Fan of October Sky or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to October Sky
October Sky - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
In the mining disaster scene (at night, in the rain), the woman in front of the crowd, consoling her son, is local actress Jennifer Mitts, who lives in Chattanooga. She also starred as the lead character in Necking, a low-budget vampire/werewolf film, that was never released. She minored in theater at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in the early 1990s.
October Sky - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Homer Hickam served six years in Vietnam (1964-1970) as a Captain of the Fourth Infantry Division. He even received two awards: Army Commendation Medal and a Bronze Star, both notable awards for heroic acts and services.
October Sky - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
In actuality, Homer H. Hickam Jr. and the other Rocket Boys did not steal the railroad lines to finance their rockets.
October Sky - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
It's true that many Americans were concerned about the Russians launching Sputnik into Earth orbit, mainly because they had beaten them into space, which fueled the Americans' determination to beat them to the Moon.
October Sky - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
A controversy was held when a porn filmmaker made a porn spoof of this film. The film was immediately deleted and doesn't exist now.
October Sky - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The Soviet satellite, Sputnik, launched on 4 October 1957, is generally mispronounced in the west. Sputnik is pronounced "Spoot-nick" in the Soviet Union.
October Sky - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
17-year-old Jake Gyllenhaal had to receive on-set tutoring during filming as he was technically still a high school student.
October Sky - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
In the beginning of the movie they talk about the rivalry between their football team and that of Welch. Welch was a coal mining town in West Virginia as well and eventually the home of Jeanette Walls who wrote the book The Glass Castle about her life.
October Sky - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
According to the DVD commentary, the final rocket launched in the film was not actually called "Miss Riley" like it is in the film, but had another "Auk" name, like their other rockets. In actuality, Miss Riley was well enough to attend this launch in real life. Homer Hickam says on the commentary, however, that he wishes he had given the rocket that name in real life.
October Sky - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
This is the first of three times that Jake Gyllenhaal and Chris Cooper have worked together. They would collaborate again on Jarhead (2005) and Demolition (2015).
October Sky - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Many of the actors in the movie would go on to appear in Spider-Man films. Jake Gyllenhaal played Mysterio in Spider-Man Far From Home (2019), Chris Cooper played the ailing Norman Osborne in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Elya Baskin played landlord Mr. Ditkovitch in Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007).
October Sky - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Leon Bolden says he flew with the "Red Tails" in WWII. The "Red Tails" were the 332nd Fighter Group, an all African American unit better known as the "Tuskegee Airmen".
October Sky - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The author wished the movie to be called "Rocket Boys," like the book it's based on, but the studio believed that title would not sell well. The compromise title "October Sky" works on two levels: it's the month when the hero is first inspired by Sputnik flying overhead, and it is an anagram of "Rocket Boys".
October Sky - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
On the commentary, one of Homer Hickam's regrets about the movie is that it does not show the more intellectual side of his father. He claims that his father was regularly reading and owned many books.
October Sky - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Two of the real-life rocket boys, Sherman Siers and Jimmie O'Dell Carroll were combined into one character named Sherman O'Dell.
October Sky - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Although known as Virginia Tech since the early 1990's, at the time the movie takes place, the university was known as VPI.
October Sky - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Filming was expected to wrap on May 10, 1998, but was completed on April 30, eleven days ahead of schedule.
October Sky - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
In real life and in the novel "Rocket Boys," Quentin Wilson was a traditionally handsome looking boy, whereas Homer Hickam looked like the stereotypical "nerd" that the film's Quentin is made to look like. Their physical appearances were switched due to the casting of then-teen heartthrob Jake Gyllenhaal.
October Sky - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
It is said that, after seeing this film, Amazon head Jeff Bezos became interested in investing in a space company.
October Sky - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
© DiscussIMDB, All rights reserved. DiscussIMDB is not affiliated with IMDb
