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What does "R2-D2" mean? Surprising facts about movies we've all seen
Image: Samuel Regan-Asante
What did Martin Scorsese first think about Scarface ? What does R2-D2 mean, exactly? And what type of toy was Woody the Sheriff supposed to be, at first? The answers to these questions are some lesser-known stories behind some of Hollywood’s most memorable titles. Read on to learn a tale or two about movies we’ve all watched.
1
X-Men (2000)
Remember the scene when Magneto and Professor X play a tense, symbolic game of chess? Well, the actors certainly do. Here’s why: Neither Patrick Stewart nor Ian McKellen knew how to play chess before filming.
So, director Bryan Singer brought in a Canadian chess Grandmaster to help design the game the two men would share by choreographing each piece's movement based on the high-strung dialogue they were having —Professor X needed to win.
2
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Did you know that E.T., the beloved extraterrestrial who wanted to phone home, was intentionally designed to have no specified gender ?
Director Steven Spielberg expressed that his intention was to define E.T. as a "plant-like" creature, neither male nor female, and that this was explicitly explained in earlier versions of the script.
However, in the film, young Elliott insists that he knows the gender of his newfound friend: "He’s a boy," he explains to his sister when she asks. The audience went along with Elliott’s interpretation, and hence E.T. is considered to be male.
3
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
Jim Carrey loathed the process of becoming The Grinch. Though the Dr. Seuss character was fun to play, sitting for hours and hours for makeup and costume until the green look was perfected, he said, was exhausting.
So, he was shocked one day when he arrived on set, only to find yet another Grinch ready there before him. It was none other than director Ron Howard, who had been up since 3:30 am, getting into full costume in solidarity with him.
4
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Watching Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, one might take for granted that the stop-motion marvel took years of painstaking effort. Around 227 puppets were built for the production because each character had multiple duplicates to allow shooting on many sets simultaneously.
The protagonist Jack Skellington alone needed nearly 400 different heads to capture enough facial expressions.
5
Toy Story (1995)
Even though we all recognize Woody the Cowboy, there was a time when the leading character of Toy Story was going to be… quite different.
Sheriff Woody was at first conceived as a ventriloquist dummy . But the Pixar creators thought that a softer cowboy toy would be a little bit friendlier. What do you think?
6
Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
We all know the loyal little robot of the Star Wars world. But R2-D2’s name came about unintentionally. While filming a previous film, George Lucas had liked an abbreviation he heard his sound editor shout one day: "R2, D2".
It referred to "Reel 2, Dialogue Track 2" . But the expression sparked Lucas’s imagination.
7
Home Alone (1990)
Yes, Kevin is nine years old in the movie. But most of his "dangerous" moments were handled by a 30-year-old stuntman in kid-sized clothes!
Still, some injuries were inevitable. And they didn’t come from hanging from a zipline or sliding downstairs: No, young Macauley Culkin got a scar from Joe Pesci accidentally biting his fingers too hard in one scene.
8
Interstellar (2014)
Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is well known for its ambitious science fiction vision. But Nolan went above and beyond with details. For example, the robot TARS wasn’t a CGI creation: it was physically built (a kind of "puppet-robot").
Plus, the space suits the actors wore were designed with functioning oxygen units and cooling tubes! Needless to say, though, all scenes were filmed on Earth.
9
The Matrix (1999)
Did you know that Johnny Depp was the first choice to play Neo for The Matrix ? As an up-and-coming actor in the 90s, the writers had considered him perfect for the role. However, fate decided Keanu Reeves would take the part, and the rest was history.
Reeves didn’t have it easy, though: the Wachowskis had him read philosophical books like Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard, Out of Control by Kevin Kelly, and Introducing Evolutionary Psychology by Dylan Evans.
10
Scarface (1983)
After Martin Scorsese saw Brian De Palma’s Scarface, he reportedly told actor Steven Bauer: "It’s great… but they’re going to hate it ."
He wasn’t wrong. Critics did hate it, at first. They called it vulgar, excessive, hysterical, and violent. Scorsese himself had been criticized for the violence in his own work, so he recognized the pattern instantly. However, as we know, audiences eventually made it a cult classic.
