57 Previously Unknown Movie and Music Industry Facts

I am constantly hounded by people asking me questions that begin with the line, "Did you know…" followed by some small fact about a movie, musician, celebrity, or food product which I either already knew or didn't care about. What annoys me most is the smug expression on their faces when they tell me that margarine is actually the same color as lard but has coloring added to it to make it look more appetizing and butter-like. Since when did I go around with a badge on saying, "Tell me something about margarine?"

Anyway, to combat these boring people I have compiled a list of 57 facts about the movie and music industry that are actually very interesting. I can also guarantee none of you have heard any of them before. I have highlighted the names of films, musicians, and celebrities so if you just want to remember a couple of facts to impress your friends at the bar, you can skim right to your favorites. And please share this knowledge with your friends. Just don't tell them I told you or my life may be in danger. I really don't need another lawsuit after the Lady Gaga/testicles saga.

Many of the Storm Troopers in the original Star Wars film were extras who would later grow up to be famous actors, including Danny Day Lewis, Samuel L. Jackson, and a young Morgan Freeman.

The Star Wars character Jar Jar Binks is based on Adam Sandler as he was the most annoying person voice actor Ahmed Best could think of.

Kanye West‘s first name is actually Adam.

R&B star Usher showed the guests to their seats at his own wedding.

"Finally, I feel like a woman, all lusty and stuff."Emma Watson ("Hermione Granger" in the Harry Potter films) has often said in interviews that she prefers Twilight because "it is more for girls and stuff."

Denzel Washington is a direct descendant of first U.S. President George Washington.

The "JK" in JK Rowling stands for "Jeremy Kyle."

Simon Cowell is addicted to Legos.

Although he later admitted to not reading the script before the audition, Will Smith surprised the director of Men in Black by turning up dressed as a priest.

To achieve his sparkly effect when out in the sunshine, Robert Pattinson had to live on a diet consisting entirely of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes for the entire filming of each Twilight film.

Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke has never watched an episode of The Simpsons because he has an irrational fear of yellow people.

After successfully creating the world first cartoon band with Gorillaz, Damon Albarn said he now plans to form the world's first band consisting entirely of animals. So far he has a panda on the drums and Skippy the bush kangaroo on bass.

Tinie Tempah had a massive argument with his management over what to call himself.

Contrary to popular belief, the film Finding Nemo does not contain any CGI.

The Wachowski brothers came up with the original idea for The Matrix when a Nintendo Gameboy fell on one of their heads while they were watching the first Bill and Ted movie.

Actor Elijah Wood is a notorious racist and refused to be near any Kiwis during the New Zealand filming of The Lord of the Rings. To combat this, he shot all his footage on green screen in his own bedroom.

Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy both believe "funniness" is a disease that they have now been thankfully cured of.

If you remove their masks, at least two members of Slipknot are always Justin Bieber.

Tom Jones cites Tupac Shakur as one of his biggest influences and has often stated his desire to play the rapper in a biopic of his life.

While filming Shakespeare in Love in England, Gwyneth Paltrow managed to blag her way into a soccer training match with QPR while still dressed as an Elizabethan boy.

David Fincher, the director of Fight Club, was clueless about the subliminal shots of Brad Pitt until someone pointed them out to him. Brad is notoriously running into shots very fast on film sets.

Jennifer Aniston invented the Pritt-Stick.

James Blunt wrote a book about his time in the army, which became the inspiration for the Rambo movies. James insists they are 100% accurate.

When played on music channels in America, all Stereophonics songs have to have subtitles because of lead singer Kelly Jones' strong Pakistani accent.

Although often credited to Dave Grohl, it was actually Blink 182‘s Travis Barker who first taught Steven Hawking how to play drums.

During the filming of Bad Boys and Bad Boys 2, director Michael Bay reportedly didn't know which actor was Will Smith and which was Martin Lawrence, so he made Smith sing the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air song whenever he entered the room and Lawrence do an impression of a fat black lady whenever he entered.

Ja Rule has been known to recite Shakespeare monologues during gigs.

The plot for most of Dan Brown‘s books come from lunches he regularly has with Charlie Sheen and David Hasselhoff.

Up until the first date of filming, Tim Allen had no idea that Toy Story was going to be an animated film, leading to much embarrassment when he turned up to the recording studio in a full Buzz Lightyear costume he had made at home.

Florence and the Machine had to remove the word "fax" from their name after being sued by an unknown Scotsman.

Barack Obama has stated that his favorite film is Peter Pan, and he frequently recites that he believes in fairies whenever he is waiting on the results of a poll.

No one has anything bad to say about Heath Ledger.

Kill Bill was originally about a groom killing a woman named Belinda.

In The Little Mermaid just before the song "Under the Sea," if you turn the sound up you can make out someone whispering, "Mermaid sex is still bestiality."

Before their divorce, Guy Ritchie wrote all Madonna‘s music for her. He has listed his favorites as "Frozen," "Like a Virgin," and the "Ghostbuster's Theme."

If you remove the mask of famous DJ Deadmaus you will find that he is actually a guinea pig who is very much alive and well.

Before all his wrong-doings came out in the press, Gary Glitter once auditioned for the title role in the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Fat Joe used to be in the Irish hard rock band Thin Lizzy.

Keira Knightley originally auditioned for the role of Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean. Legend has it she kept doing her version of the character between takes, hence her dismissal after the third film.

Zac Efron has stated that he doesn't really get what the High School Musical films were all about, as the scripts were so complex and surrounded in secrecy.

Prior to being in Oasis, Liam and Noel Gallagher had never actually met each other and only found out they were brothers when they wrote their names on the band's first major contract.

90% of rappers cannot act.

The other 10% consist of MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice and Marky Mark.

It is rumored that Nicolas Cage gets so into his roles that he refuses to accept that he is Nicolas Cage anymore. This led directly to three divorces.

Matthew Perry sometimes hosts spontaneous "Chandler Monologues" in Central Park… before police escort him away.

Taylor Lautner didn't know that werewolves and vampires didn't exist before he started filming Twilight. Hence his melancholy expression during the movies.

Ewen McGregor has admitted that he didn't know whether Natalie Portman was a human or just CGI while filming the Star Wars prequels, and was shocked when she won an Oscar for Black Swan.

In addition to Christian Bale, other actors who auditioned to be the new Batman included Al Pacino, Jean Claude Van Damme, Sandra Bullock, and Shaquille O'Neal.

Before her tragic death, Amy Winehouse was very much alive.

Jay-Z hates it when people assume he is black purely because of the color of his skin.

Leo D'Caprio was so upset about the suffering of people when the Titanic sank that James Cameron had to get a "historian" to persuade him that it never really happened so he could continue filming.

Keifer Sutherland once killed a man. But doesn't like to talk about it.

Out of the four hobbits in The Fellowship of the Ring, only actor Billy Boyd (Pippin) was an actual hobbit.

Before becoming a pop star, Kei$ha had a successful career with Al Qaida.

For authenticity, some scenes from time travelling films Back to the Future and Back to the Future II were shot in the past and the future, respectively, with Michael J. Fox's granddad and grandson standing in for him.