Waterworld
Beyond the horizon lies the secret to a new beginning.
Waterworld (1995)
Production
Budget
$175 000 000
Revenue
$264 218 220
Director
Scenario
Composer
Producer
Actors
Kevin Costner
Mariner
Dennis Hopper
Deacon
Jeanne Tripplehorn
Helen
Tina Majorino
Enola
R. D. Call
Enforcer
Gerard Murphy
Nord
Michael Jeter
Old Gregor
Rick Aviles
Gatesman
Short description
Set in a future where melting polar ice caps have submerged the Earth, the story follows a mutant wanderer known as the Mariner. While visiting a floating community, he meets Helen and a young girl named Enola. The trio attempts to sail toward a mythical place called Dryland, a legendary piece of solid earth. Their journey is complicated by a group of pirates who seek Enola, as the map to the hidden land is tattooed on the child's back.
Directed by Kevin Reynolds, this action and science fiction film was the fifth project in his career, following Rapa Nui. The movie stars Kevin Costner, Dennis Hopper, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Tina Majorino. Produced by Universal Pictures alongside Davis Entertainment, the Gordon Company, and Licht/Mueller Film Corporation, the project had a budget of 175 million USD and earned 264 million USD at the worldwide box office.
The film received a moderate reception from both viewers and critics. On IMDb, it holds a rating of 6.3/10 based on 224,000 votes, while on TMDB it has a score of 6.2/10 from 4,232 votes. This audience response is similar to the rating given by film critics, who provided a score of 6/10 based on 136 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- Upon its release, "Waterworld" became the most expensive film in history.
- Joss Whedon flew to the set at the last minute to rewrite some parts of the script. Joss would later call his work on "Waterworld" "seven weeks of hell."
- Despite grossing $255 million worldwide on a $175 million budget, many consider "Waterworld" to be one of the biggest box office failures in film history.
- The film suffered greatly from piracy: long before its theatrical release, widespread pirate copies circulated – the film was stolen practically from the editing table, and the pirate version had a different ending.
- In the theatrical version, the protagonist has no name; throughout the film, he is referred to using pronouns. Later, the girl held captive by the bandits says, "He has no name, so Death will never find him." In the director's cut, the protagonist is given the name Odysseus at the end of the film.
- Approximately 2000 costumes were created for the film.
- The ruins of the city that the heroes see underwater are Denver.
- The film was jokingly nicknamed “Kevin's Gate” as the picture significantly exceeded its initial budget, just like “Heaven’s Gate” (1980).
- Anna Paquin was originally supposed to play Enola.
- The film crew nicknamed Tina Majorino "jellyfish candy" after she was stung by a jellyfish three times.
- When the sailor flips through his National Geographic magazines in an attempt to find the meaning of the word “to regret,” the release date of one of the magazines is visible – January 1981.
- A group of fans, disgruntled that scenes with excessive violence, nudity, and profanity had been removed from the full version of the film, decided to restore justice and released the most complete version possible, known as the Ulysses Cut, with a runtime of 177 minutes.
- Approximately 30 boats were used, specifically modified for filming the movie.
- Before filming began, Kevin Costner insisted that Kevin Reynolds direct the film, however, during filming, relations between Costner and Reynolds deteriorated significantly. Rumor has it that Reynolds left the project, and Costner finished filming as the director.
- The atoll set was a quarter of a mile in circumference.
- Kevin Costner flew to the film's premiere in Japan on his own plane. However, Tokyo authorities did not grant permission to park the plane at the airport. He left his plane at the Atsugi naval base in exchange for a screening of the film and his personal appearance during the showing.
- The tattoos on Enola’s back are written in traditional Chinese characters. The characters surrounding the arrow denote latitude and longitude. Although one of the characters is difficult to discern, it can be said that they are the coordinates of Mount Everest – 27 degrees 59 minutes north latitude, 86 degrees 56 minutes east longitude. In the film, the coordinates are: 27 or 28 degrees 58 minutes north latitude, 86 degrees 56 minutes east longitude.
- The portrait on the wall to whom Deacon refers as Saint Joe is Joseph Hazelwood, captain of the oil tanker "Exxon Valdez," which ran aground off the coast of Alaska, leading to a spill of millions of liters of oil.
- The "Exxon Valdez" tanker was repaired and renamed "Sea River Mediterranean."
- A quad mount – an anti-aircraft gun consisting of four Browning machine guns.
- Gene Hackman, James Caan, and Gary Oldman declined offers to play the Deacon.
- Due to its relative box office failure, the film was nicknamed "Fishtar," a slight paraphrase of one of the biggest flops of 1987 – "Ishtar" (1987).
- Mark Isham wrote a soundtrack for the film that was not used in the final version.
- During filming, Kevin Costner lived in a villa with a butler, a chef, and his own swimming pool, a stay that cost $4,500 per night. At the same time, the majority of the film crew lived in condominiums where the heat was unbearable. Inadequate living conditions led to hostility on the set.
- In the scene where Deacon (Dennis Hopper) aims a rifle at Mariner (Kevin Costner), he first licks his thumb and wipes the scope, exactly replicating a scene with Gary Cooper in "Sergeant York" (1941).
- Kevin Costner was on set for 157 days, working 6 days a week.
- The director's cut of the film has a runtime of 176 minutes.
- The studio didn't spend a penny to find out what weather conditions are typical for the Hawaiian coast. Had research been conducted, it would have been discovered that winds of 72 km/h blow there, which subsequently led to numerous set damages.
- Initially, the studio wanted Robert Zemeckis to direct the film.
- The language spoken by Kevin Costner's character and the vagrant who steals lemons at the beginning of the film is Hindi.
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Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
