The Aviator
Short description
The Aviator follows Howard Hughes, a young man who inherits his family's fortune and turns it into a sprawling business empire. Moving into Hollywood in the late 1920s, he produces and directs films while developing a parallel career in aviation, designing and testing fast aircraft and building an airline of his own. His professional triumphs are undercut by severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, which increasingly distorts his behavior and eventually drives him to withdraw from public life. The film covers his years at the top of the film industry and in the air, along with his relationships with Katharine Hepburn and Ava Gardner.
Martin Scorsese directed the film, the twenty-third of thirty-eight features he has made and the one that followed Gangs of New York and preceded The Departed. John Logan wrote the screenplay, and the producers include Michael Mann and Graham King. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Hughes, with Cate Blanchett as Hepburn, Kate Beckinsale as Gardner, John C. Reilly as Noah Dietrich, Alec Baldwin as Juan Trippe and Alan Alda as Senator Ralph Owen Brewster. The production had a budget of 110 million dollars and earned around 214 million worldwide, a return that does not read as a strong profit on a film of that scale. Ratings sit in similar territory: 7.5 from over 406,000 votes on IMDb and 7.2 from about 6,000 on TMDB, while a critics' score of 8.1 from 227 reviews places reviewers noticeably higher than audiences.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film’s budget exceeded 100 million, with costumes alone costing around 2 million dollars.
- While Howard is testing a new aircraft, a close-up shows an open-top cockpit, but the overall shot shows the plane with an intact roof.
- The film was the first project undertaken by Leonardo DiCaprio’s own production company, Appian Way.
- Scorsese regretted that the script only had one scene for Gwen Stefani, and he didn't get to work with her properly.
- Jim Carrey was once considered for the role of Howard Hughes. Initially, Michael Mann was supposed to direct the project, however, given the fact that he had two consecutive biographical films, “The Insider” (1999) and “Ali” (2001) under his belt, the director decided to remain one of the producers and offered the directing position to Martin Scorsese.
- In 1928, at the hotel, Howard Hughes ordered 10 chocolate bars, which were not invented until 1933.
- The film uses several scenes from Howard Hughes’s “The Outlaw” (1943).
- While preparing for filming, Leonardo DiCaprio spent an entire day with actress Jane Russell, who once worked with Howard Hughes. She told him that Howard was a calm but extremely stubborn man who always achieved his goals.
- Martin Scorsese made Kate Blanchett watch 15 films featuring Katharine Hepburn in order to convey the actress's character and mannerisms as accurately as possible.
- In one of the film’s scenes, when Howard Hughes begins editing “Hell’s Angels,” one can notice editor Thelma Schoonmaker among the assistants sorting through the footage.
- Kate Beckinsale gained approximately 9 kg specifically for the role.
- Each scene in "The Aviator" was shot on modern color film and later digitally processed in Adobe After Effects. For this purpose, so-called "digital filters" were developed in collaboration with Technicolor specialists – red and green for scenes taking place before 1938, the same plus blue – for later episodes. Closer to the finale, the color palette changes again, to one more familiar to the modern viewer.
- California wildfires nearly destroyed all the sets for the $110 million video, but filming was moved to Long Beach in time.
- Nicole Kidman actively sought the role of Katharine Hepburn. The project’s launch was delayed for several months due to the wildfires raging in California. Nicole immediately received other offers, and Kate Blanchett happened to be available. Martin Scorsese later admitted that in his vision, Kate had always been number one among the other contenders for the lead role. During filming, Kate Blanchett used three red-haired wigs.
- In preparation for her role, Cate Blanchett learned to play tennis and golf.
- Kate Beckinsale gained around 20 pounds specifically for the role.
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