This article was originally published on Mako
Making movies isn’t for the faint of heart. Surviving in the entertainment industry is tough, and movie viewers are quick to point out any and all inaccuracies, inconsistencies, or just plain bad storylines. But do we ever notice when the filmmakers do get it right? For successful movies, everyone involved from the producer to the actors to the costume designers must have an eye for detail, and if you really pay attention you will see just how well thought out our favorite movies are. This list of interesting movie details that you never noticed is sure to blow your mind!
Scream
Don’t double-cross a filmmaker! A filmmaker's creative mind and eye for detail aren’t just useful on the film set, they can also be used as the ultimate tool for revenge, as the Santa Rosa school district had to learn the hard way. The School district’s governing board had originally agreed to allow the movie Scream to be filmed at their school but later revoked this agreement, causing obvious inconvenience to the film company.
In order to show the school district just how he felt about the change of plans, director Wes Craven left a little message for them hidden quietly away in the credits.
Batman
Movie watchers love to point it out when part of a movie’s plot doesn’t make sense, but rarely do we notice it when filmmakers go the extra mile just to make sure that it does. For instance, in the 1989 movie Batman, the news anchors seem to be wearing makeup until the part of the movie where The Joker poisons all of Gotham’s beauty hygiene products. Talk about attention to detail!
While the news anchors are the most obvious, if you pay attention in the future when watching this movie, you will also notice other characters looking a little less than fresh during this period.
Titanic
There is nothing worse than watching a historical movie that is totally inaccurate! Apparently, the makers of The Titanic felt the same way, as they made a serious effort to make their movie a beacon of historical accuracy, even down to the little details. The clock in the background of this scene shows the time 2:20, which just happens to be the exact time that the actual Titanic sank.
Besides being a work of storytelling art and a favorite of many romance lovers, The Titanic is also a great movie for history gurus who are sticklers for accurate depictions
It
The makers of horror films are experts at evoking fear. This is even more evident if you really pay attention to the small details. If you have an eye for detail and notice the little things, often they can be creepier than the big events. One example is in the remake of Stephen King’s It. In this bone-chilling shot, Pennywise the clown can be seen hiding in one of the town’s murals.
Next time you watch this movie with your friends, be sure to point out this little detail so that your friends can get an even more eerie horror movie experience.
American Beauty
Filmmaking is truly a work of art, and some movies use little details as a means of symbolism. For example, in the movie American Beauty, this scene, which shows the character Lester on a computer screen behind characters that appear like prison pars, represents the character’s feelings towards his work. He feels like he is stuck and “imprisoned” in a dead-end job and this image is meant to symbolize those feelings.
While symbolism like this may not be noticed by the average viewer, it is part of what makes a film a true poetic masterpiece, rather than simply being mindless entertainment.
Dunkirk
This film becomes a little more lifelike when you realize that it’s paying tribute to real-life heroes. In the 2017 movie Dunkirk, the little civilian boats used in the film took part in the actual real-life evacuation that the movie depicted that saved countless lives. Knowing this when you watch the movie makes it seem a little more real. This detail was a perfect way to bring this incredible story to life.
We feel like using these boats was a beautiful way to make the movie more realistic for the viewers, while also honoring the former captains of these amazing little vessels.
X-Men
We are familiar with the movie intros for famous film companies, such as this one for 20th Century Fox. We usually don’t pay much attention to it, and we certainly wouldn’t expect this to be a place for filmmakers to hide little details in their movies, but creative people never fail to disappoint! In the X-men movies, the X on the word fox stays illuminated just a bit longer than the other letters.
This little detail may not be very important, but it’s pretty cool for those that know about it, and it’s a fun thing to show your friends if you want to blow their minds.
Amazing Detail
Here’s another example of the amazing detail that was put into the movie The Titanic. The woman pictured in this scene may not be the main character or even one that people remember, but the makers of the film still put a lot of thought into her, whether viewers notice it or not. In the midst of the chaos, she can be heard telling her Children about “Tir Na Nog.”
What does that mean? In Irish mythology, it is the eternal land of youth and beauty, which can only be reached by going underwater or across the sea. Pretty cool, right?
Avengers
In the first Avengers film, the clock above Grand Central Station was destroyed during the battle of New York, so later, in the movie Age of Ultron, it is replaced by a tribute to first responders and a memorial for the Battle of New York. While this small detail likely goes unnoticed by practically everyone who watches it, little details like this show the amount of thought that was put into these movies.
Just like other forms of art, such as painting or sculpture, the little details may not be noticed by untrained eyes, but they make the difference between an amateur creation and a true masterpiece.
Robots
The movie Robots was created by the same people who created Ice Age. Obviously, these artists wanted to pay tribute to their prior work, so they created a robot version of Sid the Sloth, everyone’s favorite prehistoric creature, and hid him subtly in the background. How adorable is that! We aren’t sure if the creators did this just for fun, or if they hoped viewers would notice, but we love it regardless!
Usually, fictional movies are meant to take place in their own world, separate from each other and from reality, but it can be fun to see two fictional worlds come together like this!
Harry Potter
The Harry Potter movies are a work of art, and a favorite of many people, young and old, and like most well-made movies, the makers of this movie paid careful attention to the little details. One neat detail that you don’t want to miss is the food on the tables in the Hogwarts dining room. In this scene, the characters can be seen eating parodies of real-world cereals, such as “Cheery Owls.”
The Harry Potter series is one that many people can’t get enough of, but no matter how many times you watch it, there will always be fun new details to pick up on.
Jurassic Park
Clearly Kathleen Kennedy, the producer of several well-known movies, including Jurassic Park and The Goonies, obviously wanted to use her films to express her clothing tastes. Dennis Nedry from Jurassic Park can be seen wearing the exact same outfits as the little boys from The Goonies. We aren’t sure if this was intentional or if it was just a complete coincidence, but we think that it’s pretty cool either way.
Whether Kennedy meant this as a tribute to a former project, or it was an unintended coincidence, this is a pretty cool detail that only the most dedicated film gurus would notice.
Kingsmen
The movie Kingsmen was about British spies, so obviously, the film’s makers wanted to pay a tribute to Britain’s most well-known and widely loved band. In a scene of the movie that features a vehicle hangar, if you pay careful attention to all of the vehicles on display, you will notice a yellow submarine that looks an awful lot like the submarine from The Beatles’ music video for the song “Yellow Submarine.”
It may be a little cliche to say that all British people love The Beatles, but we think that it is pretty obvious that the makers of this movie did. What a great tribute to “The Fab Four!”
The Lego Movie
Kids love legos! So much so, that you would be hard-pressed to find some well-loved legos in a child’s house that aren’t covered in grimy little kid fingerprints. Like most toys, parents rarely think to clean them. Obviously, the makers of The Lego Movie thought about this when making their animations. If you pay attention, you will see that all of the shiny parts on the legos are covered in noticeable fingerprints.
This begs the question, are the legos meant to represent actual toys that are being played with, and are the storylines supposed to be figments of some child’s imagination? It’s a fun thought!
Star Trek
The movie Star Trek is filled with futuristic and otherworldly technologies that we could only ever dream of, such as the incredible and mysterious electric hand dryer! That’s right! This 2009 movie features a Dyson hand dryer alongside all of the other futuristic technologies seen in the movie. After all, nothing says advanced level technology like a machine that forces your recently washed hands to be exposed to tons of other people’s germs.
We aren’t sure if this was laziness or if they genuinely meant it to look futuristic, but since the technology was still new at the time, we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.
Pirates of the Caribbean
Some movie scenes just don’t make sense. We’ve all seen those half-thought-out movies where characters are covered in water and a few minutes later they are perfectly dry and their hair looks perfect. Or what about those scenes where the character is in the middle of a windy storm and yet holds onto all of their accessories? Clearly, the makers of Pirates of the Caribbean wanted to avoid these cringy moments.
In this movie, Davy Jones holds on to his hat with his tentacles when splashed by a wave. Clearly, they didn’t want any question about how he managed to keep it.
Back to the Future
Here’s a detail from Back to the Future that you probably never noticed. In Back to the Future II, Doc is seen wearing a colorful shirt with trains on it. What’s so special about that? Well, he can be seen wearing the same pattern on his scarf in Back to the Future III, if you look closely at the faded pattern, indicating that the scarf was meant to be made from that shirt.
We aren’t sure why they put so much effort into such an insignificant detail that is hardly noticeable, but we think that it is pretty cool for those that pick up on it.
Snape in Harry Potter
We are sure that most of you have seen the Harry Potter series by now, but for anyone who hasn’t, this will be a major spoiler. Professor Snape is probably the most complicated character in the whole series and it can be difficult for viewers to figure out what side he is on, at least until the very end when we find out that he was on Harry’s side the whole time.
While this likely came as a surprise to almost everyone, the makers of the film did offer some subtle hints, such as this moment when he redirected Mcgonagul’s spell to the Death Eaters.
Poltergeist
While making the movie Poltergeist, one scene required the actress Jobeth Williams to swim in a pool filled with skeletons. No big deal, right? After all, it’s just acting. That was what she thought until she later found out that the skeletons in the pool were REAL! It was explained to her that it was cheaper to buy them from a medical supply company than to make them out of rubber.
While it made perfect sense to the producers, we have a feeling that this budgeting necessity didn’t bring any comfort whatsoever to the horrified actress. We all probably could have done without knowing that.
Die Hard
While most of the actors and actresses that we see in our favorite films are very talented, sometimes we may give them too much credit for their acting skills. For instance, in the movie Die Hard, the expression on actor Alan Rickman’s face when falling was completely natural. This is because his stunt team told them that they would drop him on the count of three but actually dropped him on one.
While this may seem like nothing more than a cruel joke, it worked really well for the movie. Even the most skillful acting techniques can’t begin to compare with actual raw emotion.
Beauty and the Beast
We are sure that you are familiar with the old Disney animated classic Beauty and the Beast, which was remade as a live-action movie in 2017. In the 2017 version, the character “Clockwork,” is a palace servant who was turned into a clock. Like most clocks, one of his hands was longer than the other, so that the minute and hour hands could be distinguished. This feature is to be expected of any clock.
A detail that we didn’t expect is when he was transformed back into a human and one side of his mustache was longer than the other as if representing the hands of a clock.
Harry’s Scar
Here is another sneaky little detail that involves Professor Snape in the Harry Potter Series. Nothing gets past Professor Snape. He always seems to be lurking in the background and notices practically everything, especially when it comes to Harry Potter. In this scene in the movie The Sorcerer’s Stone, when Harry’s scar begins hurting and he touches it, Snape notices and immediately proceeds to dart his eyes at Professor Quirrel.
Once the ceremony is over, Snape can be seen confronting Professor Quirrel. Whether or not the writers expected the movie’s viewers to pick up on this, it is clearly an important detail.
The Truman Show
In the 1998 film The Truman Show, the main character, Truman, lives in a world that is completely artificial. Unknowingly, he lives on the set of a TV show where he is the star and his entire life is manufactured for television. Because he lives on a TV set, he never sees any real sunlight. This might cause one to question how he gets his much-needed recommended daily dose of vitamin D.
The makers of this show didn’t fail to answer this question, at least for those who are paying attention. During this clip, a bottle of vitamin D pills can be seen in Truman’s home.
Zootopia
This detail is fun and also so cute! When watching the animated film Zootopia, if you pay close attention to the artists on Judy Hopps’ iPod, you will see that all of the artists are animal puns featuring popular real-life artists. A few examples of what the list includes are Guns N’ Rodents (Guns N’ Roses), Hyena Gomez (Selena Gomez), and of course Kanine West (Kanye West). How neat is that?
Adults often get sick of cartoons, especially when they have kids that watch the same ones on repeat. Looking for little details like this can make watching movies with kids so much more fun!
Unthinkable
Some small details in movies show incredible thought and accuracy. Others show laziness and carelessness that the filmmakers obviously hoped wouldn’t be noticed. If you pay careful attention to this scene in the 2010 thriller movie Unthinkable, you will see this guy trying to diffuse a bomb using Microsoft Excel. If you look even closer, you will notice that the title on the Excel document is “Budget and Daily Expenses.”
Clearly, the makers of this film were counting on the viewers not paying attention to the details, but they should have known that the internet would eventually uncover their flaws.
The Shawshank Redemption
In the movie The Shawshank Redemption, one of the characters, Red, played by Morgan Freeman who at the time was an older man, is pictured in mugshots from when he was twenty. The person in the picture clearly looks a lot like a younger version of the character. How was this achieved? The filmmakers used Morgan Freeman’s young son for the pictures in order to make them appear more realistic.
While this might seem like a small detail that was unimportant, even details that are only seen for a moment must be right when it comes to making a perfect film.
The Road to El Dorado
In the movie The Road to El Dorado, Dreamworks clearly wanted to take every possible opportunity to shamelessly plug their brand. In this scene, as the Shaman is flipping through his book of spells, you can see an ancient version of the Dreamworks logo. Whether this was a sneaky marketing technique or just for fun, we think that it is an interesting and cool detail to look out for either way.
The iconic Dreamworks logo can be easily recognized by children and adults alike, and seeing it in the form of an ancient hieroglyph image is a pretty neat part of watching this movie.
Evan Almighty
In the movie Evan Almighty, a comedy that is meant to portray a modern-day version of the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark in a hilarious way, Morgan Freeman plays a character that portrays God. In this scene, “God” poses as a waiter. The cool thing is, if you pay attention to his nametag, you will see that the name reads “Al-Mighty,” a reference to the God of the Bible, who refers to himself as “Almighty.”
You know that a comedy is good when the writers put this much effort into making even the small details hilarious. We think that God himself would laugh at that one.
Aladdin
The movie Aladdin is known for being one of the most romantic children’s cartoons ever. In this iconic scene, Aladdin takes Princess Jasmine for a ride on a magic carpet, where he shows her the world as they fly through various countries. As they fly through Greece, Aladdin is seen throwing an apple at his princess. While this may seem random and insignificant, in Greece throwing an apple at someone is a marriage proposal.
While most of us wouldn’t be too thrilled if our romantic partner threw a piece of fruit at us, knowing this historical context of this little detail makes it a very romantic addition.
Finding Dory
In the movie Finding Dory, as well as the more well-known Finding Nemo, which preceded it, Jaques’ the shrimp is known for being the neat freak that keeps the fish tank clean. Knowing this fact, it is pretty neat when you realize that when all of the creatures end up in filthy bags, his bag is the only one that remains squeaky clean. Clearly, the animators thought this detail out pretty well.
Jaques’ can’t stand filth, so it only makes sense that even in a little confined fish bag, this shrimp will make sure that he keeps his space neat and tidy.
Shaun of the Dead
In the movie Shaun of the Dead, Shaun, a middle-aged bum, has to grow up really fast when zombies take over London, his hometown. This comedy thriller has a lot of surprises, but these surprises seem a lot less shocking when you realize that they were all alluded to at the beginning of the movie. While shaun may have actually been talking about drinks, he laid out the entire plot of the movie without realizing it.
We aren’t sure if this was intended or if this was just a really big coincidence, but either way watching this movie will never be the same once you notice this.
John Wick
While the movies John Wick and John Wick 2 took place only four days apart, the movies were actually filmed 3 years apart. While it may seem impossible to accurately portray the idea that the stories happened within the same week, the filmmakers went to great lengths to make it accurate. They even went so far as to make sure that all the cars outside of the Continental Hotel were the same in both films.
This must have been a lot of trouble, especially for such a small detail, but as we have well established by now, the true art is in the little details.
Up
Who doesn’t love the movie Up? While it may have been intended for kids, this heartwarming animated film is so moving that it could make even the most strong adults shed some tears. The art of this film, however, isn’t just in the story. The animators of this film also paid a lot of attention to the small details so that they could make this sweet story a true masterpiece.
One example is in the city in the background of this scene. As they show the years going by, you can see the little city become more and more developed.
Batman Returns
We don’t know if this little detail was intentional or if it was a complete accident, but it is still very cool nonetheless. In the movie Batman Returns, Selena Kyle’s glasses show a shadow on her face that looks eerily like Cat ears. Could this perhaps be a foreshadowing of her future transformation into Cat Woman? If this was intentional, it was certainly a perfect little detail to keep fans wondering.
Next time you watch this movie with friends, be sure to point out this little piece of apparent foreshadowing and see what they think. They will most likely be amazed.
Matrix
This little detail shows that filmmakers sometimes have to be a little resourceful. In this scene of The Matrix, they couldn’t hide the camera in the doorknob, so they had to get a little creative. In order to make the camera match Morpheus, the filmmakers put a coat over it and added a half tie so that viewers wouldn’t notice it. It may not have worked, but we still appreciate the effort.
It takes a special person to have all of the attention to detail that it takes to make a film. It also takes a special person to notice and appreciate all of these details.