100 Things we learned from film

John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982): Kurt Russell wasn’t first choice, the sombrero was locked in before he could object, and the best performance might have come from a wolfdog named Jed. 🐺

This week on 100 Things We Learned from Film, we dig into the making of The Thing with Biggie from the To Be Continued Podcast. We cover the casting story, how Rob Bottin’s 57-week effects marathon nearly broke him, and why a film critics trashed and audiences ignored became a horror masterpiece.

In this episode:

• The casting story: who else was considered before Kurt Russell
• Why Russell hated the sombrero, and why it stayed
• Jed the wolfdog, his stand-in, and the animal actor who stole the opening
• Rob Bottin, the 22-year-old effects wizard who worked seven days a week for 57 weeks
• Stan Winston’s last-minute dog-puppet rescue
• Jell-O arms, a ten-hour chest-burst setup, and other practical effects madness
• The ending Russell and Carpenter shaped together
• Opening the same summer as E.T. and Blade Runner
• Morricone’s score and what happened to his unused music

Whether you’ve seen it forty times or you’re about to take your first blood test, there’s something here for you.

👍 Like, subscribe, and tell us your favourite Thing moment in the comments.

GUEST: BIGGIE (TO BE CONTINUED PODCAST)

Biggie is one third of the To Be Continued Podcast. Go and subscribe, because they’re brilliant.

📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tbcmoviepodcast

A 1992 action thriller directed by Andrew Davis, starring Steven Seagal, Tommy Lee Jones, and Gary Busey.

The U.S. Navy's finest battleship gets hijacked by a rock band that isn't actually a rock band, a Tommy Lee Jones who's clearly having the time of his life, and a Gary Busey performance that should legally require a warning label. Standing between them and a stolen arsenal of nuclear missiles: one cook, played by Steven Seagal. Sure, he's a former Navy SEAL who happens to be a stone-cold killing machine, but on paper a cook. Erika Eleniak rounds out the cast as the Playboy Playmate hired to jump out of a birthday cake. We dig into Seagal's one truly fine movie, the drag scene nobody asked for, and how this thing somehow got Harrison Ford into The Fugitive.

Starring

Steven Seagal, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Busey, Erika Eleniak, Patrick O'Neal, Nick Mancuso, Colm Meaney, Andy Romano, Damian Chapa, Troy Evans

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The men who made American Pie decided their next film should be a sensitive Nick Hornby adaptation starring Hugh Grant. Somehow, it worked.

This week we’re looking at About a Boy, the 2002 comedy-drama starring Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette and Rachel Weisz.

We dig into the making of the film, the long road to getting it on screen, Hugh Grant's involvement in casting Nicholas Hoult, the thousands of boys who auditioned for Marcus, the original director who left the project, the film's journey from American Pie to Nick Hornby, and the fascinating story behind Badly Drawn Boy's soundtrack.

Plus plenty more behind-the-scenes stories from one of Hugh Grant's most memorable roles.

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Bond. Submarines. A giant tanker. A man with metal teeth.

And somehow, that’s not even the strange part.

This week on 100 Things We Learned From Film, we’re diving into Roger Moore’s The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) one of the biggest, daftest and most spectacular Bond films ever made.

Joining Planty and John is Ian Graham from Cult Connections Podcast, as we uncover the stories behind the making of the film, including the enormous 007 Stage, the casting of Barbara Bach and Richard Kiel, the incredible ski jump, the Lotus Esprit submarine, Ken Adam’s spectacular production design, Marvin Hamlisch’s disco-infused score and the many, many things that had to go spectacularly right to make this particular Bond adventure work.

We’ll also find out how close Catherine Deneuve came to playing Anya Amasova, why Stanley Kubrick secretly turned up at Pinewood, and how they managed to make a bloody Lotus Esprit go underwater.

So grab your tux, check your parachute and try not to annoy Jaws.

This is 100 Things We Learned From The Spy Who Loved Me.

This week we're joined by Ian Graham, host of Cult Connections Podcast.

Cult Connections explores the links between films, television and books, jumping from cult classics to major blockbusters and finding the connections, influences and weird little bits of film and TV history hiding between them. Ian is joined by a different guest for each episode, covering everything from horror and science fiction to classic television and the films that probably don't get talked about enough.

If you like your film chat with plenty of enthusiasm, obscure connections and the occasional trip down a very unexpected rabbit hole, give Cult Connections a listen.

If you enjoy what we do and want to help keep the podcast going, you can support us on Patreon for just £1 a month.

You'll get a shout-out on the show, early access to episodes, bloopers, the chance to pick a future episode and access to our Patreon-exclusive Cartoon Craic.

Join us on Patreon

Every contribution helps us research more films, uncover more bizarre trivia and continue making the show.

Find the full episode archive, links and more at:

100 Things We Learned From Film

Follow the podcast, subscribe on your favourite podcast app, and tell a mate who enjoys films, trivia and two blokes learning considerably more than they probably needed to know about them.

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You can find Cult Connections on your favourite podcast apps and follow Ian's latest episodes, where he explores the strange and wonderful connections between film and television.

Cult Connections on Apple Podcasts

Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton spent months transforming themselves into believable MMA fighters. Bones were broken. Real fighters were brought into the cage. And behind it all was a story about two brothers with years of anger, resentment and family trauma waiting to explode. In this episode of 100 Things We Learned From Film, we step into the cage with Gavin O’Connor’s Warrior (2011). From Tom Hardy’s brutal physical transformation and Joel Edgerton’s intensive MMA training to Nick Nolte’s Oscar-nominated performance, Kurt Angle’s real Olympic wrestling credentials and the injuries suffered during filming, we uncover 100 behind-the-scenes facts about the making of one of the most powerful sports films of the 21st century. We also look at how the filmmakers worked with real MMA fighters and coaches, how the Sparta tournament was filmed, and the emotional final fight between Tommy and Brendan. If you enjoy the episode, please subscribe, leave us a review and share it with someone who loves films. Want to help choose what we cover next? Join our Patreon, where our supporters can get involved and pick films for future episodes. Find us, previous episodes and more at: 100thingswelearnedfromfilm.co.uk

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What happens when you take one museum, one night guard, a monkey, a T. Rex, tiny Roman soldiers, tiny cowboys and Robin Williams as Theodore Roosevelt?

Absolute bloody chaos.

This week on 100 Things We Learned From Film, we're heading back to 2006 for Night at the Museum, the family adventure where the exhibits come alive after dark and Ben Stiller spends most of the running time being chased, bitten, shouted at or generally regretting his career choices.

We're digging into the making of the film, including the huge museum sets, the visual effects, the creation of Rexy, Robin Williams getting plastered, the real monkey behind Dexter, the miniature armies, Shawn Levy's questionable decision to physically pretend to be a T. Rex and plenty more behind-the-scenes madness.

We'll also find out how much of the film was improvised, why the effects team apparently developed a nervous twitch whenever Ben Stiller had an idea, and whether Rexy really was just a massive prehistoric puppy.

So grab your torch, lock up the museum and try not to wake the exhibits...

This is 100 Things We Learned From Film.

If you enjoy what we do and want to help keep the podcast going, you can support us on Patreon for just £1 a month.

You'll get a shout-out every episode, Early Access to Episodes, Bloopers and the chance to pick a future episode and access to bonus content including Cartoon Craic. Which is basically this but for Cartoons.

Patreon: patreon.com/100thingsfilm

Every contribution helps us research more films, uncover more bizarre trivia and continue making the show.

Find the full episode archive, articles, links and more at:

100thingswelearnedfromfilm.co.uk

Follow the show, leave us a rating and review, and tell a mate who enjoys films, trivia and two blokes learning considerably more than they probably needed to know about them.

And if you've enjoyed the episode, please share it. It genuinely helps.

100 Things We Learned From Film

Two friends. One film. 100 things.

And usually several things we probably shouldn't have learned.

Christopher Lee. Peter Cushing. Hammer Horror. Blood. Fangs. And one of the most influential vampire films ever made.

This week on 100 Things We Learned From Film, we're sinking our teeth into Terence Fisher's 1958 classic Dracula — the film that transformed Christopher Lee into one of cinema's definitive monsters and helped turn Hammer Films into the undisputed kings of Gothic horror.

But there's much more to Dracula than capes and cobwebs.

We uncover the bizarre behind-the-scenes stories, Hammer's ingenious low-budget filmmaking tricks, Christopher Lee's extraordinary life and wartime service, Peter Cushing's energetic take on Van Helsing, those famously painful contact lenses, the film's battle with the censors, and how Hammer managed to make a tiny budget look like a lavish Gothic nightmare.

So lock the doors, close the curtains and keep an eye on your neck...

This is 100 Things We Learned From Dracula (1958).

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Few films have divided audiences quite like Freaks (1932).

Released by MGM during Hollywood's Golden Age, Tod Browning's masterpiece shocked audiences with its cast of real sideshow performers, sparked walkouts at preview screenings, was heavily censored and almost destroyed Browning's career.

Yet nearly a century later, Freaks is recognised as one of the most influential horror films ever made.

In this episode of 100 Things We Learned From Film, we uncover the incredible true story behind the making of Freaks. We explore the lives of the remarkable performers, including Harry Earles, Johnny Eck, Schlitzie, Prince Randian and the Hilton Sisters, reveal what was lost from the original 90-minute cut, and discuss whether the film was an act of exploitation or a surprisingly compassionate portrait of people who had long been treated as outsiders.

We'll also look at MGM's uneasy relationship with the production, the infamous preview screenings, the legendary rain-soaked finale, and the lasting influence Freaks has had on horror cinema, from The Elephant Man to American Horror Story: Freak Show.

If you've only ever heard about Freaks, prepare to discover why it's one of the most important and controversial films in cinema history.

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One grumpy bushman. One rebellious foster kid. One national manhunt.

This week on 100 Things We Learned From Film, we're heading into the New Zealand wilderness to uncover the incredible story behind Taika Waititi's Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016).

From Barry Crump's original novel and hidden Kiwi references to filming in some of New Zealand's most stunning locations, we're revealing the making-of stories, production secrets, casting decisions and behind-the-scenes facts that helped turn this modest independent film into a worldwide favourite.

Join us as we explore how Sam Neill and Julian Dennison created one of cinema's most unlikely friendships, why the production had to invent a birthday song at the last minute, the surprising tribute hidden in Hec's truck, and how a five-week shoot launched Taika Waititi onto the Hollywood A-list.

John's Crook this week so Planty is joined by Patron and Host of the phenomenal Repeat or Delete Podcast, Joe. It's the pod that takes looks at The Best and Worst of TV and decides whether or not to allow it to remain on the airwaves or bin it forever.

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One prank. One CB radio. One very bad idea. This week on 100 Things We Learned From Film, we're taking the scenic route through Joy Ride (2001) to uncover the incredible stories behind one of the most underrated thrillers of the 2000s.

Discover how J.J. Abrams helped create the film, why Ted Levine wasn't cast until after filming had finished, the multiple endings that almost changed everything, the Spielberg influence hiding in plain sight, and how Rusty Nail became one of horror's most unforgettable unseen villains.

If you think Joy Ride deserves more love, you're in the right place. If you enjoy the show, please share the episode. It really helps more film fans discover the channel.

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