The Reader - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of The Reader or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to The Reader

[chad]

Before Kate Winslet accepted the role of Hanna, Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard and Naomi Watts were considered for the part.

[morris]

English film debut of Florian Bartholomäi, appearing as Michael's older brother, Thomas.

[ivan]

The film's original cinematographer was Roger Deakins. From September to October 2007, he shot scenes that didn't feature the character Hanna and shot all the sequences with Ralph Fiennes as the adult protagonist. After filming was shut down (to give Nicole Kidman, who had been cast as Hanna, time to finish filming Australia (2008) before joining the production), Deakins left to shoot Doubt (2008) and begin pre-production on A Serious Man (2009). Once Kidman withdrew from the film and was replaced by Kate Winslet, filming resumed in March 2008; the new cinematographer, Chris Menges, shot all of Winslet's scenes.

[jamie]

David Kross' mother was initially reluctant to let her son make the film as it meant 4 months out of school. He was only allowed to pursue the role if he passed his exams.

[eli]

Producers Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella both died before the completion of the movie. As the film was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, the Academy made an exception from their rules not to name more than three producers as nominees because of this rare circumstance. In the end the two producers Donna Gigliotti and Redmond Morris who took over duties were nominated as well as the posthumously honored Minghella and Pollack.

[chris]

Angelina Jolie was considered for the lead role.

[kim]

Stephen Daldry's third film - and the third time he landed a Best Director Oscar nomination.

[kyle]

In 2005, Kate Winslet appeared on the English TV comedy series Extras (2005) in Extras: Kate Winslet (2005) as a bawdy, irreverent version of "herself." In that guise, she made fun of actors who do movies about the Holocaust specifically to try to win Oscars, including a dig at her future The Reader (2008) costar Ralph Fiennes, who starred in Schindler's List (1993). Her "Kate Winslet" character denies that she is making a Holocaust movie for noble reasons like using her profile to keep the message alive about the Holocaust: "And I don't think we really need another film about the Holocaust, do we? It's like, how many have there been? You know, we get it - it was grim, move on. No, I'm doing it because I've noticed that if you do a film about the Holocaust - guaranteed Oscar! I've been nominated four times. Never won. The whole world is going 'why hasn't Winslet won one?'...That's it. That's why I'm doing it. Schindler's bloody List. The Pianist (2002). Oscars coming out of their arse." Three years later, Winslet made The Reader (in which she played a guard at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp) and did win an Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.

[jeffrey]

The Latin lines Michael quotes to Hanna are "Quo, quo scelesti ruitis? Aut cur dexteris / aptantur enses conditi?" These are the opening lines of Horace's 7th Epode, a short poem where he expresses outrage at the fact that his countrymen are still engaged in civil war. "Villains, where are you rushing to? Why are your hands / Grasping those swords that were sheathed?" (translation A.S. Kline). The Greek lines he quotes are the opening stanza of Sappho's 16th fragment: (transliterated) "Oi men ippeon stroton, oi de pesdon, / oi de naon phais' epi gan melainan / emmenai kalliston, ego de ken' ot- / to tis eratai". "Some say a host of horsemen, others of infantry, and others of ships, is the most beautiful thing on the dark earth: but I say, it is what you love." (translation Denys Page).

[bryan]

In the film version of The Reader, young Michael Berg's sickness is scarlet fever, while in the book he got hepatitis.

[liam]

Alexandra Maria Lara (playing young Ilana Mather) also appeared in Downfall (2004) together with Bruno Ganz. He played Adolf Hitler and she played Traudl Junge, his private secretary.

[oscar]

In the film version, when Michael was with his friends, swimming and Sophie came up from swimming and ask him "Are you alright", Michael suddenly stares and then get up and began to run as if to catch up somebody. This is because in the book he suddenly saw Hanna looking at him together with his friends.

[manuel]

When Michael is reading to Hanna: "She was dead, and past all help, or need of it.." and she begins to weep vehemently, he is reading from Chapter 71 of The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens.

[WillBruh]

Cars 2006

Lightning McQueen a hotshot rookie race car driven to succeed discovers that life is about the journey not the finish line when he finds himself unexpectedly detoured in the sleepy Route 66 town of Radiator Springs. On route across the country ...

Cars features exciting, humorous, light, feel good and semi serious style.

[kenzi]

Surfs Up 2007

Cody is a surfing penguin from Shiverpool who dreams of making it big and being like his idol Big Z. On his journey he discovers his talents are not all he thinks they are and he must learn to accept that their is more to surfing than fame and ...

Surfs Up features humorous, inspirational, entertaining, stylized and witty style.

[bessie]

World of Cars: Planes 2013

Dusty is a cropdusting plane who dreams of competing in a famous aerial race. The problem He is hopelessly afraid of heights. With the support of his mentor Skipper and a host of new friends Dusty sets off to make his dreams come true.

World of Cars: Planes features humorous, inspirational, entertaining, emotional and twists and turns style.

[thinkalot]

[Planes: Fire

[MarcoTix]

The Angry Birds Movie 2016

An island populated entirely by happy flightless birds or almost entirely. In this paradise Red a bird with a temper problem speedy Chuck and the volatile Bomb have always been outsiders. But when the island is visited by mysterious green ...

The Angry Birds Movie features entertaining, colourful, funny, humorous and buddy comedy style.

[scottalanmiller]

An Extremely Goofy Movie 2000

Its all extreme sports and a life of freedom as Max sets off for college -- but Goofy misses Max so much he loses his job and goes to finish college alongside Max and his friends. But as Goofy tries to get closer to Max both must go to the ...

An Extremely Goofy Movie features humorous, feel good, not serious, entertaining and touching style.