Question: Are the characters in this movie based on actual people? Is it a true story or a fictional story that was entirely possible?
Question: Was the ghostwriter murdered? Why? The book had already been published, and he only discovered the truth about Ruth minutes before, so who would have wanted him dead?
Answer: Who would want him dead? Ruth, for one, as well as Professor Emmett (her CIA recruiter) and others involved in the conspiracy. Yes, the book had been published, but the secret message only comes across if one is in possession of all the knowledge that the writer had acquired, which the casual reader would not have. And minutes is plenty of time for Ruth, Emmett, or anyone else to make a phone call and arrange the hit.
The published book was a rewrite and would not have the secret message in the chapter beginnings.
The published book was a rewrite of the original manuscript. He gives her the original manuscript that he was working off, not a final draft.
Makes no sense, he was run down 2 minutes after she read it.
We know the beginning of the book was rewritten as he didn't like it. Almost certainly, the clue is not in the published version of the book. Ruth was shocked to read the note and is delivering her speech so is unlikely to be complicit in the murder of the Ghostwriter. The ending suggests that Ruth, too, is little more than a pawn in the whole conspiracy.
Question: After they search Leary's hotel room, they find a piece of paper that says "SW SKELLUM LA." We learn that the SW stands for Southwest (a bank he was using) and SKELLUM is a phone number. What does the LA mean?
Chosen answer: LA is short for Los Angeles, which refers to the city Leary attempts to assassinate the president in.
Question: When they are singing under a tree full of doves, it looks like they were tied to the tree branches. Is this true?
Answer: Yes it is true. They did this to prevent the birds from flying into the backdrops and becoming injured or killed.
Question: If the ship's artillery is only equipped with 5-inch starburst rounds (as stated more than once), how do they use the much larger guns to sink the submarine?
Answer: The smaller guns were only equipped with the Starburst rounds. The 16 Inch Cannons were still supplied with live ammo. None of the characters left to fight had experience with the 16 inch guns except for the Gunner's Mate, therefore none of them thought to use one of the 16 inch guns.
Answer: In earlier versions of the "Annie" story, she is orphaned when her parents are killed in a car accident. In the musical, they died in a fire. In the 2014 re-imagining, Annie lives in foster care after being abandoned by her family. Early on, she hopes to one day be reunited with them. We, the audience, never learn their whereabouts, nor whether they are alive or dead.
Question: Why does Norton lie and say that he "has company" and then make De Niro wait longer during the robbery? Sure, Norton double crosses him later, but wouldn't making his partner wait put both of them in danger of getting caught since it delays them and increases their chances of getting caught?
Answer: Norton already has an advance plan to prevent himself from getting caught. The delay is both to fluster DeNiro, and to prevent him from having enough time at the moment of the double-cross to come up with an alternate to handing over the prize without getting caught himself.
Question: When Georges is being deported back to France, why didn't Brontë go with him? They realised they were in love with each other plus there was nothing stopping her from going to France with him.
Answer: It's implied she will be coming with him when George says he will write to ask 'when are you coming cherie?' and the way they laugh and exchange rings. She just has to wrap up loose ends in NY then she'll be on her way to him.
Question: When Nikki came to see Terri, he laid his hat and coat in the chair - no package. Later, he went to the chair and got the package that contained the scarf. Was the package placed there at a later time?
Question: Wouldn't David & Jennifer's mom be worried about the sudden disappearance of her daughter, seeing as how Jennifer stayed behind in Pleasantville rather than returning to the "real world"?
Answer: We don't see much of the "real world" after David returns other than his conversation with his mother. I am sure in time she would have been worried but there seem to be many unanswered questions which might make it not so simple.
Considering that a couple of days in Pleasantville turned out to be just an hour in the real world, it's possible Jennifer could spend 3-4 years in uni and cone back with it being just a weekend in the real world. David could just make up something in that period she's gone.
Actually if a couple of days is just an hour than 3-4 years is more than 2 weeks.
Question: In the scene where Vincent is just about to launch, the doctor testing him mentions his son. My brother seems to think that the doctor knows Vincent is not who he pretends to be because he is Jerome Morrow's father. Is there any evidence for this?
Answer: None whatsoever. The doctor seems to have worked out that Vincent is not who he seems to be from simple observational evidence. It's because of his son that he feels sympathy for Vincent and hasn't revealed that he's tricking the system.
Question: Whenever Tim goes back in time, his clothes change to whatever he was wearing at the time, but he always appears in the same spot that he left from. Both times he goes back to the NYE party he appears in the upstairs wardrobe. So what happened to the version of him that was already walking around at the party? Did that version of him just vanish?
Answer: This is one of the (many) time travel plot holes in the film, and unfortunately your question doesn't really have a definitive, or satisfying, answer. Richard Curtis has said he was less concerned with making an airtight time travel film than with the human story at its core, so he let things like this slide without explanation. However, since we don't see any "second" Tims around when he goes back in time, and no-one else seems to think of him as an "extra" Tim, we can safely assume that, yes, he replaces himself in the timeline when he travels back. (Of course, this doesn't explain what happens when he then returns FROM the past).
Question: Was Christoph Waltz telling the truth about the sheriff?
Chosen answer: There is nothing in the film to indicate that he is not. He has the paperwork to prove the bounty he was pursuing, and he is not held by the authorities or charged with any crime, so we can assume that he was.
Question: Who laced the cookies that were given to the children with arsenic? It's never shown who applies it, only who takes the cookies to them.
Answer: When the children discover the cookies had been poisoned (revealed by the death of their pet mouse which ate part of one of the cookies), they suspect their grandmother. After all, she was the one who had been cruel to them all along. But eventually, they realise that it was in fact, their mother, Corinne, who was lacing the cookies with poison. She was doing so with the hope that the children would eventually die, seemingly from disease. In doing so, she would secure the family inheritance which was contingent upon her never having had children from her first marriage. They eventually confront their mother on the day of her second wedding, and a struggle ensues which ultimately leads to Corinne falling to her death from a balcony.
Question: What is A.J. doing when he burns Mark's CD? Why would he ruin his CD, if that's what he's doing?
Chosen answer: He is making sure the CD can't be played anymore because nobody really likes Mark's music.
I never understood that part because they were singing along to the song Mark chose to play.
Question: Who played Michaela Odone's sister in the movie? Was thinking it was Holly Hunter but IMDB has no information.
Chosen answer: It was Kathleen Wilhoite (she also played Dr. Lewis' sister Chloe on ER).
Answer: She also played Luke Dane's sister on Gilmore girls.
Question: At the meeting in Atlantic City, what's with the dons passing around and taking from the platter of jewelry?
Answer: It shows you how greedy they are even as they've made it to the zenith of their criminal careers. That's why you see Michael pass it on disgustedly and stare blankly into the ether. Michael's goal was never to be the boss or capo di tutti capi, he only did it to protect his father and then his family, his main goal. And at that moment he realises he's never getting out. He's a business man in a world of criminals (which he is himself).
Answer: The movie was written by Tom Hanks and some what reflects the music industry during that time period. It is not about a real band, but shows how a lot of bands were treated at the time and how quickly you can rise and how you can fall even faster.
Bruce Minnick