In this time and age, any movie can have a clever reference to a different movie and it’s not necessary to have those two movies related in any way. It may happen because the director or writer was a fan of that movie or it may be a subtle nod to a former role the leading actor played in the preceding movie.
When we say Easter Egg we don’t mean literally actual eggs. We are talking about the second-blink or ‘when-you-looked-down-your-popcorn-bowl-to-grab-a-bite moments,’ which the majority of the audience miss out and never realise are hiding in plain sight.
Below are some of the most brilliant easter eggs in movies in the past decade.
1.There’s a coffee cup in almost every scene of the movie “Fight Club”
You may have marked a lot of coffee consumption in David Fincher’s 1999 masterwork. One of the big themes of the film is the downfall of Generation X and the values of nonstop advertising. To showcase this, director David Fincher had put a Starbucks cup into just about every scene in the movie.
2.An image of Waldo lying among dead bodies flashes in “Apocalypto.”
This only happened in the theatrical release but for some reason, Mel Gibson felt it necessary to put a brief frame of Waldo among a sea of dead bodies in the middle of a chase scene. The movie “Apocalypto” is a gory but serious account of the fall of the Mayan civilization. Waldo is a hilarious addition. Gibson also put a seemingly random image into the trailer of “Apocalypto” — a shot of his goofily smiling face with cigarette dangling and wild beard.
3.Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981):
Speaking of the best Star Wars easter eggs in Harrison Ford films, one of the hieroglyphics on the wall behind Indiana Jones shows R2-D2 and C-3P0.
4.Blade Runner (1982):
Whilst building the world of Blade Runner, Ridley Scott and the production team realised that they needed some more buildings to fill out the skyline. They just happened to have a Millenium Falcon model lying around, so whacked a coat of paint on it and put it amongst the skyline.
5.A familiar face in Toy Story 3:
Pixar is notorious for its numerous Easter eggs. Sneaking references to past and future films into its current releases ever since even before the studio began its odyssey. From the Pizza Planet truck to a bouncy ball that appears in every single Pixar project, the Toy Story sequels are packed full of sly references.
6.Baby Driver’s mimicry:
Edgar Wright is known for his signature visual style and flair for genre pastiche. These tendencies were on perfect display on 2017’s Baby Driver, which stars Ansel Elgort as Baby, a largely silent getaway driver for a crew of criminals led by Kevin Spacey’s Doc. Baby has very few lines during the film, preferring to keep his headphones in rather than speak to anyone. When he does talk, he actually mimics movies he’s watched within the film, planting a clever Easter egg for careful viewers. In four different scenes, Baby repeats lines from everything from Fight Club to It’s Complicated to Monsters Inc., covering a wide variety of influences before Doc finally calls him out on it.
7.Wall-E (2008):
Disney and Pixar are known to place a little egg in almost all of their movies. In this animated feature too, the number A113 can be spotted many times. It’s a little nod to the room number of the class where John Lasseter worked when he was in art school.
( John is an American animator, film director, screenwriter, producer, voice actor. He was also the former chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar and Disneytoon Studios.)
8.Deadpool (2016)
Ryan Reynolds who played the character of Deadpool does a subtle nod to his Green Lantern character that he did some years back that some consider the worst superhero movie to come out. Even Ryan recognizes that and tries to poke fun of that role throughout this movie, even with the scene where he undergoes the treatment, he says “Please don’t make the suit green, or animated”.
9.The Departed (2006)
Image Alt – The Departed Fandom
This Scorsese’s flick has quite a few easter eggs that are recurrent and hold the key to the movie. For those who have watched the film, there’s a subtle sign of “X” that is shown with the character, just moments before they are going to die. Being a huge film nerd, Scorsese does this as a payoff to 1932’s Scarface where X appeared every time murder was about to be committed. Such things from Scorsese’s movies will blog your mind.
10.Iron Man (2009) :
In this blockbuster starring Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man, the scene where Stark is taking off his Iron gear after fighting the F-22s, on the left on his work table, you can see Captain America’s shield. This scene was not in the trailers though. It was a little nod to all the upcoming Marvel movies.
- Catch Me if You Can (2002)
In this Spielberg blockbuster based on the true story of the con man Frank Abagnale Jr. who fooled the entire system of the US. In the scene where DiCaprio playing Frank Jr. gets ambushed in France, the real Frank Abagnale Jr. made a little cameo. He was dressed as one of the French Policemen arresting DiCaprio. Frank catching Frank. The irony though!
How many of the Easter eggs in the above movies were you familiar with? Comment down below.
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