60 Fun Facts About Fall Movie

Who directed the 1989 autumn romance 'When Harry Met Sally...'?

Nora Ephron wrote the script, and Reiner's own mother delivered the film's most famous line in the deli scene.

At which Manhattan deli was the 'I'll have what she's having' scene in 'When Harry Met Sally...' filmed?

The customer who says the line is Estelle Reiner, mother of the director, and the deli still marks the table with a sign.

'Dead Poets Society' is set in 1959 at which fictional boarding school?

Real filming took place at St. Andrew's School in Delaware after scouts looked at more than 70 campuses.

Who won the Oscar for writing 'Dead Poets Society'?

He took Best Original Screenplay; Robin Williams and Peter Weir were both nominated but went home empty-handed.

What Latin phrase does John Keating teach his students in 'Dead Poets Society'?

The American Film Institute later ranked the line as one of the 100 greatest movie quotes.

In 'Good Will Hunting', Will works as a janitor at which institution?

His genius is spotted by a professor after he solves a problem left on a hallway blackboard.

Which two friends wrote 'Good Will Hunting' and won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for it?

Robin Williams won Best Supporting Actor the same night; the film had nine nominations in all.

Who directed 'Good Will Hunting'?

Made for around $10-16 million, it grossed roughly $226 million worldwide.

In which Massachusetts town is 'Hocus Pocus' set?

The witches are woken on Halloween night by a teenage newcomer who does not believe in them.

Which director of 'Hocus Pocus' later made the 'High School Musical' films?

The film opened in July 1993 and flopped, only becoming a Halloween staple through years of TV reruns.

What object must be lit by a virgin to bring the Sanderson sisters back in 'Hocus Pocus'?

The rules also require a full moon on All Hallows' Eve, which is why the sisters had waited 300 years.

'Hocus Pocus 2' arrived in 2022 on which streaming service?

The sequel came 29 years after the original and reunited Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy.

'You've Got Mail' takes its title from the greeting used by which online service?

It was Nora Ephron's highest-grossing film, taking about $250 million worldwide.

In 'You've Got Mail', what is the name of Kathleen Kelly's independent children's bookstore?

It is a nod to the 1940 film the story remakes, itself adapted from a Hungarian play called Parfumerie.

Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' adapts a 1970 novel by which author?

George Clooney voices the fox and the film picked up Oscar nominations for animated feature and score.

What are the names of the three farmers who hunt the title character in 'Fantastic Mr. Fox'?

Dahl's rhyme about the trio (one fat, one short, one lean) is repeated by the animals in the film.

What is the surname of the witch family played by Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman in 'Practical Magic'?

The story comes from Alice Hoffman's 1995 novel about a family of witches under a curse.

'Practical Magic' was shot in Coupeville, Washington, on which Puget Sound island?

The famous seaside house was a set built on nearby San Juan Island and torn down after filming.

Which detective does Daniel Craig play in 'Knives Out'?

Rian Johnson wrote and directed the film, which earned an Oscar nomination for its original screenplay.

Who plays the crime novelist Harlan Thrombey, whose death sets 'Knives Out' in motion?

Ana de Armas plays his nurse Marta, whose inability to lie without vomiting becomes a plot device.

In 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles', Neal Page is trying to get home to which city for Thanksgiving?

John Hughes wrote, produced and directed the 1987 comedy, pairing Steve Martin with John Candy.

What does John Candy's character Del Griffith sell in 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles'?

He passes them off as earrings to a busload of strangers to raise cash for the trip.

Wes Anderson's 'Rushmore' was co-written with which actor, who also appears in most of his films?

The prep school was played by St. John's School in Houston, Anderson's own alma mater.

Who plays the precocious student Max Fischer in 'Rushmore'?

It was his film debut; Bill Murray plays the industrialist Herman Blume who becomes his rival in love.

Which company's first feature film was 'Coraline' (2009)?

Henry Selick directed the stop-motion adaptation of Neil Gaiman's novella and it earned an Oscar nomination.

In 'Coraline', what does the Other Mother want to sew onto Coraline's eyes?

Coraline and her parents have just moved into the Pink Palace Apartments in Ashland, Oregon.

Which Peanuts character waits in the pumpkin patch in 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown'?

The 1966 special was only the third Peanuts cartoon ever made, with music by jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi.

What does Charlie Brown get instead of candy while trick-or-treating in the Great Pumpkin special?

Meanwhile Snoopy, as the World War I Flying Ace, battles the Red Baron from his doghouse.

Who provides Jack Skellington's singing voice in 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'?

Elfman also wrote every song; Chris Sarandon handles Jack's spoken lines.

'The Nightmare Before Christmas' was the first animated film nominated for which Oscar?

Disney released it under its Touchstone label, worried the Gothic look was too scary for kids.

Who plays the Headless Horseman, seen with his head, in Tim Burton's 'Sleepy Hollow'?

Johnny Depp's Ichabod Crane is a squeamish New York constable sent upstate in the fall of 1799.

Which Academy Award did 'Sleepy Hollow' (1999) win?

The film adapts Washington Irving's 1820 story but turns the schoolteacher into a detective.

Who plays Jo March in Greta Gerwig's 2019 'Little Women'?

Filming was based in Harvard, Massachusetts, close to the Alcott family's real Concord home.

The 2019 'Little Women' won its only Oscar in which category?

Jacqueline Durran won; the film was also nominated for Best Picture and for both Ronan and Pugh.

Which real Alexandria, Virginia school's team does Denzel Washington's coach integrate in 'Remember the Titans'?

The 1971 season in Alexandria, Virginia became a Jerry Bruckheimer production that grossed around $137 million.

'Rudy' (1993) was the first film allowed to shoot on the Notre Dame campus since which 1940 picture?

Sean Astin plays the undersized walk-on who finally gets on the field for one play in 1975.

Who composed the score for 'Rudy'?

His theme has become a fixture of sports montages, and director David Anspaugh had earlier made Hoosiers.

Michael Myers's mask in John Carpenter's 'Halloween' (1978) was adapted from a mask of which character?

Production designer Tommy Lee Wallace bought it for $1.98 and painted it white.

Roughly what was the budget of 'Halloween' (1978), which went on to gross about $70 million?

Jamie Lee Curtis made her film debut as Laurie Strode in the fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois.

Wes Craven's 'Scream' was written by Kevin Williamson under what working title?

The name was later borrowed for the Wayans brothers' spoof of the very film it started as.

Which novelty company created the mask that became Ghostface in 'Scream'?

A producer spotted it in a house while scouting locations, and it has been in every sequel since.

In which fictional Connecticut town do the Maitlands haunt their own house in 'Beetlejuice'?

The 1988 film won the Oscar for Best Makeup and its sequel finally arrived in September 2024.

Which Oscar did 'Beetlejuice' win?

Michael Keaton's ghoul is on screen for only a fraction of the film, yet the movie carries his name.

Which real New York firehouse served as the Ghostbusters' headquarters in the 1984 film?

It stands in Tribeca and is still a working firehouse that fans line up to photograph.

Who wrote 'Ghostbusters' (1984)?

Ivan Reitman directed and Ray Parker Jr.'s theme went to number one.

The title of the 1999 film 'October Sky' is an anagram of the memoir it is based on. What is that memoir?

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Homer Hickam, a West Virginia teenager inspired to build rockets after seeing Sputnik in 1957.

Which candy did Hershey allow into 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial' after Mars refused to lend M&M's?

The film's Halloween sequence has E.T. trick-or-treating under a sheet, and in 1983 it overtook Star Wars as the top-grossing film ever.

Who directed 2001's 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'?

It was the highest-grossing film of 2001 and picked up three Oscar nominations for score, art direction and costumes.

'Casper' (1995) is credited as the first feature film with what?

Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman move into Whipstaff Manor in Friendship, Maine, and the film took $290 million.

Which screen legend plays grandmother Aggie Cromwell in the 1998 TV movie 'Halloweentown'?

It was only the fourth original movie the channel made and was shot in St. Helens, Oregon, which now throws a yearly festival.

'Legends of the Fall' won its only Oscar for which craft?

John Toll shot the Montana-set epic largely in Alberta and British Columbia.

Which future star made his film debut with a tiny part in the 1988 Connecticut romance 'Mystic Pizza'?

The film, set in Mystic, Connecticut, is better remembered as Julia Roberts's breakthrough.

Georgetown refused to let 'St. Elmo's Fire' shoot on campus, so which College Park school stood in?

Administrators cited the film's premarital sex; the campus used is ten miles away in College Park.

Who directed 'Autumn in New York' (2000), starring Richard Gere and Winona Ryder?

MGM sent it into theatres without a press screening, yet it still made about $90 million worldwide.

The 2001 Keanu Reeves/Charlize Theron romance 'Sweet November' remakes a film from which year?

The original was written by Herman Raucher; the remake earned three Razzie nominations.

David Fincher's 'Fight Club' (1999) adapts a 1996 novel by which author?

Edward Norton's character is never named and is credited only as the Narrator.

Which Hollywood legend, in her final film role, starred as the pianist mother in 'Autumn Sonata' (1978)?

The two Bergmans were not related; it was Ingrid's final film role and the last Ingmar Bergman film made primarily for cinemas.

Todd Haynes's autumnal 1950s melodrama 'Far from Heaven' pays homage to which director's films?

Haynes drew on All That Heaven Allows and Imitation of Life; Julianne Moore won the Volpi Cup at Venice for her role as a Connecticut housewife.

In 'Pieces of April' (2003), Katie Holmes plays a young woman trying to cook what for her estranged family?

Peter Hedges's directing debut cost about $300,000 and earned Patricia Clarkson an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

What is the name of the pajama-clad demon who links the four Halloween stories in 'Trick 'r Treat' (2007)?

He wears orange footie pajamas with a burlap sack over his head and turns up whenever someone breaks a Halloween tradition in Warren Valley, Ohio.