Christopher Robert “Chris” Evans (born June 13, 1981) is an American actor. Often recognized for appearing in films adapted from comic books, he is perhaps best known for his roles in the films Not Another Teen Movie and as the Human Torch in the Fantastic Four films.
Trivia
Read for a role in Cameron Crowe’s Elizabethtown (2005) but lost out to Orlando Bloom.
He has a dog named East, that is half American bulldog and half English bulldog
Former vegetarian.
Is of Irish and Italian descent.
Scored 1180 on his SATs.
Has a younger sister named Shanna, a younger brother named Scott, and an older sister named Carly.
Has signed on to do three Fantastic Four films.
Ranked #18 on E! Television’s 2006 101 Sexiest Celebrity Bodies
Has played the role of boyfriend/ex-boyfriend of real-life girlfriend Jessica Biel twice: once in Cellular (2004) and again in London (2005/I).
Split with Jessica Biel, his girlfriend of two years [June 2006].
Named one of People Magazine’s “Hottest Bachelors” in 2006.
Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#99). [2007].
Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone is a 1983 pulp, action-comedy, science fiction film. The movie stars Peter Strauss, Molly Ringwald, Ernie Hudson, Andrea Marcovicci, and Michael Ironside. The film’s executive producer was Ivan Reitman, (producer of such films as National Lampoon’s Animal House and Ghostbusters), and it was directed by Lamont Johnson. The film had an adventurous music score composed by Elmer Bernstein.
When the movie came out in theaters, parts of it were shown in 3-D and the film became part of the 3-D movie revival craze of the early 1980s.
The movie is about a bounty hunter who goes on a mission to rescue three women stranded on a brutal planet and meets a vagrant teenage girl along the way.
Trivia:
The “tape machines” were on loan from Brainstorm (1983), which was being filmed on an adjacent set.
While it was common for 3-D movies to also be released simultaneously in flat versions, the two versions of this movie were shown at different ratios. 3-D prints were projected at 2.35:1, while flat prints were only 1.85:1. Thus, the flat widescreen DVD version from Columbia TriStar is correctly presented at 1.85:1 and not 2.35:1, as erroneously listed on the DVD case.
I Vampiri is a 1956 Italian horror film loosely based on the story of Elizabeth Báthory. Directed by Riccardo Freda and Mario Bava, the film stars Gianna Maria Canale as Giselle du Grand, Carlo D’Angelo as Inspector Chantal and Dario Michaelis as Pierre Lantin.
I Vampiri was the first sound era Italian horror film. Mid-way through production, director Riccardo Freda left the project, and was replaced by the films cinematographer Mario Bava.The film was released in the United States in 1963 under the title The Devil’s Commandment and has since been released under more titles including Lust of the Vampires and The Vampires.
Trivia:
This was the first Italian made horror film of the sound era.
Director Cameo: [Riccardo Freda] autopsy doctor
Italian censorship visa #23894, dated April 3rd 1957.
Gothic is a 1986 film directed by Ken Russell. It starred Gabriel Byrne as Lord Byron, Julian Sands as Percy Bysshe Shelley, Natasha Richardson as Mary Shelley and Timothy Spall as Dr John William Polidori. It features a soundtrack composed by Thomas Dolby, and marks Richardson’s film debut.
The film is a lurid and highly fictionalized tale based on the Shelleys’ visit with Lord Byron in Villa Diodati by Lake Geneva, and the famous challenge to write a horror story, which ultimately led to Mary Shelley writing Frankenstein and John Polidori writing The Vampyre. The same event has also been portrayed in the films Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Haunted Summer (1988), among others.
The film’s poster motif is based on Henry Fuseli’s painting The Nightmare, which is also referenced in the film.
Trivia:
Director Trademark: [Ken Russell] [snake]
Director Cameo: [Ken Russell] [with family] on the tour boat at the end of the film.
The painting that Mary Shelley sees on the wall, and that subsequently comes to life in her dream, is Johann Heinrich Fuessli’s “Nightmare.”
Gabriel Byrne walks with a limp and carries a cane because the real Lord Byron had a club foot.
Polidori’s line “Sleep is nature’s balm” comes from a poem by Keats, a contemporary and close friend of both Shelley and Byron.
During one of the establishing shots of the villa at night, a slowly revolving band of light appears on screen. This comes from a “phantasmagoria”, a device which displayed pictures by sending light through holes cut in a ring of metal. The book that Shelley and co. read which inspired her to write Frankenstein (and lead to the events in the movie) was also called Phantasmagoria.
After Shelly comes down from the roof and tells of his fascination with lightning, Byron calls him “Shelly, The Modern Prometheus.” When it was first published in 1818, Mary Shelly’s novel was called “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.”
Inferno is a 1980 Italian supernatural horror film written and directed by Dario Argento. The film stars Irene Miracle, Leigh McCloskey, Eleonora Giorgi, Daria Nicolodi, and Alida Valli. The cinematography was by Romano Albani, and Keith Emerson composed the film’s thunderous musical score. The story concerns a young man’s investigation into the disappearance of his sister, who had been living in a New York City apartment building that also served as a home for a powerful, centuries-old witch.
A thematic sequel to Suspiria (1977), the film is the second part of Argento’s “The Three Mothers Trilogy”. The long-delayed concluding entry, The Mother of Tears, was released in 2007. All three films are partially derived from the concept of “Our Ladies of Sorrow” (Mater Lachrymarum, Mater Suspiriorum, and Mater Tenebrarum) originally devised by Thomas de Quincey in his book Suspiria de Profundis (1845).
Unlike Suspiria, Inferno received a very limited theatrical release and the film was unable to match the box-office success of its predecessor. While the initial critical response to the film was mostly negative, its reputation has improved considerably over the years. Kim Newman has called it “…perhaps the most underrated horror movie of the 1980’s.”[2] In 2005, the magazine Total Film named Inferno one of the 50 greatest horror films of all time.
Trivia:
The second part (with Suspiria (1977) and La terza madre (2007)) of the “Three Mothers” trilogy.
James Woods was the original choice for the lead role but he was already committed to Videodrome (1983).
All of the murderer’s hands in the movie were Dario Argento’s.
Legendary Italian horror director Mario Bava assisted with the making of the special effects on this film. Bava passed away shortly before its release.
For some of the exterior location shoots in Italy footage of New York City skyscrapers were superimposed in the background to make it appear like the films NYC setting.
In an interview with assistant director Lamberto Bava, he said that he handled and wrangled so many cats during the shooting of this film that afterward he could no longer stand to be in the same room as a cat. He’s avoided them since then.
Argento said that the gentleman who provided the live ants used in the film collected them by walking around in the park with a vacuum and literally sucking them up from the ground. He would later retrieve them from the vacuum bag once on set.
Part of the reason Argento cast Irene Miracle as Rose Elliot was she had synchronize swimming skills, which came in quite handy for the shooting of the underwater ballroom scene.
The film was shot in three months.
According to co-writer and star Daria Nicolodi she didn’t fight for writing credits on this film as she had an ordeal just getting writing credit on Argento’s previous film Suspiria (1977). According to Nicolodi the basic plot of ‘Inferno’ was her creation.
When star ‘Leigh McCloskey”s stunt double broke his leg, McCloskey himself had to perform the stunt work for the films explosive finale. In interviews McCloskey said it was an intense experience as the rest of the crew and equipment were protected by multiple layers of Plexiglas while he had to run without protection through sets rigged to explode and burn. McCloskey said ‘when you feel glass flying by you like a Harrier jet, you never forget it!’
According to ‘Leigh McCloskey’, Dario Argento’s brother Claudio Argento spoke better English than Dario so often he would have to translate Dario’s direction to the cast.
Reportedly Dario Argento was ill with a serve case of hepatitis through out the production. At one point he had to be bed-ridden for a few days leaving the production to work on only second unit. Argento has since called ‘Inferno’ perhaps his most challenging film for this reason alone.
In 2005 Total Film magazine named ‘Inferno’ one of the 50 greatest horror films ever made.
English film critic Kim Newman once called ‘Inferno’ the most underrated horror film of the 1980′s.
Twentieth Century Fox co-financed the film because it’s predecessor Suspiria (1977) had been quite a successful film for their company.
For the scene where Kazanian carries the bag of ‘cats’ into Central Park a mechanical device was placed inside the bag to make it move, giving the impression that there were actually live animals inside.
Mario Bava is credited with creating the design of Rose Elliot’s unique apartment building. Bava also built the small-scale model that was burned in the films fiery climax.
Silent Scream is a 1980 horror film written by Jim and Ken Wheat, and Wallace E. Bennett, produced by Jim and Ken Wheat, directed by Denny Harris and starring Rebecca Balding, Cameron Mitchell, Barbara Steele and Yvonne De Carlo. The film’s tagline is “Terror so sudden there is no time to scream”. Released by American Cinema, the film runs for 87 minutes and grossed $15,800,000 in the US. It marks scream queen Barbara Steele’s only 1980s film appearance, and was among the early cycle of slasher films to appear after the genre was popularised by Halloween and Friday the 13th. Some exteriors of the film were shot at the Smith Estate in Highland Park, Los Angeles, CA.
Trivia:
Cameron Mitchell and Avery Schreiber only worked for two days.
Margot Kidder and Olivia Hussey in Black Christmas (1974)
Black Christmas is a 1974 Canadian horror film, directed by Bob Clark, which has a very large cult following. It was written by A. Roy Moore, and based largely on a series of real-life murders in Montreal, Quebec, around Christmas time. Black Christmas stars Olivia Hussey as a young college student who must deal with a deranged killer lurking in her sorority house. Taking only 40 days to shoot ,it also features Margot Kidder and Andrea Martin, before either had gained fame in the United States, John Saxon and Keir Dullea round out the cast. The film’s inventively eerie score is by Carl Zittrer, and was marketed with the tagline “If this picture doesn’t make your skin crawl… It’s on too tight!”
Buy this Title Now!
Working from a budget of $620,000 and an eight week shooting schedule, the film was shot in 35mm format utilizing Panavision cameras and lenses in and around Toronto during the winter of 1974. Annesley Hall National Historic Site was used for some scenes. When originally released in the United States, Warner Bros., fearing that audiences might confuse it for a blaxploitation movie, changed the title to Silent Night, Evil Night. It performed poorly until its title was changed back to Black Christmas. It was later retitled Stranger in the House for television broadcast.
Trivia:
Keir Dullea worked only for a week on this film, never meeting Margot Kidder and barely meeting John Saxon, but the film is edited in such a way that he appears to be present throughout.
The role of Mrs. Mac was offered to Bette Davis
The role of Peter was originally offered to Malcolm McDowell, but he turned it down.
The role of Lieutenant Fuller was originally supposed to be played by Edmond O’Brien, but due to failing health he had to be replaced. John Saxon was brought in at the last minute.
Gilda Radner was offered the role of Phyllis Carlson. She was attached, but dropped out one month before filming began owing to “Saturday Night Live” (1975) commitments.
When NBC showed the film during prime time (under the title “Stranger in the House”), it was deemed ‘too scary’ for network television and was pulled off the air.
Around 1986, Olivia Hussey met producers for the film Roxanne (1987), who were interested in casting her for the title role, co-star Steve Martin met her and said “Oh my God Olivia, you were in one of my all time favorite films”, thinking it was her classical performance in the phenomenal Romeo and Juliet (1968/I), Olivia was surprised to find out it was indeed Black Christmas (1974), Martin claimed he had seen it over 20 times.
According to director Bob Clark about five people were responsible for voicing the frightening phone calls, including Clark, actor Nick Mancuso and an unnamed actress.
During an interview with director Bob Clark, Clark said Olivia Hussey’s decision to take the role of Jess was based upon advice given to her by a psychic. According to Clark, Hussey said her psychic believed that the film would be successful and a wise career choice for her. She took the role.
Art Hindle, in an interview included with the DVD, reveals that the fur coat he wore in this film was in fact his own. It still hangs in his closet to this day.
The original title of the films script was “Stop Me”. It was director Bob Clark who came up with the title “Black Christmas” saying that he liked the irony of something dark occurring during such a festive holiday.
Regarded among horror fans as the first film to come up with the popular convention of a killer calling from inside the house.
Actress Lynne Griffin revealed that for the scenes where she’s wrapped in the plastic bag she would rip a hole in the bag, stuffing the opening into her open mouth so she could breath during filming.
Composer Carl Zittrer said in an interview that he created the bizarre music score for the film by tying forks, combs, and knives to the strings of his piano so the sound would warp as he struck the keys. Zittrer also said he would distort the sound further by recording audio tape while putting pressure on the reels of the machine to make it turn slower.
Upon initial release in the US the films title was changed to “Silent Night, Evil Night” because the American distributor feared the title “Black Christmas” might cause the film to be mistaken for a ‘blaxploitation’ flick. However the film didn’t do well under the new title and it was changed back to the original “Black Christmas” title, which it was a success under.
Reportedly the story was inspired to writer Roy Moore by an actual series of murders that took place in Montreal, Quebec around the Christmas season.
Star Margot Kidder admitted in an interview that she never thought that the film would become a hit and was surprised to learn that it had gained such a large cult following over the years.
The audio for the demented phones calls was edited into the film during post-production. While shooting the footage for the phone call scenes the actresses were actually just reacting to threatening dialog being spoken from director Bob Clark from off-camera.
The snow seen outside of the sorority house was actually fake, because there had been surprisingly little snow fall during the filming. A foam material that was provided by the local fire department was used for snow on the lawn and according to cinematographer Albert J. Dunk the substance actually caused the grass on the lawn to grow greener than ever the following spring.
Shooting the search party scenes in the park proved to be quite difficult as the temperature was a freezing 10 degrees during the night of filming.
Cinematographer Albert J. Dunk created Billy’s POV shots by rigging up a camera harness that would mount the camera on his shoulder as he walked about the house and climbed the trellis and attic ladder himself.
It was composer Carl Zittrer who contacted star John Saxon, who he met on a previous film, about filling in for the role of Lt. Fuller at the last minute.
The film was shot in 40 days.
Co-producer Gerry Arbeid cameos in the film as the cab driver that arrives to pick up Mrs. Mac.
According to director Bob Clark the original script for the film featured murder scenes that were more graphic. Clark however felt that it would be more effective if the murders were toned down and made more subtle on screen. Writer Roy Moore liked the idea as well.
