10 Movie Mistakes That Became Canon
When movie "mistakes" get legitimised one way or another.
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00:00Who among us doesn't love spotting a totally ridiculous mistake in a movie?
00:05Filmmaking is so damn hard that it's frankly impressive that there aren't more mistakes
00:09in most films.
00:10Yet every so often a mistake will emerge that, for one reason or another, transitions into
00:15canon.
00:16And with that in mind, I'm Josh from WhatCulture.com and these are 10 Movie Mistakes That Became
00:19Canon.
00:2010.
00:21Mrs. TV Doesn't Know Her Music – Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
00:25An oft-cited mistake in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory occurs when Willy Wonka
00:29himself plays a tune on the keyboard to open the door to his chocolate room, a musical
00:34piece which Mrs. TV confidently identifies as a Rachmaninoff.
00:39But as it turns out, Wonka wasn't actually playing a Rachmaninoff composition at all,
00:42but rather Mozart's overture to The Marriage of Figaro.
00:45It's a gaffe that surely flew over the heads of most young viewers, myself included, though
00:50some adults familiar with classical music have often pointed out the supposed error.
00:55Yet on the film's DVD commentary, it was actually clarified that this wasn't really
00:59a mistake at all.
01:00It was simply intended to demonstrate Mrs. TV's know-it-all personality, that she's
01:04not nearly as smart and worldly as she evidently thinks she is.
01:08Ironically, it also ends up making those who point it out as a mistake seem a little overconfident
01:13in their own powers of observation, given that they missed that it was actually supposed
01:17to indicate this about the character.
01:19Though it's been parroted as a mistake for literally decades at this point, those
01:23in the know have made it abundantly clear that this character is the ignorant one, not
01:27author-screenwriter Roald Dahl.
01:299. Rocky's Oversized Robe
01:31Rocky.
01:32You'd be forgiven for letting out a little chuckle when you first see Rocky Balboa in
01:36his distinctive red boxing robe at the end of Rocky, ahead of his clash with heavyweight
01:41boxing world champion Apollo Creed.
01:43The robe's clearly way too big for star Sylvester Stallone, and gives the impression
01:48of someone basically playing dress-up in their dad's gear.
01:51And as it turns out, this was a legitimate error on the part of the film's costume
01:55department, with an oversized robe accidentally being delivered to set.
01:59Without any backup costume or any means to get it altered before shooting, Stallone made
02:02the executive decision to work the wardrobe malfunction into the plot, resulting in a
02:07cute little moment when Rocky asks Adrian, you don't think this robe looks too baggy
02:11you know?
02:12Ultimately though, it only enhances Rocky's status as the underestimated underdog.
02:15I mean, if this guy doesn't even have a robe that fits him, how could he possibly
02:19go the distance against Apollo Creed?
02:22Sometimes the happiest accidents end up creating the most organic movie moments.
02:268. The Overlook Hotel's Impossible Geography
02:29Stanley Kubrick maintains a reputation as one of the most meticulous and detail-orientated
02:35filmmakers who has ever lived, such that any notable mistakes in his films are more often
02:40than not entirely intentional, well-thought-out decisions.
02:43Since in point, many have pointed out over the years that the iconic Overlook Hotel in
02:47The Shining doesn't make much sense in terms of spatial geography.
02:51We get considerable glimpses of the hotel's layout throughout the horror classic, yet
02:55anyone who actually tries to map the Overlook will soon realise that, as seen in the film,
02:59there are doors that can't feasibly lead anywhere.
03:02In the hands of a lesser filmmaker, this might seem like just a colossal oversight, but coming
03:07from the pathologically fastidious Kubrick, it's probably unlikely that it's a gaffe.
03:12Although Kubrick didn't ever confirm this himself during his lifetime, it is largely
03:16accepted among fans now that he chose to intentionally present the Overlook as incoherent and disorientating
03:23to further generate a mood of eeriness and uncertainty.
03:257. Simon Skinner Breaks the Fourth Wall – Hot Fuzz
03:29It's simply a matter of practicality that filmmakers can't catch every single mistake
03:33during shooting.
03:34And in the case of Hot Fuzz, director Edgar Wright didn't notice that the great Timothy
03:38Dalton briefly eyeballed the camera during one scene.
03:42When Dalton's smug villain Simon Skinner proposes a toast to the newly dead Martin
03:46and Eve, for a few fractions of a second, his eyes actually dart into the sightline
03:51of the camera lens, ensuring that he locks fleeting eyes with the audience.
03:55On the film's DVD commentary, Wright pointed this out and added that he originally considered
04:00using visual effects to correct Dalton's gaze, but ultimately decided that it would
04:04be funnier to turn it into a metamoment instead.
04:07And so Wright had his sound team add the sound of a cash register clinking in the background
04:11to draw greater attention to it.
04:13And considering that Skinner is basically outing himself as a villain throughout the
04:17entire scene, it is pretty hilarious, if initially unintended, that he basically ends up winking
04:22at the audience for a tiny sliver of screen time.
04:256. All the Editing Mistakes – Shutter Island
04:28Shutter Island is easily one of Martin Scorsese's most mainstream-skewing movies, if not his
04:33absolute most.
04:34So it tracks that it's also this film that's been put under the most scrutiny for being
04:38filled with so-called mistakes.
04:40In fact, also many armchair continuity supervisors online have called the film out for its uncharacteristically
04:46rough editing, most often pointing out the sequence where US Marshals Teddy and Chuck
04:51interview a patient at Ashcliff Hospital, Bridget Kearns.
04:54In one shot, Kearns is seen drinking a cup of water, except there's no glass in her
04:58hand if you look closely, yet in the next shot it is actually visible.
05:03Even if you very generously assume that Scorsese was going to CGI the glass into the shot later
05:07on for some reason, isn't it far more plausible that this was a case of a master filmmaker
05:13collaborating with his equally masterful editor, of more than 50 years by the way, to straight
05:18up screw with the audience?
05:20Considering that there are other strange editing and continuity choices through the film, it
05:24was clearly a case of Scorsese trying to keep audiences on their toes while approximating
05:29Teddy's own slipping sanity.
05:315. The Talkative Extra – Star Trek IV The Voyage Home
05:35Star Trek IV The Voyage Home is just one hell of a wild movie, revolving around the Enterprise's
05:40crew travelling back through time to 1986 San Francisco.
05:43The characters are all portioned off into their own respective subplots with Uhura and
05:47Chekov being tasked with finding a nuclear reactor that will let them return to the 23rd
05:52century.
05:53And it's at this point we cue a hilarious skit where the duo start asking random locals
05:57how they can locate the nuclear vessels.
06:00Though the extras in the area were under strict instructions not to speak to the pair but
06:04simply keep walking, one extra evidently didn't get the memo.
06:08This extra, Leila Saricalo, decided to shoot her shot in the moment, telling the pair,
06:13I don't know if I know the answer to that, I think it's across the bay in Alameda.
06:17And if you look closely at the actors in this scene, you can definitely see their genuine
06:21surprise at her response.
06:23Yet ever the pros, they managed to keep in character with the response themselves.
06:26Ultimately, director Lennon Nimoy liked this contribution, and so the small but memorable
06:31interaction was actually kept in the film.
06:334.
06:34The Anachronistic Period Detail – The Village
06:37M. Night Shyamalan's wildly divisive The Village was dinged for many things upon release,
06:41and for anyone paying attention while they were watching it the first time, they might
06:45have had a few criticisms about the production and costume design.
06:48See, while viewing it without any prior knowledge of its inevitable plot twist, you might be
06:52a bit mystified by the noticeably contemporary buildings built from materials only used since
06:58the 1950s, despite the film itself allegedly being set in a 19th century village.
07:04Furthermore, many items of clothing worn throughout by the commune's characters shouldn't
07:08have existed until around 1970, and during the first hour of the movie, you'd be forgiven
07:13for just thinking that Shyamalan simply got lazy where the finer details were concerned.
07:18Yet that was all proven hilariously, if bafflingly wrong in the third act, when we learn that
07:23the village itself actually exists within the present day, providing a plausible reason
07:27for the period-inaccurate buildings and clothes.
07:313.
07:32Joel Can't Shoot Arrows – Adam's Family Values
07:34The Adam's Family Values is a stone-cold masterpiece of a comedy sequel, and in recent
07:39years seems to finally be getting its due.
07:42Now admittedly, not everything in the shoot went quite according to plan, though in this
07:46case it did end up only making one scene that much funnier.
07:50See, the film features a legendary subplot in which Wednesday and Pugsley are sent to
07:54a chirpy summer camp, where Wednesday meets a similarly unenthusiastic outcast called
07:59Joel Glicker.
08:00Among the many camp activities the trio are forced to participate in, they're made to
08:04shoot arrows, resulting in Joel growing frustrated as he struggles to load and fire his arrow,
08:10instead just throwing it on the ground.
08:12Now this throwing it on the ground wasn't part of the initial script however, as the
08:15actor was apparently not much of a practically minded kid either, and couldn't load the
08:20arrow for real, and amidst his struggle got legitimately annoyed and just threw it on
08:25the ground.
08:26This apparently generated uproarious laughter on the set, enough that director Barry Sonnenfeld
08:30decided to use it in the film.
08:322.
08:33Lando Mispronounces Han's Name – Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back
08:36For literally more than 40 years at this point, Star Wars fans have wondered why Lando Calrissian
08:42just can't seem to pronounce his uneasy pal Han Solo's name correctly, which by the
08:47way I've since learned I've also been doing my entire life.
08:50See in The Empire Strikes Back, Lando pronounces Han as if to rhyme with camp, no matter that
08:55Han himself pronounces it to rhyme with none essentially.
09:00Now many at the time simply pawned it off as actor Billy Dee Williams offering up his
09:03own eccentric interpretation of the name, and because Empire was directed by Irvin Kershner
09:08rather than George Lucas, there perhaps wasn't the same impetus to correct it.
09:12But nearly four decades on, fans finally had the pronunciation error fully canonised in
09:18Solo a Star Wars Story.
09:19See in this prequel Han and Lando meet for the first time during a game of sabacc, where
09:24Lando mocks Han's incorrect pronunciation of the name.
09:27But moments later, Lando then gets Han's name wrong himself, which of course goes commented
09:33on.
09:34It's a cute little moment that demonstrates the origin of Lando's weird pronunciation
09:37and his ongoing refusal to say it right, which again, I can totally vibe with.
09:421.
09:43Hal's Incorrect Chess Play – 2001 A Space Odyssey
09:47Throughout the years, chess fans have periodically pointed out to an alleged mistake when Dr.
09:51Frank Poole plays the Discovery 1 sentient computer Hal 9000 at chess in Stanley Kubrick's
09:572001 A Space Odyssey.
09:59In the scene, Hal wins by persuading Poole to resign the game after pointing out his
10:03future moves.
10:04But if you're much of a chess player, which admittedly I definitely am not, you might
10:08have noticed that Hal actually describes an incorrect set of moves.
10:12Hal says Queen to Bishop 3 when he should have said Queen to Bishop 6.
10:16Yet the latter move would have allowed Poole to stay in the game a little longer.
10:20Now is it easy to believe that Kubrick himself, an avid chess player, didn't think fellow
10:25chess lovers would notice, or is it more likely that he included Hal's error intentionally?
10:30After all, it's easy to interpret Hal's mistake as both a sign of his impending malfunction
10:34and him testing his ability to deceive the astronauts even at something as comparatively
10:39trivial as a chess game.
10:41While chess fans might want to hold onto this one as a mistake, knowing Kubrick and his
10:45deliberate mindset as we do, it's basically accepted as canon today that Hal intentionally
10:50cheated.
10:51He is, after all, putting it mildly, a little rascal.