The Sting
@TheStingisBack • 72,972 subscribers
I love studying and writing about film: narrated original edits, making-of featurettes, and stories you might not know. Anti-film snob.
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Captain Phillips’ ending was shot on the fly with real U.S. Navy personnel. Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Danielle Albert was told to treat Hanks like a real patient, and it shook him. A Navy captain watching the shoot said: “I’ve seen trauma, and that’s what it looks like.”
The Sting3,222,073 Aufrufe • vor 8 Tagen
Prolific character actor Richard Riehle has passed away. People will (rightly) mention Office Space and Casino, but he logged 440 credits; he was an ultimate “I know that guy” actor. He even set up all-timers, like this Tommy Lee Jones moment in The Fugitive.
The Sting145,383 Aufrufe • vor 18 Stunden
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Ray Liotta never stood a chance with mother/daughter con artists Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt in Heartbreakers. Then comes a sci-fi fan’s dream cameo: two genre icons sharing the screen together. Weaver said joining Star Wars felt like “carrying the torch” for Fisher
The Sting1,443,588 Aufrufe • vor 11 Tagen
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Kathleen Turner played a comedic femme fatale in The Man With Two Brains, and it nearly cost her Romancing the Stone. The studio thought she was “too sultry” and didn’t want her. Michael Douglas demanded a meeting; they clicked instantly, sealing the deal. She was Joan Wilder.
The Sting368,958 Aufrufe • vor 5 Tagen
The Norm entrance jokes on Cheers were famously tough to write. George Wendt delivered 200+ of them over 11 seasons. As the show’s popularity grew, so did expectations. Writers said the real genius wasn’t always on the page; it was Wendt’s physical comedy, delivery, and timing.
The Sting980,865 Aufrufe • vor 20 Tagen
‘Look Who’s Talking’ paid Bruce Willis $10M for 4 days. It grossed $297M on a $7M budget. With costs low, Willis cut a back-end deal and cleaned up. When Tarantino pitched Travolta for Pulp Fiction, Weinstein scoffed: “He’s washed up… doing that talking baby shit.”
The Sting272,113 Aufrufe • vor 7 Tagen
Goldie Hawn personally chose Eileen Brennan, who stole Private Benjamin. Almost every major studio rejected it for lacking a male lead, but it made $100M on a $9M budget. Brennan is the only actor nominated for an Oscar, Emmy, and Golden Globe for playing the same role.
The Sting370,327 Aufrufe • vor 9 Tagen
It’s been 37 years, and I still can’t rewatch Casualties of War. It annoyed the crap out of me, and it’s all down to casting Michael J. Fox... but not for the reason you’d assume. Columbia green-lit the film, but the money was contingent on securing Fox. De Palma had a reason: he wanted to weaponise him. Fox was (and is) one of the most lovable actors on camera. De Palma used our affection for him as a psychological tool. Watching the kidnapping and repeated rape of a young girl by US soldiers through Fox’s eyes strips your emotional defences. You experience the sudden, visceral horror alongside him. De Palma used us against us… the bastard. It wasn’t just on screen. De Palma pushed the other actors to alienate Fox during the shoot. Sean Penn would taunt him, calling him a “television actor” right before cameras rolled. De Palma shaped it so we’d feel Fox’s frustration, and want to jump through the screen to protect him. By turning Fox’s persona into an emotional lightning rod, De Palma makes it impossible to watch with clinical distance. The tragedy isn’t abstract; it’s intimate. The bridge scene almost demands, because of our Fox conditioning, that he saves the girl. De Palma builds that expectation, then shatters it. As Fox screams and tries to save Oanh, you wait for the “movie star hero moment.” Instead, De Palma denies you that catharsis, forcing you to watch a beloved icon fail in the face of systemic brutality. I’ve never been so annoyed watching a film, not because it’s bad; it's great. My love for Michael J. Fox simply won't allow me to watch him go through that again.
The Sting1,149,902 Aufrufe • vor 27 Tagen
The Black Hole broke Disney’s clean streak. More gothic horror than space adventure: cybernetic zombies, a literal hellscape, and Anthony Perkins getting shredded earned Disney its first PG and paved the way for Touchstone Pictures' grown-up era, leading to Con Air and The Rock.
The Sting49,973 Aufrufe • vor 1 Tag
Predator’s "Shooting the Jungle" scene exists because the director got pissed off... and he hates it. On set, John McTiernan kept getting heat from the studio for “not enough guns.” After days of it, he snapped: “Fine. You want guns? I’ll give you so much gunfire you’ll get the orgasm you’re itching for, and then we stop this nonsense.” So he shot the absurd sequence where Arnie and the boys mow down half of Central America (actually Mexico). The line “We hit nothing” was McTiernan’s message to the studio: the scene accomplishes zero. It wasn’t meant for us... It was a note. Ironically, dumping endless bullets into the jungle (or anything else for that matter) became an action-movie trope, one McTiernan even reused in Die Hard a year later.
The Sting855,195 Aufrufe • vor 25 Tagen
In Platoon, Stone frames Barnes shooting Elias as a clash between Christ and Judas. Adagio for Strings is adapted from Agnus Dei ("Lamb of God"); Elias falls before a ruined church; the script describes the moment as "Elias crucified." It's the death of the film's moral compass.
The Sting92,555 Aufrufe • vor 3 Tagen
The Pink Panther “Does your dog bite?” gag was already 80 years old when Peter Sellers did it. It’s an old vaudeville joke from the late 1800s, and it lands because the “Zimmer” line disarms you first. Plus Graham Stark was Sellers’ best friend; the timing was years in the making
The Sting540,080 Aufrufe • vor 19 Tagen
Tim Robbins’ “Ray” in High Fidelity is a masterclass in comedic friction. The replayed fantasy hits because it flips movie violence into something way more humiliating: pathetic, petty, romantic defeat. Took a mate to see this right after a break-up. Not the best choice.
The Sting78,026 Aufrufe • vor 3 Tagen
Vincent D’Onofrio was pissed when he found out his Orson Welles cameo in Ed Wood had been dubbed over by Maurice LaMarche (the voice of The Brain from Animaniacs). He didn’t stay mad; he channelled it into Five Minutes, Mr Welles, winning acclaim for his performance as Orson.
The Sting514,120 Aufrufe • vor 22 Tagen