History PopCultureUrbanLegends / LiveActionFilms

* Creator/MarisaTomei's DarkHorseVictory for the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Supporting Actress in 1992 for ''Film/MyCousinVinny'' was particularly shocking because an unknown in a Creator/JoePesci [[ComedyGhetto comedy]] beat out a bunch of acting heavyweights (Creator/JudyDavis, Creator/JoanPlowright, Creator/VanessaRedgrave and Creator/MirandaRichardson) in solid OscarBait films. This led to a widely-circulated story that presenter Creator/JackPalance, in a ScatterbrainedSenior moment, read the wrong name from the card. As the world learned from the 2017 Best Picture debacle, the envelope contains a card with just one name on it, so if Tomei really didn't deserve the award, it would be because the Price Waterhouse representative put the wrong card in the envelope. Once this was pointed out, a variation on the story emerged that Palance, frustrated because he couldn't read the card, just called out Tomei's name because it was still on the teleprompter. Except footage from the ceremony clearly shows him reading the card, and the prompter would have already scrolled past the names anyway. The more reasonable explanation for Tomei's win is that the Academy was in a mini-trend of giving Supporting Actress to less-established actresses in mainstream audience-pleasing films (the previous two winners were Creator/WhoopiGoldberg in ''Film/Ghost1990'' and Mercedes Ruehl in ''Film/TheFisherKing''), and the "prestige" vote was split between the other four nominees, allowing Tomei to squeak away with the win. Also, the aforementioned 2017 debacle showed that the "they won't admit they messed up, they'll just roll with if they call a wrong winner" part of the story was bunk.

* ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'': The [[HoverBoard hoverboards]] in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'' are real, kept away from the public by parents groups not letting toy companies make them. This urban legend originates from a joke director Robert Zemeckis made in a documentary on the film to promote its release, and since it was in an otherwise factual piece many people watching bought into it. It resurfaced in 2014 thanks to an episode of Series/TheGoldbergs, and a Website/CollegeHumor video featuring Creator/ChristopherLloyd demonstrating what seemed to be a real one. That website name alone should be enough to tell you the video's not real.

* There's a persistent rumour that ''Film/CitizenKane'' (In fact, once included on ThisVeryWiki under FunnyBackgroundEvent) used stock footage from ''Film/TheSonOfKong'' as the backdrop in a beach party scene, leading to a few pterodactyls sneaking into what's often considered the greatest movie ever made. There definitely are a few animated creatures flying around in the background at Kane's beach party, but the footage doesn't match any known scenes from ''Son of Kong''.

* There's a persistent rumour that ''Film/CitizenKane'' (In fact, once included on Wiki/ThisVeryWiki under FunnyBackgroundEvent) used stock footage from ''Film/TheSonOfKong'' as the backdrop in a beach party scene, leading to a few pterodactyls sneaking into what's often considered the greatest movie ever made. There definitely are a few animated creatures flying around in the background at Kane's beach party, but the footage doesn't match any known scenes from ''Son of Kong''.

* There's a persistent rumour that ''Film/CitizenKane'' used stock footage from ''Film/TheSonOfKong'' as the backdrop in a beach party scene, leading to a few pterodactyls sneaking into what's often considered the greatest movie ever made. There definitely are a few animated creatures flying around in the background at Kane's beach party, but the footage doesn't match any known scenes from ''Son of Kong''.

* For a long time, it was reported that Tim Curry was originally supposed to play Mondavarius in ''Film/SccobyDoo2002'', but turned it down after learning that Scrappy, a character he despised, was going to be in the movie. James Gunn has since [[https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1570423863183540225 stated]] that the story is completely false.

** The ([[PoesLaw possibly satirical]]) [[http://biggerluke.wikidot.com/ Bigger Luke Hypothesis]] claims that in certain scenes of the original trilogy, Luke Skywalker is portrayed by a near-perfect look-alike of Creator/MarkHamill who can be distinguished from "Luke Prime" because he's very slightly taller, or that there are actually two versions of Luke Skywalker who exist in-universe and can swap between each other.

* Creator/MarisaTomei's DarkHorseVictory for the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Supporting Actress in 1992 for ''Film/MyCousinVinny'' was particularly shocking because an unknown in a Creator/JoePesci [[ComedyGhetto comedy]] beat out a bunch of acting heavyweights (Creator/JudyDavis, Creator/JoanPlowright, Creator/VanessaRedgrave and Creator/MirandaRichardson) in solid OscarBait films. This led to a widely-circulated story that presenter Creator/JackPalance, in a ScatterbrainedSenior moment, read the wrong name from the card. As the world learned from the 2017 Best Picture debacle, the envelope contains a card with just one name on it, so if Tomei really didn't deserve the award, it would be because the Price Waterhouse representative put the wrong card in the envelope. Once this was pointed out, a variation on the story emerged that Palance, frustrated because he couldn't read the card, just called out Tomei's name because it was still on the teleprompter. Except footage from the ceremony clearly shows him reading the card, and the prompter would have already scrolled past the names anyway. The more reasonable explanation for Tomei's win is that the Academy was in a mini-trend of giving Supporting Actress to less-established actresses in mainstream audience-pleasing films (the previous two winners were Creator/WhoopiGoldberg in ''Film/Ghost1990'' and Mercedes Ruehl in ''Film/TheFisherKing''), and the "prestige" vote was split between the other four nominees, allowing Tomei to squeak away with the win. Also, the aforementioned 2017 controversy showed that the "they won't admit they messed up, they'll just roll with if they call a wrong winner" part of the story was bunk.

* Creator/MarisaTomei's DarkHorseVictory for the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Supporting Actress in 1992 for ''Film/MyCousinVinny'' was particularly shocking because an unknown in a Creator/JoePesci [[ComedyGhetto comedy]] beat out a bunch of acting heavyweights (Creator/JudyDavis, Creator/JoanPlowright, Creator/VanessaRedgrave and Creator/MirandaRichardson) in solid OscarBait films. This led to a widely-circulated story that presenter Creator/JackPalance, in a ScatterbrainedSenior moment, read the wrong name from the card. As the world learned in the 2017 Best Picture controversy, the envelope contains a card with just one name on it, so if Tomei really didn't deserve the award, it would be because the Price Waterhouse representative put the wrong card in the envelope. Once this was pointed out, a variation on the story emerged that Palance, frustrated because he couldn't read the card, just called out Tomei's name because it was still on the teleprompter. Except footage from the ceremony clearly shows him reading the card, and the prompter would have already scrolled past the names anyway. The more reasonable explanation for Tomei's win is that the Academy was in a mini-trend of giving Supporting Actress to less-established actresses in mainstream audience-pleasing films (the previous two winners were Creator/WhoopiGoldberg in ''Film/Ghost1990'' and Mercedes Ruehl in ''Film/TheFisherKing''), and the "prestige" vote was split between the other four nominees, allowing Tomei to squeak away with the win. Also, the aforementioned 2017 controversy showed that the "they won't admit they messed up, they'll just roll with if they call a wrong winner" part of the story was bunk.

* Since ''Film/ReadyPlayerOne2018'' first came out, there were many rumors about the character cameos appearing in the background during multiple scenes of the movie. Some people swear you can see ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' or ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' characters in the climax, and at a certain point [[TheWikiRule the wiki for the book and movie]] was filled of short pages about characters that were supposedly in the movie such as [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy Brian Griffin]], [[WesternAnimation/GravityFalls Bill Cipher]] or [[VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair Chiaki Nanami]].

** There's a widespread urban legend that the parade scene in ''Film/Batman1989'' has an alternate version where the people notice the bills all have the Joker's face on them in reference to an earlier scene where Joker tells Vicki he wants his face on the one-dollar bill. This is probably due to the ''fact'' that this very thing happens in the comic book novelization. However, while the money in the film itself is [[StageMoney pretty obviously fake]], we never get a close enough shot to make out the face on the bills, and no evidence of an alternate scene has ever turned up.

* Brandon Lee died on the set of ''Film/TheCrow'' from being hit by a dummy bullet shell. Rumor persists that the film originally contained his actual death scene. It doesn't. The film used a body double in scenes produced after his death. While the death WAS on film, the only copy was turned over to the police for the investigation and the copy was reportedly later destroyed.
* A popular internet joke/rumor is that there is an alternate version of the horror film ''Film/DeepBlueSea'', which was supposedly only screened on Canadian television in TheNoughties, that ran 22 minutes longer and had one of the stars, Music/LLCoolJ, rapping most of his lines instead of speaking them. While no such cut exists (its mention is a popular message board joke on Reddit), this urban legend does have some basis in reality. The original ending involved lead character Susan surviving the final shark attack, while Preacher (LL Cool J) died instead. After negative test screening feedback, director Renny Harlin and crew went back for a day to reshoot an alternate version of the scene (used in the final product) where Susan commits a HeroicSacrifice to keep the shark from escaping, and Preacher manages to survive alongside Carter. Additionally, LL does rap -- in the tie-in music video, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7HnCPz658s "Deepest Bluest (Shark's Fin)"]].
* ''Film/DoctorZhivago'': It's widely rumored that during the filming of one of the train scenes, a stuntwoman [[AnArmAndALeg had her legs cut off]] when she fell under the wheels. Rumors further suggest that the footage of the incident made it into the final film. There's a grain of truth to this: Lili Murati ''did'' fall under the train wheels due to a miscommunication between her and Creator/OmarSharif, and her stumble ''did'' end up in the finished movie, but she wasn't seriously injured.

** [[invoked]] A widespread theory claims that George Lucas originally planned on making Jar Jar Binks force-sensitive, and all of his moments of bumbling throughout ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' were simply him ObfuscatingStupidity. The theory goes so far as to claim that Jar Jar was planned to secretly be a Sith Lord (explaining how easily he became a member of the Galactic Senate and was essential in granting Palpatine emergency powers in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones''), but Lucas walked back on the idea at the last minute after seeing [[TheScrappy how much audiences hated the character]]. So far, there's been no confirmation that Lucas intended Jar Jar to be anything other than a comic relief character, although his actor Creator/AhmedBest did confirm that Jar Jar's role in the trilogy was reduced following fan backlash.

* A common legend regarding ''Film/TheMatrix'' is that Creator/TheWachowskis, unable to secure more than $10 million in funding from Creator/WarnerBros., decided to spend all of the $10 million on the film’s opening scene in a successful attempt to convince the studio to fully fund the rest of the film. In reality, Warner Bros. ''had'' already provided the $60 million budget for the film (after an extensive preproduction and storyboarding process from the filmmakers), but was concerned about how long the filming process was taking. The creators then sent in an edit of the opening scene to assure the studio of the film’s quality, and Warner Bros. was satisfied with the result, letting them continue their work without interference.

* ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'':
** The [[HoverBoard hoverboards]] in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'' are real, kept away from the public by parents groups not letting toy companies make them. This urban legend originates from a joke director Robert Zemeckis made in a documentary on the film to promote its release, and since it was in an otherwise factual piece many people watching bought into it. It resurfaced in 2014 thanks to an episode of Series/TheGoldbergs, and a Website/CollegeHumor video featuring Creator/ChristopherLloyd demonstrating what seemed to be a real one. That website name alone should be enough to tell you the video's not real.
** It is said that in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'', Marty makes a reference to movies while in 1885, and a child asks "what's a movie?", before being sent away by adults who call him "[[Creator/DWGriffith D.W.]]" and "[[InThePastEveryoneWillBeFamous that little Griffith boy]]". This happens in an early joint draft of ''II'' & ''III'' called the "[[http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/bttf2_3.pdf Paradox Script]]", and is also present in the novelization of ''III'', but is not in the movie itself. It's also ArtisticLicenseHistory because Griffith did not move to California until 1910.

* There is a persistent rumor that Creator/AlecBaldwin offered to [[SelfParody voice himself]] in ''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice'', but was turned down by Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone because they felt [[Creator/MauriceLaMarche the voice actor they got to impersonate him]] was funnier. By all accounts, this did not happen; Baldwin never spoke with Parker and Stone, and they never planned to have [[AdamWesting any celebrities voice themselves]] (quite the opposite, as the part of the reasoning for using puppets was to ''avoid'' using a-list actors). Amusingly though, Baldwin would later state that he thought [[ActuallyPrettyFunny the parody of him was hilarious]] and that he would have gladly done the voicework if Parker and Stone had asked.

* One of the most persistent rumors about ''Film/Waterworld'' is that the movie's massive cost overruns were due to the need to rebuild the massive atoll set after it sank in a hurricane, even being included in several movie trivia lists. While there was a brief tsunami scare at one point, and the smaller slaver colony set did indeed briefly tip over, neither even ended up disrupting filming for more than a few hours. In reality, the shooting budget was eaten up by less dramatic issues like waiting for weather to clear over the large outdoor set.

** When ''Film/Godzilla2014'' first came out, there were rumors of a [[TheStinger post-credits scene]] exclusive to the Japanese release featuring Mothra. There never was any scene like that in any version of the movie, though Mothra does appear in [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters the sequel]]. There ''was'' a stinger setting up Mothra (along with Rodan and King Ghidorah), but it appeared at the end of ''Film/KongSkullIsland'', a few years after ''Godzilla'' came out.

* UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan was never seriously considered to [[TheOtherMarty star]] in the movie ''Film/{{Casablanca}}''. A brief newspaper item suggesting this was simply a publicity plant to keep Reagan's name in the public view.

* There's a persistent rumour that ''Film/CitizenKane'' used stock footage from ''Film/TheSonOfKong'' as the backdrop in a beach party scene, leading to a few pterodactyls sneaking into what's often considered the greatest movie ever made. There definitely are a few animated creatures flying around in the background at Kane's beach party, but the footage doesn't match any scenes from ''Son of Kong''.
* Brandon Lee died on the set of ''Film/TheCrow'' from being hit by a dummy bullet shell. Rumor persists that the film originally contained his actual death scene. It doesn't. The film used a body double in scenes produced after his death. While the death WAS on film, the only copy was turned over to the police for the investigation and the copy was later destroyed.

** ''Film/DestroyAllMonsters'' (1968): For a long time, it was thought that Baragon was originally going to be the one to destroy the Arc De Triumph in this film, but was replaced by Gorosaurus due to the suit being in bad condition. However, storyboard images show that Gorosaurus was going to be the one to attack Paris the whole time. While Baragon was briefly considered, he was scrapped. Not because the suit was in bad condition (the suit had been repaired sometime prior to filming) but because the suit's ears made it difficult to film Baragon emerging from underground. And in the first draft of the film (when it was known as ''All Monsters Attack Directive''), the one who attacked was neither Baragon or Gorosaurus, but Maguma, but this was scrapped early on, and Maguma does not even appear in the final film..

** An urban legend that has been circulating online for years is that there exists "a scene within the Death Star where Luke, Han, and Leia are fighting against stormtroopers. They are trapped against a locked blast door as R2-D2 attempts to open it. The center of the room is a circular pit from which stormtroopers are seen falling in as they are shot trying to cross with the use of grappling hooks. The scene in question has never surfaced online or in any other media, except for Roger Ebert's 'Microsoft Cinemania', a DOS-based multimedia CD-ROM movie encyclopedia released in the early 1990s. However, evidence of this has never been produced and numerous people have tried searching the “Microsoft Cinemania” releases to no avail.

* There is a VERY persistent rumor that a movie called ''Shazaam'' starring the comedian Sinbad as a genie exists; the film is actually named ''Film/{{Kazaam}}'' and stars Creator/ShaquilleONeal. Sinbad himself [[WordOfGod officially denied it]] but hundreds of people (who, again, actually saw ''Kazaam'') claim to have seen it. [[http://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/internet/2016/12/movie-doesn-t-exist-and-redditors-who-think-it-does This article goes into more detail]]. Note that the actor also hosted an afternoon of Sinbad the Sailor movies on TNT while dressed up in a genie outfit during segments, likely another source of the confusion. 'Website/CollegeHumor'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD0rchvuoMU spoofed this phenomena]] as their 2017 AprilFoolsDay prank.

*** The site also mentioned that Michael has worked with Creator/AlanRickman before, but it is unknown if it's true or not, since there's no further evidence on this.

** There is a legend that the Music/PinkFloyd album, ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon'', synchs up with the film's soundtrack. This legend has been vigorously denied by the band, who have pointed out that the audio technology necessary to make the film soundtrack and rock album synch this precisely with each other [[TechnologyMarchesOn didn't exist in 1973]].
*** ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'' was inspired by urban legends of ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon'' synching to this film's soundtrack. When Nerd reviewed the video game adaptation, Cinemassacre deliberately synched the album to their episode and [[ThrowItIn placed in a few bits and clues, like a plane,]] to make the synching work, as described [[http://cinemassacre.com/2008/08/04/dark-side-of-the-nerd/ in their blog]].