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Context Trivia / TrueGrit

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1!!Book and both films
2* CompletelyDifferentTitle: Almost no translations keep the original title. Justified, because it's hard to translate.
3** In Russian it's Железная хватка/''Zheleznaya Khvatka'', meaning "Iron Grasp".
4** In Swedish it's ''Mod i barm'', meaning literally "Courage in Bosom".
5** In Hungarian it's ''A félszemű'', meaning "The One-Eyed".
6** In Georgian it's ხასიათის სიმტკიცე/''Khasiatis Simt'k'itse'', meaning "Strength of Character".
7** In Bulgarian it's Непреклонните/''Nepreklonnite'', meaning "Unyielding".
8** In Macedonian it's Човекот наречен храброст/''Čovekot Narečen Hrabrost'', meaning "The Man Called Courage". The Serbian translation follows suit with Човек звани храброст/''Čovek Zvani Hrabrost'', meaning the same.
9** In Ukrainian it's Справжня мужність/''Spravzhnya Muzhnistʹ'', meaning "Real Courage". The Polish (''Prawdziwe męstwo'', meaning "True Bravery"), Latvian (''Īstenā drošsirdība'', meaning "True Courage"), Slovak (''Skutočná guráž'', meaning "Real Guts"), Czech (''Opravdová kuráž'', also meaning "Real Guts"), Persian (شهامت واقعی/''Shhamet Waq'ea'', meaning "True Courage"), Hebrew (אומץ אמיתי/''Avemtes Ameytey'', meaning "Real Courage"), and Mandarin (真實的勇氣/''Zhēn Shí De Yǒng Qì'', meaning "Real Courage") translations follow suit.
10** In Estonian it's ''Tõeline visadus'', meaning "True Persistence". The Arabic translation (عزم حقيقي/'''Ezem Heqyeqy'', meaning "Real Determination") follows suit.
11** In Italian it's ''Il Grinta'', meaning "The Grit".
12** In Lithuanian it's ''Tikras išbandymas'', meaning "A Real Test".
13** In Finnish it's ''Kova kuin kivi'', meaning "Hard as a Rock".
14** In Turkish it's ''İz Peşinde'', meaning "Pursuing the Trail".
15** In Norwegian it's ''True Grit – et ekte mannfolk'', meaning "True Grit - A Real Man".
16** In Korean it's 더 브레이브/''Deo Beureibeu'', which is a transliteration of the English words "The Brave".
17** In Vietnamese it's ''Báo thù'', meaning "Vengeance".
18
19!!1969 version
20* CaliforniaDoubling: The story takes place in the [[DeepSouth Ozarks]], but the landscape in the movie doesn't look like the Ozarks. In fact, it was shot in Colorado and California. The contrast between the tall granite snow covered peaks of the Rockies and High Sierras, and the actual weathered hills of the Ouachita, Boston, and Arbuckle mountains of Oklahoma and Arkansas is so extreme, this veers into TheMountainsOfIllinois territory. No, you can't actually go skiing in Oklahoma.
21* CreatorBacklash:
22** Henry Hathaway later said he hated Glen Campbell's performance, which he described as wooden, and claimed the singer was only cast so he could have a hit with the theme song which would help promote the film. Hathaway also felt that Kim Darby was wrong for her part.
23** Creator/JohnWayne was not pleased with the finished film. He greatly disliked Kim Darby's performance, and while promoting the film for its U.S. release in June 1969, he told interviewers that he had starred in much better films, citing ''Film/{{Stagecoach}}'' as an example. He was as surprised as anyone that it was his performance in this movie that won him an Oscar.
24--> - ''"If I'd've known this would happen, I woulda put on that eye patch a long time ago."'' - '''Wayne''', in his acceptance speech.
25* DawsonCasting:
26** Mattie was about fourteen in the book and prepubescent. Kim Darby was well into her twenties.
27** Rooster Cogburn is forty in the book. Creator/JohnWayne was 61 at the time.
28* HostilityOnTheSet: Creator/JohnWayne didn't have a pleasant time on the film.
29** He disliked Kim Darby's performance and the two hardly spoke off-camera.
30** He was so annoyed by Creator/RobertDuvall's MethodActing approach that he threatened to punch him if he questioned the director one more time.
31** Creator/DennisHopper claimed that Wayne chased him round the studio with a loaded gun.
32--> I was like his in-house commie. If anything went wrong on set, he'd yell, "Where's that pinko Hopper?" On ''True Grit'', he arrived one day in his helicopter, and started shouting: "My daughter went up to UCLA yesterday and that communist Stokely Carmichael made a speech using all this four-letter language, and I want that fucking pinko Hopper, I want his fucking head!" But he was always funny to me, I think he liked me. And his sons were good friends of mine. He just believed I was a communist.
33** Reportedly, Wayne refused to leave his trailer unless the studio fired Hopper for drug use. Wayne came to this conclusion because he saw white powder on Hopper's shirt, and presumed because of his hippie lifestyle, that he was snorting cocaine. Director Henry Hathaway managed to get Wayne out of his trailer when it was discovered that the "cocaine" was actually powdered sugar from a donut Hopper was eating.
34* PlayingAgainstType: Creator/JohnWayne usually played straight heroes, not middle-aged drunken {{Anti Hero}}es.
35* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
36** Creator/MiaFarrow turned down the role of Mattie Ross. Creator/RobertMitchum, with whom she had just done a film, had told her that Henry Hathaway was cantankerous and impossible to work with. She lobbied to get Hathaway replaced by Creator/RomanPolanski, who had recently worked with her successfully in ''Film/RosemarysBaby'', but to no avail. She later said it was one of the biggest professional mistakes of her career. Creator/GenevieveBujold, [[Music/{{Carpenters}} Karen Carpenter]], Creator/SallyField and Creator/JaclynSmith were also considered.
37** Music/ElvisPresley was considered for La Boeuf, but "Colonel" Tom Parker, his manager, insisted that Presley should receive top billing.
38
39!!2010 version
40* AwardCategoryFraud: Despite Mattie being the protagonist, Creator/HaileeSteinfeld was demoted by almost every single film awards association to "Best Supporting Actress" while her co-star Creator/JeffBridges was nominated for Best Actor. [[note]]Though for the Oscars at least, there is a theory it was to give her a better chance of actually ''winning'', since Best Actress was considered a lock for Creator/NataliePortman at the time. [[/note]]
41* BillingDisplacement: Creator/JoshBrolin is billed third and above the title, but doesn't appear until an hour in and has somewhat less presence.
42** AndStarring: Creator/HaileeSteinfeld, despite being the protagonist, is the last name to appear in the credits. This may be partially due to it being her first film.
43* CaliforniaDoubling: Set in Eastern Oklahoma (with the exception of the first act, which is set in Western Arkansas), shot in New Mexico and Texas. As anyone familiar with Oklahoma (or Arkansas, or New Mexico and Texas for that matter!) can tell you, they don't really look alike.
44* TheDanza: Creator/BarryPepper plays Lucky Ned Pepper.
45* DawsonCasting: Creator/HaileeSteinfeld was 13 at the time, while Creator/JeffBridges was 61. It's a minor case for Steinfeld, who is only off by one year, but a more major one for Bridges, who like John Wayne before him is two decades olden the literary Rooster Cogburn.
46* DisabledCharacterDisabledActor: A woman missing her left forearm (due to a birth defect) was hired to play older Mattie in shots that don't show her face. She winds up having more screen time than the actress that plays older Mattie, mostly due to the long shot at the end of Mattie [[spoiler:walking away from Rooster's grave]] that lasts into the credits.
47* SleeperHit: The Western had long struggled at the box office for decades, the Coens never had a breakout box office smash (their highest-grossing hit was ''Literature/NoCountryForOldMen'', which was a modest $70 million hit), and it was opening in a crowded Christmas window. But thanks to a well-executed ad campaign[[note]]making the movie seem very revenge action-oriented, set to Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down"[[/note]], weak holiday competition[[note]]''[[Film/MeetTheParents Little Fockers]]'', ''Film/YogiBear'', and ''Film/GulliversTravels2010'', all of which virtually vanished after their opening weekends amidst critical and audience disapproval[[/note]], awards buzz, and Jeff Bridges in the midst of a career renaissance[[note]]He took home Best Actor for ''Literature/CrazyHeart'' earlier in the year and ''Film/TronLegacy'' opened the week before ''True Grit''[[/note]], the film had a long, very successful run to the tune of $171 million domestic (about 8x its opening weekend, a phenomenal multiplier) and $254 million worldwide off a modest $38 million budget. On top of its 10 Oscar nominations, it was also the most-attended Western since ''Film/{{Unforgiven}}'' 18 years prior, and easily the highest-attended Coens film, with over double the take of ''No Country''.
48* StarMakingRole: For Creator/HaileeSteinfeld.
49* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/MichaelBiehn auditioned for Ned Pepper.

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