10 Movie Facts You Didn't Know (11 photos)

Today, the BigPicture team brings you a few movie trivia facts you probably didn't know—like the fact that Hollywood was actually founded by a prohibitionist. Surprised?







1. Hollywood was founded by Harvey Wilcox, a prominent prohibitionist who envisioned the future city as a community built on religion and temperance. He and his wife even offered free land to anyone willing to build a church.





2. It took a crew of 15 people to operate the three full-sized animatronic sharks in "Jaws."



3. A staggering 152 kilometers of film was shot for "Gone with the Wind," which was ultimately edited down to just 6 kilometers.



4. While preparing for his role in "The Silence of the Lambs," Anthony Hopkins extensively studied serial killer cases, visited prisons, and met with convicted murderers.



5. To prepare the cast of "12 Angry Men," director Sidney Lumet made the actors stay in the same room for hours, rehearsing their lines over and over off-camera.



6. While preparing to play the Joker in "The Dark Knight," Heath Ledger spent six weeks isolated in a motel room to understand his character's mind. He devoted himself to mastering the voice and the sadistic laugh, basing his performance on Sid Vicious and Alex DeLarge from "A Clockwork Orange."



7. "Requiem for a Dream" director Darren Aronofsky asked Jared Leto and Marlon Wayans to abstain from sex and sugar for a month to better connect with their characters.



8. Christopher Lee (who played Saruman) read "The Lord of the Rings" once a year ever since the book was first published. He was also the only cast or crew member to have ever met J.R.R. Tolkien in person.



9. Shirley Henderson, the actress who played Moaning Myrtle in "Harry Potter," was 37 years old when filming the second movie, making her the oldest actor to portray a Hogwarts student.



10. Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" was the first film ever to feature a toilet flushing on screen.