Short Cuts - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Short Cuts or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Short Cuts

[tamara]

Jennifer Beals was cast in the film, but her character was cut from the script during pre-production.

[clayton]

The film cast includes four Oscar winners: Jack Lemmon, Tim Robbins, Frances McDormand, and Julianne Moore; and eight Oscar nominees: Buck Henry, Bruce Davison, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Anne Archer, Robert Downey Jr., Jennifer Jason Leigh and Huey Lewis.

[jessica]

One scene is is similar to David Osborne's novel "Open Season" from 1974. The scene where Stuart (Fred Ward) and his two buddies, Gordon (Buck Henry) and Vern (Huey Lewis), harass Doreen (Lily Tomlin) at the breakfast diner before they head out on their fishing trip, plays almost exactly like a short chapter in that novel. Three good buddies are heading out on a hunting trip, and harass a young, sexy waitress at the diner where they went for a breakfast stop. Not only the way the characters interact is similar, even the way the friends in this film are dressed, and how they joke with one another, is exactly like Osborne wrote it. Thematically, the novel "Open Season" is linked to this film, in that it is a harsh critique of a perverted "American way of life". However, the segment is based on Carver's short story "They're Not Your Husband," published in 1973.

[leo]

One of two 1993 releases featuring Chris Penn and Michael Beach. The other being True Romance (1993).

[darrell]

Reviews from Radio Times and Time Out Film Guides have stated, "But the real star is Altman", due to his handling of the large ensemble cast, plus, of course, his direction of Short Cuts (1993).

[linda]

The only film that year to be Oscar nominated for Best Director, but not Best Picture.

[carla]

Madeleine Stowe turned down the part later taken by Julianne Moore.

[gabriel]

The drowned girl is reminiscent of Ophelia painted by Sir John Everett Millais, which is a common phenomenon in film aesthetics.

[bernice]

Body count: four.

[michele]

Annie Ross and Lori Singer's segment is a Robert Altman invention, and had no connection to anything Raymond Carver had written. But the tough as nails blues singer who ignores her own daughters repeated cries for help; and finally induces her into suicide through her callusness, is a very compelling story thread nonetheless; one that fits into Carver's overall themes of alienation and tragedy in the movie.

[lena]

One of two 1993 films featuring Matthew Modine and Lily Tomlin as part of a large ensemble cast. The other being And the Band Played On (1993).

[violet]

In preparation for her role as a phone-sex operator in the film, Leigh spent time in actual phone-sex offices researching her role, during which time she claims to have read the call logs and recognized some prominent names, including two film directors she personally knew.

[amber]

Anne Archer and Tim Robbins have worked with director Adrian Lyne. Archer starred in Fatal Attraction (1987), and Robbins starred in Jacob's Ladder (1990).

[scarlett]

This film was released a year after Chaplin (1992), which also starred Robert Downey, Jr. Both have large ensemble casts.