These days, part of the fun of watching a movie in theaters or at home with the ability to freeze frames, is finding the Easter eggs hidden within. For the history buffs out there, the origin of the cinematic Easter egg dates back to THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. Supposedly one day on the set, the cast decided to have a traditional Easter egg hunt, as you do, but some of the eggs were never found and actually appeared in frames of the movie! So if you're obsessed with finding hidden messages, jokes, and ways to make you look smart in front of your friends, check out these Easter eggs!
Understandably some of these have been around for a while, but some may be new to other readers; there’s no expiration date on sharing so enjoy and have fun!
It wasn’t a surprise to see a reference (or more) to THE ROCKETEER in Disney's latest; the two films have the same commitment to futurism and well, Disney made them. Viewers with the benefit of a quick pause trigger may have seen this in the trailer too, but in the film when Casey gets her belongings back after she’s arrested her pockets include a packet of Beeman’s gum (right image). What’s so special about that? Well it’s the same brand used as a lucky charm in THE ROCKETEER. Beat that Hubba Bubba!
With each viewing of a Quentin Tarantino film, there always seems to be a new layer of meaning revealed or something slight you didn’t catch previously. Take, for instance, the above screenshot from KILL BILL: VOL. 1. The camera captures the bottom of Uma Thurman's shoes (or her Onitsuka Tiger Tai Chi’s if you want) just before her epic battle against O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) and her "Crazy 88" army. We are then treated to an appropriate "F*CK U" message inscribed on the soles of the footwear. Imagine reading that right before she kicks in your teeth.
It would be safe to say that nothing in a Wachowski movie is by chance, especially when it comes to anything with numbers on it. Take for example at the beginning of Reloaded, Agent Smith’s license plate reads “IS5416," which corresponds to Isaiah 54:16: "Behold, I have created the smith, who blows the fire of coals, and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy."
But that’s not all – during the highway chase, Trinity’s Cadillac plate reads "DA203," which corresponds to Daniel 2:03: "He said to them, ‘I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means.'" The Matrix trilogy is loaded with religious reference and metaphor; I just thought the license plates were the least subtle.
I was recently watching the Blu-ray collection of the '60s Batman TV show and happened to catch a familiar looking face. Upon researching for about 10 seconds on Google, I was tickled to find that the mask used by The Joker in the opening scene of THE DARK KNIGHT is a nod (if not near perfect design match) to The Joker’s debut from "The Joker Is Wild," an episode of the Batman TV series.
In the episode, Batman tracks the clown prince of crime (played by Cesar Romero) to the Gotham opera company, where he's secretly performing an aria from Pagliacci. As you can see, the similarities between Romero's Pagliacci costume and Ledger's mask are spot on.
Got a cool Easter Egg discovery? E-mail us at: eastereggs@joblo.com with any you'd like to see featured in future columns!