The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
The deeper you go, the weirder life gets.
Country
Budget
$50 000 000
Box office
$34 808 403
Director
Actors
Scenario
Producer
Scott Rudin, Wes Anderson, Barry Mendel, Rudd Simmons
Camera operator
Composer
Artist
Mark Friedberg, Henry Selick, Arianne Sutner
Audition
Editing
David Moritz
Whole Team (149)
Whole Team (149)
Short description
Renowned oceanographer Steve Zissou has sworn vengeance upon the rare shark that devoured a member of his crew. In addition to his regular team, he is joined on his boat by Ned, a man who believes Zissou to be his father, and Jane, a journalist pregnant by a married man. They travel the sea, all too often running into pirates and, perhaps more traumatically, various figures from Zissou's past, including his estranged wife, Eleanor.
What's left behind the scenes
- The red hats worn by the characters directly allude to Jacques Yves Cousteau, the famous underwater explorer and filmmaker, whose work the film is dedicated to.
- During filming, Bill Murray became a certified scuba diver, spending over 40 hours underwater.
- The film's plot is a parodic variation of Herman Melville's "Moby Dick".
- Adidas released sneakers that exactly replicate the shoes worn by Steve Zissou (Bill Murray).
- Cate Blanchett did not rehearse the scene with the night jellyfish (when she first appears on screen) in order to add spontaneity to the episode.
- Matthew Gray Gubler, who played one of the supporting roles, suffered a leg injury during filming (and the take with his fall was ultimately included in the final cut). Gubler always wears mismatched socks, but on that day he wore a pair for the first time in several years, which he now attributes to the fall and its consequences.
- The original script stipulated that the pirates were inhabitants of Indonesia, but the film was shot in Italy, where there were not many Indonesians, so the pirates were made Filipinos.
- Gwyneth Paltrow was initially cast in the role of Jane Winslet-Richardson, but she was unable to participate in the filming due to commitments to other projects. Nicole Kidman expressed interest in the project, and Wes Anderson cast her, but Kidman also had scheduling conflicts, and the role went to Julianne Moore, but ultimately it was Kate Blanchett who played it. According to Anderson, the choice of the heroine's surname was influenced by the surname of actress Kate Winslet.
- When Kate Blanchett was preparing to put on a prosthetic belly (as her character was expecting a child), she suddenly fainted. The actress herself was surprised, as she is not prone to this. A few days later, she found out that she was indeed pregnant.
- The shark model was almost 2.5 meters long. There were manual controls for swimming.
- Bud Cort believed that when pirates kidnapped his character, he should lose about 20 kilograms (or a little more). Director, screenwriter, and producer Wes Anderson didn't like this, but Cort insisted and actually lost more than 20 kilograms.
- Jane is reading Marcel Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time” aloud to her child.
- Pelé Dos Santos (Seu Jorge) sings David Bowie songs in Portuguese. Jorge became so famous after the film that he even released a separate album of songs featured in it – “The Life Aquatic Featuring Seu Jorge”.
- Director and screenwriter Wes Anderson reviewed many films with a nautical theme, trying to understand how to depict sea turbulence. It turned out that Carroll Ballard's adventure film “The Black Stallion” (1979) had one scene filmed with a swaying camera, and Anderson also included a scene filmed with a rocking camera in his film.
- The red caps worn by the characters are a direct reference to Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the famous diver and documentarian whose work the film is dedicated to.
- During the filming of the movie, Bill Murray became a certified diver, spending over 40 hours underwater.
- Jane reads Marcel Proust's 'In Search of Lost Time' aloud to her child.
- Pelé Dos Santos (Seu Jorge) sings David Bowie songs in Portuguese. Jorge became so famous after the film that he even released a separate album of the songs performed in the movie, titled 'The Life Aquatic Featuring Seu Jorge'.
- Cate Blanchett did not rehearse the scene with the nocturnal jellyfish (her first appearance on screen) to add a sense of spontaneity to the episode.
- Matthew Gray Gubler, appearing in one of the supporting roles, suffered a leg injury during filming (the take featuring his fall is the one that made it into the final cut). Gubler always wears mismatched socks, but that day, for the first time in several years, he wore a matching pair, which he now attributes as the cause of the fall and its consequences.
- Director and screenwriter Wes Anderson rewatched many nautical films, trying to understand how to depict rough seas. He discovered that in Carroll Ballard's adventure film 'The Black Stallion' (1979), there was one scene filmed by shaking the camera, and Anderson also included a scene in his film shot with a swaying camera.
- Gwyneth Paltrow was initially cast as Jane Winslet-Richardson, but she was unable to participate due to commitments to other projects. Nicole Kidman expressed interest in the project and was cast by Wes Anderson, but she also encountered scheduling conflicts. The role then went to Julianne Moore, but was ultimately played by Cate Blanchett. According to Anderson, the choice of the character's surname was influenced by the actress Kate Winslet.
- While Cate Blanchett was preparing to put on a prosthetic belly (as her character was expecting a child), she suddenly fainted. The actress herself was surprised, as she is not prone to such things. A few days later, she discovered that she was actually pregnant.
- Bud Cort believed that when the pirates kidnapped his character, he should lose about 20 kilograms. Director, screenwriter, and producer Wes Anderson didn't like the idea, but Cort insisted and did indeed lose more than 20 kg.
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