The Ring
Short description
A Seattle journalist, Rachel Keller, begins looking into the deaths of four teenagers who all died a week after watching a mysterious videotape. An urban legend holds that anyone who views the tape receives a phone call announcing that they have seven days left to live. Rachel finds the tape and watches it, and the countdown starts for her as well. When the tape comes into the hands of her young son, Aidan, she has only days to work out what the recording is and how to stop it. Her former husband, Noah, becomes involved in the search for answers.
Gore Verbinski directed the film, working from a screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Hiroshi Takahashi. It was Verbinski's third feature, following MouseHunt in 1997 and The Mexican in 2001, and it came the year before Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Naomi Watts plays Rachel, with Martin Henderson as Noah, David Dorfman as Aidan, and Brian Cox and Jane Alexander among the supporting cast. Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald produced.
Made for about 48 million dollars, the film took roughly 249 million dollars worldwide, a strong return on its budget. On IMDb it holds 7.1 out of 10 from over 405,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.7 from fewer than 7,000. A critics' score of 6.8 from 214 reviews places it close to the audience ratings.
What's left behind the scenes
- Tom Duffield, the film's production designer, said he drew inspiration from the drawings and paintings of Andrew Wyeth.
- Jennifer Connelly, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kate Beckinsale were considered for the role of Rachel, but Naomi Watts ultimately landed the part.
- Throughout the film, Rachel uses the same red Sensa brand marker.
- During the first week of its American release, every viewer entering the theater could find a cassette with a recording of mysterious footage on their seat.
- The film is based on the novel 'Ringu' (1991) by Koji Suzuki.
- The DVD release sold two million copies in the US alone within the first 24 hours of sales.
- Chris Cooper was originally supposed to play a small role as a child killer. Cooper can only be seen in a photograph in a newspaper at the end of the film.
- The role of the lighthouse on Moesko Island was played by a real, functioning lighthouse in Newport, Oregon, built in 1873.
- The black and red sticker of the band Bad Religion, pasted in Noah's closet, is a reference to the fact that in 1994, the film's director, Gore Verbinski, shot the music video “American Jesus” for the band.
- For promotional purposes, representatives of DreamWorks Studios distributed cassettes with the “killer tape” around Los Angeles and created several themed websites.
- When Noah and Rachel return to the campsite at the end of the film, a new sign reading “Closed until further notice” is visible under the road sign “Shelter Mountain Inn.” The sign remained from a scene that was cut from the film, in which the campsite manager dies after watching the tape, and the police close the campsite.
- The tree with red leaves featured in the film (a Japanese maple) was artificial and repeatedly fell over during filming due to strong winds. The fruit of the Japanese maple is called a samara.
- On the shelf where Rachel discovers the ill-fated video cassette, there are also video recordings of the films “Shattered” (1991), “Scent of a Woman” (1992), “Steel Magnolias” (1989), “Sodom and Gomorrah” (1962), “Family Conspiracy” (1976), “Spontaneous Combustion” (1990), “Man with the Snowshoe” (1982), and “School Ties” (1992).
- Some techniques for building atmosphere were borrowed from the films of Alfred Hitchcock.
- The children's singing heard on the cursed videotape is taken from the British film “The Innocents” (1961).
- As additions and bonuses on the DVD release, you can view footage witnessed by the main characters of the film. When selecting this option, control over the menu is lost, and it is impossible to pause, rewind, or return to the main menu. The only way to stop viewing is to turn off the TV. Control is returned only after the video clip ends, after which a telephone rings twice.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
