58 Photos That Show Famous And Iconic Pop Culture Moments From A Sliiiiiightly Different Angle

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1. Titanic was originally supposed to open in the summer of 1997, but the movie went over schedule and was delayed until December of '97. This advance poster, which was created for its summer release date, marketed the film more in the style of an action summer blockbuster:

The image is a promotional poster for the movie "Titanic" with the text "Collide with Destiny" and "James Cameron Film" prominently displayed

2. James Cameron had a 2/3 scale of the Titanic built for the movie in Mexico. These images show just how huge the ship set was:

James Aylott / Getty Images

3. Coincidentally, CBS aired a two-part made-for-TV movie titled Titanic a little bit over a year earlier, in November of '96. The movie starred a then-unknown Catherine Zeta-Jones, Tim Curry, Peter Gallagher, George Scott, and Marilu Henner as Molly Brown:

Four actors in "Titanic" period costumes pose on an ornate staircase. The women wear elegant gowns, and the men are in formal attire

4. Here's a behind-the-scenes photo of Dave Prowse in the Darth Vader costume, trying to cool off during the filming of Star Wars: A New Hope:

A person in a Darth Vader costume humorously faces a large fan, possibly playfully mimicking the sound or effect of wind

5. The very first Star Wars spoof was on the Season 3 premiere of the Donny & Marie show in September of 1977 (the film, which opened in May, was still the No. 1 movie in theaters then, and Star Wars mania was in full swing). It featured Donny and Marie as Luke and Leia, Kris Kirstofferson as Han Solo, and Redd Foxx as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and featured dancing Stormtroopers, cheesy jokes, and Chewie hugging Darth Vader:

Robot and human characters in futuristic costumes are on a colorful, decorated set resembling a space environment

The spoof was made with the approval of George Lucas, who allowed the show to use the original Stormtrooper and Darth Vader costumes. Along with the authentic costumes and props (including the actual R2-D2 used in the movie), Anthony Daniels played C-3PO, and Peter Mayhew played Chewbacca:

Actors in "Star Wars" costumes, including Leia, Luke, C-3PO, R2-D2, and Stormtroopers, pose on a stage set resembling a space-themed environment

6. Revenge of the Jedi was the original working title of Return of the Jedi, the change in the name was so last-minute that a (now rare) pre-release poster and teaser trailer for the movie both had the title Revenge of the Jedi in it:

Revenge of the Jedi" showing a duel between two characters with lightsabers and the text, "The Saga Continues. Coming May 25, 1983."

7. These are a couple of photos of Sarah Jessica Parker filming the very first episode of Sex and the City in June of 1997:

New York Daily News Archive / NY Daily News via Getty Images

8. Here's a promotional photo taken of Jonathan Taylor Thomas while he was recording the speaking voice of Young Simba for The Lion King:

A young Jonathan Taylor Thomas wearing headphones, seated in front of a microphone in a recording studio

9. Gone With the Wind is a classic and considered one of the greatest films of all time. The film also did a lot of firsts, including being the first color movie to win the Best Picture Oscar and having the first Black actor to be nominated and win an Oscar — which was Hattie McDaniel for Best Supporting Actress. However, one first you might not know is that it was the first film to have its premiere televised (and yes, TVs existed back in the '30s, but they were EXTREMELY rare). Gone With the Wind's New York premiere was televised, and below is a photo from the premiere announcing it:

"An innovation. This premiere is the first to be broadcast by television" featuring RCA and NBC logos, and a drawing of a woman's face

10. Speaking of firsts, in 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first US president to appear on TV — FDR gave a speech to open the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, which was televised. It also wouldn't be the only time he appeared on TV:

Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers a speech at a historical event. He stands at a podium, with several military and government officials seated behind him

11. The original opening credits for I Love Lucy throughout its run were actually animated. They were changed to the classic satin and heart credits when the show was syndicated (put into reruns), as the animated credits wouldn't work because they incorporated whichever brand was sponsoring that week's episode:

Cartoon characters of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz lean against a heart with "I Love Lucy" written inside

12. The very first issue of TV Guide, released on April 3, 1953, featured Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's newborn son, Desi Arnaz Jr., on the cover:

TV Guide cover from April 3-9 featuring a baby Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV and a small image of Lucille Ball with text reading "Lucy's $50,000,000 Baby."

13. In 1977, 26 years after first costarring together on I Love Lucy, Vivian Vance and Lucille Ball would costar together one last time in the TV special Lucy Calls The President:

Lucille Ball plays the clarinet, Gale Gordon wears overalls, Vivian Vance sits at the piano, and William Frawley holds a drum in a comedic scene from "The Lucy Show."

14. Before Kermit the Frog became famous as the leader of The Muppets, he was actually well-known for his drag act! He went by "Kermina" and performed a lipsync-comedy act to Rosemary Clooney's "I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face." Here's a screenshot of him performing it on The Steve Allen Show in 1956:

Jim Henson's puppets, Kermit the Frog and Yorick, from a classic black-and-white television appearance, with Kermit wearing a happy expression

And here is a screenshot of Kermit performing the lipsync-comedy act on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1967:

Kermit the Frog in a red leotard and blonde wig, extends his arm towards Miss Mousey, a pink puppet with large eyes and a small red nose

15. Here is a rare color photo of Coco Chanel at her 1958 Chanel Spring-Summer collection show:

A woman in an elegant, patterned suit smiles while speaking with two men, one holding a microphone, at an event

16. This is what the set of the Petries' living room on The Dick Van Dyke Show looked like in color:

Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore in a living room set, with Dick standing and Mary seated on a couch, both smiling warmly

17. The iconic Hollywood sign was actually built in 1923 to advertise the Hollywoodland real estate development in the hills below it. The sign was originally only supposed to be up for 18 months, but it became a visual symbol of Los Angeles. Throughout most of the Golden Age of Hollywood the Hollywood sign read "Hollywoodland," with the "land" part only being removed in 1949:

Hollywoodland sign on a hillside, symbolizing early Hollywood history and its iconic transformation into the entertainment capital

If you look at this photo of Hollywood (looking up Vine St.) from 1949, you can see that the sign still spells out "Hollywoodland" in the distance:

1950s aerial view of Hollywood Boulevard, showcasing iconic signs, buildings, and surrounding hills in Los Angeles

18. In 1992, a seductive 75-foot cartoon cutout of the character of Holli Would from the movie Cool World was placed on top of the "D" in the Hollywood sign as part of the publicity stunt for the film. People who lived in the area were not happy:

The Hollywood sign on a hillside, modified with a cartoon of Marilyn Monroe sitting on the last letter 'D'

The movie was an adult animated/live-action film, in the vein of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and starred Brad Pitt and Kim Basinger as Holli Would:

Cool World movie poster featuring animated characters, Gabriel Byrne, and Holli Would, with a tagline "Holli Would if she could... and she will."

19. This is what the Bayside High set from Saved by the Bell looked like behind-the-scenes (which, TBH, looks a lot smaller than I imagined):

People filming a TV scene set in an office, featuring actors in 1980s attire and crew members operating cameras

Also, Saved by the Bell didn't use canned laughter; it was filmed before a live studio audience:

A diverse group of people stands onstage facing an audience, possibly for a TV show or event. Some wear patterned and casual clothing

20. Jean Stapleton and Carroll O'Connor were actually not that old when All In The Family premiered in 1971. Stapleton was 48, and O'Connor was 46 — for context, Reese Witherspoon is currently 48, and Ashton Kutcher is 46:

A couple stands in a doorway labeled "704," looking surprised; the woman wears a patterned dress, and the man is in a collared shirt

21. While filming Scooby-Doo, the actors employed various methods to help them act opposite a CGI Scooby. One method was to memorize exactly where (the creepy) Scooby's head on a stick — which was used for camera placement — was during the set-up:

Matthew Lillard and Seth Green on set with a Scooby-Doo puppet

In case you were wondering, the scene in the airport where Scooby is in disguise as a grandma was filmed using a man dressed in costume and wearing a green screen hood:

Unidentified person in a green full-face mask and bulky patterned outfit, carrying a tan handbag, standing in what appears to be an airport lounge

22. Here's Cameron Diaz...

Cameron Diaz smiling and posing with a hand behind her neck, wearing a black turtleneck sweater indoors

And Eddie Murphy recording their lines for Shrek:

Eddie Murphy, wearing a sweater, energetically performs at a recording studio

23. Michael Keaton's Batman wears Nike shoes in Batman and Batman Returns, but there are contradictory reasons why that came to be. According to the assistant costume designer on the 1989 Batman film, one of the producers had struck a product deal with Nike and needed them in the movie, and because they didn't fit stylistically with any of the other characters or background actors, they incorporated them into Batman's costume. While the lead costume designer on the 1989 movie remembers Nike gifting it to them without a tie-in:

Warner Bros / ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection, Murray Close

24. You might have never noticed, but Jack Nicholson gets top billing on the poster and opening credits of Batman (over the lead, Micheal Keaton). This was part of Nicholson's list of demands for signing on to play the Joker:

Movie poster for 1989's "Batman" with bat symbol and credits, starring Nicholson and Keaton, directed by Tim Burton

25. This promotional photo of Jack Nicholson in the "Here's Johnny!" moment in The Shining was what got him cast as the Joker. In 1980, Michael Uslan, who would go on to executive produce all the Batman films, picked up a copy of the New York Post, and when he opened up the movie section, he saw this photo of Nicholson, which was advertising that The Shining was opening that weekend. Uslan, who had bought the film rights for Batman the year prior, immediately thought that Nicholson was the only one who could play the Joker. When he got home, he tore the photo from the paper and drew the Joker's face over it using Wite-Out and markers. The drawing, indeed, looks a lot like the Joker from the film:

Jack Nicholson peers through a broken door with a manic expression, reenacting a famous scene from "The Shining."

26. Here's what Humphrey Bogart looked like in color as his Casablanca character Rick Blaine:

Person in a classic white tuxedo and black bow tie, smiling against an orange backdrop

27. If you've ever seen Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot, then you know it's one of the funniest movies ever and has aged surprisingly well. This is what Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis looked like in color as their drag characters Josephine and Jerraldine/Daphne:

Two people in 1920s-style dresses and hats, one with a round handbag, posing humorously in front of a pink gate backdrop

28. While here's a color photo of the rehearsal on the train scene in from Some Like It Hot:

Marilyn Monroe playing a ukulele surrounded by a group of women musicians playing various instruments in the movie "Some Like It Hot."

And here's a color photo of Marilyn Monroe as Sugar Kane:

Marilyn Monroe poses on a bed, wearing a stylish black lace top

29. Popular Hollywood movies being adapted into Broadway musicals is not a new phenomenon. In 1970, one of the greatest films of all time, All About Eve, was adapted into the popular musical Applause, with Lauren Bacall in the role of Margo Channing (who was iconically portrayed by Bette Davis in the film). Below are some photos of the production when it was adapted for a CBS television special:

CBS Photo Archive / CBS via Getty Images

In 1999, in an interview on The Rosie O'Donnell Show, Lauren Bacall spoke about how Bette Davis approved of her performance.

30. In 1966, Breakfast at Tiffany's was adapted into a musical, with Mary Tyler Moore and Richard Chamberlain as Holly Golightly and Paul Varjak. The show was a huge failure, closing quickly after only four previews on Broadway. Here are a couple of photos of Moore and Chamberlain rehearsing for the show:

Courtesy Everett Collection

31. These clay models of Woody and Buzz's faces were created for Toy Story so that they could be scanned into the computer whenever needed so that animators could always get the right shape, depth, and scale when animating them:

Buena Vista Pictures / ©Buena Vista Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

32. To promote the remake of Child's Play in 2019, promotional posters of Chucky killing Toy Story characters were released:

/ ©Orion Pictures Corp/Courtesy Everett Co / Everett Collection

The poster designs were based on the promotional character posters for Toy Story 4 — which was released on the same day as Child's Play:

/ ©Walt Disney Co./courtesy Everett / Everett Collection

33. Here's a behind-the-scenes photo of Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews rehearsing a dance number for Mary Poppins:

Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews dance together on a wooden floor, both mid-step with broad smiles. Julie's skirt is lifted to reveal her footwear

34. Here is a screenshot of Britney Spears and Madonna rehearsing the iconic kiss they did during the 2003 VMA's "Like A Virgin"/"Hollywood" opening performance:

Britney Spears, Madonna, and Christina Aguilera performing on stage at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, with Britney and Madonna sharing a kiss

And here's a screenshot of Christina Aguilera kissing Madonna during rehearsal, which wasn't seen during the original telecast because the camera people cut to Justin Timberlake to get his reaction:

Madonna and Britney Spears share a kiss on stage. Madonna is wearing a black top with a necklace, and Britney is in a purple tank top featuring a graphic print

35. This is Ronald Reagan modeling for a sculpture class in 1939-ish:

A man poses as an artist's model in a classroom, surrounded by sculptors at work, with a teacher giving instructions

36. Here's a photo of Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks putting their handprints and signatures in cement outside the Chinese Theater in 1927. They were the first two celebrities to ever do it:

Clara Bow, Sid Grauman, and Harold Lloyd are seen posing with their handprints on the sidewalk during a commemorative event

37. This is an awesome (at least to me) photo of George Lucas, David Bowie, and Jim Henson taken to promote Labyrinth:

George Lucas, David Bowie, and Jim Henson posing together, each smiling and looking directly at the camera

38. Here's Princess Diana at the London premiere of Labyrinth, alongside Jim Henson, as she meets Ludo:

A man in a tuxedo and a woman in an elegant gown meet a large creature costume at a formal event, with several onlookers in the background

39. And here's Princess Di at the London premiere of Jurassic Park in 1993, warmly greeting her longtime friend, actor-director Sir Richard Attenborough, who played John Hammond in the film:

A woman in elegant evening wear greets an older man with glasses at a formal event. Others in formal attire watch and smile

40. In fact, the last premiere Princess Di attended was for Attenborough's In Love and War in February of 1997:

Person in a formal gown and another wearing a tuxedo are walking. They appear to be at an event, possibly a red carpet gathering

41. Here's Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger in 1967, having a conversation as they wait for their train to depart:

Two people sit across from each other in a train compartment, engaged in conversation, with a blurred view of passersby outside the window

42. These photos are of the Apple Boutique, a short-lived London store owned by the Beatles. The store was open from December 1967 to July 1968 — closing for several reasons, including too much shoplifting and not being able to make a profit because they sold rather expensive to produce clothes at low prices:

A building with a large mural featuring an astronaut and planets on its side. A crowd gathers outside below

But the shop was open long enough for a young Maggie Smith to film a scene there for the movie Hot Millions, where her character goes shopping at the Apple Boutique for psychedelic clothing:

A person dressed in vintage-style clothing holds a phone to their ear, smiling. The background features a store with a retro vibe and a mannequin in the foreground

43. When Forrest Gump was released in 1994, the special effects scenes that incorporated archived footage with Forrest in them were pretty mind-blowing. Here's a behind-the-scenes photo of how the scene where Forrest meets Richard Nixon was filmed:

Tom Hanks in a suit speaks at a podium during a press event or speech

And here's how the scene looked in the film:

Richard Nixon talks to Forrest Gump in a scene from the 1994 movie "Forrest Gump." Both are in formal attire

44. This is what the mysterious and spooky, and all together ooky cast of The Addams Family looked like in color:

A family dressed in classic retro gothic attire poses with a turkey. They have distinct, quirky expressions and form a humorous contrast to traditional family portraits

45. While Salvador Dalí is an artist who is most associated with the surrealism movement of the '20s and '30s, he was actually still a very active artist at the same time Andy Warhol was in the '60s and '70s (in fact, Dalí outlived Warhol). Below is a photo of the two in 1975, at a screening of the film Shampoo:

Three men in formal attire are having a conversation. One holds a decorative object. The atmosphere is lively and engaged

46. Here's a behind-the-scenes photo of the Clueless cast with the movie's director, Amy Heckerling, taken while they filmed the movie's final scene:

Group cast photo from "Clueless" (1995) featuring actors Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy, Paul Rudd, and others in stylish outfits from the film

47. Jackie Kennedy's iconic pink suit is, of course, forever linked to JFK's assassination. However, she wore the suit publicly at least six times before that day. Below is a photo of her wearing it to visit her sister, Lee Radziwill, in London in March 1962. She also wore it when the Maharajah and Maharani of Jaipur visited the White House in October 1962.

Two women in formal 1960s attire, with bouffant hairstyles, stand near a door numbered 4. One waves while the other looks on

48. When The Wizard of Oz started filming, the Wicked Witch of West was not as menacing looking as she would be in the final film, with Margaret Hamilton wearing less makeup and a long bob wig. While Judy Garland's Dorothy wore a strawberry blonde wig and a lot of makeup to give her a "baby-doll" look:

MGM Studios / Getty Images, MGM/ Courtesy Everett Collection

Two weeks' worth of footage was shot with the characters having these looks until the film's director, Richard Thrope, was let go from the film, after MGM executives thought that the scenes he shot "did not have the right air of fantasy about them." The movie was paused and Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West's costumes were redesigned to what we saw in the final film:

Dorothy, played by Judy Garland, is being threatened by the Wicked Witch of the West, portrayed by Margaret Hamilton, in a scene from "The Wizard of Oz."

49. Here's a photo of Martin Luther King Jr., along with his kids, Yolanda and Martin Luther III, in 1964, riding the Ford Magic Skyway attraction that was built by Disney for the New York World's Fair:

A man smiling and waving, seated in a convertible, with a young child beside him, also waving. Another child is seated in the back

50. It's A Small World was actually an attraction that Disney originally built for the 1964 New York World's Fair, and this is what the exterior of the ride looked like:

Scott McPartland / Getty Images, Morse Collection/Gado / Gado via Getty Images

51. Here's a behind-the-scenes photo of Alfred Hitchcock directing Janet Leigh in the iconic shower scene in Psycho:

Alfred Hitchcock directs Janet Leigh in the iconic shower scene from the film "Psycho."

52. This is a marketing poster for Psycho featuring Alfred Hitchcock telling people they needed to arrive at the movie on time or else they wouldn't be allowed to be let in. Before the 1970s, it was common for people to buy tickets and drop into a theater at any point during a movie. The poster was created because Hitchcock wanted to ensure that people didn't have the plot twists spoiled by showing up late — and the campaign worked:

Alfred Hitchcock in a suit pointing to a sign that reads, "It is required that you see 'Psycho' from the very beginning!" with showtime details

53. If you've been on TikTok, then you might have stumbled upon a video of some younger people who didn't know that we used to have commercial supersonic planes. This is a photo of Queen Elizabeth on a chartered Concorde on her way back to London in 1977, after her Silver Jubilee tour of Canada and the West Indies:

A woman in a patterned dress reads a newspaper aboard a private jet, with empty seats and papers around her

54. Did the late Queen Elizabeth ever watch a Lindsay Lohan movie? The answer is YES! Here's the Queen meeting Natasha Richardson at The Parent Trap's Royal Premiere in London in 1998:

A woman in an elegant white gown curtsies to an older woman in a beaded dress with gloves, shaking hands. People in formal attire watch nearby

55. This is how the water balloon scene was filmed in The Parent Trap:

Dana Carvey and young Juliette Brewer in a behind-the-scenes moment from the film "Clean Slate," with a crew member adjusting a green balloon in a web of strings

56. Here's a behind-the-scenes photo of director Mark Waters showing Daniel Franzese how to grab Lindsay Lohan's hair in the "Is that your natural hair color" moment in Mean Girls:

Lindsay Lohan in a classroom scene from a movie, looking surprised with a water bottle and notebooks on the desk

57. And here's a behind-the-scenes photo of Tina Fey filming the gym scene in Mean Girls:

Tina Fey on a film set, holding a pink binder, with an American flag in the background. Crew members are adjusting equipment around her

58. And lastly, here are Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, and Daniel Radcliffe at a photo-call in London, in August 2000, after it was announced that they would be playing Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Harry Potter in the upcoming Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone film:

Three young children sit on a chair together, smiling. The one on the left is wearing a casual purple top, the middle wears glasses, and the right wears a striped shirt

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