Who directed the film The Last Emperor, starring John Lone, Joan Chen, and Peter O'Toole
LEVEL 2 — 🎬 FILM ENTHUSIAST
For a real film enthusiast, a movie is often much more than the story we see on screen. The making of a film can be just as interesting, especially when a production involves thousands of extras, unusual real-life stories, difficult filming conditions or actors taking on challenging roles. The twelve films in this quiz cover a wide range of cinema, from historical epics and action thrillers to romantic comedies, crime dramas and some very memorable films from the 1970s and 1980s. There are also some fascinating connections between actors, directors and the stories behind the camera. Here are a few things worth knowing before you begin.
A historical epic about the last emperor of China was an enormous production. It was the first feature film to receive permission from the Chinese government to film inside Beijing's Forbidden City, giving the movie access to locations that had been closed to foreign film productions. The scale of the project was remarkable, with around 19,000 extras used during the filming. One amusing historical coincidence happened during the huge coronation sequence. Queen Elizabeth II was visiting Beijing on a state visit at the same time, but the film production was given priority by the Chinese authorities, meaning that even the British monarch could not visit the Forbidden City during her trip.
The 2019 action thriller starring Chadwick Boseman was one of his final film appearances before his death in August 2020. Its title has a very specific connection to New York City and refers to the different ways of getting on and off Manhattan. Although people normally think of all of them as bridges, the total includes both bridges and tunnels. Sienna Miller, J.K. Simmons and Taylor Kitsch also appear in the film, which follows a dramatic night in which Manhattan is placed under an extraordinary level of police control.
Ariel Vromen's The Iceman is based on the life of Richard Kuklinski, a contract killer whose story became widely known after his imprisonment. Kuklinski made a number of extraordinary claims about his criminal activities, including a claim that he had been involved in the disappearance and murder of former Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa. The nickname used for the film comes from a particularly disturbing part of his alleged method: he said that he sometimes froze victims' bodies in order to make it harder to determine when they had died. The film features Chris Evans, James Franco and Winona Ryder, with Ray Liotta, David Schwimmer, Stephen Dorff and Robert Davi also appearing.
The Bourne films created one of the most successful modern action franchises, but not every major actor from the series appeared in every installment. The original movie arrived in 2002 and was followed by several sequels and a later spin-off. The films are known for their fast editing, realistic fight scenes and international locations, as well as the central character's struggle to discover the truth about his own past. Different members of the supporting cast returned for different chapters, making the franchise an interesting one to follow if you pay attention to which characters appear in each film.
Gene Saks' 1991 romantic comedy Cin Cin, also known by its English title A Fine Romance, brings together two major European stars. The story was adapted from the French play Tchin-Tchin, written by François Billetdoux. Marcello Mastroianni leads the film alongside a distinguished actress, while the supporting cast adds another layer of international talent. The movie is an example of the kind of European romantic comedy that relies more on character, conversation and the chemistry between its performers than on large-scale action or spectacle.
The Sugarland Express was released in 1974 and was one of its director's early feature films. Goldie Hawn, Ben Johnson, William Atherton and Michael Sacks lead the cast, while Vilmos Zsigmond worked as cinematographer. The film also began a long professional relationship between its director and composer John Williams. Williams would go on to score almost all of the director's feature films over the following decades, making their collaboration one of the best-known director-composer partnerships in cinema. The story itself was inspired by real events in Texas, and parts of the film were shot in Sugar Land.
Atom Egoyan's Devil's Knot is based on the 2002 book Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three. It was Egoyan's first American production and examines the highly controversial case surrounding the murders of three young boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. The film features Colin Firth, Alessandro Nivola and a strong supporting cast that includes Bruce Greenwood, Elias Koteas, Dane DeHaan and Kevin Durand. Rather than presenting the case as a simple crime story, the film focuses on the investigation, the suspicions surrounding the accused and the atmosphere of fear and uncertainty that surrounded the community.
George Armitage's Grosse Pointe Blank combines crime, comedy and romance in an unusual way. Released in 1997, the film follows a professional assassin whose work takes him back to the suburb where he grew up, at a time when an important high-school reunion is taking place. The cast includes Minnie Driver, Dan Aykroyd, Joan Cusack and Alan Alda. The contrast between the main character's dangerous profession and the ordinary world of old classmates and teenage memories gives the movie much of its darkly comic charm. It also became one of those films that developed a particularly loyal audience over the years.
Bill Eagles' Beautiful Creatures is a British crime comedy from 2000 with a very unusual story at its centre. Two women who have both been disappointed by their relationships become involved in a situation that quickly turns into something much more serious after a man dies. Susan Lynch and another young British actress play the two central women, while Iain Glen and Maurice Roëves are also part of the cast. The screenplay was written by Simon Donald, and the music was composed by Italian composer Pino Donaggio, whose long career includes scores for many films in the thriller and horror genres.
Kieran and Michele Mulroney's 2009 comedy Paper Man tells the story of a struggling writer, played by Jeff Daniels, whose wife is played by Lisa Kudrow. To complicate matters further, he also has an imaginary superhero friend, played by Ryan Reynolds, who has followed him since childhood. When the couple spend time away from the city on Long Island, the writer forms an unexpected friendship with a local teenager, whose presence gradually helps him confront the gap between his imaginary world and real life. The husband-and-wife filmmaking team also wrote the screenplay together, giving the project a strongly personal touch behind the camera as well as in front of it.
The Wild Bunch remains one of the most famous and controversial American westerns of its era. Released in 1969, it brought together Ernest Borgnine, William Holden, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien, Warren Oates and Ben Johnson in a story filled with violence, aging outlaws and a changing American West. The production was enormous in scale. More than 239 rifles, shotguns, revolvers and automatic weapons were used, along with more than 90,000 rounds of blank ammunition. The director also shot an extraordinary amount of film, using 1,288 camera setups. The editor later reported that the original version contained thousands of individual cuts. The film's violence was so controversial that John Wayne complained that it damaged the traditional image of the Old West.
The 2023 biographical drama Air looks at one of the most important business stories in sports and advertising, focusing on the relationship between Nike and basketball player Michael Jordan. But it is also interesting because of the long friendship between its two central creative figures, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The two had already worked together from a very young age, including appearing as extras in the 1989 baseball fantasy Field of Dreams. They later appeared together in School Ties and became internationally famous after working together on a screenplay that won them an Academy Award. Their friendship and professional partnership have continued for decades, making their appearances together an interesting part of modern Hollywood history.
The twelve films in this quiz offer very different kinds of cinema, but they all have something that makes them memorable. Some were difficult productions, some were inspired by real people or events, and others became important because of the careers they helped create or the filmmakers they brought together. If you enjoy looking beyond the basic plot and noticing the stories behind the movies, this should be an enjoyable challenge. Now, let's see how much you really know.