Image: 20th Century Fox
About This Quiz
"The Fly" grossed $60.6 million on a budget of less than $15 million. It became Cronenberg’s only film to win an Oscar, and the makeup artists also won one. How well do you remember the movie? Find out by taking this quiz.
What did Seth Brundle invent?
Phone booths.
Hologram machines.
Microwave ovens.
Teleportation pods.
“You got it all right—you just can’t handle it. Um, your stocking has just been teleported from one pod to another...”
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What did Veronica Quaife do for a living?
She was a scientist.
She was the CEO of a technology company.
She was a journalist.
Initially, the telepods were like telephone booths. The director had to show the designer his single-cylinder Ducati motorcycle, and the design was taken directly from that.
She was a housewife.
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What was the first thing Seth teleports for Veronica?
Her earrings.
Her stocking.
"Begin the teleportation sequence. Uh, keep your eye on the stocking."
Her lipstick.
Her Rolex.
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What security measure enabled only Seth to activate the machine?
It used fingerprint technology.
He had an alphanumeric password.
It used voice recognition.
Seth was cast first because he had an intelligent presence. He also had the unique ability to have the physical presence required for the last part of the movie.
It performed a retinal scan.
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How did Stathis Borans, Veronica’s editor, feel about the machine at first?
He thought Seth was doing a parlor trick.
“He’s conning you. It’s an old nightclub routine with two cabinets, and you fell for it.”
He wanted Veronica to learn as much as she could by pretending to get close to Seth.
He was excited and planned to run the story on the front page as soon as she finished it.
He secretly planned to steal the machine.
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Who was Veronica in a relationship with before meeting Seth?
No one, her job was always first.
Her landlord.
Stathis.
John Getz (born October 15, 1946), who played Stathis, is the only actor to reprise his role in "The Fly II." He has also appeared in "Born on the Fourth of July," "Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead," "Curly Sue," and "Men at Work."
The last scientist about which she wrote an article.
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Finish the quote: " Your book will end ______________________."
"…With my death."
"…With your death."
"…With World War III."
"…With me transporting myself 15 feet through space from one telepod to another."
"Follow me and my work day by day in as much detail as you can stand. I don’t have a life, so there’s nothing for you to interfere with… Your book will end with me transporting myself 15 feet through space from one telepod to another."
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What animal failed to teleport properly the first time Seth showed Veronica what the machine did to living things?
A fly.
An orangutan.
"The Fly" was based on a short story by George Langelaan that was published in the June 1957 issue of Playboy. In the 1958 movie version, as well as in the short story, the fly’s head and arm were switched with the human.
A mouse.
A frog.
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What did Seth first think the machine did to living tissues?
It carbonized soft tissue into something hard.
It suffocated the living thing during the teleportation process.
It only reproduced the top five molecules (by mass) instead of all of them.
It turned it inside out.
“I think it, uh, turned the baboon inside out… Can’t deal with flesh. It only seems to work with inanimate objects—nothing that’s living.”
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What food did Seth transport to discover the flaw?
Bread.
An egg.
Salad.
Steak.
The director loved motor racing, so he named Seth after a Formula One driver turned commentator: Martin John Brundle.
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How many different looks did Seth have to wear?
He only had five sets of the same outfit.
“Five sets of exactly the same clothes?” “Learned it from Einstein.”
He had two different looks: a lab look and a “going out” look.
He had seven: one for each day of the week.
He never dressed the same way twice.
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What was the name of the magazine where Stathis and Veronica worked?
Go Science!
Particle.
The concept for Particle was that it was the People or Time magazine for physicists. The closest thing the director could think of in real life that would be similar was Scientific American.
Millennium.
HighTech.
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What was the major flaw with the machine at the beginning of the movie
The doors on the pods sometimes came open during transport.
It would only teleport inanimate objects.
“No, something important’s missing… I can only teleport inanimate objects.”
It only teleported one living thing at a time.
It would only teleport insects.
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Which actor played Seth?
Jeff Goldblum.
Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum (born October 22, 1952) was an accomplished piano player, and so he had no trouble playing the piano when he first invited Veronica to his home. He also appeared in some of the highest grossing films of his era, including the "Jurassic Park" and "Independence Day" series.
David Niven.
Barry Nelson.
Roger Moore.
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What was Seth’s motivation for developing a teleporter?
He had motion sickness.
"You did it. You’ll never have to get car sick again."
He had angina.
He had severe anxiety in crowded areas, such as airports and train stations.
He had sickle cell disease.
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What was in the telepod when Seth transported himself?
A baboon.
A centipede.
A fly.
The baboon teleport scene was the first motion control shot the director had done. They made the film at a time when motion control technology was new.
A moth.
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Why did Seth get upset and teleport himself without Veronica?
A fly landed in his champagne.
The results for the baboon were taking too long.
He was jealous of Stathis.
"I-I was drunk, and I was a bit upset."
He didn’t want to go on vacation with Veronica.
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What did Seth start doing when he woke up the day after his teleportation?
Cooking.
Flying.
Housework.
Gymnastics.
In the earlier version of "The Fly" and in the short story, Seth is not articulate during his transformation because his head is that of a fly. The director wanted the audience to develop sympathy for him, and so he had him talking throughout and sharing his feelings as he goes through the process.
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Seth initially attributed his changes to what?
The teleportation purified him.
"I’m beginning to think the sheer process of being taken apart atom by atom and put back together again—why, it’s like coffee begin put through a filter. It’s somehow a purifying process."
The teleportation poisoned him.
The teleportation gave him someone else’s body.
The teleportation gave him confidence.
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What began to grow in the wound on Seth’s back?
Fly eyes
Fly legs.
Wings.
Coarse hairs.
Goldblum had to work out during the movie so he would be pumped when he did scenes with his shirt off. Watching Goldblum exercise encouraged the director to exercise during his breaks as well, so this was the only movie Cronenberg made where he didn’t gain weight during filming.
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What type of food did Seth crave after the teleportation?
Raw meat.
Rotten vegetables.
Sweet foods.
“Do you normally take coffee with your sugar?” “What?”
Feces.
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What happened to the guy with whom Seth arm wrestled?
The guy had a heart attack.
Seth broke the guy’s arm.
The man who plays Marky, Seth’s arm wrestling opponent, was George Chuvalo. Chuvalo is a professional Canadian boxer (now retired) who was never knocked down during either his amateur or professional career, even when he went against (and lost to) greats such as Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, and George Foreman.
Seth lost to him.
The guy punched Seth after losing.
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What did Veronica do with the hairs she cut off Seth’s back?
She burned them.
She threw them in the trash.
She had them analyzed at a lab.
“Those weird hairs that were growing out of your back, I took them to a lab. I had them analyzed.”
She put them in a locket.
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When Veronica went to Stathis to find help for Seth, what did Stathis want her to do?
Bring him samples of Seth’s body parts.
Bring him a tape of Seth.
Veronica’s apartment is quintessential for Toronto. The director sets most of his films in Toronto. Since he is so familiar with the city, he feels that is what he does best.
Bring him Seth’s research notes.
Get Seth to allow Stathis to try the telepods.
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Finish the quote: "Better watch out; _____________________."
"…He might have a crowbar up his sleeve."
"…He eats chocolate bars."
"Better watch out; he eats chocolate bars." “Yeah, so I noticed.”
"…He might read you to death."
"…His socks don’t match."
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What fly-like talent did Seth get?
The ability to walk on walls.
They filmed the movie before the invention of CGI. All the special effects were done on an optical bench.
The ability to fly.
The ability to lay eggs.
The ability to eat feces without becoming sick.
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What did Seth say the disease was turning him into?
Flyseth.
Superfly.
Flyman.
Brundlefly.
“What do you think, a fly? Am I becoming a 185-pound fly? No, I’m becoming something that never existed before: I’m becoming Brundlefly.”
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How did Seth have to eat after his transformation?
He ate by cutting everything into small pieces.
He ate by allowing everything to rot.
He ate by throwing up on it and then drinking it.
To get the baboon to bat at the fly, they attached a live fly to fishing rod with a line made out of light bulb filaments. Any visible strings or wires needed to be painted out on a frame-by-frame basis.
He ate through his fingers.
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Finish the quote, “Oh, I forgot to tell you— __________________?”
“…My father was a mosquito.”
“…I live with my mother, too.”
“Who’s this?” “Oh, I forgot to tell you—I live with my mother, too.”
“…I’m a mad scientist.”
“…I need to teleport you.”
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What was Veronica’s nickname?
Ronnie.
The telepod got to travel around with an exhibit on director David Cronenberg. Since movie props aren’t made to last, the pod needed to be rebuilt several times during its travels.
Nikki.
Tawny.
Vero.
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During Veronica’s nightmare, what did she give birth to?
A baby boy with a fly body.
A large larva.
It always bothered Cronenberg that in the original movie the fly’s head fit on top of the human. He felt that having a human-sized fly head was not justifiable.
A girl with a fly head.
A full-grown adult fly.
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Which actress played Veronica?
Sandra Bullock.
Susan Sarandon.
Geena Davis.
Jeff Goldblum was dating Geena Davis at the time. Although she had only done comedies, she was the right height and already had a relationship with Goldblum.
Carrie Fischer.
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What did Seth decide he had to do to become human again?
Send a fly through the telepod by itself and create a filter.
Send himself through the telepod with a pure human.
One other aspect of the original movie that bothered Cronenberg was the multifaceted point of view that the Seth character had. Although fly eyes are compound, the image they see is one whole image instead of duplicates of the same image.
He has to sacrifice a human to a fly deity.
He had to have human DNA injections.
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What did Veronica want to do in the middle of the night?
Go through the teleportation device.
Eat Mexican food.
Have sex with Seth one last time.
Have an abortion.
The baboon fell in love with the script supervisor who was short. Goldblum, who was tall, was able to dominate him. Baboons, in general, are difficult to work with because they are never completely tame.
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How did Seth die?
Veronica shot him.
It took several gymnasts to perform all the agility moves Seth had to do. Although Goldblum began each move, professional athletes finished them. Since they had to do the movements repetitively for each take, it required multiple gymnasts because the first ones got tired and could no longer perform.
Stathis shot him.
He tried to teleport himself one too many times.
He got hit by the windshield of a semi.
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You Got:
/35
20th Century Fox