Fall Forward, Fall Back

“No real vampires were harmed. . . . “: In “John Carpenter’s Vampires,” which Columbia Pictures will release Oct. 30, the filmmakers used 25 gallons of fake black blood (because vampires ooze black blood) and 30 gallons of fake red blood. They also went through 400 sets of fake vampire nails and 24 sets of vampire fangs. Each vampire went through between three and eight sets of fangs during filming.

The best Mann?: Anthony Mann (“Winchester ‘73”) was the original director of the epic “Spartacus,” which opened in October 1960. Producer and star Kirk Douglas, though, replaced him with Stanley Kubrick after one week of shooting. Kubrick had directed Douglas in the 1957 antiwar classic “Paths of Glory.”

Fall from grace: Robert Mitchum was released from prison on Sept. 30, 1948, after serving 21 days for the possession and use of marijuana.

Happy holidays: The 1954 Yuletide hit “White Christmas” was actually released in October. The Irving Berlin musical, which starred Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, was the first Paramount film to be shot in the wide-screen process of VistaVision.

Behind the velvet rope: In “A Night at the Roxbury,” which Paramount Pictures will release Oct. 2, Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan displayed some of their oddball humor by showing up off-camera in ballerina costumes as a bouncer was trying to do his scene.

Producer Amy Heckerling said that the filmmakers built a fake nightclub in Los Angeles called the Inside Out, where the club itself is on the “outside” and people wait in line on the “inside.” As the scenes were being shot, people would come by and ask if the club was real.

A Fiennes thing: Cate Blanchett, who stars in the upcoming “Elizabeth,” appears in that historical drama opposite Joseph Fiennes. Last year, she starred with his older brother Ralph in “Oscar and Lucinda.”

Slim, Meet Steve: Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart teamed up for the first time in the romantic melodrama “To Have and Have Not,” which opened in October 1944. The two would marry the following year.

Heavenly: For “What Dreams May Come,” a fantasy-drama starring Robin Williams, director Vincent Ward and special-effects supervisors Joel Hynek and Nick Brooks use new computer animation technology to create an unusual vision of the afterlife. Normal notions of heaven and hell don’t exist in this movie. When Williams awakens after death, he finds himself inside a 3-D version of one of his artist wife’s paintings. Leaves of grass and flower petals look like painted brush strokes, yet they move in the wind. Monet, Van Gogh and Maxfield Parrish are among the artists who provided inspiration for the 8-minute sequence.

Lights, camera, gentlemen-start-your-engines!: For the numerous car chase scenes shot in Paris for his latest action-thriller “Ronin,” director John Frankenheimer used former French race car drivers Jean-Claude Lagniez, Jean Pierre Jarrier and Guy Chasseuil as the stunt drivers.

The Full Monty II: After four decades as an actor, Ian Bannen, who stars in “Waking Ned Devine,” found himself involved in a nude scene while making the film. “The role was a welcome change, a true original,” says Bannen, who received a best supporting actor Oscar nomination over 30 years ago for “The Flight of the Phoenix.” “I haven’t played such a physical role since working with John Huston when he used to make me do my own stunts. I also haven’t done many nude scenes in my career, so it’s rather ironic that my first big one comes at a point in my life when you wouldn’t think there would be much demand for it.”

Hummin’: Richard LaGravenese, who wrote the screenplay and makes his directorial debut with “Living Out Loud,” is busy this fall. He also co-wrote the screenplay for Toni Morrison’s “Beloved.”

The Woodman, Part I: Woody Allen is participating in two films set for release on Oct. 2. He’s the voice of an ant in DreamWorks’ “Antz,” and he has an un-billed cameo in Stanley Tucci’s comedy “The Impostors.”

Shhhhhh!: In the upcoming black comedy “The Alarmist,” David Arquette has a number of sex scenes with Kate Capshaw, who is married to Steven Spielberg. Cast and crew joked that Arquette would never work in Hollywood again.

Make that “Clutterville”: The set for “Pleasantville,” opening Oct. 16, consisted of 40 buildings.

Close call: “The Big Chill,” which is being re-released this fall for its 15th anniversary, marked the first on-screen nude scene for Glenn Close, who received a best supporting actress nomination. “The Big Chill” was originally released Sept. 28, 1983.

Like buttah: When asked what color the creased pants of Campbell Scott’s character of Germanic head steward Meistrich should be in “The Impostors,” the ever food-minded writer-director-star Stanley Tucci (“Big Night”) responded, “Butter--not yellow, but butter.”

Two of a kind: After taking nightclubs, radio and TV by storm, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis scored a hit in their first film, “My Friend Irma,” which opened in late September 1949.

Together, again: Denzel Washington and director Edward Zwick collaborate for the third time, on “The Siege.” It follows their successful teaming on the Civil War drama “Glory,” for which Washington won a best supporting Oscar, and the Gulf War drama “Courage Under Fire.” “The Siege’ was one of the biggest films ever to shoot in New York City. Hundreds of U.S. “troops,” tanks, choppers, exploding buses, thousands of extras and more than 40 locations were employed during the production.

Still rushing: Jackie Chan, who stars with Chris Tucker in “Rush Hour,” played the Japanese race car driver in the 1981 Burt Reynolds’ hit, “The Cannonball Run.”

Pair for the ages: Doris Day and Rock Hudson teamed up for the first time in the sexy comedy “Pillow Talk,” which was released in October 1959. Day and Hudson went on to star in 1961’s “Lover Come Back” and 1964’s “Send Me No Flowers.”

Oh, the weather outside is frightful: The script for “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” called for 150 Santas to run a 5K race. When the scene was shot, in Fort Langley, B.C., it was 90 degrees in the shade. No Santas fainted, but there were plenty of not-so-jolly red faces. To turn the unseasonably warm Vancouver spring into a winter wonderland, truckloads of organic, biodegradable paper snow were imported from Europe.

A winner: Filmgoers got a chance to gaze at the lanky young Gary Cooper when he made his acting debut in the western “The Winning of Barbara Worth,” which opened in October 1926.

Not what you think: From the subject matter of John Waters’ early raunchy, gross-out movies, the title of his new comedy, “Pecker,” could refer to just about anything. The title is the name given to the film’s lead character--an untalented 18-year-old photographer who becomes the darling of the art world--because of his childhood habit of “pecking” at his food.

Hazard duty: In fall 1919, Harold Lloyd’s career almost ended. During a publicity shot on Sept. 30 for “Haunted Spooks,” the bomb he was holding--which he thought was a papier-ma^che prop--exploded. He was rushed to a hospital, where the thumb and forefinger on his right hand were amputated. He wore a glove on that hand for his subsequent films.

For luck: Isabella Rossellini’s mysterious character of the queen is often in hiding in “The Impostors.” When costume designer Juliet Polsca set about designing the character’s important veiling fan, she had dreamed of peacock feathers. But after many attempts to get just the right feathers to round out Rossellini’s costume, the filmmakers realized the type of feathers was the problem. It’s a long-standing belief in the theater that peacock feathers are bad luck.

Where was Godzilla?: The production of “The Siege” shut down Times Square and 42nd Street for a night of filming. Another Big Apple landmark, the Brooklyn Bridge, was closed for a morning to capture the images of American troops and Army vehicles entering the city after the declaration of martial law.

Valentino’s Sneaks: On Oct. 25, 1920, director Rex Ingram started filming the classic “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” starring a young unknown named Rudolph Valentino. Valentino became an international sensation when the film opened the following October.

Obsessed with death: Famed silent French clown Max Linder, despite his vibrant on-screen personality, was obsessed with death. On Oct. 25, 1925, he murdered his wife and committed suicide.

Skating by: Two-time Olympic gold medalist Katerina Witt has a cameo in “Ronin,” as . . . a figure skater.

A moment of silence, please: Silent cinema came to an end with the opening in early October 1927 of Al Jolson’s “The Jazz Singer.”

Blind ambition: The Oscar-winning satire “All About Eve,” which opened in October 1950, is supposedly based on a real incident that happened to actress Elisabeth Bergner (“As You Like It”) and her husband, director Paul Czinner, who ran into problems when they took an ambitious young actress under their wing.

If Jon Bon Jovi can do it . . .: Moving from the small screen of MTV videos to the much larger screen: Former Twisted Sister lead singer Dee Snider wrote and stars in the horror flick “Strangeland”; R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe is co-executive producer of the glam-rock pic “Velvet Goldmine”; hot music video director Hype Williams makes his feature film directorial debut with the urban drama “Belly”; and former Poison lead singer Bret Michaels helms the suspense thriller “A Letter From Death Row.”

Take 32 (Burp!): How many pastries does it take to get it right? Oliver Platt, who stars in “The Impostors,” had to eat 32 pastries before getting just the right bite for a scene that required him to practically swallow one whole.

A new tune: Queen Latifah shows a completely different side of her musical talents in her role as a blues singer in “Living Out Loud,” performing such standards as “Lush Life” and “Be Anything.’ Co-star Danny DeVito also displays his talents by singing a rendition of the Gershwins’ “They Can’t Take That Away From Me.”

Bargain rate: Marlon Brando was paid a meager $75,000 to rip off his T-shirt as Stanley in Elia Kazan’s film version of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” which exploded into theaters in late September 1951.

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Compiled by Kathleen Craughwell, Eric Harrison, Susan King, Amy Wallace and Robert W. Welkos.