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Simon Cowell Worked On “The Shining!” Debra Winger IS “E.T.!” Wildest Movie Facts!

By johnrieber on January 4, 2015 • ( 6 )

Simon Cowell Was “Shining!” Debra Winger IS “E.T.!” Wild Movie Facts!

If you love movies like I do, then you will get a kick out of this obscure and fascinating movie trivia!

Yes, this is the face of “The Shining!”

Simon Cowell’s work with Stanley Kubrick is just one unique movie fact I have to share with you, thanks to:

Total Film’s “Believe It Or Don’t’s”!

The terrific British movie magazine “Total Film” always wows with great profiles, set visits and reviews of the best new movies and iflms showing on on DVD…and in the December issue, we get their list of the 25 wackiest film facts…here are a few to entice you:

Ingmar Bergman was a James Bond fan!

If you know this Swedish Director’s work, then the “Cries & Whsipers” Master is NOT an action Director…but as Woody Allen wrote in The New York Times, Bergman watched movies before going to bed that “didn’t make him think and would relax his anxiety!”

And Bond movies were among his favorites! Um, does that include “Die Another Day?”

And here is the trivia you’ve been dying to know:

Simon Cowell – yes, SIMON COWELL – polished Jack Nicholson’s Ax in “The Shining!”

This is fascinating to me…as a young man breaking into show business, Cowell was a “runner” at Elstree Studios outside London…

As part of his job, Cowell was assigned to work on “The Shining”…according to his half-brother Tony:

“I remember him saying he used to clean Jack Nicholson’s ax in between takes for the most famous scenes!”

“He took great pride in it. You could see you face in it, it was so shiny!”

So that was Simon Cowell handling Jack’s Ax between takes for the “Here’s Johnny!” scene…and we know how he turned out the way he did…

And here is some trivia about one of the most beloved films of all time:

Oscar-winning Actress Debra Winger was the voice of “E.T.!”

Debra Winger was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars in the early ’80’s, thanks to such smash hits as “Terms Of Endearment”, Urban Cowboy” and “An Officer And A Gentleman.”

But she was also the voice of “E.T.!”

Here is what she told the magazine:

“Steven Spielberg asked me to record a few sentences – I went in for like one day, maybe two, to do these recordings. I’ve never seen the movie, so I don’t know what he used…well. I know about ‘phone home’ and all that…”

Sound effects creator Ben Burtt did the rest, mixing Winger’s lines with the sounds of raccoons, horses and otters! And with that, he turned a beautiful Actress into THIS!

There are 22 more great pieces of somewhat “british-centric” movie trivia, but tons of fun – so check it out – Total Film is a great magazine!

X-Rated Oscar!

And speaking of movie trivia, how about this: there has been an X-rated film that won the Academy Award for Best Picture of the year! Read all about Oscar’s x-rated infatuation by clicking on my story here:

https://johnrieber.com/2013/05/07/x-rated-butter-cowboys-droogs-oscars-x-flirtation/

And remember that Ingmar Bergman 007 trivia? Well, did you know that Alice Cooper wrote and performed a Bond theme song?

Alice Cooper’s Censored Bond Theme!

That’s right, Alice Cooper recorded the theme for “The Man With The Golden Gun” but it was rejected! That’s just a little bit of Bond theme trivia, and you can ready more by clicking on here:

https://johnrieber.com/2014/12/04/new-james-bond-film-spectre-all-your-bond-trivia-worst-theme-songs/

Let me know what your favorite bit of trivia is!