Interesting facts learned from commentary tracks

[Newb82]

I was watching the "Panty Raid" edition of REVENGE OF THE NERDS after finally getting around to digging it out of the $5 bin at Wal-Mart, and aside from seeing that the movie holds up better than I thought it would and that it's dirtier than I had remembered, there were a couple bits from the director & cast commentary track that I found interesting:

Curtis Armstrong didn't like some of the dirtier things he had to say, and apologized profusely to the college girls he had to grope during the party scene.

A lot of the movie was improvised, including the Booger-Takashi card games and Pointdexter's fight with the cleaning robot.

There was a subclot that got cut where Stan had a "secret nerd brother".

The studio insisted that the movie be screened in the south before it was released, because they were worried about how the end with the black frat brothers backing down the white football team would be received there.

Anybody else pick up some interesting stuff from commentary tracks? I'm always interested in where ideas came from and stuff that got cut out.

Like in the box set/special edition for the first NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, Wes Craven talks about getting the basic idea after reading, months apart, two stories in the LA Times about Vietnamese kids who were in death camps there moving to the states with their families and refusing to sleep for a long stretch, only to eventually fall asleep, then scream bloody murder and flail around before falling stone dead.

He also mentioned a subplot that got cut from that one, in which all the main kids were revealed to have not been only children, with the implication that Freddy had killed their older siblings.

[LooseCannon]

At least half of crappy teen movies include a scene in which the director pays homage to Alfred Hitchcock somehow.

[Ace]

From the old Kevin Smith Dogma commentary: Smith warned Jason Mewes that he'd have to be prepared and on point to work with Alan Rickman. In response, Mewes memorized the entire screenplay.

[Clayton Jones]

The opening scene in Big Trouble in Little China was added in after production was done because the studio felt Jack Burton wasn't likable enough in the film. It was originally supposed to open with the next scene where Jack's on the road talking into his CB radio. For what it's worth, as someone who will always have BTiLC in my top 10 favorites of all-time, I think the scene with Egg Shen talking to his lawyer is the perfect introduction."See? That was nothing. But that's how it always begins. Very small."

[Newb82]

From the old Kevin Smith Dogma commentary: Smith warned Jason Mewes that he'd have to be prepared and on point to work with Alan Rickman. In response, Mewes memorized the entire screenplay.

"I didn't want to piss off that Rickman dude."

[Victator]

There was a subclot that got cut where Stan had a "secret nerd brother".

 

They sorta went back to that idea in the third movie. 

[ultimoDANK]

At least half of crappy teen movies include a scene in which the director pays homage to Alfred Hitchcock somehow.

Um why on earth would you listen to a commentary track from say Can't Hardly Wait? Are your days 36 hours?

[Newb82]

I like CAN'T HARDLY WAIT :-(

[Brian Fowler]

The real question is, does Can't Hardly Wait actually have a commentary track?

[muhammedboehm]

Yes i does with Seth Green I believe but no JLH

[Newb82]

The "10 Year Reunion" edition has the original one from the first DVD, and one that was recorded for that release. No JLH on either, but Seth Green is on both!

[Hooks]

I remember watching Seven with commentary, being really excited to listen to Morgan Freeman talk.  I learned that when Morgan Freeman isn't reading something awesomeand isn't playing a character, he can, in fact, be dull as dirt.  He rambled on and on and on about nothing. 

[Brian Fowler]

Freeman spent a lot of that track talking about the art of acting.  I remember it being dry, but very informative.

 

Of course, I got Seven on DVD while I was studying acting, so ymmv.

[piranesi]

Not exactly a commentary track, but weirdest (at least out of context) extra:

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwGU5tvsiB4

 

I wish there was a way to strip away the Youtube video title.  I would have loved to have seen people's guesses as to what this is.

 

But it's Ruth Oliver, who played the ghost in the opening library scene of GHOSTBUSTERS.  Even though she only has two credits on IMDB, she was active on stage waaaaaay back in the 20s and 30s.  But was most well known as an astrologer.  She wrote a bunch of creepy-ass stuff like this:

 

[Jingus]

The studio insisted that the movie be screened in the south before it was released, because they were worried about how the end with the black frat brothers backing down the white football team would be received there.

 

That mighta made sense in 1954, but in 1984?  This was the same year Beverly Hills Cop was the highest-grossing movie in the country.  In the Heat of the Night had come and gone an entire generation ago.  Also: gotta love how anytime Hollywood artists tried to make forward-thinking statements about race relations, Hollywood businessmen's response was "but we need all the racists to keep buying tickets!".  

 

 

He also mentioned a subplot that got cut from that one, in which all the main kids were revealed to have not been only children, with the implication that Freddy had killed their older siblings.

 

That was still implied, if not explicitly stated.  Like having Nancy's mom admitting she was in the lynch mob that killed Freddy, and was apparently an important enough member of said mob to claim dibs on his glove.

 

 

Citizen Kane has an absolutely fascinating commentary track by Roger Ebert, who points out a zillion obscure things.  Especially shocking is the sheer number of special effects shots in that movie which you simply never notice.  Not even fancy stuff, I mean things like "this shot of Orson Welles walking up to Joseph Cotton's desk" will include a bewildering array of split-screen and forced perspective and matte paintings and all kinds of tricky shit.  

 

Commentaries can also sometimes really hurt your opinions of artists.  Some of these assholes have some WEIRD ideas which they cling to with fanatical loyalty, and all too frequently spend half the commentary just bragging about how brilliant they are and how every second of their movie is awesome perfection.  

[strummer]

a minor one but it's from one of my favorite movies ever.  According to Pete Segal on the Tommy Boy commentary, Roseanne was the original choice to play the waitress in the "Cluck Bucket" scene.  She agreed and everything was set up but production ran late and it conflicted with her TV series