A24has consistently been producing independent arthouse films since its inception in 2012. In the 11 years that the independent studio has been up and running, it has both produced and distributed many outstanding films. The studio has earned a total of 49 Academy Award nominations, and it became the most-nominated single studio of the year at the 2023 Academy Awards ceremony with 18 total nominations between six of their films.
A24 has provided movie fans with some truly exceptional films for a relatively young studio that has made it stand out among larger mainstream studios. From emotional stories such asThe WhaleandAftersunto innovative horrors such asHereditaryandThe Witch, the studio has made a name for itself by allowing its filmmakers complete creative control.
The films produced by A24 are also incredibly detailed, and fans of the independent studio eagerly look forward to dissecting every last frame of its films. Considering that A24 films are packed to the brim with small but impactful details, it is nearly impossible to pick up on all the Easter eggs on the first viewing.
Still, movie buffs thoroughly enjoy hunting for interesting details that improve the overall impact of a movie. While there are a seemingly endless amount of hidden details in the studio’s films, here are 20 clever Easter eggs hidden in A24 movies:
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20An Early Line in Lady Bird Circles Back at the End of the Film
Greta Gerwig’sLady Birdtackles the complexities of the mother-daughter relationship that coincides with the struggles ofcoming of age. Lady Bird and her mother Marion (Laurie Metcalf) rarely agree on anything as neither of them understands the other. At the beginning of the film, Lady Bird and Marion are listening to an audiobook while driving home. When the book finishes, Marion tells Lady Bird that they should just sit with what they have just experienced for a moment, which of course her daughter doesn’t agree with. At the end of the film, Lady Bird has finally made it to the East Coast like she dreamed of. Before the credit roll, we see her standing during a long moment of contemplation before it cuts to black.
19Evidence Tag in Room References Jack’s Older Sibling
Brie Larson’s Oscar-winning performance inRoomis both gut-wrenching and oddly hopeful. The premise follows a young woman who was abducted as a teenager and has spent years isolated in an underground room with her child, whose father is her captor. When she and her child, Jack (Jacob Tremblay) are finally rescued, they are brought above ground to the outside world for the first time. In one of the shots, a yellow evidence tag can be seen next to a hole dug in the ground next to a tree. In the book the film is based on, Ma had a baby before Jack who died during childbirth and was buried in the backyard by her abductor.
18The Pick-Ups in Under the Skin Were Real
Jonathan Glazer’sUnder the Skinfollows an alien entity that inhabits the body of a young woman (Scarlett Johansson) who seduces young men during the evening hours in Scotland. She picks them up in a van and brings them to an otherworldly dimension where she has them strip their clothes, so she can consume them. Those pick-ups were actually real-life scenarios. Johansson drove around Glasgow in that van and picked up random strangers. The van had multiple hidden cameras, so these men had no idea they were being filmed for a movie. Everything the men said was unscripted and ended up in the final cut of the film.
17References to the Atomic Bomb in Ex Machina
Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), a 26-year-old programmer at the world’s largest internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a private mountain retreat with the company’sreclusive CEO, Nathan (Oscar Isaac). When Caleb arrives, he discovers that he must participate in an experiment where he interacts with the world’s first true artificial intelligence, which is housed in the body of a robot woman. In one of the early scenes inEx Machina, the song “Enola Gay” can be heard playing in the background, which is a song about the atomic bomb. Later on, Caleb and Nathan discuss the future of AI, and Caleb quotes J. Robert Oppenheimer, the creator of the bomb, when he says “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
16Bagels Are Seen Throughout Everything Everywhere All at Once
Everything Everywhere All at Oncefollows an aging Chinese immigrant with a struggling business, a marriage about to fall apart, and tattered relations with her daughter. She is swept up in an insane multiversal adventure where she alone can save the universe by connecting with the lives she could have led. One of the most prominent items in the movie is Jobu Tubaki’s everything bagel, which represents everything she has learned from her multiversal travels put on one object. However, bagels are seen throughout the movie. Alpha Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) drives past a sign reading “Hail Bagel” in the laundromat van. Deirdre draws a circle on a receipt that is later attached to her forehead as the bagel sign. Most directly, Alpha Waymond offers Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) a bagel to eat when they are in the IRS office.
15The Farmer’s Daughters in X
There are a plethora of Easter eggs and hidden references in Ti West’sXthat correlate to its prequel filmPearl.Xcenters around a group of young filmmakers who travel to rural Texas to shoot an adult film. Since their film takes place on a farm, they rent a cabin on a farm property owned by an elderly couple. The adult film they are shooting is titledThe Farmer’s Daughters, which is exactly what Pearl is in 1918. She is a farmhand’s daughter who tends to the expansive property but also has similar sexual tendencies as the characters in the adult film the group is filming inX.
14A Poster in Enemy References the Plot
Denis Villenueve’sEnemyfollows a rather somber college professor named Adam Bell (Jake Gyllenhaal) living in Toronto. One night after renting a movie, he notices an actor in a small part who looks exactly like him, which leads him to become obsessed withfinding his doppelganger. Once Adam finds the lookalike, he becomes obsessed with meeting him. Once they meet, the look-alike then becomes obsessed with Adam. There’s a scene in the film in which Adam browses a bookstore, and a poster can be seen for Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thrillerVertigo, which is about a man who stalks a woman who resembles a different woman he knew prior.
13A Picture From Parks and Recreation is Featured in Life After Beth
InLife After Beth, the always hilarious Aubrey Plaza plays a recently deceased girl who comes back to life as a flesh-eating zombie. Her boyfriend Zack is devastated by the loss but realizes that he can use zombie Beth to do everything that he didn’t get to do with her while she was actually alive. He keeps a picture of her in his home, but that picture is actually of a different Aubrey Plaza character. The photo comes from an episode of Parks and Recreation where April and Andy (Chris Pratt) take a trip to the Grand Canyon. Also, Mailman Barry from the show can be seen as Chip the Mailman in this film.
12Sofia Coppola Referenced Herself in The Bling Ring
Based on real-life events, Sofia Coppola’sThe Bling Ringcenters around a group of wealthy, fame-obsessed teenagers who use the internet to track celebrities' whereabouts to rob their homes. They steal money, cars, clothes, and purses, and use the items to fund shopping sprees. Sofia Coppola is obviously the daughter of the highly acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola, so it is evident that she had a privileged upbringing. Coppola directly acknowledges this upbringing and those who criticize her privileged family background in the opening credits. A necklace with the words “rich b*tch” is seen next to her name in the title sequence.
11X and Pearl Begin With the Same Opening Shot
Again, there are numeroussimilarities and references between bothXandPearldespite taking place over 60 years apart. Both films take place on the same farmhouse property for the majority of their respective runtimes, so many of the same locations are featured in each film. Both films actually begin with the exact same opening shot of the farmhouse as seen through the barn doors.Xtakes place during the ’70s, so it emulates a 16mm aspect ratio that was common then, using the barn doors to frame the shot. SincePearltakes place in the late 1910s and is reminiscent of Old Hollywood, the farmhouse is still shown, but this time the barn doors open all the way up to emulate a wide Cinemascope frame, although Cinemascope was not invented until much later.
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