Friday, March 31, 2023

'Casablanca' Trivia-- Part 6: That Oscar and First Scene

MAGICAL TALISMAN

In 2006, David Copperfield paid $231,500 for director Michael Curtiz's Best Director Oscar for "Casablanca."

The Las Vegas showman, who kept it by his bed, said the statuette represented the excellence of old films that influenced his career:  "It keeps me hungry."

An unnamed seller later sold that statue at auction for more than $2 million.  Nice profit.

**********************************

THE FIRST SCENE

It wasn't the director's original plan to begin shooting the movie with a love scene, but when filming of "Now, Voyager" ran behind scedule and both Paul Heinreid and Claude Rains were unavailable, he had to change his mind.

The very first scene shot for "Casablanca" featured Rick and Ilsa standing over Sam's piano in Paris.

The Usual Suspects.  --Cooter


No comments: