9 Famous Pieces Of Movie Trivia Everybody Believes (That Are Totally Wrong)

By Padraig Cotter / June 10, 2016

Movie geeks pride themselves on collecting a healthy (or in some cases unhealthy) amount of trivia about their favourite movies. They’ll be able to tell you random facts like the number of takes the baseball bat scene took in The Shining (127), which actor played the original Marty McFly in Back To The Future (Eric Stoltz) or the working title for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Head Cheese).

This accumulated knowledge is all part of fandom, but even the savviest movie lover can get their facts mixed up occasionally. Some pieces of trivia get spread around unchecked, only to get thoroughly debunked years later. A couple of them have little grains of truth, but have become so distorted with each telling they’re nearly unrecognisable.

Here we’re going to look at some of the most popular false “facts” that everyone likes to repeat, examining where they came from and how close to the truth they are; which isn’t very, in most cases.

9. Max Shreck Was Originally Harvey Dent - Batman Returns

Fans of Tim Burton’s take on Batman have already heard of Marlon Wayans being cast as Robin for Returns, only for the role to get cut before filming. That’s a fact, but there’s another story surrounding the movie that’s total invention.

The story goes that the character of Max Shreck – the evil businessman played by Christopher Walken – was originally meant to be Harvey Dent. This makes some sense, given the character’s political ambitions throughout the story. His death by electrocution in the finale could also be how Harvey got his scars, allowing Walken to emerge as the villain for the next film.

While this sounds airtight, it was never the intention. The screenwriter Daniel Waters has confirmed this, though he did admit they considered bringing Dent in for a cameo. He would have flipped a coin to decide if he should get involved with the villains scheme, but declines when it lands on the good side.