What is the title of the two comedy thrillers in which Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson, and Abigail Breslin play human survivors hunting zombies
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Movies can take us to very different places and times, from the African countryside and the world of professional boxing to the streets of Paris, the early days of McDonald's and a futuristic city divided by wealth. The twelve films in this quiz cover romance, crime, comedy, adventure, science fiction, biography and action. They also have plenty of stories behind the scenes, with famous directors, unusual casting choices, demanding performances and even a few connections to real events. So, before you start the quiz, here are some interesting facts about the movies waiting for you.
Sydney Pollack's Out of Africa has one of the more fascinating histories among the films in this quiz. The story had attracted Hollywood interest for many years before it finally reached the screen. Greta Garbo was once considered for the project, while Orson Welles, David Lean and Nicolas Roeg had all, at different times, tried to make a film about the Danish writer Karen Blixen. Audrey Hepburn was also offered the role of Blixen several years before the movie was made. When Roeg was attached to direct during the 1970s, he had imagined Julie Christie and Ryan O'Neal as the two main stars. The project changed many times before Pollack finally brought it to the screen.
Ron Howard's Cinderella Man tells the true story of boxer James J. Braddock and his remarkable return to the ring during the Great Depression. Russell Crowe took the physical preparation for the role very seriously. He lost more than 50 pounds and spent almost a year training for the boxing scenes. He even built a boxing ring and training area on his farm in Australia. The work was not without risks, as Crowe suffered several concussions and cracked teeth while making the film. He once compared the importance of appearing in a boxing movie for an actor to appearing in Hamlet, showing just how seriously he viewed the role.
Wolfgang Petersen's In the Line of Fire is a political crime thriller built around an assassination plot against the President of the United States. Clint Eastwood plays a veteran Secret Service agent who becomes deeply involved in the dangerous investigation. The film also features René Russo and Dylan McDermott, while the music was written by the legendary Italian composer Ennio Morricone. The story combines political tension with a very personal conflict between the two central men, making it more than a simple chase movie. It was also one of Eastwood's major screen roles during the 1990s.
Ruben Fleischer's 2009 zombie comedy turned the familiar zombie-apocalypse story into something much lighter and more playful. Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson and Abigail Breslin form the main group of survivors, each with a very different personality. The success of the first film led to a second adventure more than ten years later, bringing the group back together. The movies mix horror, comedy and road-trip elements, while the characters try to survive in a world that has been completely changed by the zombie outbreak. The result is a film that can be enjoyed as both a comedy and a fun zombie adventure.
Andrey Konchalovskiy's Runaway Train is based on an unusual idea that originally came from Akira Kurosawa. The Japanese director was inspired by a real incident in the northeastern United States in which an unattended locomotive reportedly started moving on its own and travelled down the main railway line. Kurosawa co-wrote the original screenplay and hoped to direct the film in upstate New York, but severe snowstorms made production impossible and the project was cancelled. His early plans included Henry Fonda and Lee Marvin. Years later, the story was finally brought to the screen with Jon Voight and Rebecca De Mornay among the leading cast.
Martin Scorsese's The Aviator explores the extraordinary life of Howard Hughes, the wealthy businessman, aircraft designer and film producer. The screenplay was written by Akiva Goldsman, and the film brings together many famous figures from the golden age of Hollywood and aviation. Cate Blanchett plays the legendary actress Katharine Hepburn, while Kate Beckinsale portrays another famous Hollywood star, Ava Gardner. The film also includes Jude Law as Errol Flynn and Gwen Stefani as Jean Harlow, giving audiences a chance to see several real historical figures recreated on screen. With its large cast and detailed period setting, the movie presents a colourful picture of Hollywood during the first half of the twentieth century.
Jean-Luc Godard's À Bout De Souffle, known in English as Breathless, became one of the defining films of the French New Wave. Released in 1960, it was Godard's first feature as a director and helped change ideas about how a modern movie could look and feel. The screenplay was developed with contributions from Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut and Claude Chabrol. Cinematographer Raoul Coutard played an especially important part in creating the film's distinctive visual style. The movie was later remade in the United States in 1983, with Richard Gere and Valérie Kaprisky in the main roles.
Clint Eastwood's Richard Jewell is a 2019 biographical drama based on the real-life story of the security guard who became involved in the investigation following the 1996 Atlanta Olympic bombing. The film was inspired by a 1997 Vanity Fair article by Marie Brenner and also drew from a later book about the case. Paul Walter Hauser plays the title character, while Olivia Wilde, Jon Hamm, Nina Arianda and Kathy Bates are among the other members of the cast. The story focuses on the enormous pressure placed on a man who was treated as a suspect before the truth became clearer, while also looking at the role played by the media and the FBI.
Jean-Jacques Annaud's The Name of the Rose is a medieval mystery based on Umberto Eco's famous novel. The story takes place in a remote monastery in the fourteenth century, where a series of mysterious deaths leads to an investigation. Christian Slater appeared in the film at just 15 years old, making the production an interesting early point in his career. Annaud reportedly spent five years preparing the movie, travelling through the United States and Europe while searching for actors with distinctive faces and a wide range of backgrounds. The result has a strong visual atmosphere, with the old monastery and its secrets becoming almost as important as the characters themselves.
John Lee Hancock's The Founder looks at the early history of the McDonald's fast-food empire through the story of Ray Kroc, a travelling salesman who saw enormous potential in a small restaurant business. The movie explores how the company grew from a local operation into one of the world's most recognizable brands, while also showing the difficult business decisions and conflicts involved in that transformation. Nick Offerman, John Carroll Lynch and Laura Dern are among the supporting cast. Jeremy Renner was also one of the film's producers. Rather than being a simple success story, the film raises interesting questions about ambition, business and who deserves credit when a small idea becomes something much bigger.
Taylor Sheridan's Wind River is a crime thriller set in the cold and isolated landscape of Wyoming. The story follows an investigation into the death of a young woman on a Native American reservation. The film was influenced by a disturbing real-life discovery Sheridan made while working on another project. During the production of Wind River, Shoshone tribal leaders visited the set and told him that twelve young women had been murdered on a reservation of only around 6,000 people, with the cases remaining unsolved at the time. The information shocked Sheridan and gave the film an even deeper connection to real issues surrounding missing and murdered Native American women.
David Ayer's Suicide Squad brought together a group of dangerous and unusual characters from the DC Comics universe. Released in 2016, the film mixes superhero action, science fiction, comedy and criminal characters forced to work together on a dangerous mission. Jared Leto plays the Joker, while Ezra Miller appears as The Flash. Margot Robbie and Viola Davis are also part of the large ensemble cast. The movie was followed in 2021 by another film featuring the Suicide Squad, this time directed by James Gunn. The two films share several characters but take very different approaches to the material.
Twelve films, twelve very different stories and plenty of fascinating details behind them. Some of these movies were inspired by real people or events, some came from books, and others began with ideas that had been waiting for years to reach the screen. Now it is time to see how much you remember. Good luck, and most importantly, have fun with the quiz.