A lot goes into making an Oscar-winning film: a great storyline, talented ensemble , and a director who knows what they’re doing.
There are also tiny details that play a BIG role in a film. This includes foreshadowing, clever easter eggs , and so much more.
So without further adieu, here are 18 details in Oscar-winning movies that fans likely missed.
1. *The Curious Case of Benjamin Button*
Even curious fans didn’t catch this. Since Benjamin recalls in the story that he can’t remember the name of the woman who taught him how to play piano, her tombstone at the funeral service is blank .
2. *The Wizard of Oz*
The scarecrow came prepared when he and the crew set off to go kill the Witch of the West. That’s because he’s shown holding a gun . The cowardly lion would never!
3. *The Little Mermaid*
Disney is known for leaving easter eggs in its films. They did so in this Disney classic by having the King and his advisor from Cinderella make a cameo during the wedding scene between Prince Eric and Ursula.
4. *The Silence of the Lambs*
Ever wondered why characters talk directly into a camera when talking to Clarice?
Director Jonathan Demme explained that this was done so that the audience would experience Clarice’s POV and better relate to her.
5. *Toy Story*
The license plate on Andy’s mom’s van is one easter egg that you’ll find in almost every single Pixar movie.
It’s a huge nod to the classroom number for the first-year graphic design and character animation class at the California Institute of the Arts.
6. *Titanic*
In addition to Rose and Jack, the movie chronicled the life of chief baker Charles Joughin. He was shown drinking alcohol before the ship sank in the water. This was a true fact , and one that saved his life as the alcohol kept his body warm.
7. *Little Women*
It’s no secret that Laurie and Jo had a special bond in the film. They were so close, in fact, that they swapped articles of clothing .
This notably includes vests and scarves. If only they ended up together; they would’ve saved so much money!
8. *Toy Story 2*
The Pixar franchise, which has won numerous Oscar awards, almost lost Toy Story 2 for good.
That means that what viewers didn’t see the entirety of the original version. This all happened due to one line of code.
“First, Woody’s hat disappeared. Then his boots. Then he disappeared entirely,” recalled Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull in his book, Creativity Inc.
“Whole sequences—poof!—were deleted from the drive,” he added .
Thankfully, Galyn Susman, Toy Story 2’s supervising technical director, saved the day since she kept a file of the film at home.
Although there was work missing, it wasn’t nearly as bad as losing everything.
9. *Moonlight*
This film was incredibly poetic. This was shown in many ways, including how adult Chiron sits facing the front door of the diner.
This ame from what Mahershala Ali’s character, Juan, told him as a kid: “You can’t sit with your back to the door…How you gon’ know if someone creeping’ up on you?”
10. *Gravity*
The director added ) an inside joke in CGI form by making it so CGI crew members with a movie camera and boom mic were added to reflect off George Clooney’s helmet visor. This made it look like the film really was filmed in space.
11. *Fargo*
The timing was extremely spot-on in this movie — in more ways than one. When Carl says , “30 minutes, Jerry we wrap this thing up,” there are exactly 30 minutes left of the film.
12. *Finding Nemo*
If fans waited to see the credits, they’d see Mike Wazowski from Monster’s Ink snorkeling by during the credits. It just goes to show that just because a movie ends, doesn’t mean that it’s really over!
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13. *Jungle Book*
The attention-to-detail in the film made the animals look so realistic – and won the film several Oscars.
According to Insider , the film used facial rigging to make all 70 different animals look super realistic. They even studied animals movements for this.
14. *Forrest Gump*
When Forrest is at war, there is something interesting written on top of his best friend’s Bubba’s, helmet.
It says, “I’d rather be shrimping” on top, which is a reference to the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.
15. *The Great Gatsby*
In the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, he writes that “for half a minute there wasn’t a sound” between Jay and Daisy looking at one another. This same amount of time of them looking at one another takes place in the film.
16. *Jojo Rabbit*
While Hitler is a real person, he was only an imaginary friend to Jojo. This was shown by the fact that he imagined Hitler acting the opposite way Hitler did in real life i.e. a smoker and meat-eater.
17. *Mad Max: Fury Road*
One of the best parts of the film was definitely Nux’s character. However, fans probably didn’t notice that his body paint comes off slowly as he regained more and more of his humanity.
18. *The Sound of Music*
If you look close in the background at the beginning of the film, you’ll see that the real Maria Von Trapp was behind Julie Andrews. She was the stepmother and matriarch of the Trapp Family Singers.