40 Fun Facts About Requiem for a Dream

In Requiem for a Dream, which household appliance does Sara Goldfarb hallucinate attacking her?

Her refrigerator turns on her as the diet-pill doses climb, and a jeering game show host and studio crowd join in.

Requiem for a Dream's director asked the actors playing Harry and Tyrone to give up sex and what else?

Sugar and sex were both off limits so that the pair's cravings would look genuine on screen.

Which actor starved himself for months to play Harry Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream?

Jared Leto shed more than 20 pounds to look the part; Giovanni Ribisi had been considered for the role and declined.

The actress who played Sara Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream called the role harder than which horror classic?

The Exorcist (1973) brought her an Oscar nomination; she said she had never been so challenged by a role as by Sara.

In Requiem for a Dream, what is Sara Goldfarb dieting to fit into for her hoped-for TV appearance?

A red dress she wore to her son Harry's graduation becomes her goal once she is invited onto her favourite game show.

The Requiem for a Dream star nominated for Best Actress at the 2001 Oscars lost to which actress?

Julia Roberts won for Erin Brockovich, in a field that also included Joan Allen, Juliette Binoche and Laura Linney.

Which drug do friends Harry and Tyrone both use and sell in Requiem for a Dream, hoping to get rich?

Heroin is both their habit and their business plan, until a gang war dries up the local supply and doubles the price.

Which comedian, a writer and star of Scary Movie the same year, played Tyrone in Requiem for a Dream?

Marlon Wayans auditioned five times for the dramatic role, after reading the novel three times; Dave Chappelle had turned it down.

For a grocery store scene in Requiem for a Dream, who did the filmmakers bring in as extras?

Real drug addicts filled the scene, and the director has recalled that some were injecting themselves during filming.

The rapid-fire montages of drug use in Requiem for a Dream take their name from which music genre?

Hip hop montage is the term: a few moments of film are repeated through the work the way a sample recurs in a track.

In Requiem for a Dream, what class of drug is in the diet pills a doctor prescribes Sara Goldfarb?

Amphetamines curb her appetite and flood her with energy, then tip her into psychosis as she keeps raising the dose.

What happens to Harry Goldfarb in a hospital at the end of Requiem for a Dream?

His arm is amputated above the elbow after turning gangrenous from injections; he weeps, knowing Marion will not visit.

Which director, who later made The Wrestler and The Whale, was behind Requiem for a Dream?

Darren Aronofsky and his producer optioned the novel's film rights for just $1,000, a large sum for them at the time.

Which actress played Marion in Requiem for a Dream before winning an Oscar for A Beautiful Mind?

Jennifer Connelly called the script brilliant and brave, and took the part after Neve Campbell had turned it down.

Which Oscar winner for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore played widow Sara Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream?

Ellen Burstyn first turned the part down as too depressing, until her manager persuaded her to watch the director's earlier work.

What kind of business do Harry and Marion dream of opening with their drug money in Requiem for a Dream?

A clothing store would have sold Marion's own designs; by the end her sketches lie crumpled and discarded around her.

Requiem for a Dream was filmed around which New York seaside district, known for its boardwalk?

Coney Island and neighbouring Brighton Beach, where Sara lives, hosted the 40-day shoot in spring 1999.

What is the Latin title of the Requiem for a Dream theme that became a staple of film trailers?

Lux Aeterna recurs through the film as its leitmotif, and was later heard in trailers for The Da Vinci Code and I Am Legend.

The director of Requiem for a Dream later guided Natalie Portman to a Best Actress Oscar in which film?

Black Swan (2010) won Portman the Oscar and brought its director his own Academy Award nomination.

After the MPAA upheld an NC-17, how was Requiem for a Dream released in US cinemas?

Unrated was the distributor's answer after the director argued that any cut would dilute the message; an R-rated edit later went to video.

Which hospital treatment is Sara Goldfarb given late in Requiem for a Dream, after medication fails?

Electroshock therapy, formally electroconvulsive therapy, leaves her catatonic, to the horror of her friends Ada and Rae.

To which city do Harry and Tyrone head to buy drugs straight from the wholesaler in Requiem for a Dream?

Miami is their last gamble, made after a gang war chokes off the New York supply and a rumoured big shipment ends in a melee.

How do all four main characters end Requiem for a Dream in its final moments?

Curled in a fetal position, each lies alone; the last is Sara, who imagines winning the game show with Harry beside her.

Which Happy Gilmore villain actor plays TV host Tappy Tibbons in Requiem for a Dream?

Christopher McDonald played golfer Shooter McGavin in 1996 and reprised the role in Happy Gilmore 2 nearly three decades later.

Which American novelist wrote the 1978 book Requiem for a Dream and co-wrote the film's screenplay?

Hubert Selby Jr. had drafted his own script years earlier, and it proved about 80% similar to the director's version.

The actress playing Marion in Requiem for a Dream attended meetings of which group with a recovering friend?

Narcotics Anonymous meetings were part of her research; she also rented a flat in Marion's building and lived there alone.

How did the actor playing Harry Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream research the role before filming began?

He lived on the streets of New York, among people in the same situation as his character.

A choral reworking of the Requiem for a Dream theme was made for the trailer of which 2002 sequel?

The Two Towers trailer used the piece re-orchestrated for choir and full orchestra, a version known as Requiem for a Tower.

At which film festival did Requiem for a Dream have its world premiere, screening out of competition?

Cannes screened it on May 14, 2000; a Toronto festival showing followed in September, a month before the US release.

Roughly how many cuts does Requiem for a Dream contain, about three times the count of a typical film?

2,000 is the usual figure, against 600 to 700 for an average film of that length; scenes also shorten as the story darkens.

Which black-and-white Sundance prize winner was the Requiem for a Dream director's first feature?

Pi won its maker the directing award at Sundance, and its montages of extremely short shots returned in his follow-up.

Which former Pop Will Eat Itself frontman composed the score for Requiem for a Dream?

Clint Mansell fronted the English alt-rock band until 1996, then scored this director's first six features.

Which San Francisco-based string ensemble performed the score of Requiem for a Dream?

Kronos Quartet can be heard tuning up over the opening credits; the group also played on the soundtrack of Heat.

Requiem for a Dream popularised which rig that straps a camera to an actor, pointing back at them?

Snorricam shots hold the actor fixed in frame while the world lurches behind; the rig is named after two Icelandic photographers.

A bathtub scene in Requiem for a Dream recreates a moment from which 1997 Satoshi Kon anime?

Perfect Blue was Satoshi Kon's first film as director, and the homage extends to some of its camera angles and shots.

Which actor, later Hector Salamanca in Breaking Bad, plays Mr. Rabinowitz in Requiem for a Dream?

Mark Margolis appeared in the director's first six films, and earned an Emmy nomination for the Breaking Bad role.

Which actor from The Thing and Platoon plays the predatory Big Tim in Requiem for a Dream?

Keith David is also an Emmy-winning voice actor, heard as Goliath in Gargoyles and as narrator of Ken Burns documentaries.

Makeup artists on Requiem for a Dream built four prosthetic necks and nine of what for Sara Goldfarb?

Wigs, necks and two fat suits charted her decline, and some prosthetic pieces took up to four hours to apply.

Which studio, also behind The Blair Witch Project, released Requiem for a Dream in US cinemas?

Artisan Entertainment was a mini-major that merged into Lions Gate in 2003, three years after backing this bleak adaptation.

Requiem for a Dream's novelist made his name with which 1964 book, prosecuted for obscenity in Britain?

Last Exit to Brooklyn was his first novel; it was also banned in Italy, and Anthony Burgess was among the authors who defended it.