18 Film Facts That Seem Made Up But Are Totally Legit

It's true! Watching horror movies can help you lose weight.

1. Time travel movies are banned in China.

Universal

The Chinese government considers the subject of time travel, in television as well as film, to be a dangerous element of fiction. It doesn't like anything that distorts the course of events, and the theme is often used to comment on current affairs.

2. The actor who played Samara in The Ring also did the voice of Lilo in Lilo & Stitch.

DreamWorks

Disney

Her name is Daveigh Chase, and she probably gave you nightmares for years after you saw The Ring...or maybe you remember her fondly as the voice of the adorable Lilo in Lilo & Stitch. Whatever you like.

3. Steven Spielberg has been thanked more often at the Oscars than God.

Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images

According to a study, Spielberg gets shouted out in acceptance speeches more often than the all-powerful creator of the universe.

4. Sylvester Stallone was once so poor that he had to sell his beloved dog Butkus for $40.

@officialslystallone / Via instagram.com

He didn't have any money for food (for either of them)...but don't worry, he eventually got his dog back. (Though, he did have to pay $15,000 for him.)

5. In 1896, Alice Guy-Blaché became the first woman to direct a movie. She went on to make over 1,000 movies in her lifetime.

Apeda Studio New York - Collection Solax

U.S. Amusement Corporation

She wasn't just the first female director, but she also had one of the most prolific film careers ever. She made more than 1,000 cinematic works, 350 of which have survived, and 22 of those being feature films.

6. Horror movies could help you burn calories.

Warner Bros.

According to a study from the University of Westminster, watching a horror classic such as The Shining could help you to burn around 184 calories, and seeing Linda Blair twisting her head around in The Exorcist may help burn off 158 calories. Onscreen scares accelerate your heart rate and cause a surge in adrenaline.

7. Kurt Cobain credited Quentin Tarantino on In Utero.

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There are rumors that the dedication was because of Kurt Cobain's love for the film Reservoir Dogs. Also, Courtney Love insists that Tarantino offered her and her late husband a role in Pulp Fiction. The director hasn't confirmed it, but there is an "RIP Kurt Cobain" credit from Quentin as a homage at the end of the film.

8. Daniel Radcliffe's stunt double in the Harry Potter films suffered an accident while filming a scene and was left paralyzed.

Universal

His name is David Holmes and he did all the incredible stunts for Daniel Radcliffe, starting with the first movie, up until he fractured his neck while filming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. He is now tetraplegic and uses a wheelchair. David is still close friends with Daniel, and he's a young philanthropist with an enormous heart.

9. Danny Trejo once shut down director Robert Rodríguez by telling him, "Machete don't text."

memecrunch.com / Via memecrunch.com

During the pre-production of Machete, Trejo would often call Rodríguez to suggest ideas. One day the director was in a meeting and told Trejo it would be better if he texted him. Trejo's response was simple: "Machete don't text", and from there the popular saying arose.

10. Nobody really knows how many toes Yoda has.

LucasFilm / Via giphy.com

Yoda has a different number of toes depending on which movie in the Star Wars saga you're watching. In Episode I, Yoda has three toes, while in episodes III andVI he has four toes. In Episode V, it's not clear if he has three or four toes. All the Yoda toys produced don't help either, because they've had three, four, and sometimes even five toes.

11. The man who inspired Tom Hanks's character in The Terminal lived in an airport for 18 years.

Saint Martin / Via es.wikipedia.org

His name is Mehran Karimi Nasseri, and he is an Iranian refugee who lived in Terminal 1 at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris from Aug. 8, 1988, until July 2006. After fleeing Iran, he sought refuge in a number of different countries and lost his passport en route in England, stranding him in the French airport.

12. Seats in movie theaters have only had cup holders since the '80s.

Arisara1978 / Getty Images

The theater chain AMC first added cup holders to their seats in 1981. CEO Stanley Durwood sought to supply AMC theaters with the most comfortable seats in order to encourage more visitors to his theaters.

13. James Cameron gave up on his job as a truck driver after seeing Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Hector Mata / AFP / Getty Images

Before driving a truck for a living, the award-winning director studied physics and literature but gave up on his education after becoming interested in film and special effects. Cameron followed his dream after seeing the first Star Wars movie and the rest is history.

14. There was a budget set aside for buying cocaine while filming night scenes in The Blues Brothers.

Universal Pictures / Via giphy.com

"Everyone did it, including me. Never to excess, and not ever to where I wanted to buy it or have it", said Dan Aykroyd in an interview.

15. Pulp Fiction, Jurassic Park, Forrest Gump, and The Shawshank Redemption all opened on the same weekend.

Miramax Films

Universal

Paramount Pictures

For one weekend in 1994, nobody left the movie theater.

16. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl has the most mistakes of any movie since 2000.

Disney / Via moviemistakes.com

Although the film with most errors in history is 1979's Apocalypse Now, the movie with the most errors from the current millennium is 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, with a whopping 390 mistakes. It beats out two different Harry Potter films for the honor.

17. Christian Bale's character in American Psycho was inspired by Tom Cruise.

Universal Studios

Maybe you always thought Patrick Bateman, with his '80s yuppie style and good looks, seemed familiar. Well, you were right, because the director of the movie, Mary Harron, confirmed that Bale was inspired by Tom Cruise.

18. The youngest person to win an academy award for directing is Damien Chazelle for La La Land.

Lucas Jackson / Reuters

The director was 32 years old when he won the award, taking the title from Norman Taurog, who was 221 days older than Chazelle was when he won an Oscar in 1931 for his film Skippy.

This post was translated from Spanish.