The Mountain Between Us
Short description
After a charter plane goes down in a remote, snow-covered mountain range, the two passengers who survive the crash find themselves stranded with no sign of rescue. Ben Bass, a surgeon, and Alex Martin, a photojournalist, are strangers to each other, and their injuries leave them dependent on one another. When it becomes clear that no help is coming, they set out across a vast stretch of wilderness in an attempt to reach safety. The ordeal forces them to rely on each other's strengths, and the closeness they develop along the way complicates the lives they were returning to. The film is based on Charles Martin's novel of the same name.
Hany Abu-Assad directed, working from a screenplay by Chris Weitz and J. Mills Goodloe. It followed his earlier features Paradise Now and The Courier, and it was his third film as director. Idris Elba and Kate Winslet play the two leads, with Dermot Mulroney, Beau Bridges, Linda Sorensen and Mercy Myrdal in supporting roles. Jenno Topping, Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark served as producers. It runs 109 minutes.
Released in October 2017, the film cost about 35 million dollars to make and took in roughly 63 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.4 from around 88,000 votes, and on TMDB a 6.6 from about 2,585 votes, while a critics' score of 5.1 from 173 reviews sits below both audience figures.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film's production was delayed for several days so Kate Winslet could attend the memorial service for Alan Rickman.
- Most of the filming took place in Canada, on the border between Alberta and British Columbia, in the picturesque community of Invermere, where the temperature often dropped to -38°. Many scenes were shot on the peaks of the rocky mountains of the Purcell Range, and the cast and crew had to travel 40 minutes one way before reaching base camp. Due to bad weather conditions, they were unable to use a helicopter.
- To recreate the plane crash and the sensations of Alex and Ben during the disaster, the film crew built a replica of the plane's fuselage, which they then mounted on a hinged mechanism and lifted with ropes to provide complex, unconventional camera movements. The fuselage set was a single unit, without removable side walls, and to get inside, the actors had to climb through a small side window of the plane.
- In the final scene, when Ben turns the corner, a blonde woman is seen turning the corner after him twice. But when Ben turns around and starts running, there is no one on the street.
- To ensure maximum safety, only Kate Winslet, Idris Elba, and a few members of the film crew climbed to the highest points of the mountain peaks, where the work was complicated not only by the cold but also by the thin mountain air. Despite this, both actors performed most of their stunts themselves, including the one where Kate Winslet falls through cracked ice into a lake. To make everything look as realistic as possible, a tank was built into the snow, into which the actress fell through a hatch. The air temperature during the filming of this scene was -20°.
- The airplane flight and the crash site were filmed in one take. The continuous shooting of the movement was accomplished by attaching the camera to a single cable extending from the open nose of the plane. The camera was remotely controlled and rotated 360 degrees, fully capturing the events. Idris Elba, Kate Winslet, Beau Bridges, and the 'Dog' rehearsed this scene for a week before filming. The actors had to know all their lines; how and when the camera moves, turns, and rotates; what and when they needed to do and say. Even the 'Dog' was trained to specific signals.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
