1. The Shawshank Redemption
   Forrest Gump
   Titanic
2. Gran Torino
   Fight Club
   One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

John Travolta was actually the first choice to play Forrest but turned down the role. Bill Murray was also considered. Winston Groom, the author of the novel that the script was sourced from, envisioned that John Goodman would be the perfect Gump.

1. Gran Torino
   The Godfather
   There Will Be Blood
2. A Beautiful Mind
   City of God
   American Beauty

Throughout the filming of The Godfather, Marlon Brando used cue cards to remember his lines. One of the most famous lines from the movie was actually improvised, the line where Peter Clemenza says, "leave the gun, take the cannoli." The horse's head in the film is entirely real.

1. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
   Silver Linings Playbook
   Crash
2. The Wrestler
   The Pursuit of Happyness
   The Godfather: Part II

Ken Kesey was initially involved in the film adaptation of his 1962 novel, he left production after two short weeks and took a lawsuit out against the film's producers. He had multiple grievances against the film, most notably that he wanted Gene Hackman, not Jack Nicholson, to play Randle McMurphy.

1. Oldboy
   Amadeus
   Interstellar
2. Downfall
   Raging Bull
   Malena

Mark Hamill wanted the movie's lead in Amadeus, but the director wouldn't let him audition. He thought people wouldn't believe that Luke Spacewalker as Mozart. For the film, Tom Hulce practiced piano for four to five hours a day in order to look believable on camera. He also spent a month with a piano teacher before they started filming.

1. On the Waterfront
   War Horse
   Being John Malkovich
2. A Clockwork Orange
   The Departed
   A Very Long Engagement

Kaufman said that John Malkovich was the only person that could play the lead actor, although the studio envisioned someone else as the lead role, Tom Cruise. When Malkovich first read the script he wondered if he had wronged Kaufman in the past, they hadn't met at that point yet, he said he wouldn't mind producing or directing it, but that he should find a different actor initially.

1. Catch Me If You Can
   The Game
   21 Grams
2. Collateral
   Silver Linings Playbook
   The Green Mile

According to the real Frank Abagnale Jr., the individual that Catch Me If You Can is based, approximately 80% of the movie is true. The film shows Frank on FBI's Most Wanted list but in real life he didn't make the list, it is reserved for violent criminals. To get a sloppy kiss out of Amy Adams, Steven Spielberg told her to pretend she was starving to death and eating a cheeseburger.

1. American Beauty
   American History X
   The Green Mile
2. Requiem for a Dream
   Schindler's List
   Amadeus

In American Beauty, the scene where Kevin Spacey is stoned in his car singing to "American Woman," he improvised the entire thing. Alan Ball, the screenwriter was sitting at the World Trade Center Plaza when he saw a paper bag floating in the wind and was inspired to write the film.

1. Goodfellas
   Leon: The Professional
   On the Waterfront
2. Big Fish
   Batman
   Taxi Driver

The real-life Henry Hill from the movie, Goodfellas had too long of a criminal past to fit the entire thing into a movie. The movie's famously huge "fuck" count was mostly improvised, the script only called for the word to be used 70 times but much of the dialogue was improvised during shooting, so the expletives piled up. It is actually used closer to 300 times in this film.

1. Gran Torino
   Raging Bull
   Scarface
2. Malena
   Goodfellas
   Leon: The Professional

During rehearsals of Scarface, Al Pacino burned his hand on the barrel of a prop machine gun that has just fired 30 rounds. He was out of commission for two weeks. The idea to remake the 1932 "Scarface" was Pacino's. He saw the classic crime drama at a revival screening in LA and told producer Martin Bregman that he thought he should star in an updated version.

1. Eyes Wide Shut
   Good Will Hunting
   Mulholland Dr.
2. Little Miss Sunshine
   Big Fish
   On the Waterfront

Robin Williams and Matt Damon used to joke around in-character in between takes in Good Will Hunting, resulting in many of the lines between the two characters being totally improvised. The scene where Matt Damon was in bed with Minnie Driver, he is actually asleep. Because he was producing, writing, and starring in Good Will Hunting, he was justifiably exhausted.

1. Gangs of New York
   A Seperation
   The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel
   American History X
   No Country for Old Men

In The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Brad Pitt says it took 5 hours each day to complete the make-up that was required for the role. The film began development in 1994. David Fincher also directed Brad Pitt in 'Fight Club.' They actually acknowledge this film when Benjamin's father asks about "the house on Paper Street."

1. Slumdog Millionaire
   Lost in Translation
   Léon: The Professional
2. Chinatown
   A Clockwork Orange
   The Dark Knight

In Léon: The Professional, Natalie Portman's parents were totally against her playing Mathilda. Her parents thought it was way too complicated of a role for an 11-year old. Not only would Natalie have to deal with a broken home and violence, but she'd have to deal with the unwanted sexualization of a young girl. After Portman read the script, though, she was moved to tears and knew she had to play the role. She screamed and cried and told her parents they were ruining her life until they let her play the role.

1. Straw Dogs
   Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
   Modern Times
2. American Gangster
   Leon: The Professional
   City of God

The film American Gangster went through a number of titles, directors, and acting duos throughout its development process. It was almost called Tru Blu and would have been directed by Brian De Palma or Antoine Fuqua (from Training Day) and could have starred Benicio Del Toro and Will Smith in lead roles. The crowd at Muhammad Ali's fight sequence is made up of 650 extras and 1500 inflatable dummies.

1. Gone Girl
   Cast Away
   12 Angry Men
2. A Streetcar named Desire
   The Truman Show
   Saving Private Ryan

The screenwriter for the film Cast Away, stranded himself on an island so that he could research what it would actually be like. William Broyles Jr. spent several days alone in Mexico's Sea of Cortex trying to fend for himself. He speared and ate stingrays, learned how to open a coconut, befriended a washed-up Wilson-brand volleyball, and tried to make a fire, all of which ended up in the movie.

1. A Beautiful Mind
   The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
   The King's Speech
2. Big Fish
   Black Swan
   Casablanca

The King's speech, as it was delivered in the movie, is the only two-thirds of the original. The original speech was 407 words; the movie version only has 269. Four sentences of the speech were deleted and four sentences were shortened. At the age of 73, David Seidler became the oldest person to ever win the Best Original Screenplay Academy Award (Oscar) for this film.