10 Things You Didn't Know About Real Genius

released in 1985 Real Genius is one of those movies about the clashings of generations Kids versus adults which follows a bunch of Junior Geniuses who attend a high-tech University where they are manipulated to construct a powerful laser by double crossing adults who want to capitalize on the kids hard work and weaponize it where the young Geniuses plan to take down the grown-ups master plan in this enjoyable movie in which Val Kilmer who stars as young genius Chris Knight completely steals the show thanks to his quirky eccentricities and super witty dialogue yep if it's fun with lots of zany odd boldness that you want then this movie has it all not to mention popcorn no seriously this movie has lots and lots of popcorn and seriously Val Kilmer's dialogue in this movie is so fast and sharp that alone is worth seeing the movie for So today we're gonna go back and look at this fun film from the 80s by exploring 10 things that you didn't know about Real Genius so let's get out the popcorn as we check it out [Music] thank you foreign [Music] Real Genius was to be more of a raunchy comedy [Music] so there seems to be one movie in particular that played a huge part in the creation of Real Genius and that was the 1984 college sex comedy Revenge of the Nerds which sees the downtrodden nerds of a college campus go up against their ruthless and mean bullies who are old jocks and eventually win and the movie was full of wild and crazy raunchy Antics yeah yes you know what I mean Revenge of the Nerds itself was part of a new comedy Trend at that time known as slobs vs snobs a comedy Trend that was popular in the late 70s and 80s which sees a misfit group of downtrodden Outsiders have to go up against a more refined and respected higher order where they eventually win and save the day Real Genius was supposed to follow in suit and to be like an edgy crazy sex comedy very much like the as mentioned Revenge of the Nerds the script was even written by Neil Israel and Pat proft both of whom co-wrote other wild comedies of that era including police academy and bachelor party so originally Real Genius was to take this Ultra raunchy Oddball slobs vs snobs template and give it a teenage genius laser beam technology twist and it was the movie's eventual director which Made Real Genius take a course correction number 9. less Revenge of the Nerds and more Valley Girl Real Genius was produced by American producer Brian Grazer who one year prior had success with producing the romantic comedy Splash and when it came to Real Genius Grazer won a film director Martha Coolidge to come on board and direct the movie as she had previously directed the Romantic heartfelt teenage comedy valley girl but she was actually quite hesitant to direct Real Genius she didn't want to direct a revenge of the nerd's Clone and in order to direct the movie she wanted the outrageous raunchiness in the script to be toned down she wanted Real Genius to be much more of a positive movie showing nerds as Heroes rather than weird social Misfits you know more of a positive spin on the nerd's social label instead of the usual slobs vs snobs tropes but instead real people real geniuses just like the movie's title now Real Genius did still have some edgy jokes involving boobs and male enlargement devices but not nothing to the Revenge of the nerd's degree which in a way Keeps the movie grounded with a sense of realism despite some of the wacky shenanigans that do happen in the movie it all still feels logical within the movie's own universe so other writers came on board to doctor the script and make it more to coolidge's vision and well given the popularity of Real Genius which is still going on to this day it was obviously a wise decision to make these changes [Music] number eight alternative choice to play the leader as far as the cast of Real Genius goes I think many people who love this movie agree that the real star of the show was Val Kilmer as Chris Knight who pretty much steals every scene that he's in and he has a certain charm and likability about him despite being really sarcastic and even antagonistic yes you can tell when watching Real Genius that Kilmer and his big 1980s hair were going places and that one day he was going to be Jim Morrison and Batman yep he went from Chris Knight to Dark Knight however before Kilmer was cast another popular candidate to play the part was in fact John Cusack well at least that's according to TV overmind.com and that Cusack chose the star and fellow wacky teen comedy better off dead instead which is without a doubt a true underrated classic but anyway back on Real Genius when Kilmer went to his audition for Real Genius he went along in character as Chris Knight the whole time when Kilmer turned up for the order Edition Brian Grazer held out his hand and said hi I'm the producer but Kilmer replied sorry but you look like you're 12. I like to work with men as he felt that the character of Chris Knight isn't polite and that he is a prank pulling smartass and that this was how he was going to present himself at his audition and well that seemed to have gotten him the part Real Genius also features Walter Peck actor William arthurton as this movie's douchebag Professor Jerry Hathaway and it's true this man has no Bic yet throughout the movie I never once see him using a Bic pen get it he has no Bic foreign The Karate Kid Connection [Music] it came to the role of the equally important character Mitch the production wanted to cast a real-life genius in the part they found this one whiz kid in particular who graduated college at the age of 14 but the problem was this real-life genius couldn't act so it was decided to cast the part with an actor and the part was cast with American actor Gabriel Jarrett who I'll always know as that Thug that Daniel Larusso punches out in the karate kid 3. you know the one whose nosy breaks yeah that was him and that's not the only Karate Kid Connection as Real Genius also features Yuji Okimoto as the character Fenton who of course would go on to play chosen in both the Karate Kid Part 2 and Cobra Kai and in addition to that there are two characters in The as mentioned Cobra Kai series called Chris and Mitch who are said to be named after the Chris and Mitch characters in Real Genius what is going on here okay at this stage I'm starting to wonder if William zabkar is hiding in the background of real geniuses an extra or something on a serious note going back to actor Gabriel Jarrett although these days we don't really see him in too many movies he is actually very passionate towards helping the deaf Community where according to Wikipedia he frequently acts as a sign language interpreter that's actually really nice I really appreciate that number six filming [Music] the story of Real Genius is said in the fictional Campus of Pacific Tech which is based on real life campus Caltech University two different locations were used to bring Pacific Tech to life those being Pomona College and Occidental College both of these colleges being located in California the movie's director Martha Coolidge wanted to make sure that the science was as accurate as possible giving that a huge chunk of the movie was about laser beam technology she apparently worked with scientists and Military technicians as well as researching the CIA in order to make sure that the laser beam technology in the movie was as accurate as possible and not just some made up fantasy science interestingly since making Real Genius Coolidge has described how she's gotten letters from former college students who have made claims in a situation of Life imitating art that just like the plot of Real Genius they too were exploited by colleges in order to make weapons for the government and that they didn't realize it at the time so although the plot can be seen as being amusing in Real Genius the idea of this happening in the real world is kind of disturbing so if you're ever in college and come up with the idea of my number five the reclusion of Val kilmar when it comes to other filming Tales of Real Genius there are also stories that Val Kilmer wasn't exactly easy to get along with now just how difficult working with Kilmer can be on movie sets has become the stuff of Legends particularly with movies like Batman Forever and the island of Dr Moreau hack a huge chunk of the island of Dr Moreau documentary the island of Lost Souls is dedicated to just how destructive Val Kilmer was to work with from Tales of him actively going against the movie's original director to burning some guy's Sideburn with a cigarette for no real reason whatsoever however jump all the way back to Real Genius in 1985 it seems that those difficulties may have already been present going back to TV overmind.com he was supposedly very demanding but in addition to that also had a habit of Disappearing as he was also quiet and reclusive and didn't really want to be around unless he was absolutely required to do so and so often while filming Real Genius kilma would disappear and go off and do his own thing without really interacting with anyone else on the set oh well just as long as he's not burning anyone's Sideburn with a cigarette I I guess hey no matter what happened in his past Val Kilmer is still a good actor maybe when he was young he was a bit of a hot head I don't know I wasn't there but nothing can take away from his craft number four deleted scene [Music] so there is a famous deleted scene in which Chris is shown to be floating outside his classroom by the use of helium balloons and a lounge chair well he's just going about his usual Shenanigans while everyone else looks on apparently this scene was featured in the preview version of the movie you know screenings for test audiences and it even featured in some trailers but when the movie was released this floating lounge chair scene was removed although I have read that some broadcasts and home media releases did put the scene back in so why was this scene cut out especially since it probably took a lot of wire work and stunt work to actually film the scene well my guess is probably because someone somewhere was worried that kids was going to try and copy this and end up crashing when they try and take off or even float away with a heap of helium balloons but I don't know that's just a guess speaking of the movie's release there were two main posters that were used to promote the movie this one with Chris hanging out with Albert Einstein it was basically this Poster's way of saying Chris is like a wacky Oddball 1980s Einstein so unfortunately for those who haven't seen it I'm sorry to tell you that Einstein doesn't turn up in the movie I mean after all he did die 30 years prior then of course there's this one once again showing Chris to be his usual wacky self only this time with a skyscraper background I actually really like this poster I really dig its energy and it is lots of fun then we get this modern DVD release police cover and is it just me or does Val Kilmer's head look kinda weird hey Val you all right mate you're looking all kinds of messed up today I can't really put my finger on it but there's just something not quite right it looks like a picture of kilma's face if he somehow looked into the future and saw that he was going to star in the island of Dr Moreau okay that's the last time I mentioned that movie in this episode I promise speaking of his fluffy slippers I don't know about those fluffy rabbit slippers now fluffy Jaws slippers That's Where It's At or failing that coke can slippers yeah gotta love the Coke can slippers number three pop goes the corner okay so a standout moment in the movie is the finale when we see Hathaway's house get destroyed by a ton of popcorn although the idea of a heap of popcorn exploding all over the place maybe any kid's dream it was however a nightmare to make the scene it supposedly took up to three months for the crew to cook up all that popcorn and even that wasn't enough as professional popcorn retailers were then paid to deliver tons and tons of popcorn to the set in order to get the required effect but the complications weren't over yet as Hathaway actor William arthurton who by the way has no Bic explained that a repellent had to be sprayed all over the popcorn in order to stop it from catching on fire and combusting but the crew then had to make sure that local birds in the area didn't eat the popcorn as for them to not get poisoned or high from all the anti-fire combustion repellent yes and if all this didn't seem intricate as it was the house that was used was itself a house prop that the crew had put together now jump to 2009 and MythBusters got in the action where they wanted to see if popping huge amounts of popcorn could actually affect a house in the same way that we saw in real genius and the Revelation was no it couldn't be done but it was also realized that popcorn can indeed be popped by lasers so that bit was correct and so because of that end scene whenever I hear the Tears for Fears song Everybody Wants to Rule the World I automatically get really hungry for some popcorn yeah thanks for that Real Genius number two the promotion was ahead of its time although movies being promoted by the internet nowadays is not only a given but a necessity in order for movie studios to get their movies out there into the modern Zeitgeist thanks to social media with Pages like rotten tomatoes and IMDb which can dictate as to whether or not a movie will perform well in the box office thanks to communal backlash from both fans and critics back in the Primitive days of 1985 the days of pogo sticks and hairspray the idea of using the internet to promote a movie would have seemed pretty insane and probably even pointless however that's exactly what happened with Real Genius now there are some claims that it was the very first movie to be promoted by the internet whereas other articles and sites claimed that it was one of the first movies to have the internet used as a movie promotion basically what happened is real geniuses director Martha Coolidge and other cast and crew members held a press conference with a computer server where members of the press would send questions digitally to which Coolidge and the crew would receive these questions and then answer them it sounds very primitive nowadays especially now that we're living in a day and age where the internet basically rules the world and even to a degree has control over our very own lives I guess we had to start somewhere and Real Genius utilize the early days of the net in all its infancy I guess it's kind of further proof that nerds really are ahead of their time number one Real Genius went up against another teenage science comedy [Music] okay this is where things get interesting as far as what are the odds goes on the account that Real Genius was released in August the 7th 1985 just five days after another teen comedy that deals with science that of course being weird science which was released on August the 2nd so the two movies were kind of going Toe to Toe to see which outrageous science creation team comedy would be the true Victor in the box office aside from the science element though the movies weren't really all that similar Weird Science took more of a Fantastical approach whereas things can just magically happen just because yes it's possible to do all these outrageous things because magical science stuff whereas Real Genius was going above and beyond to be a scientifically accurate as possible so there are no scenes of Chris Knight making himself a girlfriend by wearing a bra on his head apologies if I've ruined the movie for anyone Weird Science however did make the most in the box office with it bringing in nearly 13 nine million dollars whereas sadly Real Genius only brought in a modest 13 million dollars on an 8 million dollar budget so it did bring in some coin but not a great deal however Real Genius did get positive reviews from critics as something I noticed in several of the reviews at the time that I read through was praise for Real Genius using characters who felt like real people I guess by 1985 people were probably getting tired of the unrealistic zany teenage caricatures from other movies like Revenge of the Nerds and porkies it was felt that it was an all-round clever and enjoyable movie One Last bouncer please and its popularity has increased in time so much so in 2014 it was announced that there would be a TV series based on Real Genius which was to be produced by Sony television and oddly enough Adam Sandler's happy Madison company but as of yet nearly 10 years later this supposed TV show hasn't materialized and well it doesn't need to as we'll always have the original movie with all its laser beam science and big hair Glory it's one of those movies that's enjoyable comfort food for those who just want to go on a trip down memory lane and then some to sum it up Real Genius is just one of those lovable movies from the 80s that has brought people lots of Joy back then and continues to bring people lots of Joy now probably even more so it's a movie that's lots of fun with really enjoyable characters that you really want to spend time with and go on kooky adventures with like Val Kilmer's Chris Knight who is probably without a doubt one of the greatest movie Geniuses ever anyway I'm binty and all this talk of Real Genius has gotten me hungry for some more popcorn see ya foreign [Music] [Music] thank you

Channel: Minty Comedic Arts

Views: 165,712

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Id: Jo0SWoqQ44w

Length: 20min 26sec (1226 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 29 2022