The Bearded Trio

35 random facts on the 1982 classic,  E.T. The Extra Terrestrial  which was directed by Steven Spielberg.   1  - The original idea for the. E.T. movie was Night Skies, a semi-sequel to Close Encounters of the Third Kind and had a whole darker story.  The aliens were set to terrorise  the people of Earth.  The evil aliens would communicate with various animals including chickens and cows to see who was sentient. 2  - $700,000 was spent on the animatronics effects for Night Skies by horror effects wizard, Rick Baker. 3  - The movie was changed to the more tranquil story we know today after Spielberg decided he wanted a change of pace after filming Raiders of the Lost ark which had explosions and evil Nazis. 4  - The working title for E.T. The Extra Terrestrial was "A Boys Life."  The working title is the name of the movie being shown at the cinema in Gremlins. 5  - The movie held the record for highest gros...

25 Facts On The Making Of The Empire Strikes Back 1 - After Star Wars was released, George Lucas stopped doing publicity after a few interviews.  Too many people were bringing scripts to his door and asking for money. 2 - In the very early stages of The Empire Strikes Back it was simply referred to as Star Wars: Chapter II. 3 - On the first page of an early outline for Chapter II, George has notes that said "mention lost sister trained Jedi...Luke learn of main plot: Emperor/Empire must be destroyed; restore the Republic." 4 - In other notes, George refers to Kiber Crystals which was also mentioned in drafts for the first Star Wars movie.  There's also a new character in the rough notes, Bunden Debannen, "Buffy" who was "three or four thousand years old."  Buffy trains Luke and explains that "you can become a physical manifestation of the Force." 5 - Another character called "Mynoc" was described.  He was the bad gu...

George Lucas went through many drafts for Star Wars before coming up with the final version we know and love today. Here are 20 facts about the Star Wars rough drafts and preparation for filming you may not know. 1 - In George Lucas' rough draft of 1974, the first occurrence of "May The Force Be With You" was uttered by King Kayos of Aquilae. He actually says "May The Force Of Others Be With You All." In fact, the force was known as the force of others. 2 - Han Solo resembled a "swamp creature" again in the rough draft. 3 - Chewie was a nickname for Devil Two, a hot shot pilot, later changed to Wedge. 4 - The Death Star was originally referred to as just a space fortress. 5 - Skywalker decided to train Wookiees to fly ships to help destroy the flying fortress. 6 - In the second draft Han had changed to human. He was teamed up with Chewbacca and also in debt to an enormous fat character called Oxus. 7 - A pirate ship makes a jump to...

15 Facts On John Williams It's John Williams' birthday today so to celebrate the maestro's 90th Birthday, we've compiled fifteen facts on the iconic composer that you may or may not know.  Happy Birthday John, keep swinging that baton. 1 - John William's son, Joseph Williams, became the lead singer of the band Toto who you may know from the song, “Africa” 2 - There have been three Steven Spielberg theatrical movies that have not had a John Williams score.  "The Color Purple" (which was composed by Quincy Jones, who also produced the film) "Bridge of Spies" (composed by Thomas Newman) and Ready Player One (composed by Alan Silvestri.) 3 - With 51 Oscar nominations, Williams currently holds the record for the most Oscar nominations for a living person, and is the second most nominated person in Academy Awards history behind Walt Disney's 59. Forty-six of Williams's Oscar nominations are for Best Original Score and five are for B...

25 Facts About Raiders of the Lost Ark Raiders of the Lost Ark was released way back in 1981 and after 39 years it’s still a fan favourite.  We just can’t seem to get enough of the man in the hat and even though Indy V is still a few years away that’s not going to stop us putting together a list of interesting facts about Raiders and hopefully some of the facts you’ve not come across before. Basic Facts 1. RELEASE DATE Raiders of the Lost Ark was released on 12th June 1981 in the US.  The UK had to wait over a month before it hit local cinemas.  The UK's release was 30th July 1981. 2. BUDGET The production budget was around $18 million.  "I'm more than your producer, I'm your friend.  You can't go over budget on this one.  You can't do that to me" is what George Lucas said to Steven Spielberg when they teamed up for Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Spielberg took that statement seriously. 3. BOX OFFICE Raiders took $248 million at the domestic (...