The Fly II
Short description
The Fly II follows Martin Brundle, the son of scientist Seth Brundle, who was altered by a failed teleportation experiment. Raised inside the research facility of the industrialist Anton Bartok, Martin appears to be a normal young man but possesses extraordinary intelligence and grows at an accelerated rate. His inherited mutant genes are dormant rather than absent, and they gradually begin to change him into something resembling his father. While working on teleportation, Martin also hopes for a life outside the laboratory, helped by the researcher Beth Logan.
The film was directed by Chris Walas, previously known for his creature effects work, and was his first feature as director, followed later by The Vagrant. Frank Darabont, Mick Garris and Jim Wheat wrote the screenplay, and the cast includes Eric Stoltz, Daphne Zuniga, Lee Richardson and John Getz. Produced by Steven-Charles Jaffe and Mel Brooks for 20th Century Fox and Brooksfilms, it is a sequel to David Cronenberg's 1986 film.
Released in February 1989, it had a budget of 17 million USD and took about 39 million USD worldwide. On IMDb it holds 5.2/10 from 26,000 votes and on TMDB 5.8/10 from 755 votes. A film critics' rating of 4.6/10 from 19 reviews places it below the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The role of Martin was originally written for Eric Stoltz, but he only agreed to participate in the filming after the script underwent significant changes.
- The scene where Martin watches a video recording of his father’s interview is a deleted scene from the first film. This plot was slightly edited – Veronica’s voice, played by Geena Davis in the first film, was dubbed by Saffron Henderson, who plays Veronica at the beginning of this film.
- John Getz was the only actor from the first film who agreed to appear in the sequel.
- Depending on the age, Martin Brandle was played by five different actors: Sterling Cottingham as a newborn, Rodney Cloff Jr. at 1.5 years, Matthew Moore at 4 years, Harley Cross at 10 years, and Eric Stoltz as the adult Martin.
- The film was directed by Chris Wallace, who did the makeup for Jeff Goldblum in the first film.
- Filming took place in the Canadian province of British Columbia – in the cities of Burnaby and Vancouver, as well as in Los Angeles.
- The film has an alternative ending. Martin, after being healed, sits on the bank of a river. Beth approaches him and asks how he is feeling. He replies that he is much better. The ending shows a fly landing on a salad.
- Five actors played Martin Brandle at different age periods: Sterling Cottingham – as a newborn, Rodney Cloff Jr. – at one and a half years old, Matthew Moore – at four years old, Harley Cross – at ten years old, and Eric Stoltz.
- The main character is named after British racing driver Martin Brundle.
- Martin learns the truth about his illness by watching a video recording of his father, who had begun to transform into a fly. However, this episode was not filmed for the plot of the first part.
- In the scene where young Martin sneaks past the sleeping guard, a book titled "The Shape of Rage" can be seen next to him, which discusses the films of David Cronenberg – the director of the first installment of the film. Cronenberg himself is depicted on the cover.
- The film's script reveals the reason why Statis Borans lives in a separate country house. He received it as a bribe for remaining silent about what happened (while Bartok told him that Veronica and her child had perished). Also, in an early version of the script, the disks with the correctly functioning teleportation program were handed over to him. However, this detail was later removed, so in the final version of the film it remains unclear why the telepods stopped working properly.
Similar movies
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
