23 Super-Interesting Authentic Movie Details That Prove It's Not All Movie Magic

I still can't believe that was actually Jamie Lee Curtis rocking the electric guitar.

Obviously, most of the time, people are happy to suspend a certain amount of disbelief when we go see a movie.

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But sometimes, films take care to look super authentic. Sometimes, they even go the extra mile to be authentic.

1. Like in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, when they used real Nazi uniforms.

In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), the Nazi outfits are genuine World War 2 uniforms, not costumes. They were found in Eastern Europe by Co-Costume Designer Joanna Johnston. from MovieDetails

2. This _Titanic _scene actually mimicked a real photograph from the Titanic.

In Titanic (1997) there is a scene showing a boy playing with a spinning top on deck. This is actually a recreation of a real photo taken onboard the ship on April 11th, 1912 by Francis Browne. It shows 1st Class passenger Frederic Spedden and his 6 year old son Douglas. Both survived the sinking. from MovieDetails

3. Jon Heder, who played Napoleon, actually drew Napoleon's drawings in Napoleon Dynamite.

Jon Heder drew all of the drawings in Napoleon Dynamite (2004). from MovieDetails

4. Jamie Lee Curtis was really playing the guitar in the Freaky Friday "Take Me Away" scene.

In one of the final scenes of the movie Freaky Friday (2003), Lindsay Lohan's character plays a guitar solo inside of Jamie Lee Curtis, playing her mother. In real life, Curtis actually learned and played the solo as showed in the film. from MovieDetails

5. And Russell Crowe really learned to play the violin for_ Master and Commander._

In order to prepare for his role in “Master and Commander” (2003), Russell Crowe spent 3 months learning violin, calling it the hardest thing he’d ever done for a film. He later sold the 130 year old violin used in the movie for £73,528. from MovieDetails

6. In Forrest Gump, Tom Hanks based his southern drawl on the real southern actor who played the younger version of him.

In Forest Gump (1994), Tom Hanks had trouble with simulating Gump's Southern drawl accent. Michael Humphrey's, the child actor for Gump, real voice was the Southern drawl; after meeting him on set, Hanks watched him preform and simulated his voice to be more like his. from MovieDetails

7. The people talking about dust storms at the start of Interstellar were actual witnesses of the 1930s Dust Bowl.

In the opening scene of Interstellar (2014), with the exception of Ellen Burstyn, the people shown reminiscing about dust storms were not actors, but real-life witnesses to the actual Dust Bowl event that occurred in the 1930’s. The footage was excerpted from Ken Burns’ documentary The Dust Bowl. from MovieDetails

8. Rizzo's hickeys in _Grease _were real.

In Grease (1978), the hickeys on Rizzo's neck were real. They were actually created by Jeff Conaway, who insisted that the ”hickey from Kenickie” had to come from him. from MovieDetails

9. In Cars, "The King" was played by the real-life racing "King" Richard Petty —  and they even paid tribute to his last race.

In Cars (2006), “The King” Strip Weathers crashes in his final race, but makes it to the finish line. In 1992, NASCAR’s “King,” Richard Petty (the voice of Strip Weathers in the Cars movies), crashed in his final race but was able to finish the race thanks to repairs by his race team. from MovieDetails

10. The woman who had her head shaved in _The Wolf of Wall Street _really had it shaved.

In Wolf of Wall Street (2013) the lady who got her head shaved actually used her real hair. The producers were even surprised of her willingness to do the scene. https://www.cinemablend.com/new/Secrets-Behind-Wolf-Wall-Street-Head-Shaving-Scene-Revealed-41392.html from MovieDetails

11. Russell Crowe was actually talking about his own home when his character talked about home in Gladiator.

Gladiator (2000) Russell Crowe Described His Real Home In The Scene With Marcus Aurelius. from MovieDetails

12. The doctors in RoboCop were actual ER doctors, according to the film's commentary.

In RoboCop (1987), the group of doctors that work to save Murphy when he is brought to the hospital were an actual ER trauma team from a Dallas hospital. Although they had scripted dialogue, they were allowed to ad-lib because director Paul Verhoeven thought they sounded more authentic. from MovieDetails

13. And_ E.T. _also used real-life doctors in the scene where doctors treated E.T.

In E.T. (1982) the doctors trying to save E.T. were played by real life doctors from the USC medical center in Los Angeles. Stephen Spielberg felt that actors wouldn’t be able to make the medical dialogue sound natural, so recruited real doctors to deliver the dialogue. from MovieDetails

14. And in Captain Philips, a real navy medic treated Tom Hanks's character.

In Captain Phillips (2013), the medic in the infirmary scene was a real navy medic (Danielle Albert). The director told her to treat Tom Hanks like it was a "regular military exercise". The sequence was unscripted and improvised. from MovieDetails

15. Al Martino had real-life mob connections that helped him get a role as a mobster in The Godfather.

In The Godfather (1972), Actor Al Martino has used connections from real life organized crime boss Russell Bufalino in order to secure the part of Johnny Fontane. The same thing is shown in the film when Johnny Fontane asks Don Corleone to help him get a movie role. from MovieDetails

16. Robert De Niro used real money in Goodfellas.

In Goodfellas (1990), Robert De Niro didn’t like how fake money felt in his hand and insisted using real money. So the prop master withdrew several thousand dollars of his own money to use. At the end of each take, no one was allowed to leave the set until all the money was returned & counted. from MovieDetails

17. Bill Murray actually did bowl three strikes in a row in Kingpin, and the applause was real.

In Kingpin (1996) Bill Murray plays the infamous pro-bowler Ernie McCracken. In addition to improvising nearly all of his lines, Murray actually bowled three strikes in a row on camera to a live audience in one take. Their thunderous applause was real. from MovieDetails

18. Director Edgar Wright cast CJ Jones, who is actually deaf, as Joseph in Baby Driver after feeling uncomfortable auditioning actors faking being deaf.

Baby Driver (2017), Joesph, was written as a deaf African American man in his 80s. CJ Jones was the only performer to audition who is actually deaf. Edgar Wright said "I started auditioning other very good actors who were pretending to be deaf, it made me feel immediately uncomfortable.” from MovieDetails

19. The soul numbers used in_ Soul_ seem to reflect actual estimates of how many people have existed on Earth.

In Soul (2020), the first soul assigned is number 108,210,121,415. This lines up with the current estimate from the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), which estimates that more than 108 billion humans have existed on earth. from MovieDetails

20. The car in Spirited Away was based on an actual 1990s car, and the crew apparently recorded sounds of it driving on different roads to use in the film, according to the behind-the-scenes features on the home release.

In Spirited Away (2001), the family car is based on the first-generation Audi A4 1.8T, from the mid-1990s. The production team even drove around an Audi A4 1.8T on some jagged roads and recorded the sounds to make the film as accurate as possible. from MovieDetails

21. The deli scene in _The Wrestler _featured real customers and orders.

In 'The Wrestler' (2008), they didn't shut down the deli counter while they filmed Randy working there. Those are real customers, and everything Mickey Rourke does is improvised. from MovieDetails