K-19: The Widowmaker
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All actors and roles (10)
Short description
Set during the Cold War in 1961, this film follows the maiden voyage of the K-19, the first Soviet nuclear submarine. Internal tension rises when the mission-focused Captain Alexei Vostrikov replaces Mikhail Polenin as commander. While operating near enemy coasts, the vessel suffers a severe reactor malfunction. The crew must work to contain a radioactive leak and prevent a nuclear catastrophe that could trigger a global conflict.
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, the movie appeared in 2002 as her fifth feature film, following Strange Days. The cast is led by Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson, with supporting roles played by Peter Sarsgaard, Joss Ackland, John Shrapnel, and Donald Sumpter. The production involved companies from the United States, Russia, Germany, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
The film had a budget of 100 million USD and earned 66 million USD at the worldwide box office. It holds a rating of 6.7/10 on IMDb based on 72,000 votes and 6.6/10 on TMDB from 1,236 votes. These audience scores are slightly higher than the critics' rating of 6.2/10.
What's left behind the scenes
- The real nuclear submarine K-19 is recognized as one of the most accident-prone submarines due to the fact that it experienced several significant accidents, resulting in the deaths of more than 40 people. For this reason, K-19 was nicknamed "Hiroshima".
- The Kirov Symphony Orchestra was chosen to record the music for the film. Composer Klaus Badelt flew to Russia personally and conducted the recording at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. Until that moment, the Kirov Orchestra had never performed music for films.
- The role of the K-19 in the film was played by the decommissioned Soviet submarine K-77 – a diesel-electric boat with cruise missiles, Project 651, with its characteristic hull features disguised – 4 large niches behind the missile launch tubes. In addition, the submarine's stern was extended by 25 meters (the length of Project 651 submarines is 86 meters, while Project 658 submarines are 104 meters long). A longer and wider conning tower made of plastic was built around the existing one, since on the real K-19, three ballistic missiles were located within the conning tower enclosure. The result was a fairly acceptable resemblance, except that the deck remained wider than on the K-19. After filming, as per the contract, the film company dismantled these superstructures and restored the submarine to its original appearance, after which it served as a museum for 5 years in the city of Providence, Rhode Island.
- In 2000, Bigelow and her assistants came to Russia and, with great effort, obtained permission to travel to the Northern Fleet, where she personally visited the aging decommissioned BS-19, as it was known at the time.
- The real events on which the film is based differ significantly from what is shown. The film combines elements of several accidents that occurred with the K-19. There was no mutiny on board, and, of course, the idea of surrendering the ship to the Americans was simply not considered.
- At the beginning of the film, on the train, Harrison Ford's character appears as a 2nd Rank Captain (2 stars on his epaulettes) of the Soviet Navy; shortly thereafter, in Moscow, at headquarters, standing near a world map, Ford's character is already a 1st Rank Captain (3 stars on his epaulettes). He then reverts to being a 2nd Rank Captain.
- Filming took place from February 19 to June 29, 2001.
- The filmmakers conducted extensive consultations with participants in those past events. But only one episode in the film is accurate – when sailors are assembling an emergency cooling system. At one point, former submarine crew members planned to sue the film company for distorting the facts. The initial script did not appeal to the crew, resulting in an open letter written by members of the original crew. In the final version of the film, the most controversial episodes are missing, and they rate the accuracy of the remaining events as 'around 90 percent'.
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