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The opening interrogation scene where Natasha's chatting away in Russian before flipping the situation on her captors was a bit of a passion project moment for Whedon. He studied Russian language and literature back in college, and this was the first time in his career he actually got to put that degree to use on screen.
Tyrion's furious speech from his jail cell in season four is one of the show's most memorable moments, but Nikolaj Coster-Waldau has said it wasn't originally written to be delivered to Jaime. He pushed for the idea that Tyrion should be speaking directly to his brother, and the writers agreed to rework it that way.
Since Orcs bleed black in the film, Jackson decided their mouths should look black too, so every actor playing an Orc had to rinse with special liquorice mouthwash before each take.
Viggo Mortensen only joined the production after filming had already started, stepping in for actor Stuart Townsend just a handful of days into the shoot. He hadn't even read the books before signing on.
When Vince Gilligan was shopping the idea around, he summed up the entire concept in one line: a mild-mannered chemistry teacher turning into Scarface. Somehow that tiny pitch became one of the most acclaimed shows of the century.
Years before Illumination got the rights, Sony was quietly trying to build its own Mario movie franchise. Emails leaked in the 2014 Sony hack revealed producer Avi Arad had met with Nintendo, and executive Amy Pascal had even floated Genndy Tartakovsky as a director, though it never got past early talks.
One of the story missions is called 'The Spy Who Shunned Me.' Say it out loud and it clicks pretty fast, it's a play on the James Bond film 'The Spy Who Loved Me,' tucked in there for anyone paying attention to the mission list.
Before he was cast as Legolas, Orlando Bloom actually tried out for Faramir, the character who debuts in The Two Towers. That role ended up going to David Wenham instead.
Chris Pratt wasn't the only one who had to dial back his voice work. Charlie Day originally recorded Luigi sounding a lot closer to a Goodfellas wiseguy before the directors steered him towards the softer, more anxious tone that ended up defining the character in the movie.
That bit where Gandalf smacks his head on the beam in Bilbo's hobbit-hole wasn't scripted at all - Ian McKellen actually clonked his forehead for real mid-take. Peter Jackson thought he sold the pain so well he just left it in the final cut.
