BELIEVE IT OR DON’T
25 INGMAR BERGMAN WAS A BOND FAN
Though he was known for his bleak Swedish dramas, director Ingmar Bergman liked to kick back with a Bond movie in his down time. According to Woody Allen, writing about the director in The New York Times, Bergman watched films before going to sleep that “didn’t make him think and would relax his anxiety”. Charming.
24 NOIR DIRECTOR OTTO PREMINGER PLAYED MR FREEZE
Long before Arnie suited up as Batman’s chilliest nemesis, legendary noir director Otto Preminger (Laura, Anatomy Of A Murder) sported crazy orange eyebrows and sickly purple body paint to play Mr. Freeze in the 1960s Batman TV series. He even had a freeze ray that wouldn’t look out of place in 2001: A Space Odyssey…
23 MICHAEL BAY IS RELATED TO LEONARD NIMOY
By marriage, anyway. Nimoy was married to the über-director’s cousin, Susan Bay, which made them cousin-in-laws. Hilariously, Bay approached Nimoy about voicing Sentinel Prime in Transformers: Dark Of The Moon by passing an offer along through his mother, who confirmed that Nimoy “might do it”.
22 CHRISTOPHER WALKEN ONCE WORKED IN A CIRCUS AS A LION TAMER
No wonder a relatively inexperienced Walken looked so unfazed while going head-to-head with Robert De Niro during a Russian roulette scene in (1978) - 20 years before, aged 15, he joined a travelling circus and worked as a lion tamer. Which, let’s face it, was probably not what Jerry Lewis had in to , and ), it might seem that eyeballing killer cats would be no big deal. Think again. This is a guy who loathes handguns and is scared of being in cars, who loves to dance (if you haven’t already, check out his moves in Spike Jonze’s ‘Weapon Of Choice’ music video for Fatboy Slim) and is a skilled chef. He’s a contradiction and an enigma - which is exactly why he still mesmerises cinema viewers and lions alike.
