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Significant Anagram / Film

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  • In The Matrix:
    • Neo is the One.
    • Additionally there are several anagrams in the score:
      • "Bow Whisk Orchestra", "Saw Bitch Workhorse", and "Switch or Break Show" - "Wachowski Brothers"
      • "Threat Mix" and "Exit Mr. Hat" - "The Matrix"
  • Sneakers:
    • The main plot involves a company called Setec Astronomy, which makes a box capable of decrypting all the encryption codes used in the United States. As the main characters discover (by playing Scrabble) that Setec Astronomy is an anagram of "too many secrets."
    • In the opening credits, the names of the production companies and principal cast and crew first appear as anagrams before rearranging themselves into the correct spellings.
    • Bruce Sterling has pointed out that the title itself is an anagram for NSA REEKS.
  • In The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal gives two false clues by using significant anagrams.
    • He tells Clarice that Buffalo Bill's real name is Louis Friend. Louis Friend -> Iron Sulfide, AKA "Fool's gold" (i.e. the name is fake).
    • Lecter rented a storage facility under the name Miss "Hester Mofet". Hester Mofet -> Miss "The rest of me" (i.e. Lecter himself — alternatively, the rest of the head's body).
  • American Beauty's main character is Lester Burnham-"Humbert learns."
  • Irma Vep is an anagram of Vampire.
  • Ray Walston's character in the 1999 My Favorite Martian film is called Armitan, and he later reveals that he, too, is a Martian.
  • One of the initial plans for The Long Kiss Goodnight. Samantha Caine wasn't originally Charly Baltimore's alias. It was originally going to be because "Sam Caine" is an anagram for "amnesiac".
  • Meta example: October Sky got its title because it's an anagram of Rocket Boys, which was the title of the book on which it was based.
  • Anamorph has Aubrey trying to find a Gerri Harding (Red Herring) and trying to decode a repeated phrase from the killer, "A poison harms" (Anamorphosis).
  • The Babadook is about a single mother and her son who are being tormented by a malevolent monster called Mr. Babadook. The monster was summoned when they read a creepy-as-hell children's pop-up book. The name is explained as the noise you hear when he enters your lives: a rumble followed by three sharp knocks. Ba...ba...DOOK! DOOK! DOOK! But it doubles as an anagram. Babadook: A Bad Book.
  • In Ratatouille, the celebrity chef is Auguste Gusteau; his two names are anagrams of each other.
  • A Meta example: the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi were originally planned to be Wookiees. Rearrange the word Ewok and you almost get what they were before Lucas decided to give us the teddy bears instead. However, Lucas would eventually use Wookiees in Revenge of the Sith.
  • The central conflict of Spy Kids: All the Time in the World revolves around a villain calling himself the Timekeeper accelerating the flow of time using a device called Project: Armageddon. Later on, Cecil notes that Danger D'amo, the name of the current head of the OSS, is an anagram for Armageddon. Sure enough, D'amo turns out to be the Timekeeper.
  • The Truman Show: The actors who portray Truman's family, friends, and neighbors, share their names with famous film stars, one of whom, Marlon, is Truman's closest friend. Marlon shares his first name with Marlon Brando, but "Marlon" is also an anagram of "normal", which is fitting given that he's the only one who's implied to feel any guilt about participating in the massive lie about Truman's world.
  • In Harlequin, Nick and Sandra's surname is "Tsar" spelled backwards, in keeping with the film's story being a modern retelling of that of Grigori Rasputin.

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