7 Curious Details That We Missed in Our Favorite Movies

As they say, the devil is in the details. And often the most interesting details elude even the most attentive eye. Some film directors masterfully weave subtle references into the movies, others hide secret clues about plot twists that become obvious only after watching them for the second time. In any case, movies are full of hidden mysteries that make them even more interesting and make us fall in love with them again and again.

Gladiator II and ancient Roman aesthetics

There are a lot of films about gladiators. But few of them, due to the very limited duration, talk about how they took care of themselves. And for Maximus’ contemporaries, self-care was a very important thing.

For example, in the latest movie, many, if not the absolute majority, of the gladiators appear before the audience and the Emperor with body hair. And in general, they look extremely unattractive.

Archeologists proved a long time ago that the participants of fights, like many other citizens of the Roman Empire, were simply obsessed with the beauty of a hairless body. And to get rid of the hair, people used ordinary tweezers.

Even Seneca in a letter to his friend complained about the noise that stood in public baths, when local gladiators were being epilated. Big men shouted loudly when their hair was removed with a “thin plucker,” and the gladiator’s shouting stopped only when he began to epilate someone else.

Hidden signs in Friends

In one of the episodes, Ross Geller wears a gray T-shirt with a picture of hands on it. Many viewers, of course, didn’t pay any attention to the drawing. However, some keen fans unraveled the hidden “code” of the series’ costume designer, Debra McGuire.

It turned out that the gesture actually means the word “friends” in sign language. It got to the point that a T-shirt with a similar design was sold on many marketplaces with a reference to the same show.

Stephen Hawking and the Prisoner of Azkaban

The famous book A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking appeared for a brief moment in the movie Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) — at the very beginning, when Harry finds Weasley in The Leaky Cauldron.

You might have noticed the wizard reading enthusiastically, but you probably didn’t pay attention to the book itself, which is about the nature of space and time, as well as the possibility of traveling in time. Who knows, maybe Hermione also scrutinized the book to better prepare herself for using the Time-Turner.

Keira Knightley and the “exploitation of workers”

In several scenes in the movie Misbehaviour (2020), Keira Knightley is reading the book called Labouring Men: studies in the history of labour. This is a well-known work by Eric Hobsbawm on the history of the labor movement in Britain.

The movie itself was based on true events surrounding the 1970 Miss World pageant and the feminist protests against it. In it, the actress plays the role of Sally Alexander, a historian and activist of the women’s liberation movement. So, it is not surprising that in those years her character could be interested in such literature. After all, at that time, women were also fighting for the right to receive equal pay with men.

The Infinity Gauntlet long before Thanos

In one scene of Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Hela points out that all of Asgard’s “treasures” are fake. In particular, she contemptuously drops the Infinity Gauntlet, better known from another movie Avengers: Infinity War, which will be released only a year later. You could say that Marvel just decided to promote one of their next movies this way.

Batman vs. Joaquin Phoenix

Just a few people noticed that in Joker (2019), the old rival of the main character appears right at the beginning of the movie. And not somewhere, but right in front of the actor — in the mirror, in which he looks while putting on makeup.

Magic is not the only thing in life.

Although some wizards obviously didn’t like the presence of Muggles in their lives, probably none of them could resist Muggle cuisine. In particular, chicken wings and other dishes made from this bird.

At Hogwarts, everyone liked such dishes as chicken fricassee, chicken noodle soup, chicken salad, and chicken pot pie. Chicken drumsticks were served during the school year commencement celebration. They were on the menu at the graduation party as well.

In addition, Harry, Ronald and Hermione sent chicken to Sirius Black when he was hiding in the mountains near Hogsmeade. This ingredient was also required for magical matters. For example, to make the Invisibility Potion. Not everyone had an invisibility cloak, after all!

BONUS: Beldam in Coraline

The animated movie gives many references and indications of the true nature of the main villain, even before she turns into a horrible spider. There are even scenes in which horns appear over Beldam’s head, as if she’s some sort of demon.

This infernal attribute appears in the movie at least twice. Considering how much effort, time and patience the production of the cartoon requires, it’s hard to believe that this appeared in the movie purely by chance.

And here’s another bunch of hidden details that you might have missed in your favorite movies.