Captain Phillips
Short description
Captain Richard Phillips commands the American container ship Maersk Alabama on a route past the Horn of Africa in 2009. When a small group of Somali pirates pursues and boards the vessel, the crew resists and manages to disable the ship and hide, but the attackers leave with Phillips as their hostage. What follows is a standoff involving the captain, the pirates' leader Muse, and forces far beyond either man's control, unfolding on the water and in a confined space where the two men are thrown together.
Paul Greengrass directed the film, his sixth feature and the one that followed Green Zone in his filmography, from a screenplay by Billy Ray. Tom Hanks plays Phillips, and Barkhad Abdi plays Muse; the cast also includes Barkhad Abdirahman, Faysal Ahmed, Mahat M. Ali and Michael Chernus, with 64 credited performers and 182 credited crew members. The production, backed by Columbia Pictures and several partner companies, cost about 55 million dollars and took roughly 219 million dollars worldwide.
On IMDb the film holds 7.8 out of 10 from about 518,000 votes, and on TMDB it rates 7.5 from a much smaller pool of voters; a critics' rating of 8.3 from 281 reviews places it above both audience scores. It runs 134 minutes and belongs to the action, drama and thriller genres.
What's left behind the scenes
- Cinematographer Barry Ackroyd used various methods during filming. Digital cameras were used to film the ship from the air, footage in the fishing village and on the dinghy was shot on 16mm film, and takes on board the ship were captured using 35mm film.
- After the engine breaks down on the Somali boat, an American ship is visible in the background. The vessel should be sailing, but there is no wake visible.
- On the way to the airport, Mrs. Phillips' hairstyle changes several times. Curly strands appear and disappear near her left ear.
- Tom Hanks later recalled that he was persuaded to work with Greengrass by a close friend, Matt Damon.
- Tom Hanks played Richard Phillips – the captain of the Maersk Alabama. Hanks’ character from "Forrest Gump" (1994) was born and raised in the state of Alabama and was also a captain of a fishing vessel for a time.
- Tom Hanks claimed that the scene of Captain Phillips’ medical examination was improvised. The real fleet corpsman, Danielle Albert, was simply told to follow the usual procedure. However, she was so stunned to see Tom Hanks himself that she froze during the first take. Hanks joked, telling her that only he was supposed to be in shock in that scene.
- To prepare for the role, Hanks flew to Vermont twice to meet and talk with the real Captain Phillips.
- The scene in the combat information center where a sailor writes "Seat 15" backwards on the board was improvised. Operator Barry Ackroyd noticed a boatswain’s mate practicing writing words backwards during breaks between takes and asked him to repeat it for the film.
- When the captain is released, he is covered in blood in the lifeboat from shooting at the Somalis, but when he is brought out, there is practically no blood on his face.
- Shortly after his release from captivity, Richard Phillips wrote a memoir, "Captain’s Duty," which detailed, among other things, this incredible story. The film rights were immediately purchased by Columbia Pictures, who appointed Paul Greengrass as director. Ron Howard also vied for the director’s position, later joining the film "Rush." Notably, Greengrass originally intended to direct "Rush" himself.
- The main filming of the movie took place in Malta, on a ship identical to the actual MV Maersk Alabama.
- The hijacking of the vessel "Maersk Alabama" and the taking of Captain Phillips hostage are the central theme of Elmore Leonard's novel "Djibouti" (2010).
- When Captain Phillips is driven to the ship in the port of Salalah, Oman, the car's steering wheel is on the right. In Oman, cars have left-hand drive. This error occurred because the scene was filmed in Malta, a former British colony.
- Tom Hanks said that he first met the actors playing the Somali pirates when they began filming the ship capture scene. Paul Greengrass noted that he did this intentionally to create tension in the relationships between the actors on board the ship and the actors playing the pirates.
- During the filming of the scene on the bridge, the naval vessel was actually in open water. And because the film crew darkened the windows to reduce the amount of street light, the observers monitoring the ship's direction had to do so not from the bridge, but from its wings.
- The film is set in April 2009. When the "SEALs" arrive at the base in black SUVs, the inspection sticker on the windshield can be seen to display the date 5/13 (May 2013).
- Sony / Columbia paid each member of the "MV Maersk Alabama" crew $5,000 to refrain from sharing their version of events in the film. Not everyone agreed to the deal; many disputed the heroic portrayal of Captain Phillips in the film, stating that he had been overconfident before the pirate attack and passive during the ship's capture. At the very beginning of the pirate attack, he was taken hostage and took no further action.
- When Captain Phillips goes onto the deck at the beginning of the voyage, it is obvious that the ship is stationary, although it should be moving.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
