Water for Elephants
Short description
Set during the Great Depression, Water for Elephants follows Jacob Jankowski, a veterinary student whose plans collapse after his parents die in an accident, leaving him with debts he cannot pay. He leaves school and ends up on a traveling circus train, where his training earns him work caring for the animals. Jacob falls for Marlena, the show's star rider, but she is married to August, the charismatic and unpredictable circus owner and animal trainer. The attachment puts Jacob in an increasingly difficult position within a hard, hierarchical world. Richard LaGravenese wrote the screenplay, adapting Sara Gruen's novel. Robert Pattinson plays the young Jacob, with Reese Witherspoon as Marlena, Christoph Waltz as August, and Hal Holbrook as the older Jacob.
Francis Lawrence directed the film, which was released in April 2011 and runs 122 minutes. It sits between I Am Legend and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire in his filmography, his third feature as director. The production had a budget of 38 million USD and took about 117 million USD worldwide, a solid return on its cost. On IMDb it holds 6.9/10 from 124,000 votes, and on TMDB also 6.9/10, from 2,666 votes, indicating a generally positive but not unanimous audience response. A film critics' rating of 6/10 from 193 reviews roughly matches those audience scores, suggesting critics and viewers assessed it similarly. The credited cast numbers 82, with 170 crew members credited.
What's left behind the scenes
- Channing Tatum, Andrew Garfield, and Emile Hirsch were considered for the role of Jacob, while Scarlett Johansson auditioned for the role of Marlena.
- Due to filming in this movie, Christoph Waltz had to decline the role of Sigmund Freud in 'A Dangerous Method' (2011).
- The film is based on Sarah Gruen's novel "Water for Elephants" (2006).
- The lion actually has teeth, but they were removed using digital processing.
- Almost all of the circus wagons in the film are original wagons from the Ringling Brothers circus troupe. They were sent for filming from the Circus World Museum, a museum complex in Baraboo, Wisconsin, dedicated to the history of the circus. After filming, they were returned to Wisconsin.
- The scene of Marlene being strangled by August is copied from the film "Inglourious Basterds" (2009), where Christoph Waltz's character did the same thing to Diane Kruger's character.
- Sean Penn was originally intended to play the role of August.
- Young elephants are trained using a peg and a chain. The elephant is put on a chain attached to a peg driven into the ground. After this, the elephant begins to struggle to break free until the skin on its leg bursts in the place where the hoop encircles it. The memory of this remains with the elephant for life – and even in adulthood, it will no longer try to pull the peg out of the ground, although it has enough strength to do so. Rosie the elephant gives Jacob (played by Robert Pattinson) the peg as a sign of recognizing him as her master, and later uses the same peg to kill the character played by Christoph Waltz.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
