For "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," Steven Spielberg could not locate a
soundstage large enough to accomodate the film's climax and was forced to
shoot in an abandoned dirigible hangar in Mobile, Alabama.

Designer Carlo Rimbaldi made several E.T.s for "ET: the Extra-Terrestrial" for
different activities. Depending on the scene, E.T. moved through the use of
radio-controlled devices, hand puppets, or midgets in E.T. suits.

Rather than spend another day in the 130-degree heat of the Tunisia location
for "Raiders of the Lost Ark," Harrison Ford suggested speeding up the whip vs.
scimitar scene in the marketplace where Indiana Jones rescues Marion (Karen
Allen). Why not, he said, have Indy pull out a gun and shoot the Turk? Then
they could all go home. It turned out to be one of the favorite scenes in the
movie.

Before Christopher Reeve got the film role of "Superman," the role had been
turned down by Robert Redford and Paul Newman.

Before Margot Kidder was hired, Carrie Fisher was suggested for the role of
Lois Lane.

In 1936, horror film director James Whale made a film as different from
"Frankenstein" as you can get: the Jerome Kern musical "Showboat."

The 1933 "King Kong"'s roar was created by taking a tape of a lion's roar,
running it backwards, and re-recording it.

Alfred Hitchcock's classic "Psycho" (1960) was based on the real-life exploits
of Ed Gein, whose Wisconsin farmhouse revealed the poorly preserved corpse
of his mother as well as evidence of over a dozen murders.