What's with Paul & Wendy (Tobey MacGuire & Christina Ricci) calling each oter "Charles"???? Does anyone know?? Is this some sort of movie in-joke?? A movie industry gag?? Is it some kind of '70s reference I don't recognize????? There's nothing about this even on the Criterion DVD!!!! This has bothered me for years!! What's the mystery?? Who's Charles?? Charles Addams?? (Christina having been in "The Addams Family" movies???) Charles Nelson Reilly???? WHO???
shareCharles Nelson Reilly is right. Its a reference to his old 70s game show 'The Match Game'. I've always loved this little touch in the film, which my sister and I adopted for a while after first seeing it.
shareWhat's up with all the question marks?
shareThis post is great... because in the book, the author describes a situation where one of the parents, bewildered and annoyed, demands to know what the hell is the deal with them always calling each other "Charles." The post captures it nicely.
shareActually, I've since been informed (I don't recall when or where) that it's supposed to be an in-joke
between the characters about Charles Nelson Reilly, but the parents think it's a reference to Charles Manson.
the parents think it's a reference to Charles Manson.
That's great to know; I always assumed they were impersonating Charles Winchester from M*A*S*H but I guess the dates wouldn't have matched up.
I always loved this aspect because my own sister and I used to call each other "Cecil", imitating the way Helena Bonham Carter would say Daniel Day Lewis's character name in _Room With A View_. So when I saw _Ice Storm_ I thought: "Hey, there are other siblings out there like us!"
Cecil! I've never heard it pronounced the way they did in A Room With A View - "SISS-ull"!
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