Free Willy
Short description
A troubled twelve-year-old boy, Jesse, is caught vandalizing a marine park and is placed with a foster family. As part of making amends, he must clean up the damage he caused at the park, where he meets Willy, a young orca kept in a small tank and separated from the family pod that still lives in a nearby bay. The two form a close bond, and with encouragement from a whale trainer, Jesse helps the animal learn a routine of tricks that draw crowds. The park's owner sees a chance to profit from the pair and pushes them further. The film follows Jesse's efforts to protect Willy from that exploitation and to reunite him with his family in the open sea.
Directed by Simon Wincer, this was the seventh of his thirteen films, coming between Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man and Lightning Jack. It was written by Corey Blechman and Keith Walker and produced by Lauren Shuler Donner and Jennie Lew Tugend for Warner Bros. Pictures, Canal+, Regency Enterprises and Donner/Shuler-Donner Productions. Jason James Richter plays Jesse, with the orca Keiko as Willy. Lori Petty, August Schellenberg, Michael Madsen and Jayne Atkinson also star among a credited cast of twenty-four.
The film had a budget of about twenty million dollars and earned roughly 154 million worldwide, a strong return. On IMDb it holds 6 out of 10 from over eighty-one thousand votes, and on TMDB 6.2 out of 10 from about two thousand votes. Critics' rating stands at 5.6 out of 10 from thirty-one reviews, slightly below audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Keiko, the orca used in the filming of the movie, died on December 12, 2003, from a bout of pneumonia off the coast of Norway. The whale was 27 years old at the time.
- The film's box office success and popularity served as a starting point for a letter-writing campaign and an entire movement aimed at freeing Keiko, the orca held captive at Reino Aventura amusement park in Mexico City. Under the close scrutiny of the media, the orca was transported to a larger pool in Oregon with the help of the US Air Force, and later released into the wild.
- At the end of the film, during the closing credits, the phone number of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society was displayed, and millions of moviegoers called, resulting in approximately $20 million in donations.
- In the most challenging scenes, an animatronic model was used instead of a live orca, and computer graphics took center stage in the climactic scene at the end of the film.
- Filming took place from May 18 to August 17, 1992, in the American state of Oregon and Mexico City, Mexico.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
