The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

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

[caroline]

In interviews, writer and director Jim Sharman suggested that "Time Warp" has political connotations in its lyrics. ("a jump to the left, and then a step to the right") It remains unclear where the "pelvic thrust" fits into the theory.

[willard]

Writer and director Jim Sharman said "The Dawning of the Age of Aquarius" from Hair, and Riff bursting in and proclaiming "Frank-N-Furter, it's all over!" were like book-ends on a particular time period when rock and roll musicals (Hair (1979), Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), Tommy (1975), et cetera) were thriving on stage and film.

[phyllis]

Columbia and Magenta were originally going to be one character instead of two separate characters.

[nora]

The movies referenced in the opening number, "Science Fiction, Double Feature", are: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Flash Gordon (multi-film franchise), The Invisible Man (1933), King Kong (1933), It Came from Outer Space (1953), Doctor X (1932), Forbidden Planet (1956), Tarantula (1955), Invasion of the Triffids (1963), Curse of the Demon (1957), and When Worlds Collide (1951).

[amber]

In the opening wedding scene, the minister is Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the "old man" to his left is Riff Raff, and the "wife" to his right is Magenta. The spinster who joins them inside the church is Columbia. They are parodying the famous American Gothic painting, which appears in the castle later on.

[riley]

Tim Curry, Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, and Nell Campbell reprised the same roles here that they played in the original stage production. Curry and O'Brien also played the same roles on Broadway.

[kristen]

The South Africa Board of Censors banned the movie several weeks after release. By then, it had been seen by about 250,000 people and developed a strong cult following.

[ray]

Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon felt unwell during production, due to this movie being filmed in the winter of 1974. Bostwick was sick with a cold and Sarandon was sick with pneumonia.

[tammy]

As Brad and Janet drive in the rain before reaching the castle, the radio is playing Richard Nixon's resignation speech, delivered August 8, 1974.

[russell]

A stunt double was used in the motorcycle scenes except for the close-ups; Meat Loaf was pushed in a wheelchair for those scenes.

[addison]

Tim Curry has been described as quite the opposite of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, very thoughtful and soft-spoken. His boisterous projecting mannerisms and booming voice are part of the inner demons that needed to be brought out of him for his many dynamic acting roles throughout his career. For this movie, the character of Frank really came to fruition when Tim began wearing the high-heeled shoes. Writer and director Jim Sharman said he was "the man every woman wanted to be and the woman every man wanted to be."

[eli]

According to Richard O'Brien, it was actually Riff Raff who did most of the work on Rocky Horror. Riff's line "Everything is in readiness, master. We merely await your... word". is pretty clearly a stab at Dr. Frank-N-Furter.

[frederick]

The final number, "Super Heroes", is mostly on U.K.-exclusive prints of this movie, though it has shown up on some American prints.

[francisco]

The movie is full of symbols of classic movie companies. The shield the griffin holds represents Warner Brothers. The eagle in the hall represents Republic. The lightning bolt on the flag represents the old R.K.O. symbol; the radio tower at the end is also R.K.O. The character "Columbia" represents not only the movie company of the same name, but the symbol also, complete with short hair. The large "Atlas" illuminated painting in the grand bed-chamber is the symbol of Anglo-Amalgamated Productions. The large snarling cat in the hall is an MGM lion reference. The lighted globe at the end is the symbol of Universal Pictures. The gong represents the J. Arthur Rank Organisation, whose movies opened with a huge gong being struck. Columbia wears Mickey Mouse ears in the scenes in the bedroom with Magenta, a Disney reference.

[manuel]

Most of the actors and actresses weren't told about the prop corpse of Eddie under the dining room tablecloth. When it was revealed during filming, their looks of horror are genuine. The only three who knew were Tim Curry, Richard O'Brien, and Meat Loaf, who had to model the corpse.

[miriam]

After forty years of theatrical screenings and television airings, this movie made its premium movie network debut on HBO and Cinemax's catalogues in 2015.

[janice]

This movie was originally recorded in mono. When Twentieth Century Fox finally decided to release it to home video in 1990, the songs in the movie were re-dubbed using the stereo versions from the soundtrack release (a session singer was used in the studio version for Rocky Horror's vocals; Trevor White re-dubbed them for this movie). Rocky Horror's vocals are different on "Rose Tint My World", and other subtle differences are noticeable to fans who have seen the theatrical release repeatedly, especially because the words didn't match to the mouths of the actors and actresses. The original English mono sound was used as an option for the 2000 DVD release (with Trevor White as the voice of Rocky Horror on all songs), along with an English 5.1 Surround mix (using the mono sound and White's vocals) and a commentary track by Richard O'Brien and Patricia Quinn.

[gabriel]

"The Time Warp" was originally written for the stage version to fill space. The original production was only 40 minutes long.

[alyssa]

The budget for the costumes was $1,600, far more than the stage production budget, but having to double up on costumes for filming was expensive.