Instead of being fired, the extra was added to the final cut of the film and given a raise." - In Caddyshack, the whole Cinderella story scene was Murray's idea and unscripted.
- In Dumb and Dumber "the most annoying sound in the world" was unscripted.
- In Knocked Up, the "know how I know you're gay" thing was unscripted.
- In Good Will Hunting, the farting wife stuff was a Robin Williams adlib.
- In Dark Knight, "Originally, the Joker (Heath Ledger) was supposed to walk down the street while the explosion at the hospital began, get on the school bus during the scripted pause, and the bus would drive away while the explosion finished.
However, Ledger stopped walking during the pause and in a moment of improvisation began fidgeting with the remote detonator in a very Joker-esque manner - bringing a slight amount of dark humor to what would have just been a serious scene." - In Aliens, "Game Over" was adlibbed in.
- In Tootsie, "During this scene, aspiring playwright Jeff Slater (Bill Murray) was required to appear to be talking throughout the entire party; however, there was no dialog written for the character.
As a natural entertainer and comedian, Murray improvised the entire scene." - In The Usual Suspects, "Christopher McQuarrie wrote only one line for this scene - "Give me the keys, you f*cking c*cksucker!" - it was up to the individual actors to deliver it however they wanted. McQuarrie actually plays the cop speaking with the suspects and both his line to Fred Fenster (Benicio Del Toro) "In English please?" and Del Toro's reaction were unscripted.
According to interviews on the DVD, the laughing during Del Toro's delivery was due to his constant farting while filming - boys will be boys." - In The Warriors, "Warriors, come out to play" was adlibbed.
- In The Godfather, "Corleone family capo Peter Clemenza (Richard Castellano) orders his henchman Rocco Lampone (Tom Rosqui) to carry out a hit on Paulie Gatto (John Martino) for his betrayal of Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando).
Castellano's original line was "Leave the gun" but drawing from an earlier scene where Clemenza's wife reminds him to bring home some cannoli, he improvised the now famous line "Take the cannoli."" - In Dr. Strangelove, "
Nuclear scientist Dr. Merkwürdigliebe or Strangelove (Peter Sellers) was confined to a wheelchair for the entire film - but Sellers decided to spontaneously stand at the very end of the film, take a couple of steps and proclaim, "Mein Führer! I can walk!"
In a process known as "retroscripting", Kubrick changed much of the script he co-wrote with Terry Southern to incorporate much of Sellers' improvised dialog, including this now famously unscripted scene from the end of his black satirical comedy." - In Saving Private Ryan, the barn story about the brothers was adlibbed.
- In Jaws, "You're gonna need a bigger boat" was adlibbed.
- In Empire Strikes Back, after Leia says she loves Han, they had a hell of a time coming up with something that didn't stink ("I love you too" was the original line but it doesn't work with Han Solo), so they just had Ford adlib whatever, and he said "I know".
- In Reservoir Dogs, all the lines and action with the ear after it was cut were adlibbed.
- In Casablanca, "Here's lookin at you kid" was adlibbed.
- The cocaine sneeze in Annie Hall was an adlib.
- In The Shinning, "Here's Johnny" was improvised.
- In Blade Runner,"As ex-blade runner Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) attempts to "retire" the replicant known as Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer), he finds himself in a precarious position. The battle worn replicant shows mercy on Deckard rescuing him from the edge of the building - only to deactivate himself shortly after giving a moving monologue.
As he reminisces about his past he says, "All those moments will be lost in time...," but then Hauer adds the unscripted and philosophical phrase "...like tears in the rain."" - In Midnight Cowboy,"
As want-to-be gigolo Joe Buck (Jon Voight) and crippled scam artist Ratso (Dustin Hoffman) cross a street in New York City, a REAL NYC taxi cab driver who ignored all the "Street Closed for Filming" signs drives through the scene.
Obviously this wasn't scripted and Hoffman's response and actions were all improvised, in character, as a result." - In Clockwork Orange,"
Alex (Malcolm McDowell) breaks into a happy song as he and his "droogs" perform a bit of "ultra-violence" and rape. Reportedly Kubrick filmed this scene several times and wasn't happy with it each time - until he told McDowell to just "do anything he wanted".
McDowell decided to belt out "Singing in the Rain" and Kubrick was so pleased with how much better the scene became that he acquired the rights to use the song immediately." - In Taxi Driver,"When screenwriter Paul Schrader wrote this scene it simply said "Travis talks to himself in the mirror" - there was no specific dialog given. Everything that insomnia-plagued taxi driver Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) says during his faux-conversation was improvised by De Niro on the spot.
To this day, whenever someone walks by a mirror they can't help but utter his now famous line "You talking to me?"" - In Silence of the Lambs, "The famous "hssssss" sound made by Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) during his story about eating a liver with "fava beans and a nice Chianti" to FBI agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) wasn't in the original script.
Apparently it was something Hopkins did during rehearsals to creep out Foster - and Demme decided leaving it in was the best way to creep out his audience too." - In Full Metal Jacket,"
Originally, R. Lee Ermey wasn't even cast in the role as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman but after Ermey submitted a tape of himself spewing insults at group of Royal Marines for 15 minutes straight, Kubrick cast him immediately
Ermey wrote 150 pages of insults and Kubrick estimated that 50% of the character’s dialog was improvised by the former drill instructor."
Another:
The Red/Blue political map as it exists today is the total opposite of the rest of the world. Red in America represents the Republicans, the Conservative party. Blue in America represents Democrats, the Liberal party.
In the rest of the world, Red is for the Left wing party, and Blue is for the Right wing party, and in previous elections in America, it was used just that way on the electoral maps. Sometimes, it was different colors than that, since there was no dominant system.
It's only after 2000 and the Red/Blue state thing as it exists today came about.
Personally, if we had the Democrats represented by Red and the GOP by Blue today, I think it would have a psychological effect on elections. How easy would it be for the Republicans to exploit the idea that Red is the color of socialism and communism and stick the Democrats with that? No Liberal or Democrat, in a political smearing environment, would want to talk about Red states. And any Republican could link Red states with a Red State as in a Communist nation. It was a potential problem and pain in the butt for the Democratic PR that now never needs to be one.
The Red/Blue political map as it exists today is the total opposite of the rest of the world. Red in America represents the Republicans, the Conservative party. Blue in America represents Democrats, the Liberal party.
In the rest of the world, Red is for the Left wing party, and Blue is for the Right wing party, and in previous elections in America, it was used just that way on the electoral maps. Sometimes, it was different colors than that, since there was no dominant system.
It's only after 2000 and the Red/Blue state thing as it exists today came about.
Personally, if we had the Democrats represented by Red and the GOP by Blue today, I think it would have a psychological effect on elections. How easy would it be for the Republicans to exploit the idea that Red is the color of socialism and communism and stick the Democrats with that? No Liberal or Democrat, in a political smearing environment, would want to talk about Red states. And any Republican could link Red states with a Red State as in a Communist nation. It was a potential problem and pain in the butt for the Democratic PR that now never needs to be one.
Oh my God, I'm gonna sig that
On a related note, Hitler had a pretty retarded combover in addition to his 'stache in OTL. Why aren't combovers considered evil?
Because the combover was less steretyped and stereotypable than the square lil' mustache. Whatever is the easier thing to recognize visually, that's the thing, and that's why the Hitler-stache became evil.
Pure ASB, but "Wind of Change" by the Scorpions being the post-1990 German national anthem?
Marc Bolan avoids going to Morton's Drinking Club so he doesn't perish in a car crash.
Stays as a solo artist in the 80's with limited success. However, he enjoys a resurgence of popularity in the 90's.
Minor in the world at large, but huge in the music world.
Stays as a solo artist in the 80's with limited success. However, he enjoys a resurgence of popularity in the 90's.
Minor in the world at large, but huge in the music world.
Poor Spock
I don't even watch Star Trek, but even I know that just doesn't look right...
[Nerdsplanation] It's from the parallel universe where there wasn't a Federation but an Empire run by Humans who act like barbarians and keep all other aliens subservient or slaves (except Vulcans, who seem pretty equal). [/Nerdsplanation]
Ace Frehley of KISS may never have been born, based on his father getting the short straw.
Interesting...
If he hadn't had the nickname "Ace", he might not have been chosen to play guitar for the band. According to Gene Simmons's autobiography, they told him they already had a Paul, but since he went by "Ace" they let him in.
How about Rudolf Hess gets delayed by Luftwaffe bureaucracy and decides against flying to the UK? Instead, he tries to contact the British via contacts in Switzerland, but gets politely ignored.
A minor brain dropping:
Hitler was a big fan of Clark Gable, and when he joined the military during the war, Hitler offered a reward for his being captured alive. I did a thread on that. I don't believe it would have majorly changed history, but as a minor thing in the grand scheme of things (say, you write a TL where the changes are just the smallest changes so it's the closest TL to ours ever), it's an interesting idea.
A few other PODs can come from his drug use. One being that it kills him. Another being that he's caught with it and arrested (I heard a story on Opie and Anthony where he said he had a premonition on the plane that he'd be arrested, so he flushed his Cocaine down the toilet. And when they landed, they were searched by drug dogs but he didn't have it so he wasn't arrested).
Hitler was a big fan of Clark Gable, and when he joined the military during the war, Hitler offered a reward for his being captured alive. I did a thread on that. I don't believe it would have majorly changed history, but as a minor thing in the grand scheme of things (say, you write a TL where the changes are just the smallest changes so it's the closest TL to ours ever), it's an interesting idea.
A few other PODs can come from his drug use. One being that it kills him. Another being that he's caught with it and arrested (I heard a story on Opie and Anthony where he said he had a premonition on the plane that he'd be arrested, so he flushed his Cocaine down the toilet. And when they landed, they were searched by drug dogs but he didn't have it so he wasn't arrested).
Here's a Minor POD that would make me oh so happy:
The trend of photoshopped DVD, and now Blu Ray, covers could so easily have not arisen.
Back in the VHS days it was a theatrical poster or something like that that was put on the tape box for the cover, and it looked good because it used what was intended to be used for the film, and what the people put a lot of effort into and paid good money for to sell the film. This even continued up to early DVD releases, but at some point that was completely thrown out the window and replaced with these often poorly done photoshop made covers for the homevideo release. DVD/Blu Ray covers are absolutely terrible schlock, and I have no idea why they are used instead of just the traditional film poster. Just because you have a technology doesn't mean you need to use it.
You could possibly reason that it's because photoshop (often bad, bad photoshop) has taken over film posters now too, which is a valid point to some degree, but regardless, films that had traditional posters and were of the era before this one still get terrible home video covers and covers where they take an original design, and tweak it for release. And even films that get photoshopped film posters, which is almost all of them, that poster doesn't become the cover, and instead something a thousand times more poorly done is made up.
I'm not sure of any one POD, but as a trend, it has to be possible that it could have been averted.
The trend of photoshopped DVD, and now Blu Ray, covers could so easily have not arisen.
Back in the VHS days it was a theatrical poster or something like that that was put on the tape box for the cover, and it looked good because it used what was intended to be used for the film, and what the people put a lot of effort into and paid good money for to sell the film. This even continued up to early DVD releases, but at some point that was completely thrown out the window and replaced with these often poorly done photoshop made covers for the homevideo release. DVD/Blu Ray covers are absolutely terrible schlock, and I have no idea why they are used instead of just the traditional film poster. Just because you have a technology doesn't mean you need to use it.
You could possibly reason that it's because photoshop (often bad, bad photoshop) has taken over film posters now too, which is a valid point to some degree, but regardless, films that had traditional posters and were of the era before this one still get terrible home video covers and covers where they take an original design, and tweak it for release. And even films that get photoshopped film posters, which is almost all of them, that poster doesn't become the cover, and instead something a thousand times more poorly done is made up.
I'm not sure of any one POD, but as a trend, it has to be possible that it could have been averted.
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I assume sometimes it is. For example, the DVD cover for "Big Fan" looks like Patton's big day at the Superbowl, which has nothing to do with the movie about the dark, lonely life and insanity of a hardcore sports fan. And the guy's response when Patton Oswalt hated on the cover was "people like football". Where it is marketing, it all has to be like that, which is asinine since people are not going to buy the movie based on these demographic specified covers. There's also the thing where they'll have the cover of a release or a rerelease made to look like other movies popular at the time, or other movies/the newest movie of that film series. That's another marketing thing they always do. I have an example of that where I have the Batman 1943 serial DVD which came out in 2005, and it's designed to look like the cover of Batman Begins with the piss yellow color. See here and here.
A lot of them, though (and I dare say most of them), don't look like they're trying to do that. It just looks like it's a case of the thing to do and them doing it.
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