While Back to the Future, The Purge, and Star Trek movie franchises, which are coming to M-Net Movies Collection Pop-Up channel (DStv Channel 111), are all built around different concepts, they do however, share something: they are set in a near or distant future, and our protagonists are on the mission to escape danger on themselves, the world, or the universe. Another similarity is that, apart from the compelling sagas that play out on the screen, they have the most interesting facts that are never told on screen.
Here's five fun trivia on each film franchise.
Back to the Future
- The Back to the Future script was rejected 44 times before it was eventually approved.
- The film's inspiration derives from co-writer Bob Gale finding the yearbook of his father's high school and imagining what it would have been like to be friends with his father.
- Universal Pictures head Sid Sheinberg voted down the title Back to the Future, arguing that no one will see a movie with the title "future." However, he was convinced by Steven Spielberg.
- Johnny Depp auditioned for Marty McFly's role, and he did not get it, of course.
- The animated adult comedy Rick and Morty (2013) was influenced by the film.
Star Trek
- Simon Pegg did not audition to play the role of Scotty. He received an email from JJ Abrams asking if he would like to be the character.
- The sound of the automatic doors opening on the USS Enterprise is a Russian train's toilet flushing.
- Zoe Saldana never saw Star Trek: The Original Series (1966) but agreed to play the role of Uhura after JJ Abrams had praised her acting.
- The actors playing the Romulans spent two to four hours applying make-up.
- Director JJ Abrams was born a few months before Star Trek: The Original Series (1966) first aired.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture airs Monday, November 2, at 10:59. The rest of the saga will play out daily over the next few days.
The Purge
- James DeMonaco, director and writer of the film, got the idea for the story after his wife made a remark about how great it would be to have one free murder a year after he was involved in a road-rage incident.
- Edwin Hodge, portraying Dante Bishop, is the only person to appear in the first three Purge films.
- Ethan Hawke agreed, as an old friend of producer Jason Blum and director James DeMonaco, to appear in The Purge (2013) to give some star-power to their low-budget movie.
- The Purge: Election Year is the only film to feature scenes that don't take place on either 21 or 22 March.
- Each film looks at the Purge from a different viewpoint. The first film is from the rich, the second is from the poor, while the third is from the political side.
The Purge airs Monday, 2 November, at 22:13. The Purge: Anarchy airs Tuesday, 3 November, at 22:30. The Purge: Election Year airs Wednesday, 4 November, at 22:20.
If you miss any of these movie franchises on the M-Net Movies Collection Pop-Up Channel, you can always catch up on DStv on any connected device.
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