Holes was quietly sitting on Disney+ minding its own business this week until it became the latest movie to go viral on Twitter after a fan asked users to share their favorite quotes from the 2003 film starring Shia LaBeouf.
The movie began trending after user @destined_art tweeted: "What line from holes do you randomly say?" Soon, the Trending page on Twitter was full of out-of-context moments from the film.
The most quoted line from the movie was "well that's too damn bad." This moment is said the younger version of The Warden's (played by Haleigh Ann Trickett) grandpa (Nate Davis) in a flashback after she says she is tired of digging holes. This line, and the one before it, "I'm tired of this, grandpa" had previously become a meme on TikTok, presumably mostly shared by people who weren't even born when the film made it to cinemas.
Among the other lines from the film Twitter users were sharing was,"once there was a town where it never rained.....the end," said by Mr. Sir (Jon Voight) to the young delinquents tasked with digging holes in the desert. Also popular was a line from one of the rich kids in Kate Barlow's (Patricia Arquette) class after she gets them to read a line about a duck on a lake, "the duck may swim on the lake but my daddy owns the lake."
Also getting a lot of Twitter mentions was arguably the MVP of Holes, Madame Zeroni (Eartha Kitt). Though it might have less real-world application than "well that's too damn bad," no-one can beat a line like, "If you forget to come back for Madame Zeroni, you and your family will be cursed for always and eternity," delivered in Kitt's oft-imitated purr.
Quite why Twitter users decided now was the time to celebrate the 2003 movie is unclear, apart from the possibility that the social media platform's millions of '90s kids are running out of movies from their childhoods to be nostalgic about.
One other person who has fondly remembered the shoot is lead actor, Shia LaBeouf—though unlike in subsequent roles he did not feel the need to have any teeth knocked out (as he did for Fury) or tattoo his whole chest (for The Tax Collector) for the Disney movie.
In 2019, he told The Hollywood Reporter podcast that he formed a strong father-son bond on the set with co-star Jon Voight, the real-life father of Angelina Jolie. He said of the bond: "He had like a vacancy in his life where he kind of wanted to be a pops to someone...He was always a guy in my corner."
His reaction to the film across the years, however, has been mixed. When the actor watched all of his movies for a 2015 art piece, he seemed to enjoy the film—or, at least, more than enjoyed watching his work on the Transformers movies.
In another art piece in which he stayed in an elevator and encouraged fellow riders to ask him questions, he said of the movie: "Could have been way worse. I wouldn't say I'm proud of it, but I liked it. I mean, yeah, I think it's OK." To which presumably the reply was, "well that's too damn bad."
Holes is streaming now on Disney+.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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