150 Fun Facts About Modern Movie

Which film became the first non-English language movie to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards?

Parasite won four Oscars in 2020; accepting Best Director, Bong Joon-ho quoted fellow nominee Martin Scorsese, 'The most personal is the most creative', and the audience applauded Scorsese.

Which film was the first to gross over $2 billion at the worldwide box office?

Avatar overtook Titanic in January 2010 and went on past $2 billion, so director James Cameron broke his own record for the highest-grossing film ever made.

Which actor won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for The Dark Knight?

Heath Ledger died nearly six months before The Dark Knight opened; his father, mother and sister accepted the Oscar together on behalf of his three-year-old daughter, Matilda.

Which 2024 sequel became the highest-grossing animated film in history, a record it held until 2025?

Inside Out 2 finished on about $1.7 billion worldwide to become the highest-grossing animated film ever, until China's Ne Zha 2 overtook it in February 2025.

Robert Downey Jr. won an Oscar for Oppenheimer playing which Atomic Energy Commission figure?

Lewis Strauss's 1959 hearing to become Commerce Secretary frames the film, and it ended in defeat: the Senate rejected him by 49 votes to 46.

Which 2017 horror film, Jordan Peele's directorial debut, won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay?

Get Out cost $4.5 million and grossed over $250 million; Jordan Peele first shot a bleaker ending in which police arrest Chris, then replaced it after test screenings.

Which 2019 film became the first R-rated movie to gross over $1 billion worldwide?

Joker became the first R-rated film to pass $1 billion worldwide in 2019; it also won the Golden Lion at Venice, and Deadpool & Wolverine took the R-rated record in 2024.

In the film Inception (2010), what object does Cobb use to determine whether he is in a dream or reality?

A spinning top is Cobb's test: it only spins forever inside a dream, and in the final scene he sets it going, then walks off to his children before seeing whether it falls.

Which actress became the first Asian to win the Best Actress Oscar, for Everything Everywhere All at Once?

Michelle Yeoh trained as a ballet dancer in England until a spinal injury ended that path; she made her name instead doing her own stunts in Hong Kong action films.

Which director created the Mad Max franchise in 1979 and returned to it with Fury Road in 2015?

George Miller was an emergency-room doctor in Sydney who saw the kind of road injuries his first Mad Max depicts; Fury Road won six Oscars, the most of any film that night.

Which actor's comeback won Best Supporting Actor for Everything Everywhere All at Once?

Ke Huy Quan, the former child star of Indiana Jones and The Goonies, returned after about 19 years away to win Best Supporting Actor, becoming the first Vietnam-born actor to win an Oscar.

What fictional African nation is the setting of the Marvel film Black Panther?

Wakanda hides its advanced technology from the world; the film's conflict begins when Killmonger challenges T'Challa for the throne to end that isolation and arm a global revolution.

In The Social Network (2010), which actor plays Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg?

Jesse Eisenberg earned a Best Actor nomination as Zuckerberg; the opening breakup scene alone took director David Fincher 99 takes to finish.

Which animated film's boy hero stumbles into the Land of the Dead on Día de los Muertos?

In Coco, twelve-year-old Miguel seeks out his musician great-great-grandfather to lift the family ban on music; the film won Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for 'Remember Me'.

Which fantasy film won all 11 of its Oscar nominations, tying the record for most wins?

The Return of the King went 11 for 11, matching Ben-Hur and Titanic; Peter Jackson had shot all three Lord of the Rings films at the same time in New Zealand, over 14 months.

Which director is known for the films Hereditary and Midsommar?

Ari Aster built Midsommar around a painful breakup of his own, calling it 'a breakup movie dressed in the clothes of a folk horror film'; Hereditary had been his feature debut.

Which 2014 Best Picture winner stars Michael Keaton as a faded film star staging a Broadway play?

Birdman is staged to look like one continuous take; Michael Keaton, once Batman himself, plays an actor haunted by the superhero role that made him famous.

In Pixar's WALL-E, what is the name of the sleek robot from the Axiom whom the title character falls for?

EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) is the probe sent from the Axiom to search Earth for plant life; WALL-E follows her back to the ship 700 years after humans left.

Which Marvel Cinematic Universe film features the snap that eliminates half of all life in the universe?

In Avengers: Infinity War, Thor severely wounds Thanos with his new axe Stormbreaker, but Thanos still snaps his fingers with the completed Gauntlet and teleports away.

Which Ridley Scott epic won Best Picture and brought Russell Crowe the Best Actor Oscar?

Gladiator won five Oscars; Oliver Reed died before filming ended, so his last scenes as Proximo were finished with a body double and his face added digitally.

Which 2008 superhero film launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Iron Man was shot with much of its dialogue improvised, because the script wasn't finished when filming began; Robert Downey Jr. ad-libbed the closing line, 'I am Iron Man'.

Which Denis Villeneuve film is set on Arrakis, the only source of a drug called spice?

Dune is titled Dune: Part One on screen, yet the studio only approved Part Two in October 2021, after it opened, so the film was made with no guarantee the story would be finished.

Who directed 1917 (2019), a First World War film edited to appear as two continuous shots?

Sam Mendes drew on war stories told by his grandfather Alfred, who enlisted at 17 and fought in the First World War; the film follows a messenger carrying an order across the front.

Which streaming service distributed Alfonso Cuarón's 2018 film Roma?

Netflix acquired Roma and released it in December 2018 after a limited theatrical run; Mexico's biggest cinema chains, Cinépolis and Cinemex, refused to show it over the short exclusivity window.

Which actor plays the lead role of Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road?

Charlize Theron plays Imperator Furiosa, who later got a prequel of her own, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024), with Anya Taylor-Joy taking over as the younger character.

Which 2003 film features Bill Murray as a fading American actor filming a whiskey commercial in Tokyo?

Lost in Translation stars Murray as Bob Harris shooting a Suntory whisky ad; Sofia Coppola wrote the part for him, spent months recruiting him, and won Best Original Screenplay.

After Richard Harris died in 2002, which actor took over as Dumbledore from the third Harry Potter film onward?

Michael Gambon played Dumbledore from 2004 to 2011; oddly, Harris had also played TV detective Maigret four years before Gambon took over that role too.

Which 2014 film stars Ralph Fiennes as Monsieur Gustave, framed for a wealthy dowager's murder in a fictional European republic?

The Grand Budapest Hotel's lobby was built inside a vacant department store in Görlitz, Germany, while its pink exterior was a scale model; the film won four Oscars.

Which franchise rebooted its timeline in 2009, with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto facing a villain from their own future?

Star Trek sends Leonard Nimoy's original Spock back in time along with the Romulan villain Nero, creating an altered timeline in which the young crew's story could start afresh.

Which 2016 animated film follows a one-eyed boy whose magic brings origami figures to life?

Kubo and the Two Strings pits Kubo against his grandfather, the Moon King, who took one of his eyes when he was a baby and now hunts him for the other.

Which actor plays Velociraptor trainer Owen Grady in Jurassic World (2015)?

Chris Pratt was cast in November 2013, before Guardians of the Galaxy made him a film star; until then he was best known as Andy Dwyer in the sitcom Parks and Recreation.

Which film company, founded in 2012, released Moonlight, Lady Bird and Uncut Gems?

A24 takes its name from the Italian motorway co-founder Daniel Katz was driving along when he decided to start the company; its Moonlight went on to win Best Picture.

Who plays the villain Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films?

Josh Brolin took over from Damion Poitier, who played Thanos in a 2012 cameo credited only as 'Man #1', and has performed him through motion capture ever since.

Which 2015 film tells the true story of the Boston Globe uncovering Catholic Church abuse?

Spotlight is named after the Boston Globe's investigative team, whose reporting on the abuse scandal won the paper the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

Which Tarantino film features a WWII plot to assassinate Nazi leaders in a movie theater?

In Inglourious Basterds (2009), Brad Pitt's Jewish-American soldiers and cinema owner Shosanna Dreyfus separately plot to kill Hitler and the Nazi high command at a Paris premiere; Christoph Waltz won an Oscar as Hans Landa.

In Interstellar (2014), what do the astronauts fly through near Saturn to reach planets in another galaxy?

A wormhole near Saturn leads to planets close to the black hole Gargantua; the story grew from the work of physicist Kip Thorne, who served as the film's scientific consultant.

Which 2021 Disney film features the chart-topping song 'We Don't Talk About Bruno'?

Encanto's hit reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100; in the film the Madrigals shun Bruno, scapegoated for the futures he foresaw, and he vanished ten years earlier.

Which actress starred as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games film series?

Jennifer Lawrence, a fan of the books, hesitated for three days before accepting the part, intimidated by the size of the production; she went on to play Katniss in all four films.

Which actress won her second Best Actress Oscar as a grieving mother in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri?

Frances McDormand won as Mildred Hayes, a part written with her in mind; she ended her acceptance speech with 'two words: inclusion rider', a contract clause requiring diverse hiring.

Which director made the 2006 dark fantasy Pan's Labyrinth, set in Francoist Spain in 1944?

Guillermo del Toro wrote the film's English subtitles himself, having been disappointed by those of his earlier The Devil's Backbone; Pan's Labyrinth won three Oscars.

Which actor won Best Actor for playing the title physicist in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer (2023)?

Cillian Murphy had appeared in five earlier Christopher Nolan films without playing the lead; his first starring role for Nolan made him the first Irish-born Best Actor winner.

Which 2009 Pixar film opens with a montage of a couple's entire life together?

Up opens with the 'Married Life' montage of Carl and Ellie; Carl Fredricksen, voiced by Ed Asner, then floats his house to South America under thousands of balloons to keep his promise to Ellie.

In The Dark Knight Rises (2012), which villain cripples Batman and traps him in a prison pit?

Bane, played by Tom Hardy, is a former League of Shadows member who breaks Batman's back and leaves him in the Pit; Nolan drew on the 1993 Knightfall comics storyline.

Which 2022 German-language war film won four Oscars, including Best International Feature?

All Quiet on the Western Front won four Oscars and seven BAFTAs; the Erich Maria Remarque novel it adapts was among the books the Nazis banned and publicly burned.

Which director is known for flat camera moves, symmetrical compositions, snap-zooms and a limited colour palette?

Wes Anderson's look is so recognisable that it inspired Accidentally Wes Anderson, an Instagram account, book and exhibition collecting real places that could pass for his sets.

In which 2013 Alfonso Cuarón thriller is Sandra Bullock's astronaut stranded in orbit after debris hits her shuttle?

Gravity sat in development limbo at Universal until Alfonso Cuarón asked for it to be released; Warner Bros. took it on, and it won seven Oscars, the most of any film that night.

What mishap marked the presentation of Best Picture at the 89th Academy Awards in 2017?

The wrong film was announced because Warren Beatty had been handed the Best Actress envelope; La La Land's producers were mid-speech when Moonlight was named the real winner.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) became which studio's highest-grossing film ever?

Across the Spider-Verse passed The Smurfs to become the biggest hit for Sony Pictures Animation; it ends on a cliffhanger because its makers found the story too big for one film and split it in two.

Which 2015 film stars Matt Damon as a stranded astronaut who survives by growing potatoes?

The Martian began as a story Andy Weir gave away free on his own website; when readers asked for a Kindle version he set the lowest price Amazon allowed, and its sales won him a book deal.

Which director's Barbie (2023) became the highest-grossing film ever made by a solo female director?

Greta Gerwig's Barbie passed $1 billion in 2023; its sets needed so much fluorescent pink that they used up supplier Rosco's remaining stock, and the designer joked the world ran out of pink.

In Frozen (2013), Elsa's magic plunges which kingdom into eternal winter, sending Anna off to find her?

Arendelle freezes, and Anna sets out with iceman Kristoff, his reindeer Sven and the snowman Olaf; the film won Oscars for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song.

In Moana (2016), Dwayne Johnson voices which shape-shifting demigod?

Maui, the demigod of wind and sea, once stole the heart of the island goddess Te Fiti to give humanity the power of creation, triggering the blight Moana must undo.

In Zootopia (2016), what kind of animal is the con artist Nick Wilde?

Nick Wilde is a red fox voiced by Jason Bateman opposite Ginnifer Goodwin's rookie rabbit cop Judy Hopps; he admits he was bullied as a cub and resigned himself to being seen as shifty.

In Finding Nemo (2003), what species of fish is the forgetful Dory?

Dory is a regal blue tang; director Andrew Stanton first imagined her as male, then cast Ellen DeGeneres after watching her 'change the subject five times before finishing one sentence'.

Which actor won Best Actor for playing Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)?

Rami Malek took a part first announced for Sacha Baron Cohen, who left in 2013 over creative differences with Queen; the film won four Oscars, the most of any that night.

What is the name of Daniel Craig's southern-drawling detective in Knives Out (2019)?

Benoit Blanc is anonymously hired to investigate the death of bestselling author Harlan Thrombey, played by Christopher Plummer, after the police have written it off as suicide.

In Top Gun: Maverick, what is the call sign of Miles Teller’s character, Goose’s son?

Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw is played by Miles Teller, cast in July 2018 over Nicholas Hoult and Glen Powell; Powell ended up playing the cocky rival Hangman instead.

Which 2021 MCU film brought back Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as their web-slingers?

Spider-Man: No Way Home kept its returning heroes secret: Andrew Garfield issued repeated public denials that he was in the film, which went on to gross about $1.92 billion.

In The Hangover (2009), which boxer's tiger turns up in the bachelor party's hotel suite?

Mike Tyson plays himself, and his tiger, along with the baby and the stolen police cruiser, was added in Todd Phillips's rewrite after Warner Bros. bought the original spec script for $2 million.

In The Devil Wears Prada (2006), what is the name of Miranda Priestly's fashion magazine?

Runway is widely read as a stand-in for Vogue: novelist Lauren Weisberger had been a personal assistant to its editor Anna Wintour, the reputed model for Miranda Priestly.

Who voices Groot, the tree-like accomplice of Rocket, in James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)?

Vin Diesel's part is almost entirely the line 'I am Groot', and he recorded it again in other languages for several of the film's foreign releases.

Who became the first woman to win the Best Director Oscar, for The Hurt Locker?

Kathryn Bigelow won Best Director for The Hurt Locker in 2010, beating a field that included her ex-husband James Cameron, nominated that night for his own blockbuster.

Leonardo DiCaprio won his first Oscar for which film?

The Revenant won Leonardo DiCaprio his first Oscar, as fur trapper Hugh Glass; he spoke of eating raw bison liver, going in and out of frozen rivers and sleeping in animal carcasses for the role.

Which 2008 film won eight Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for Danny Boyle?

Slumdog Millionaire won eight of its ten nominations; two went to composer A. R. Rahman, for a score he completed in a matter of weeks and for the song 'Jai Ho'.

Which was the first James Bond film to gross $1 billion worldwide?

Skyfall was stalled throughout 2010 by MGM's bankruptcy; it finally arrived in 2012, in time for the Bond films' 50th anniversary, and became the first to pass $1 billion.

Who plays the terrorist financier Le Chiffre in Casino Royale (2006)?

Mads Mikkelsen plays Le Chiffre, whom Bond must bankrupt in a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro; Amalric, Bardem and Waltz all played later Craig-era Bond villains.

Which film won the inaugural Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2002?

Shrek beat Monsters, Inc. to the first Best Animated Feature Oscar; Chris Farley had recorded most of the title role before his death in 1997, and Mike Myers took over with a Scottish accent.

Which Hayao Miyazaki film won Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards?

Spirited Away was the first hand-drawn, non-English-language film to win the animation Oscar; Miyazaki based its heroine on the ten-year-old daughter of a friend who visited him each summer.

Which streaming service released CODA (2021), the first Best Picture winner from a streamer?

Apple TV+ bought CODA at Sundance 2021 for a festival-record $25 million; it became the first streaming-service release and the first Sundance premiere to win Best Picture.

Who voices the operating system Samantha in Spike Jonze's Her (2013)?

Scarlett Johansson voices Samantha; the role was recast in post-production after Samantha Morton had originally recorded the part, and Johansson won Best Actress at the 2013 Rome Film Festival for it.

Who plays the vanished wife Amy Dunne in Gone Girl (2014)?

Rosamund Pike earned a Best Actress nomination; director David Fincher chose her because she was little known to American audiences and had an enigmatic quality that suited Amy.

Which was the first animated film to gross $1 billion at the worldwide box office?

Toy Story 3 finished 2010 as the year's top film on $1.067 billion, the first animated film past $1 billion, and held the animated record until Frozen passed it in 2014.

Which Harry Potter film was the highest-grossing of the entire series?

Deathly Hallows – Part 2 took more than $1.3 billion worldwide in 2011, the year's highest-grossing film and, at the time, the highest-grossing book adaptation ever made.

12 Years a Slave (2013) is based on the memoir of which man, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor?

Solomon Northup, a free Black man from Saratoga, New York, was lured to Washington, D.C. by two con men in 1841 and sold into slavery; John Ridley adapted his 1853 memoir for director Steve McQueen.

Which 2023 film became the first video-game adaptation to gross $1 billion?

The Super Mario Bros. Movie earned $1.36 billion; Nintendo had been reluctant to license its characters for films ever since the failure of the 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros.

Which 2023 Japanese film was the first non-English-language winner of Best Visual Effects?

Godzilla Minus One's director Takashi Yamazaki supervised the effects himself, and a crew of only 35 artists at one studio produced all 610 of its effects shots.

In Memento (2000), what condition leaves Leonard Shelby unable to form new memories?

Leonard has anterograde amnesia, unable to form new memories since the attack on his wife; Guy Pearce's character navigates with Polaroids, handwritten notes and tattoos as he hunts the attacker.

Who directed Nomadland (2020), becoming the second woman to win Best Director?

Chloé Zhao cast real-life nomads, including Linda May, Swankie and Bob Wells, as fictionalised versions of themselves; she was also the first woman of colour to win Best Director.

Who became the youngest Best Director winner ever, at 32, for La La Land?

Damien Chazelle wrote La La Land in 2010 but found no studio willing to finance it without changes; only after Whiplash succeeded was it picked up, and he won at 32.

Which film beat Brokeback Mountain, the year's most-nominated film, to Best Picture at the 78th Academy Awards?

Crash won Best Picture with only three Oscars; writer-director Paul Haggis was inspired to make it after being carjacked outside a Los Angeles video store in 1991.

Which 2002 film was the first musical to win Best Picture since Oliver! in 1968?

Chicago took six Oscars; Bob Fosse, who staged the 1975 Broadway original, had planned to film it himself but died first, and the 2002 film carries a dedication to him.

Arrival (2016) adapts the novella 'Story of Your Life' by which author?

Ted Chiang's novella won the Nebula Award; screenwriter Eric Heisserer pitched his adaptation for several years without interest and nearly gave up before it became Arrival.

Roger Deakins won his first Oscar for shooting which 2017 film?

Blade Runner 2049 brought Deakins his first Oscar on his fourteenth nomination; it was his third collaboration with Denis Villeneuve after Prisoners and Sicario, and the film also won Best Visual Effects.

Scorsese's The Departed (2006) is a remake of which 2002 Hong Kong film?

The Departed remakes Infernal Affairs (2002), whose remake rights Brad Pitt's Plan B bought for $1.75 million; the story was reshaped around Boston's Winter Hill Gang and Whitey Bulger.

Who directed the first Twilight film (2008)?

Catherine Hardwicke shot Twilight in 44 days in Oregon; she cast Robert Pattinson after an audition in which he kissed Kristen Stewart on Hardwicke's own bed and fell off it.

Who directed Deadpool (2016) in his feature directorial debut?

Tim Miller, co-founder of an effects studio, saw Deadpool approved only after test footage for it leaked online in 2014; Leitch and Levy went on to direct the two sequels.

What breed is the puppy whose killing sets off the rampage in John Wick (2014)?

Daisy, a beagle puppy, was a final gift arranged by John's late wife Helen; the thieves who kill her also steal his 1969 Mustang.

Youn Yuh-jung became the first Korean actor to win an Oscar for which 2020 film?

Minari is director Lee Isaac Chung's semi-autobiographical take on his own upbringing on an Arkansas farm; Youn plays Soon-ja, the grandmother who moves in with the family.

Which 2003 Park Chan-wook thriller follows a man freed after 15 years in a private prison, never told why?

Oldboy loosely adapts a Japanese manga; Choi Min-sik trained for six weeks and did most of his own stunt work as Oh Dae-su, who hunts for his captor once released.

Which film’s ‘Naatu Naatu’ was the first song from an Asian movie to win Best Original Song?

RRR's 'Naatu Naatu' dance was filmed at the Mariinskyi Palace in Kyiv, the Ukrainian president's official residence, a few months before Russia's 2022 invasion.

Which 2024 Palme d'Or winner went on to win five Oscars, including Best Picture?

Anora won five of its six nominations; Sean Baker took four of them himself, as producer, director, writer and editor, the first person to win four Oscars for a single film.

In Kill Bill: Volume 1, which retired Okinawa swordsmith forges the Bride's blade?

Hattori Hanzō, played by Sonny Chiba, comes out of retirement to forge the Bride's sword; the name nods to Chiba's role as the historical Iga ninja Hattori Hanzō in the 1980s series Shadow Warriors.

Who wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for Juno (2007)?

Diablo Cody won Best Original Screenplay; producer Mason Novick discovered her through her blog about stripping and first landed her a book deal for the memoir Candy Girl before asking for a script.

Tina Fey adapted Mean Girls (2004) from which nonfiction book?

Queen Bees and Wannabes, Rosalind Wiseman's 2002 self-help guide for parents of teenage girls, prompted Fey to approach Lorne Michaels about adapting it as a film.

In No Country for Old Men (2007), what unusual weapon does Anton Chigurh kill with?

Chigurh carries a captive bolt pistol, a slaughterhouse stunning tool powered by a compressed-air tank, which Javier Bardem's hitman also uses to blow out door locks; Bardem won Best Supporting Actor.

In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), which firm erases Clementine's memories?

Lacuna Inc., run by Dr. Howard Mierzwiak, erases memories; its technicians work on Joel's brain while he sleeps at home, and Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth won Best Original Screenplay.

In The Witch (2015), what is the name of the family's sinister billy goat?

Black Phillip is the goat the twins insist talks to them, and in the end he speaks to Thomasin; the film was the feature debut of director Robert Eggers and star Anya Taylor-Joy.

James Ivory became the oldest competitive Oscar winner ever for adapting which 2017 film?

Call Me by Your Name made James Ivory, at 89, the oldest winner of a competitive Oscar; he had originally been set to co-direct the film but stepped down in 2016.

Paranormal Activity (2007) was originally shot for roughly how much?

Oren Peli shot Paranormal Activity in a San Diego house for about $15,000; the new ending added after a studio bought it cost a further $200,000, over thirteen times the original budget.

Which actress first appeared on the big screen as Laura, the young clone X-23, in Logan (2017)?

Dafne Keen won the part after director James Mangold, sure of her from her audition tape, had Hugh Jackman read with her to persuade a hesitant studio; Millie Bobby Brown also auditioned.

In Cast Away, what name does Tom Hanks's stranded FedEx employee give the volleyball he talks to?

Wilson takes his name from the ball's real maker, Wilson Sporting Goods, and his face from Chuck's own bloody handprint.

Which rock guitarist plays Jack Sparrow's father in two Pirates of the Caribbean films?

Keith Richards cameos as Captain Teague, a fitting choice since Johnny Depp had based many of Sparrow's mannerisms on the Rolling Stones guitarist.

Which Dubai skyscraper did Tom Cruise climb the outside of for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol?

Burj Khalifa was climbed for real: Cruise was held by cables throughout, which Industrial Light & Magic erased in post-production.

In Superbad, what single name is on the fake Hawaii license Fogell uses to buy alcohol?

McLovin is the only name on the card, and a replica sold with the DVD looked so much like a real Hawaii license that it stirred controversy there.

Which actor performed Gollum through motion capture in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films?

Andy Serkis went on to play King Kong and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes films the same way.

Disney's Encanto follows the magical Madrigal family in which South American country?

Colombia was where the filmmakers went on a 2018 research trip, and Disney hired a group of Colombian cultural experts to advise on the story.

Which singer recorded the James Bond theme No Time to Die at 17 with her brother Finneas?

Billie Eilish was the youngest person to record a Bond theme, and the song made her the first person born in the 21st century to win an Academy Award.

Which director made the Will Ferrell comedy Elf before launching Marvel's films with Iron Man?

Jon Favreau also slips into Elf himself, as the family doctor who runs Buddy's DNA test and as the voice of Mr. Narwhal.

Which actor plays twins Smoke and Stack in Ryan Coogler's Mississippi vampire film Sinners?

Michael B. Jordan also starred in Coogler's debut feature, Fruitvale Station, playing Oscar Grant on the last day of his life.

Sacha Baron Cohen's reporter Borat Sagdiyev travels across America from which Central Asian country?

Kazakhstan is Borat's homeland, but the scenes in his village were actually filmed in Glod, Romania, whose residents later took legal action.

Which pop star plays Glinda opposite Cynthia Erivo's Elphaba in the 2024 film of the musical Wicked?

Ariana Grande first auditioned for Elphaba through a mix-up, then earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress as Glinda.

In the film Legally Blonde, which law school does Elle Woods attend to win back her ex-boyfriend?

Harvard is the film's choice, but author Amanda Brown based the story on her own time as a fashion-loving student at Stanford Law School.

Which Harry Potter star played Belle in Disney's 2017 live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast?

Emma Watson played opposite Dan Stevens's Beast, and Paige O'Hara, the voice of Belle in the 1991 animation, said she would have been her first choice.

Which Christopher Nolan war film unfolds over a week on land, a day at sea and an hour in the air?

Dunkirk recreates the 1940 rescue of Allied troops from a French beach, using historic boats that had taken part in the real evacuation.

In Pixar's Ratatouille, which feared food critic is carried back to childhood by Remy's cooking?

Anton Ego, voiced by Peter O'Toole, is undone by confit byaldi, a refined take on the peasant dish of the title.

Which rapper stars as aspiring battle MC Jimmy 'B-Rabbit' Smith in the Detroit-set drama 8 Mile?

Eminem drew on his own life for the role, and the film's Lose Yourself became the first rap song to win the Oscar for Best Original Song.

Who won her third Academy Award for playing Margaret Thatcher in the 2011 biopic The Iron Lady?

Meryl Streep played Thatcher in power and in old age, while Alexandra Roach took the role for her early political years.

Which actor won the Best Actor Oscar as a reclusive, obese English teacher in The Whale?

Brendan Fraser's transformation also earned the film the Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling at the same ceremony.

Which novelist wrote The Notebook, filmed as a romance with Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams?

Nicholas Sparks wrote it in six months, and it became his first published novel.

In Pixar's The Incredibles, which tiny fashion designer refuses to put capes on superhero suits?

Edna Mode is voiced by the film's director, Brad Bird, who took the part himself after no actress could reproduce the accent.

Which song from the animated film KPop Demon Hunters topped the Billboard Hot 100 for weeks?

Golden, sung by the fictional trio Huntrix, became the longest-running Hot 100 number one by an animated act, passing The Chipmunk Song and Sugar, Sugar.

Who won her second Best Actress Oscar as Bella Baxter, a reanimated Victorian woman, in Poor Things?

Emma Stone was also one of the film's producers, which brought her a Best Picture nomination at the same ceremony.

Which actress plays Elisabeth Sparkle, a star fired from her aerobics show at 50, in The Substance?

Demi Moore won a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Oscar nomination for the part; the aerobics show was inspired by Jane Fonda's exercise tapes.

Which former Twilight star plays Bruce Wayne in Matt Reeves's 2022 detective thriller The Batman?

Robert Pattinson had also been Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire before playing the vampire Edward Cullen.

Killers of the Flower Moon follows the 1920s murders of members of which Oklahoma nation?

Osage land had struck oil, which drew the killers; Lily Gladstone's role as Mollie Kyle made her the first Native American nominated for Best Actress.

Which New York teenager becomes a new Spider-Man in the animated film Into the Spider-Verse?

Miles Morales's debut blends computer animation with hand-drawn comic techniques, and it won Best Animated Feature at the Oscars.

Which actor voices Joe Gardner, the music teacher chasing a jazz break in Pixar's Soul?

Jamie Foxx's Joe Gardner was the first African-American lead character in a Pixar film.

Flow, the wordless animated film about a cat surviving a flood, comes from which European country?

Latvia had never won an Academy Award until Flow, which director Gints Zilbalodis animated in the free software Blender.

Who won a second Best Actor Oscar as Hungarian architect László Tóth in The Brutalist?

Adrien Brody won his first for The Pianist at 29, which made him the youngest Best Actor winner.

Which director made Wonder Woman, the 2017 hit starring Gal Gadot as the Amazon princess Diana?

Patty Jenkins set the story in the First World War, with Chris Pine as Steve Trevor, the American pilot whose plane goes down off Diana's island.

Which actor earned an Oscar nomination playing the title role in Baz Luhrmann's 2022 biopic Elvis?

Austin Butler beat Harry Styles and several other contenders to the part, then earned a Best Actor nomination for it.

Which filmmaker directed Thor: Ragnarok and won a screenplay Oscar for the satire Jojo Rabbit?

Taika Waititi also acted in both films, as the soft-spoken rock creature Korg in Thor: Ragnarok and as a boy's imaginary Adolf Hitler in Jojo Rabbit.

Which Oscar winner voices Roz, the shipwrecked robot who raises a gosling, in The Wild Robot?

Lupita Nyong'o's Roz names the gosling Brightbill and has to get him flying in time to join the geese's winter migration.

Colin Firth won an Oscar playing which stammering British king in The King's Speech?

George VI was coached through his stammer by Lionel Logue, an Australian speech therapist played by Geoffrey Rush.

Which director won Best Director Oscars for both Brokeback Mountain and Life of Pi?

Ang Lee was the first non-white director to win the award, years after making the Jane Austen adaptation Sense and Sensibility.

Which composer built the score of Christopher Nolan's Interstellar around a London church organ?

Hans Zimmer recorded on the 1926 Harrison & Harrison organ of Temple Church, having already scored Nolan's Inception.

Who won an Oscar as Dr. King Schultz, the German dentist turned bounty hunter, in Django Unchained?

Christoph Waltz won Best Supporting Actor for the part, his second Oscar and his second for a character written by Tarantino.

Which rock star plays inventor Nikola Tesla in Christopher Nolan's The Prestige?

David Bowie was the only person Nolan had in mind for Tesla, who builds a teleportation machine for one of the rival magicians.

In the comedy Sideways, which red wine does Paul Giamatti's Miles scorn while praising Pinot noir?

Merlot sales in the American West dropped after the film came out, while Pinot noir sales jumped 16%.

Which Spanish director made Volver and won a screenplay Oscar for Talk to Her?

Pedro Almodóvar made Talk to Her straight after All About My Mother, which had taken the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film; Volver starred Penélope Cruz.

Which director made Your Name, the 2016 anime about two teenagers who mysteriously swap bodies?

Makoto Shinkai followed it with Weathering with You and Suzume, and the three films are often grouped as his disaster trilogy.

The Brazilian crime drama City of God is set in the Cidade de Deus suburb of which city?

Rio de Janeiro's favelas supplied the cast too: most of the actors were residents of neighborhoods such as Vidigal and Cidade de Deus itself.

Which director co-created the Saw franchise and later launched The Conjuring horror universe?

James Wan also co-created Insidious, directing its first film in 2010 and the sequel in 2013.

Which director made the Simon Pegg comedies Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz before Baby Driver?

Edgar Wright's films with Pegg became known as the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, because a Cornetto ice cream appears in each one, first as a hangover cure in Shaun of the Dead.

Which actress plays the shy Montmartre waitress who quietly changes strangers' lives in Amélie?

Audrey Tautou's character works at the Café des 2 Moulins, which is a real café on Rue Lepic in Paris.

Which thriller novelist created Jason Bourne, the CIA assassin played on screen by Matt Damon?

Robert Ludlum's 1980 novel The Bourne Identity first reached the screen as a 1988 television film, long before the cinema version.

Which Swedish actor plays Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the 2017 film of Stephen King's It?

Bill Skarsgård later played another monster, Count Orlok in Nosferatu, and returned as Pennywise in the series It: Welcome to Derry.

Which director turned an unsold ABC television pilot into the mystery film Mulholland Drive?

David Lynch won the Best Director prize at Cannes for it, plus an Oscar nomination, after shooting the original pilot footage in 1999.

Which South Korean director made the revenge thriller Oldboy and the period drama The Handmaiden?

Park Chan-wook's Oldboy won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2004, where jury president Quentin Tarantino had pushed for it to take the Palme d'Or.

Timothée Chalamet plays which folk singer, controversial for going electric at Newport, in A Complete Unknown?

Bob Dylan is followed from 1961 to the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, and Chalamet learned guitar and harmonica to play him.