Christmas movies trivia: 50 fun facts you didn’t know about them!

Do you like Christmas movies? We too! Do you think you know everything about them? Probably no. We didn’t, so we found all these fun facts about our favourite christmas movies. Let’s see them!

1.In Home Alone Joe Pesci deliberately avoided Macaulay Culkin on set because he wanted Culkin to think he was mean.

2. In the original script, Uncle Frank was the real mastermind behind Harry and Marv robbing the McAllister house.

3. Catherine O’Hara revealed in 2014 that Macaulay Culkin still calls her “Mom”.

4. The picture Kevin finds of Buzz’s girlfriend was a picture of a boy made up to look like a girl because Chris Columbus thought it would be too cruel to make fun of a girl like that. The boy that was used in the photo was the art director’s son.

5. Kevin’s bed-wetting cousin, Fuller, is played by Macaulay Culkin’s younger brother, Kieran Culkin.

5. During rehearsal for the scene where Harry attempts to bite off Kevin’s finger, Joe Pesci actually bit Macaulay Culkin, leaving a small scar.

7. John Candy improvised all of his lines.

8. The highest-grossing movie of 1990 domestically. Invisible Lover (1990) was the year’s highest-grossing movie worldwide.

9. The movie is considered a traditional Christmas movie in Poland. It has aired on national TV during prime-time Christmas season every year since 1990. In 2011 the movie aired on December 23 with an audience of over five million, making it the most popular show aired during the Christmas season in Poland.

10. Despite the rumours, the famous scream that Daniel Stern belts out during the tarantula scene was not mimed on set and dubbed in later. In fact, the scream came from Daniel while live on set, mostly because he was assured by the animal handlers that tarantulas don’t have ears. Also, the spider’s poison was not extracted, as some have thought. This was all confirmed by Stern himself in a December 24, 2015 post on his Facebook page.

11. In Nightmare before Christmas Chris Sarandon was cast as Jack Skellington because his speaking voice matched the singing voice of Danny Elfman.

12. Tim Burton has said the original poem was inspired after seeing Halloween merchandise display in a store being taken down and replaced by a Christmas display. The juxtaposition of ghouls and goblins with Santa and his reindeer sparked his imagination.

13. Danny Elfman found writing Nightmare’s 10 songs as “one of the easiest jobs I’ve ever had. I had a lot in common with Jack Skellington.”

14. It took a group of around 100 people three years to complete this movie. For one second of film, up to 12 stop-motion moves had to be made.

15. In 2001, Walt Disney Pictures began to consider producing a sequel, but rather than using stop motion, Disney wanted to use computer animation. Tim Burton convinced Disney to drop the idea. “I was always very protective of [Nightmare] not to do sequels or things of that kind,” Burton explained. “You know, ‘Jack visits Thanksgiving world’ or other kinds of things just because I felt the movie had a purity to it and the people that like it,” Burton said.

16. The teaser trailer tells us that the film was originally intended to be released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner, playing the movie heavily as the next generation of filmmaking following in the proud tradition of Walt Disney. By the time the theatrical trailer was released, the releasehad changed to Touchstone Pictures, an alternate designation of the Walt Disney Studios. Michael Eisner, the then CEO and Chairman of The Walt Disney Company, found the film to be ‘too dark for kids’ and had it moved to their Touchstone Picture banner. In October 2006, the film was re-released in 3-D under the Walt Disney Pictures banner.

17. The character of Dr. Finklestein is listed only as “Evil Scientist” in the cast credits.

18. the extended ending to the film, many years later, Santa Clause returns to Halloween Town to visit Jack, and finds that he has about four or five skeleton children.

19. In Love Actually Kris Marshall returned his pay cheque for the scene where the three American girls undress him. He said he had such a great time having three girls undress him for twenty-one takes, that he was willing to do it for free, and thus returned his check for that day.

20. The lake that Lúcia Moniz and Colin Firth are “swimming” in was actually only eighteen inches deep and they had to kneel down and pretend to be in deeper water. It was also over-run by mosquitoes and Colin Firth was badly bitten and his elbow swelled up to the size of an avocado, requiring medical attention.

21. A speech given by Hugh Grant in ‘Love Actually’ – where he extols the virtues of Great Britain and refuses to cave to the pressure of its longstanding ally, the United States – was etched in the transatlantic memory as a satirical, wishful statement on the concurrent relationship with George W. Bush. Tony Blair responded by saying in 2005, “I know there’s a bit of us that would like me to do a Hugh Grant in Love Actually… (2003) and tell America where to get off. But the difference between a good film and real life is that in real life there’s the next day, the next year, the next lifetime to contemplate the ruinous consequences of easy applause.”

22. The idea for Mark’s surprise of the band singing “All You Need Is Love” at Peter and Juliet’s wedding came from Jim Henson’s funeral (which Richard Curtis attended) where all the puppeteers brought their Muppets and sang a song.

23. Olivia Olson (Joanna – Sam’s crush), does all her own singing in “All I Want for Christmas is You” at the Christmas concert. She had such an amazing voice that the director had it edited so it sounded more like a child singing.

24. Thomas Brodie-Sangster didn’t know how to play the drums when he was cast. Fortunately for him, his father, Mark Sangster, plays the drum and taught Thomas how to play them.

25. The airport greeting footage at the beginning and end of the film is real. Richard Curtis had a team of cameramen film at Heathrow airport for a week, and whenever they saw something that would fit in they asked the people involved for permission to use the footage.

26. According to Richard Curtis they had to put Emma Thompson in a “fat suit” to make her appear heavier because she is actually a very thin woman.

27. The Holiday was written specifically with actors Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Jack Black in mind.

28. On an episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992), Dustin Hoffman said that his cameo in the film was unplanned and not scripted. He was driving by the Blockbuster shown in the film and saw all of the cameras and equipment so he decided to stop in and see what was happening. Because he knew director Nancy Meyers, they worked up a scene which ultimately made the final cut.

29. Kate Winslet and Rufus Sewell had in real life previously been in a romantic relationship.

30. Iris’s tiny cottage is contrasted to Amanda’s stunning house but in reality thanks to UK property prices an unspoiled cottage like that in a good location could easily be worth a million pounds, not far off two million dollars. She’s far from slumming it, no matter how basic the kitchen.

31. The interior sets for Amanda’s house were built on a sound stage and cost approximately $1 million, without exterior walls, a roof, plumbing, heating and electricity.

32. In the Special Features, Cameron Diaz claims this movie is her most physical due to all the running she had to do.

33. At one point, Arthur claims that Cary Grant is from Surrey, and Iris agrees. This is in fact a mistake, as Grant is from Bristol.

34. Polar Express is listed in the Guiness Book of World Records 2006 as the “first all-digital capture” film, where all acted parts were done in digital capture.

35. When the Hero Boy first meets the Hobo on the roof of the train, he is playing the carol “Good King Wenceslas.” The story of Saint Wenceslas I, Duke of Bohemia is that of a king braving the harsh winter to bring alms to the poor on the Feast of Stephan, December 26th. His page finds he can’t go on through the harsh conditions and is directed to walk in the footprints that the king has made in the snow. The Hobo directs Hero Boy to follow behind him and ultimately helps him reach the engine before they make it to the tunnel, thus allowing him to find and help his friend. This is also a representation of the Holy Spirit idea of the Hobo, that he guides those who believe in Him to safety, even in perilous times

36. The film used 3D motion capture techniques to digitally record the physical performances of the actors before “skinning” them with their animated forms. All the children’s roles were acted by adults using oversized props to get the movement right

37. Three different actors play the role of Hero Boy. Daryl Sabara does the voice acting, Josh Hutcherson does the motion capturing, and Tom Hanks voices him as an adult.

38. Before the hero boy boards the Polar Express, the clock shows that it is 11:55. The time does not change until the first gift of Christmas is given near the end of the film

39. The real name of the Hero Boy is never mentioned in the film. However, according to books containing information about The Polar Express, including art books and fact books, the Hero Boy’s name is Chris, named after the novel’s author, Chris Van Allsburg.

40. It is sometimes speculated that the conductor time-traveled, due to the fact that his voice is heard as an older version of the main protagonist, and he went back in time to help his past self.

41. it was Michael Jeter’s last movie.

42. In Gremlins each animatronic gremlin in the movie cost around $40,000 to make.

43. The creepy angel in A Muppet Christmas Carol was made by submerging a puppet into a tank of water, and using green screen to insert her into the film.

44. Jack Nicholson really wanted to play Ralphie’s father in A Christmas Story but they couldn’t afford to pay him.

45. In Bad Santa, “fuck” is said 173 times, and in Bad Santa 2, it’s said 180 times.

46. It’s A Wonderful Life actually bombed at the box office, but after a couple of decades it got heavy rotation on television stations and became the Christmas classic it is today.

47. For the scene that required Donna Reed to throw a rock into the window of the Granville House, Frank Capra hired a marksman to shoot it out for her on cue. To everyone’s amazement, Donna Reed broke the window with true aim and heft without the assistance of the hired marksman. Reed had played baseball in high school and had a strong throwing arm.

48. As Uncle Billy drunkenly leaves the Bailey home, it sounds as if he stumbles into some trash cans on the sidewalk. In fact, a crew member dropped a large tray of props right after actor Thomas Mitchell went off-screen. In reaction, James Stewart began laughing and Mitchell quickly improvised “I’m alright, I’m okay!”. Director Frank Capra decided to use this take in the final cut, and gave the clumsy stagehand a $10 bonus for “improving the sound.”

49. While filming the scene where George prays in the bar, James Stewart has said that he was so overcome that he began to sob right then and there. Later, Frank Capra re-framed the shot so it looked like a much closer shot than was originally filmed because he wanted to catch that expression on Stewart’s face. This is why this shot appears rather grainy compared with the rest of the film.

50. James Stewart was nervous about the phone scene kiss because it was his first screen kiss since his return to Hollywood after the war. Under Frank Capra’s watchful eye, Stewart filmed the scene in only one unrehearsed take, and it worked so well that part of the embrace was cut because it was too passionate to pass the censors.