28. The Stallone-Weathers Rivalry Was Very Real (Rocky Franchise)
The rivalry of Sylvester Stallone's Rocky and Carl Weathers' Apollo Creed is one of the most legendary in all of cinema. However, the animosity started when Weathers first auditioned. While sparring the ex-NFL player punched Stallone clean on the chin. Stallone told him to calm down to which Weathers responded that if he was allowed to audition with a 'real actor' and not a stand-in he would do better. Of course the then mostly unknown Stallone was not only the film's lead but also the writer. Despite this (or perhaps because of this) Weathers landed the role as the Heavyweight champ.
27. Malcolm McDowell Is Terrified Of Reptiles (Herpetophobia)
Everybody who knows anything about films knows that Stanley Kubrick was a strange man. Brilliant, but strange. Basil the pet snake of Alex DeLarge pictured above was never mentioned in Burgess' original novel of A Clockwork Orange. Why did Kubrick chose to include this serpent in the film? As soon as he found out Malcolm McDowell had a deep fear of reptiles the director wanted to introduce a snake. What a lovely gesture, Stan! He probably dug the phallic symbolism too, knowing Kubrick.
26. 8 Of 9 Fellowship Members Had Nine Tattooed In Elvish (The Lord Of The Rings Franchise)
Every actor in the Fellowship other than John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) decided to have a tattoo of 'nine' in Elvish to represent the bond which they had established while filming such a intensive, career-defining project. This tattoo can even be seen on Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises (along with a host of other Russian prison gang tattoos). A bonus factoid some of you may have already encountered was that Christopher Lee (Saruman) was the only cast member to have actually met Tolkien.
25. Michael Myers' Mask Is Just A Captain Kirk Mask Painted White (Halloween)
John Carpenter's Halloween is quite rightfully revered as a seminal work in the horror genre, forever altering the boundaries of what audiences expected from a scary movie. The film may be pant-soilingly scary but knowing the genesis of Myer's iconic mask is sure to undo some of the slasher villain's ability to inspire terror. The film's production designer was working on a tight budget and so just painted a Captain Kirk mask white. If it works, it works.
Hailing from South East London, Sam Heard is an aspiring writer and recent graduate from the University of Warwick. Sam's favourite things include energy drinks, late nights spent watching the UFC with his girlfriend and annihilating his friends at FIFA.
