Open Water
Short description
Open Water follows Susan and Daniel, a hard-working American couple whose relationship has suffered from their devotion to their jobs. They travel to the Bahamas for a diving holiday, joining a boat trip to a coral reef. Through a mix of crowding on the boat and inattention from the crew, the two are left behind in open water far from shore. Alone at the surface with no boat in sight, they must stay afloat in waters patrolled by sharks. The film is a survival thriller set almost entirely at sea.
Chris Kentis directed, following his 1997 debut Grind; he would go on to direct Silent House in 2011. Laura Lau produced, and the cast is led by Blanchard Ryan as Susan Watkins and Daniel Travis as Daniel Kintner, with supporting turns from Saul Stein, Michael E. Williamson, Cristina Zenato and John Charles. The production came from Lions Gate Films with Plunge Pictures and EastGate Films, and the film runs just 79 minutes.
Open Water was released in 2004 and became a substantial commercial success, earning about 55 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 5.8/10 from roughly 59,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 5.6/10 from around 1,165 votes. A critics' rating of 6.8/10 from 195 reviews places it noticeably higher with reviewers than with the general audiences who have rated it.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film's budget did not allow for the use of dummies or computer-generated sharks. Therefore, real sharks were used in the film, and the actors wore armored suits.
- The film was shot with a semi-professional digital camera.
- Blanchard Ryan was terrified of sharks, so Daniel Travis always went into the water first.
- The film was financed by director and screenwriter Chris Kentis and his wife, producer Laura Lau – avid diving enthusiasts. The film was later shown at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was bought by Lionsgate Films for $2.5 million.
- Ropes were stretched between the actors and the boat, otherwise the current would have carried them away.
- During filming, Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis spent over 120 hours in the water.
- On the day the filmmakers planned to shoot jellyfish, a swarm of them actually appeared near the filming location. After that, the jellyfish were not seen again until the end of the shooting period.
- Filming lasted 2.5 years. It took place on weekends and holidays, and the film crew generally consisted of two or three people.
- Director and screenwriter Chris Kentis personally fed sharks pieces of fish in an attempt to understand what the characters stranded in shark-infested open water must be feeling. While the sharks were offered fish, they showed no interest in Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis.
- Almost half of the film's budget went to pay for the services of Stuart Cove and his staff – shark handling specialists.
- The plot is based on a true story about a couple of American tourists (named Tom and Eileen Lonergan) who went with a group of divers to the Great Barrier Reef in 1998 and were mistakenly left behind when the boat returned to shore. There were 26 other divers and 5 crew members on board, and no one noticed their absence. An alarm was raised only two days later, on January 27th, when their bag with passports was accidentally discovered on the boat taking people to the Great Barrier Reef. A search and rescue operation was conducted for the next three days, but it was unsuccessful. The Lonergan’s were never seen again.
- The film is based on true events.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
