Tears of the Sun
Short description
Tears of the Sun follows Lieutenant A.K. Waters, a veteran officer leading a small Navy SEAL team on a mission into Nigeria after a military coup topples the government. His orders are to extract Dr. Lena Kendricks, an American physician running a mission hospital deep in the jungle. When the team reaches her, she refuses to leave unless the refugees under the mission's care are brought out with her, turning a straightforward evacuation into a much larger and more dangerous undertaking. Waters must weigh his orders against the fate of the people around him as the country descends into violence.
Antoine Fuqua directed from a screenplay by Alex Lasker and Patrick Cirillo. The film was the fifth of the nineteen he has directed, arriving between Training Day and King Arthur. Bruce Willis leads as Waters, with Monica Bellucci as Dr. Kendricks and supporting turns from Cole Hauser, Eamonn Walker, Johnny Messner and Nick Chinlund. Columbia Pictures and Revolution Studios were among the production companies, and the budget was 75 million dollars; worldwide grosses reached about 87 million.
On IMDb the film holds 6.6/10 from more than 128,000 votes, and on TMDB it sits at 6.9/10 from roughly 2,700 votes. A film critics' rating of 4.9/10 from 155 reviews places it below both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- This is the first film to be shot on the deck of the American aircraft carrier 'Harry S. Truman', a Nimitz-class carrier.
- A scene with a kiss between Bruce Willis and Monica Bellucci was filmed for the movie, but it was removed after test screenings.
- During filming, all actors playing SEALs were required to address each other using their characters' call signs.
- The film owes its title to a screenplay written by Alan B. McElroy around 1990, about people who venture into the Amazon jungle to install radio equipment, only to find themselves forced to flee for their lives shortly after. The script caught Bruce Willis's eye and he liked it so much that the actor even wanted it to be made into the fourth film of the Die Hard franchise, though this never happened.
- On October 29, 2002, a stuntman died during the filming of a parachute jump scene. He was jumping alongside eight other parachutists from a height of over 4 kilometers. It was intended that everyone would land on the beach, but he landed in the sea approximately 300 meters from the shore and drowned.
- All the actors who played the roles of special forces soldiers underwent two weeks of training at a SEAL training camp. In addition, Charles Ingram, who played "Silk", is actually a retired veteran of special operations forces. Before starting his acting career, Ingram served in a special reconnaissance unit of the US Marine Corps. After retiring, Ingram became a stuntman in Hollywood, and then received several roles, including an offer from Antoine Fuqua.
- The screenplay for this film was initially considered as a possible script for the next installment in the 'Die Hard' series.
- Filming took place in California and Hawaii from February to October 2002.
- The scenes featuring an old man weeping over the atrocities committed in the village were not in the script. This man had personally witnessed an actual genocide, and everything on set looked so realistic that he couldn't hold it back and let his emotions flow. The other members of the cast saw this, and their reactions were completely genuine.
- Many of the extras playing refugees were refugees themselves.
- The plot of the film is based on a real combat operation of one of the units that is part of JTF2 – the Canadian special operations forces. A retired member of this special unit wrote the story and, during a meeting in Nevada, offered it to representatives of the production team working on the film "Executive Decision" (1996) starring Kurt Russell.
- Clashes between the film's director, Antoine Fuqua, and lead actor Bruce Willis began shortly after filming started; by the end of production, both had sworn never to work with each other again.
- The character played by Chad Smith has the call sign "Flea". Interestingly, the legendary Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Michael Peter Balzary also goes by the same nickname. The drummer of the same band is also named Chad Smith.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
