Think you know your Woody Allen from your Wes Anderson? Your Kubrick from Cameron? Spielberg from Scorsese?
Primary school teacher Steve Whalley proved he did as he was crowned the UK’s biggest film buff after beating out nearly 5,000 hopefuls.
John Humphrys crowns Steve Whalley Britain’s biggest film enthusiast alongside fellow finalists Aidan Largey, Emma Daley and Nigel Thomas (Frantzesco Kangaris/PA)
Facing Mastermind’s John Humphrys for a nail-biting final at Odeon Leicester Square, Steve, 41, had 90 seconds to answer as many questions right as possible.
Tying with Aidan Largey, 28, from Belfast on eight questions from the comic book writer behind Kingsman: The Secret Service to the film series in which Basil Exposition appears, the two faced a tense final tie-breaker.
But it was Steve who made the closest guess (13) to the number of competitive Oscars Walt Disney had won (a whopping 22) and clinched the title.
Steve Whalley sweating it out under John Humphrys questioning (Frantzesco Kangaris/PA)
Perhaps it’s no surprise he won as Stephen estimated he’s watched 1,900 films at the cinema in his lifetime. His prize – a decade worth of free films with an Odeon Limitless card – is set to make him an even tougher opponent.
So, could you beat Steve?
Here are 20 questions from the final that’ll have even the biggest film fan scratching their head. Answers below.
1) Who composed the scores for Psycho, Citizen Kane, Vertigo and Taxi Driver?
Janet Leigh in the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 classic thriller Psycho (AP/PA)
2) Which buoyant monarch helped Charlie Allnut and Rose Sayer fight the Nazis?
3) In which film would you meet Jen, Kira and Fizzgig?
4) What is the full title of the 1994 crime thriller starring Jean Reno and Gary Oldman, and featuring Natalie Portman’s debut performance?
5) Who designed the costumes in The Fifth Element?
6) Who played The Three Amigos?
Can you name the designer who dressed The Fifth Element’s Milla Jovovich, pictured with director Luc Besson (Neil Munns/PA)
7) In which film does Jake Gyllenhaal play Louis “Lou” Bloom?
8) Which film has the legend: “In October of 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland while shooting a documentary. A year later their footage was found”?
9) Which British comedy actor was in both Hawk The Slayer and Krull?
10) Which movie theme song and subsequent Frank Sinatra hit has had its success credited to Robert De Niro by its writers?
Which Frank Sinatra classic has De Niro had a hand in? (Mario Suriani/AP/PA)
11) In what year were Full Metal Jacket, The Princess Bride and Moonstruck released?
12) “We are not so very different, you and I. We’ve both spent our lives looking for the weaknesses in one another.” Who is Gary Oldman playing as he delivers this line?
13) In which film does Jack Nicholson play President James Dale?
14) Who directed the 1994 film Quiz Show?
15) “Family isn’t a word. It’s a sentence” is the tagline for which film?
Robin Williams in character as which US president? (Doane Gregory/AP/PA)
16) In which 2003 film does John Cusack play Edward “Ed” Dakota (a limo driver and former cop)?
17) The late Robin Williams plays which great American leader, magically brought to life in Night At The Museum?
18) In which film does Marty McFly use a hoverboard for the first time?
19) In Stardust what is the name of the twinkle toed pirate played by Robert De Niro?
20) As of April 2016 how many Spy Kids films have there been?
The Spy Kids have returned to save the world how many times? (Moviestore Collection/REX)
And the answers.
1) Bernard Herrman. 2) The African Queen, she is the boat the characters (played by Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn) travelled on in the film of the same name. 3) The Dark Crystal. 4) Leon: The Professional. 5) Jean Paul Gaultier. 6) Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short. 7) Nightcrawler. 8) The Blair Witch Project. 9) Bernard Bresslaw. 10) New York, New York (De Niro rejected the writers’ first submission making them rewrite it). 11) 1987. 12) George Smiley, in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. 13) Mars Attacks! 14) Robert Redford. 15) The Royal Tenenbaums. 16) Identity. 17) Theodore Roosevelt. 18) Back to the Future II. 19) Captain Shakespeare. 20) 4.
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