20 Things You Didn't Know About Your Favourite Action Movies

14. The Origin Of The Three Seashells From Demolition Man

For LAPD Sgt. John Spartan, the future is a perplexing setting, full of new rules, social etiquette and technology to adjust to. That includes the mystery of the three seashells, which have somehow replaced toilet paper in the futuristic setting of the 1993 film Demolition Man. How exactly do the three seashells work? The film never explains, but screenwriter Daniel Waters did shed some light on the topic during a recent Reddit Q&A. He's still not willing to explain how a person can clean up with three seashells, but he did explain the origins of the concept. As it happens, it's rather random.

"I won't tell you the actual secret, but I'll tell you where it came from. There's a scene where Stallone has to use a restroom. I'm trying to come up with futuristic things you'd find in there. I was having trouble, so I called my buddy, another screenwriter across town, asked him if he had any ideas. Ironically enough that guy was taking a dump when he answered the phone, looked around his bathroom and said 'I have a bag of seashells on my toilet as a decoration?' I said 'Ok, I'll make something out of that.'"

And that, friends, is that. It's not quite a mystery solved, but it's a step in the right direction.