Twelve Monkeys

Trivia

Towards the end of Twelve Monkeys there is a scene set in a movie theater. The film seen playing in the background of these shots is Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, and the scene that appears is that of Scottie and Madeleine in Big Basin Redwoods State Park where Madeleine looks at the growth rings of a felled redwood and traces back events in her past life as Carlotta Valdez ("here I was born... and here I died"). As well as obviously resonating with larger themes in Twelve Monkeys, this scene can also be considered Gilliam's tip of the hat to Chris Marker, whose La Jetée inspired Twelve Monkeys. La Jetée features images of tree rings in several museum scenes, and the connection between La Jetée and the scene from Vertigo is also observed explicitly by Marker in his 1982 documentary montage Sans Soleil.

Related Topics:
Alfred Hitchcock - Vertigo - Big Basin Redwoods State Park - Growth rings - Redwood - Carlotta Valdez - Chris Marker - La Jetée - Sans Soleil

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An additional irony can be seen in the scene in the movie theatre lobby, where Madeleine Stowe and Bruce Willis embrace. The irony in this is that, in the scene that was just shown from the movie Vertigo, an actor named James embraces a character named Madeleine, wheras here, a character named James embraces an actress named Madeleine.

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The British actor Simon Jones plays one of scientists who sends the Willis character back to the 90s. Jones played the time-travelling Arthur Dent in the venerable BBC production of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the final installment of which likewise concludes with the song What a Wonderful World as performed by Louis Armstrong. Jones has appeared in other Gilliam films.

Related Topics:
Simon Jones - BBC - Douglas Adams' - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong

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A "making of" documentary about the film, The Hamster Factor and Other Tales of Twelve Monkeys, was made by Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe.

Related Topics:
The Hamster Factor and Other Tales of Twelve Monkeys - Keith Fulton - Louis Pepe

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The story told by self-proclaimed time traveller John Titor has strong parallels with the story line of The Twelve Monkeys.

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The notion of a time machine that projects the traveller into the past in the nude (i.e., without any equipment) also appears in the Terminator movies and in David Drake's novel Birds of Prey.

Related Topics:
Terminator - David Drake - Birds of Prey

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