10 Movie Mistakes That Became Canon
When movie "mistakes" get legitimised one way or another.
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00:00 Who among us doesn't love spotting a totally ridiculous mistake in a movie?
00:05 Filmmaking is so damn hard that it's frankly impressive that there aren't more mistakes
00:09 in most films.
00:10 Yet every so often a mistake will emerge that, for one reason or another, transitions into
00:15 canon.
00:16 And with that in mind, I'm Josh from WhatCulture.com and these are 10 Movie Mistakes That Became
00:19 Canon.
00:20 10.
00:21 Mrs. TV Doesn't Know Her Music - Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
00:25 An oft-cited "mistake" in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory occurs when Willy Wonka
00:29 himself plays a tune on the keyboard to open the door to his chocolate room.
00:33 A musical piece which Mrs. TV confidently identifies as a Rachmaninoff.
00:39 But as it turns out, Wonka wasn't actually playing a Rachmaninoff composition at all,
00:42 but rather Mozart's overture to The Marriage of Figaro.
00:45 It's a gaffe that surely flew over the heads of most young viewers, myself included, though
00:50 some adults familiar with classical music have often pointed out the supposed error.
00:55 Yet on the film's DVD commentary, it was actually clarified that this wasn't really
00:59 a mistake at all.
01:00 It was simply intended to demonstrate Mrs. TV's know-it-all personality, that she's
01:04 not nearly as smart and worldly as she evidently thinks she is.
01:08 Ironically, it also ends up making those who point it out as a mistake seem a little overconfident
01:13 in their own powers of observation, given that they missed that it was actually supposed
01:17 to indicate this about the character.
01:19 Though it's been parroted as a mistake for literally decades at this point, those in
01:23 the know have made it abundantly clear that this character is the ignorant one, not author-screenwriter
01:28 Roald Dahl.
01:29 Number 9 - Rocky's oversized robe
01:32 You'd be forgiven for letting out a little chuckle when you first see Rocky Balboa in
01:36 his distinctive red boxing robe at the end of Rocky, ahead of his clash with heavyweight
01:41 boxing world champion Apollo Creed.
01:43 The robe's clearly way too big for star Sylvester Stallone, and gives the impression
01:48 of someone basically playing dress-up in their dad's gear.
01:51 And as it turns out, this was a legitimate error on the part of the film's costume
01:55 department, with an oversized robe accidentally being delivered to set.
01:59 Without any backup costume or any means to get it altered before shooting, Stallone made
02:02 the executive decision to work the wardrobe malfunction into the plot, resulting in a
02:07 cute little moment when Rocky asks Adrian, "You don't think this robe looks too baggy,
02:11 you know?"
02:12 Ultimately though, it only enhances Rocky's status as the underestimated underdog.
02:15 I mean, if this guy doesn't even have a robe that fits him, how could he possibly
02:19 go the distance against Apollo Creed?
02:22 Sometimes the happiest accidents end up creating the most organic movie moments.
02:26 Number 8 - The Overlook Hotel's impossible geography
02:29 Stanley Kubrick maintains a reputation as one of the most meticulous and detail-orientated
02:35 filmmakers who has ever lived, such that any notable "mistakes" in his films are more
02:39 often than not entirely intentional, well-thought-out decisions.
02:43 Case in point, many have pointed out over the years that the iconic Overlook Hotel in
02:47 The Shining doesn't make much sense in terms of spatial geography.
02:51 We get considerable glimpses of the hotel's layout throughout the horror classic, yet
02:55 anyone who actually tries to map the Overlook will soon realise that, as seen in the film,
02:59 there are doors that can't feasibly lead anywhere.
03:02 In the hands of a lesser filmmaker, this might seem like a colossal oversight, but coming
03:07 from the pathologically fastidious Kubrick, it's probably unlikely that it's a gaffe.
03:12 Though Kubrick didn't ever confirm this himself during his lifetime, it is largely
03:16 accepted among fans now that he chose to intentionally present the Overlook as incoherent and disorientating
03:23 to further generate a mood of eeriness and uncertainty.
03:25 Number 7 - Simon Skinner Breaks the Fourth Wall - Hot Fuzz
03:29 It's simply a matter of practicality that filmmakers can't catch every single mistake
03:33 during shooting.
03:34 And in the case of Hot Fuzz, director Edgar Wright didn't notice that the great Timothy
03:38 Dalton briefly eyeballed the camera during one scene.
03:42 When Dalton's smug villain Simon Skinner proposes a toast to the newly dead Martin
03:46 and Eve, for a few fractions of a second his eyes actually dart into the sightline of the
03:51 camera lens, ensuring that he locks fleeting eyes with the audience.
03:55 On the film's DVD commentary, Wright pointed this out and added that he originally considered
04:00 using visual effects to correct Dalton's gaze, but ultimately decided that it would
04:04 be funnier to turn it into a meta moment instead.
04:07 And so Wright had his sound team add the sound of a cash register clinking in the background
04:11 to draw greater attention to it.
04:13 And considering that Skinner is basically outing himself as a villain throughout the
04:17 entire scene, it is pretty hilarious - if initially unintended - that he basically ends
04:22 up winking at the audience for a tiny sliver of screen time.
04:25 Number 6 - All the Editing "Mistakes" - Shutter Island
04:28 Shutter Island is easily one of Martin Scorsese's most mainstream-skewing movies, if not his
04:33 absolute most.
04:34 So it tracks that it's also this film that's been put under the most scrutiny for being
04:38 filled with so-called mistakes.
04:40 In fact, also many armchair continuity supervisors online have called the film out for its uncharacteristically
04:46 rough editing, most often pointing out the sequence where US Marshals Teddy and Chuck
04:51 interview a patient at Ashcliff Hospital, Bridget Kearns.
04:54 In one shot, Kearns is seen drinking a cup of water, except there's no glass in her
04:58 hand if you look closely.
05:00 Yet in the next shot, it is actually visible.
05:03 Even if you very generously assume that Scorsese was going to CGI the glass into the shot later
05:07 on for some reason, isn't it far more plausible that this was a case of a master filmmaker
05:13 collaborating with his equally masterful editor - of more than 50 years by the way - to straight
05:18 up screw with the audience?
05:20 Considering that there are other strange editing and continuity choices through the film, it
05:24 was clearly a case of Scorsese trying to keep audiences on their toes while approximating
05:29 Teddy's own slipping sanity.
05:31 Number 5 - The Talkative Extra - Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home
05:34 Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home is just one hell of a wild movie, revolving around the
05:39 Enterprise's crew travelling back through time to 1986 San Francisco.
05:43 The characters are all portioned off into their own respective subplots with Uhura and
05:47 Chekov being tasked with finding a nuclear reactor that will let them return to the 23rd
05:52 century.
05:53 And it's at this point we cue a hilarious skit where the duo start asking random locals
05:57 how they can locate the nuclear vessels.
06:00 Though the extras in the area were under strict instructions not to speak to the pair but
06:04 simply keep walking, one extra evidently didn't get the memo.
06:08 This extra, Leila Saracalo, decided to shoot her shot in the moment, telling the pair "I
06:13 don't know if I know the answer to that.
06:15 I think it's across the bay, in Alameda."
06:17 And if you look closely at the actors in this scene, you can definitely see their genuine
06:21 surprise at her response.
06:23 Yet ever the pros, they managed to keep in character with the response themselves.
06:26 Ultimately, director Lennon Nimoy liked this contribution, and so the small but memorable
06:31 interaction was actually kept in the film.
06:33 4.
06:34 The Anachronistic Period Detail - The Village
06:37 M. Night Shyamalan's wildly divisive The Village was dinged for many things upon release,
06:41 and for anyone paying attention while they were watching it the first time, they might
06:45 have had a few criticisms about the production and costume design.
06:48 See, while viewing it without any prior knowledge of its inevitable plot twist, you might be
06:52 a bit mystified by the noticeably contemporary buildings built from materials only used since
06:58 the 1950s, despite the film itself allegedly being set in a 19th century village.
07:04 Furthermore, many items of clothing worn throughout by the commune's characters shouldn't
07:08 have existed until around 1970, and during the first hour of the movie, you'd be forgiven
07:13 for just thinking that Shyamalan simply got lazy where the finer details were concerned.
07:18 Yet that was all proven hilariously, if bafflingly wrong in the third act, when we learn that
07:23 the village itself actually exists within the present day, providing a plausible reason
07:27 for the period-inaccurate buildings and clothes.
07:31 3.
07:32 Joel Can't Shoot Arrows - Adam's Family Values
07:34 The Adam's Family Values is a stone-cold masterpiece of a comedy sequel, and in recent
07:39 years seems to finally be getting its due.
07:42 Now admittedly, not everything in the shoot went quite according to plan, though in this
07:46 case it did end up only making one scene that much funnier.
07:50 See, the film features a legendary subplot in which Wednesday and Pugsley are sent to
07:54 a chirpy summer camp, where Wednesday meets a similarly unenthusiastic outcast called
07:59 Joel Glicker.
08:00 Among the many camp activities the trio are forced to participate in, they're made to
08:04 shoot arrows, resulting in Joel growing frustrated as he struggles to load and fire his arrow,
08:09 instead of just throwing it on the ground.
08:12 Now this throwing it on the ground wasn't part of the initial script however, as the
08:15 actor was apparently not much of a practically-minded kid either, and couldn't load the arrow
08:21 for real, and amidst his struggle got legitimately annoyed and just threw it on the ground.
08:26 This apparently generated uproarious laughter on the set, enough that director Barry Sonnenfeld
08:30 decided to use it in the film.
08:32 2.
08:33 Lando Mispronounces Han's Name - Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back
08:36 For literally more than 40 years at this point, Star Wars fans have wondered why Lando Calrissian
08:42 just can't seem to pronounce his uneasy pal Han Solo's name correctly.
08:46 Which by the way I've since learned, I've also been doing my entire life.
08:50 See, in The Empire Strikes Back, Lando pronounces Han as if to rhyme with "can", no matter
08:55 that Han himself pronounces it to rhyme with "none" essentially.
09:00 Now many at the time simply pawned it off as actor Billy Dee Williams offering up his
09:03 own eccentric interpretation of the name, and because Empire was directed by Irvin Kershner
09:08 rather than George Lucas, there perhaps wasn't the same impetus to correct it.
09:12 But nearly four decades on, fans finally had the pronunciation error fully canonised in
09:18 Solo a Star Wars Story.
09:19 See, in this prequel Han and Lando meet for the first time during a game of sabacc, where
09:24 Lando mocks Han's incorrect pronunciation of the name.
09:27 But moments later, Lando then gets Han's name wrong himself.
09:31 Which of course goes commented on.
09:33 It's a cute little moment that demonstrates the origin of Lando's weird pronunciation
09:37 and his ongoing refusal to say it right.
09:40 Which again, I can totally vibe with.
09:42 1.
09:43 Hal's Incorrect Chess Play - 2001 A Space Odyssey
09:47 Throughout the years, chess fans have periodically pointed out to an alleged mistake when Dr.
09:51 Frank Poole plays the Discovery 1 sentient computer Hal 9000 at chess in Stanley Kubrick's
09:57 2001 A Space Odyssey.
09:59 In the scene, Hal wins by persuading Poole to resign the game after pointing out his
10:03 future moves.
10:04 But if you're much of a chess player, which admittedly I definitely am not, you might
10:08 have noticed that Hal actually describes an incorrect set of moves.
10:12 Hal says "Queen to Bishop 3" when he should have said "Queen to Bishop 6".
10:16 Yet the latter move would have allowed Poole to stay in the game a little longer.
10:20 Now is it easy to believe that Kubrick, himself an avid chess player, didn't think fellow
10:25 chess lovers would notice, or is it more likely that he included Hal's error intentionally?
10:30 After all, it's easy to interpret Hal's mistake as both a sign of his impending malfunction,
10:35 and him testing his ability to deceive the astronauts even at something as comparatively
10:39 trivial as a chess game.
10:41 While chess fans might want to hold onto this one as a mistake, knowing Kubrick and his
10:45 deliberate mindset as we do, it's basically accepted as canon today that Hal intentionally
10:50 cheated.
10:51 He is, after all, putting it mildly, a little rascal.
10:54 So that's our list!
10:55 I want to know what you guys think down in the comments below.
10:57 Did you notice these so-called movie mistakes, and are there any other ones that are wrongly
11:01 identified that wind you up as well?
11:04 Let me know and while you're down there if you could please give us a like, share,
11:06 subscribe and head over to whatculture.com for more lists and news like this every single
11:10 day.
11:11 Even if you don't though, I've been Josh, thanks so much for watching and I'll see