Beasts of the Southern Wild
Short description
Beasts of the Southern Wild centres on Hushpuppy, a six-year-old girl living with her father, Wink, in an isolated community called the Bathtub, a strip of land in the southern Delta cut off from the world around it. Wink raises her roughly, intending to make her self-reliant for the day he will not be there. When he falls ill with a sickness no one can explain, the natural order appears to break down: temperatures climb, ice melts, the water rises, and a herd of prehistoric aurochs moves toward the community. As the flood closes in and her father weakens, Hushpuppy sets out to find the mother she never knew.
The film was directed by Benh Zeitlin, who wrote the screenplay with Lucy Alibar. It was his first feature, followed years later by Wendy. Quvenzhané Wallis plays Hushpuppy, with Dwight Henry as Wink and supporting turns from Levy Easterly, Gina Montana, Lowell Landes and Pamela Harper. Made for about 2 million dollars, it took roughly 21 million worldwide, a strong return for a small independent production.
On IMDb the film holds a rating of 6.8 from a modest number of votes, while a film critics' rating of 8.3 from 210 reviews places it notably higher with critics than with the general audience. Its blend of social realism and fantasy, set in a flooded southern landscape, made it an unusual debut.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film is based on the play «Delicious and Juicy» by American writer and screenwriter Lucy Alibar. She wrote the screenplay in collaboration with her old friend Ben Zeitlin and also appeared on screen in an episodic role.
- Dwight Henry is the owner of a bakery located near where the film crew worked and casting was taking place. With the owner's permission, director Ben Zeitlin posted a casting call on her door. Some time later, Zeitlin invited Henry to an audition. Literally two days after that, Henry found a larger space for his bakery and moved there without telling anyone. He was found at his new location only two months later, but Henry had spent all his time working and flatly refused to film. After some time, every member of the cast and crew visited the bakery and told Henry that the film wouldn't happen without him. Henry finally agreed, but on the condition that he would rehearse with them at night while he was baking.
- In one scene, Wink shows his daughter how to catch fish with her bare hands. Before the scene was filmed, the underwater cameraman nearly drowned.
- Quvenzhané Wallis and her mother later admitted that they added a year to the girl’s age and said she was already 6, otherwise they simply wouldn’t have been allowed to audition for the film. Director Ben Zeitlin once said that Wallis was chosen from almost 4,000 applicants.
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