Multiversal Movie Actors Trivia Quiz

Answer: 50 Shades of Grey

Development of the movie version of "50 Shades of Grey" began in early 2012 following the securing of the rights by Universal Pictures, with pre-production starting a year later. By the autumn of 2013 the casting process had begun, with a number of actors linked with the leading roles of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele. Although Robert Pattison and Kristen Stewart, who had appeared together in the "Twilight" series of films, were regarded as he first choices of author EL James, ultimately the actors Charlie Hunnam and Dakota Johnson were cast in the roles. At the time, Hunnam was the lead in the FX television series "Sons of Anarchy", and had just completed a starring role in the movie "Pacific Rim".

During the initial audition process, Hunnam actually turned the role of Christian Grey down, but ultimately reconsidered, with his casting announced on 2 September 2013 alongside that of Dakota Johnson. However, on 12 October, it was then announced that scheduling conflicts over the actor's commitment to "Sons of Anarchy" had forced him to vacate the role, which required a reopening of the audition process. Just over a week after Hunnam's exit, on 23 October 2013, the announcement was made that Jamie Dornan had been cast as Christian Grey.

Answer: X-Men

While plans for a movie featuring the X-Men had been in development throughout the 1990s, by 1998, with director Bryan Singer in place, 20th Century Fox greenlit the film, with development of a screenplay then well underway. One of the major tasks for the director was in casting the character of Wolverine, who was front and centre as the film's most significant character, and the one around whom the lion's share of the plot of what turned out to be the finalised version revolved. Singer's first choice for the role was Russell Crowe, who turned it down, instead recommending his friend, Hugh Jackman. However, at the time, Jackman was a relative unknown, with it being felt that the character required a name to play the role.

While a number of actors were seen, the role was eventually given to Scottish actor Dougray Scott. Scott had recently appeared in what was his first major Hollywood film, "Deep Impact", while he was in the process of making "Mission: Impossible 2" when he was cast as Wolverine, in what was a multi-picture deal. However, the shooting of "Mission: Impossible 2" fell behind schedule - although the schedule for shooting "X-Men" had allowed leeway for Scott's absence, the date for him to begin shooting his first scenes as Wolverine approached with no sign of his being available. As a result, three weeks after shooting of X-Men began, and a week before Wolverine's first scene was scheduled, a search was started for a new actor to replace Scott. After a successful audition, Hugh Jackman was ultimately cast, becoming the breakout character in the film.

Answer: Back to the Future

When Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale were in the process of developing the screenplay that ultimately became "Back to the Future", their first choice to play the lead character of Marty McFly was Michael J. Fox. At the time, Fox was contracted to the sitcom "Family Ties", and Steven Spielberg, the film's executive producer, asked Gary David Goldberg, the producer of the show, to pass the script onto the actor. However, Goldberg, concerned about the effect the absence of Fox might have, concurrently with the show's star, Meredith Baxter, being on maternity leave, and did not pass it on. As a result, a casting process was undertaken to try and find an actor for the role. While C. Thomas Howell was favoured by the producers, Sidney Sheinberg, the head of Universal Studios, who were funding the film, had a preference for Eric Stoltz. With a date to start shooting coming closer, Stoltz was chosen and started work on the production in November 1984.

After approximately four weeks of shooting, reviews of the footage led Zemeckis, the director, to conclude that Stoltz was not right for the part, to which Spielberg concurred. This led to Spielberg once again approaching Gary David Goldberg about the availability of Fox in early January 1985. By this point, Meredith Baxter had returned from maternity leave, and so Goldberg was more amenable to making the actor available. A deal was worked out that saw Fox continue to work on "Family Ties" during the day, before going to shoot "Back to the Future" in the evening. This saw Stoltz released and Fox cast as Marty McFly. A total of 34 days were lost as a result of the recasting, with production eventually completed in April 1985.

Answer: Apocalypse Now

During the process to develop what eventually became "Apocalypse Now", writer and director Francis Ford Coppola had a number of people in mind to portray the film's protagonist, Captain Benjamin Willard, with Steve McQueen being his first choice. However, although McQueen initially accepted, he subsequently dropped out, requiring Coppola to not only begin a new casting process, but also to return $5m of the more than $20m he had raised to finance the movie. Coppola's second choice for the role was Martin Sheen, who had impressed the director when screen-testing for him for "The Godfather". However, he had accepted another project and was unavailable. As a result, Coppola ultimately cast Harvey Keitel, who had appeared in a number of films directed by his friend, Martin Scorsese.

Shooting of "Apocalypse Now" began on 20 March 1976 in the Philippines. However, within just a few days of film getting under way, the director realised that Keitel's take on the character was wrong, finding it difficult to play Willard as the "passive onlooker" Coppola intended him to be. As a result, and with Marlon Brando, who had been cast as the film's antagonist, Colonel Kurtz, not due to start work for another three months, Coppola elected to start again. Keitel left the project around three weeks into the shoot and Coppola, having found that Martin Sheen was available, cast him in the film. The turnaround between Keitel and Sheen ultimately meant only four days worth of reshoots were required.

Answer: Octopussy

When he was first cast as James Bond, Roger Moore signed an initial three-picture deal. Upon the expiry of that contract with "The Spy Who Loved Me", Moore continued in the role on a film-by-film basis. However, after his fifth appearance in "For Your Eyes Only", which came out in 1981, Moore expressed a wish to step aside from the role. This led the producers to begin a search for a new leading man for the upcoming thirteenth film in the series, "Octopussy", which was scheduled for release in 1983. This led to a number of actors being called in to screen test, including James Brolin, an American who had appeared for seven seasons in the television show "Marcus Welby, M.D.", as well as having leading roles in films including "Westworld" and "Capricorn One".

Brolin undertook a total of three screen tests - a dialogue with former tennis player turned actor Vijay Amritraj, who was the first person to join the cast, a fight scene and the standard love scene (adapted from a scene from "From Russia with Love"), played alongside Swedish actress Maud Adams. The producers were impressed by Brolin's performance and offered him the role, with the actor putting in place plans to move to London for the year planned for production of the film. However, in 1982, it was announced that a rival film featuring the character, "Never Say Never Again", which was to star Sean Connery, was in production. As a result, the producers, feeling that their established star would do better against Connery, returned to Moore with a significant offer to continue in the role of Bond for "Octopussy". Ultimately, "Octopussy" was released in June 1983, while "Never Say Never Again" came out six months later in December.

Answer: American Psycho

Bret Easton Ellis's satirical novel "American Psycho" was originally published in 1991, with efforts to develop a film version beginning almost straight away. However, it wasn't until 1996, when Mary Harron, who had just completed the positively acclaimed "I Shot Andy Warhol", was attached as director, that the adaptation of "American Psycho" began to move forward. For the lead role of Patrick Bateman, the director, alongside writer Guinevere Turner, initially approached actor Billy Crudup, who was attached for approximately six weeks before electing to depart. Harron then sent the script to Christian Bale, who initially turned it down, before being encouraged to read it fully. This led to him changing his mind and auditioning for Harron, which saw him become the director's choice to play the role.

The film rights to "American Psycho" were then acquired by Lionsgate Films in May 1998. Owing to the fact that the company was fully funding the production to the tune of $10m, they expressed a desire to have a more recognisable name in the lead, focusing on Leonardo DiCaprio, who had just achieved major success with "Titanic". At the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, "American Psycho" was announced by Lionsgate with DiCaprio playing Patrick Bateman, over the objections of the director, who was subsequently fired, with Oliver Stone brought in instead. However, efforts to rework the screenplay led to increasing creative problems, which ultimately saw DiCaprio vacate the role in favour of starring in "The Beach". Although Lionsgate attempted to persuade a number of actors to take the part, all declined, which led to the company, somewhat grudgingly, allowing Harron to cast Bale. The film achieved critical success, and ultimately became Bale's breakout role, establishing him as a leading man.

Answer: The Lovely Bones

The film rights to Alice Sebold's novel "The Lovely Bones" were initially obtained by the UK television station Channel 4, which planned to develop the film through its in-house production arm, Film4. However, in 2002, the rights became available again when Channel 4 closed Film4. While film studios were interested, the rights were ultimately purchased independently in 2005 by director Peter Jackson, who had recently completed his epic "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Jackson, alongside his partner Fran Walsh, developed a spec script for the project, which was used to raise funding to actually make the movie. With a script in place, production was scheduled to start in October 2007, with young Irish actress Saoirse Ronan cast as the film's main protagonist, Susie Salmon, and Ryan Gosling playing her father.

At the time of production, Ryan Gosling was an up-and-coming actor beginning to make a name for himself. However, aged just 27 at the time, he felt that he was too young to play the father of a 14-year old, but was convinced by Jackson and Walsh that hair and make-up would enable him to appear significantly older. However, in the period leading to the start of production, Gosling, without consulting the director, came to a conclusion about his character that saw him gain 60lb in mass, and grow a beard in order to appear older. When he reported to the set, Jackson and Walsh, deciding that he was ultimately not right for the part, elected to release him from the production, with Mark Wahlberg hired instead.

Answer: Bohemian Rhapsody

In September 2010, Brian May, the guitarist of the rock band Queen, revealed plans for a film about the group. Intended to cover the period up to the group's triumphant appearance at the 1985 Live Aid concert, the planned film was to be written by Peter Morgan, the screenwriter behind a number of biographical films, including "Frost/Nixon" and "The Queen", while Sacha Baron Cohen, the comedian responsible for various characters including Ali G and Borat, was attached to portray the Queen frontman, Freddie Mercury. While development of the film moved forward, with May and drummer Roger Taylor expressing approval of the idea of Baron Cohen portraying their bandmate, the remaining members had some reservations about the direction of the project, as they wanted to avoid harm to Freddie Mercury's legacy.

The reasons for the band's concerns came with ideas that Baron Cohen had about what the focus of the film should be - his take on the project was to focus primarily on Mercury as a "gritty, tell-all" story of the singer and his colourful life, whereas the band preferred the idea of something more PG rated about the group as a whole. The differences of opinion ultimately saw Baron Cohen depart the project in July 2013, while the film remained in development. The development period went on until early 2016, during which actor Ben Whishaw was attached to play the role. Eventually, in November 2016, an announcement was made that Rami Malek had been cast in the role, with the film, now bearing the title "Bohemian Rhapsody", after Queen's 1975 single of the same name, ultimately being released in October 2018.

Answer: Beverly Hills Cop

The film that ultimately became "Beverly Hills Cop" began life in 1977 as an idea by Paramount Pictures executive Don Simpson. Initially featuring a police officer from East Los Angeles transferring to the city of Beverly Hills, this was reworked into a detective from another part of the country ending up in the affluent area. The idea initially went no where until the success of the 1983 film "Flashdance", which gave Simpson, who produced that film, the clout to revisit his Beverly Hills idea. A rewrite was done to the existing screenplay, which put an emphasis on humour in the idea, which was accepted by the studio. However, when Sylvester Stallone was ultimately cast in the lead role, initially named Axel Foley, he undertook a series of rewrites himself that sought to remove much of the comedic tone of the film.

The rewrites did not go down well with Simpson and his partner, Jerry Bruckheimer, and they recruited writer Charles Posner to attempt to return it to a previous version, while at the same time retaining the character changes Stallone had put in. The writer decided that it was too difficult to try and do this, especially in the time required. As a result, two weeks prior to shooting beginning on the film, Stallone pulled out, which saw Simpson and Bruckheimer instead approach comedian Eddie Murphy. He accepted the role of Foley, and made a significant contribution to revising the screenplay into what ultimately became the final version, which was eventually completed on the first day of shooting.

Answer: Raiders of the Lost Ark

The concept of the character of Indiana Jones initially came to George Lucas in 1973, when he was reminded of the old 1930s serial films he had watched as a child. Although he had a passion for the idea of a B-movie type project featuring a daring archaeologist, he put it on the back burner to concentrate on developing his space opera project, which ultimately became "Star Wars". In May 1977, Lucas was on vacation in Hawaii with his friend Steven Spielberg - discussing their next planned projects, Lucas pitched his archaeologist idea, which Spielberg immediately took to. Recruiting screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan to help develop the idea, Lucas, through his production company, approached a number of studios for financing, with Paramount eventually coming up with a deal to provide the money, in return for Lucas retaining creative control. As a result, pre-production of what became "Raiders of the Lost Ark", produced by Lucas and directed by Spielberg, began in December 1979.

Lucas's plan for casting the lead was to recruit someone relatively unknown, who would be willing to sign a three-picture deal. While a number of actors were considered, Lucas's wife expressed a preference for Tom Selleck. At the time, Selleck's biggest role had been as private investigator Lance White in the TV series "The Rockford Files". However, CBS had completed work on a pilot episode for a proposed new series, "Magnum, P.I.", with Selleck in the lead role. Under contract to the show if it went to series, Lucas and Spielberg approached the network to ask for Selleck to be released for their film. Realizing the actor was in demand, CBS greenlit "Magnum, P.I." as a series, which forced Selleck to drop out of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" just three weeks before production was due to start. As a result, and despite some reservations from Lucas, Harrison Ford was approached and agreed to play Indiana Jones. Ironically, in June 1980, two US actors' unions called a strike that lasted for three months. As the film was being made in the UK, this would have allowed Selleck the time to make "Raiders of the Lost Ark" while still under contract for the TV show.