The Book of the Movie Trivia Quiz

Answer: Apocalypse Now

Joseph Conrad is regarded as one of the giants of English literature, although his first language was Polish. He spoke French, German and Greek, but he did not become fluent in English until he enlisted in the British Merchant Marine at the age of 22.

Answer: Slumdog Millionaire

A British-born actor of Indian descent, Dev Patel was catapulted into instant stardom at the age of 18, when he was cast in the leading role of "Slumdog Millionaire". The film won eight Oscars, but Dev was not nominated for Best Actor.

Answer: Jackie Brown

"Jackie Brown" is the first Tarantino film for which he did not write the script himself, but adapted it from another writer's work. It is also the first of his films in which he did not himself play a cameo part.

Answer: Field of Dreams

For the filming of "Field of Dreams", Universal Pictures built a baseball diamond on farmland outside the town of Dyersville, Iowa. The diamond remains today as a tourist attraction, even including a team called "The Ghost Players", who entertain visitors on a Sunday afternoon once a month.

Answer: Babe

In the film "Babe", the eponymous role was played by a piglet of the Large White Yorkshire breed. Large Whites grow fast, so over the three years that filming took, the role was played by 48 different piglets, as each "actor" outgrew the role. Or rather, each "actress": all the piglets were female, because the males have very visible genitals, which was regarded as inappropriate for the film.

Answer: Goodfellas

Alfred Hitchcock and Quentin Tarantino are two directors who are known for making brief appearances in their own movies. In the case of "Goodfellas", director Martin Scorsese gave a different twist to this, by giving both of his parents cameo roles: Mr Scorsese Senior played Vinnie, who put too many onions in the pasta sauce he was cooking.

The senior Mrs Scorsese played the mother of the character Tommy DeVito. Joe Pesci won the film's only Oscar (out of five nominations) for his performance as Tommy.

Answer: Tangled

Although the Brothers Grimm are famous for their collection of fairy tales, the project which they saw as their life's work, was creating a definitive dictionary of the German language. After 16 years' work, the first volume was published in 1864. Sadly, both brothers died before the project could be finished.

Answer: Die Hard

Bruce Willis portrayed the main character, John McClane, in "Die Hard" and its four sequels. There were plans for him to star in a sixth film of this highly successful and lucrative series. Sadly, his diagnosis of aphasia in 2022 and dementia a year later, put paid to any further John McClane adventures.

Answer: Total Recall

Sixteen of Philip K. Dick's novels were the basis of major Hollywood films, including "Blade Runner", "Minority Report", "The Adjustment Bureau" and "Screamers".

Answer: Jack Reacher

The first two Jack Reacher movies both star Tom Cruise. Some may regard this as an unusual casting decision, as the actor Tom Cruise is 5 ft 7 inches tall, while in the book, the character of Jack Reacher is 6 ft 5 inches tall and he weighs around 250 pounds.