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555

Mourne Kransky

12:55 / 05.04.05

Seems to be a universal practice in US films that, every time a phone number is mentioned, the area code is given as 555. This infuriates me, every single time, because it explodes the carefully wrought edifice that is suspension of disbelief.

Why bother with verisimilitude and high quality acting in a scene when a character is just going to sabotage it by saying "555" and rubbing your face in the fact that this is just a film after all?

I presume it's done because eejits phone up numbers given in films and the owners then might sue the studios. Maybe there could be a more inventive way round this problem.

British films must have some less obvious ruse they rely upon to prevent lawsuits.

Scrambled Password Bogus Email

13:01 / 05.04.05

But not in this movie

3rd from bottom of the page, trivia lovers.

FinderWolf

13:14 / 05.04.05

For BRUCE ALMIGHTY they listed a phone number for God that seemed real and hundreds of people ended up calling it, freaking old some old woman somewhere.

DaveBCooper

12:42 / 06.04.05

I’ve always assumed that 555- would be a desirable prefix to a phone number because it’s central on the keypad, and thus ‘next to’ all the keys except for 0, but I suspect I’m way off the mark…

Aertho

13:18 / 06.04.05

hundreds of people ended up calling it

Silly, silly red states.

I would assume that this is the true, disgusting reason for the 555 prefix. For further proof, see the Rick Springfield VH1 Special section on the Jenny(867-5309) fiasco.

CameronStewart

14:45 / 06.04.05

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_374a.html

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

04:41 / 12.04.05

They used a real number on 24 tonight, and had it set up as a number where fans could call and leave messages for the people who work on the show. "Scrubs" did the same thing a few months ago.

The Strobe

09:18 / 12.04.05

British films have exactly the same thing.

BT have lists of numbers reserved for dramatic purposes; the only thing is they look marginally more realistic than 555 numbers.

The Strobe

09:20 / 12.04.05

One possible reason for 555:

prefixes for US phone numbers were based on the time it would take for a rotary dial to turn, hence NY gets 212 because it's the fastest number, and bits of Alaska probably have 909 or whatever.

555 is slap bang in the middle; neither here nor there.

Bear

12:44 / 12.04.05

How about email addresses and websites, The Simpsons seem to like creating real sites to reflect episodes these days and Homer claimed that his email address was Chunkylover42@aol.com (something like that) - any "real" emails used in movies that anyone can think of?

Similar is some indie band recently that had the lead singers mobile number at the end of the song (the song is the L.O.V.E.R one) apparently he was calling back as many people as he could.

Jack Denfeld

12:52 / 12.04.05

In "Last Action Hero" all phone numbers are 555 but they just have way more area codes.

snowgoon

14:47 / 17.04.05

On the phone number killing the "suspension of disbelief" - I'd suggest that the lack of quality script writing is at fault rather than a phone number. If you are full immersed in a movie many small subliminal details pass your by, and don't even require you to leave you disbelief at the door as it doesn't even notice them.

Ohh and for URLs or Email addresses - movies and everyone else can use www.example.com as it is reserved for use in documentation (honest, see section 3).

TeN

16:52 / 10.03.06

from the Staight Dope article:
"Up until a few years ago, the phone company maintained a service that provided fictional (i.e., unused) numbers to producers and writers. But it soon developed, in this wide, wonderful country of ours, that there wasn't a single number that wasn't in use somewhere."

they should really bring that back
that would be great... even if they just had a list of 100 or so non-working numbers that authors, musicians, filmmakers, etc. could choose from, it would solve the "suspension of disbelief" problem

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

17:57 / 10.03.06

Magnolia was chock full of real numbers, too. It was a necessity, as there were so many critical phone conversations in the film. For the most part, though, movies shy away from putting importance in the numbers so it doesn't jump out. or they'll cut away.

Man, Homer's address still cracks me up.

Mourne Kransky

20:08 / 10.03.06

That sounds so sensible, TeN, that I can't believe it's not how it's done. Interesting that the makers of 24 clearly share my feeling and think that Jack Bauer suddenly phoning a pretend number would make taramasalata of their careful scene setting.

Olulabelle

20:11 / 10.03.06

I absolutely hadn't noticed the 555 thing, but now I will. Joy!

I don't know why I hadn't noticed. I hope it's because I was deeply engrossed in the films rather than because I am an unobservant buffoon.

Dead Megatron

20:46 / 10.03.06

It would be cooler if it was 666

duh...

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