Romancing the Stone

She's a girl from the big city. He's a reckless soldier of fortune. For a fabulous treasure, they share an adventure no one could imagine... or survive.
Romancing the Stone (1984)
Timing: 1:46 (106 min)
7.2/10
171 669

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6.8/10
2080
6.9/10
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Release date
Budget
$10 000 000
Box office
$86 572 238
Website
Director
Scenario
Diane Thomas
Producer
Michael Douglas, Treva Silverman
Camera operator
Composer
Artist
Lawrence G. Paull
Audition
Claudia Becker, Karen Rea
Editing
Donn Cambern, Frank Morriss
Whole Team (48)

Short description

Though she can spin wild tales of passionate romance, novelist Joan Wilder has no life of her own. Then one day adventure comes her way in the form of a mysterious package. It turns out that the parcel is the ransom she'll need to free her abducted sister, so Joan flies to South America to hand it over. But she gets on the wrong bus and winds up hopelessly stranded in the jungle.

What's left behind the scenes

  • Screenwriter Diane Thomas was working as a waitress in Malibu when Michael Douglas (who was involved in the film as both a producer and actor) bought the script from her for $250,000, allowing her to quit her job. A year later, Thomas died in a car accident while working on the film's sequel, Lewis Teague's action movie "The Pearl of the Nile" (1985). The sequel is dedicated to the memory of Diane Thomas.
  • Joan Wilder's water taxi is named "Orca," the same name Quint gave his boat in the movie "Jaws" (1975).
  • Screenwriter Diane Thomas was working as a waitress in Malibu when Michael Douglas (who was involved in the film as a producer and actor) bought her screenplay for $250,000, allowing her to quit her job. A year later, Thomas died in a car accident while working on the sequel to this film – Lewis Teague’s action movie “Jewel of the Nile” (1985). The sequel is dedicated to the memory of Diane Thomas.
  • Joan Wilder’s water taxi is called “Orca,” just as Quint named his boat in the film “Jaws” (1975).
  • Initially, Michael Douglas was unsure about taking on this film, although he liked the script. He finally decided to take on the project, realizing he could demonstrate his climbing skills and abilities honed since his youth on the set of the historical drama “Spartacus” (Stanley Kubrick and Anthony Mann, 1960), where his father Kirk Douglas played a role, and the filming mostly took place in Death Valley National Park in California.
  • The final episode, where a pristine white yacht glides amidst the urban landscape of New York City, was filmed on 42nd Street.
  • Before Michael Douglas agreed to play Jake Colton, Sylvester Stallone and Christopher Reeve had turned down the role.
  • During the dance scene, Michael Douglas had no idea he was being filmed. He was simply dancing with Kathleen Turner and extras, and director Robert Zemeckis ordered the camera to be turned on.
  • The American author who wrote the novel upon which the film's screenplay is based shares the same name as the film's protagonist – Joan Wilder. This woman likely served as the prototype for the main character. Wilder later wrote the novel «The Jewel of the Nile» based on the sequel film to «Romancing the Stone».
  • In the dance scene, Michael Douglas had no idea he was being filmed. He was simply dancing with Kathleen Turner and the extras, and director Robert Zemeckis ordered the camera to start rolling.
  • Before Michael Douglas agreed to play Jake Colton, Sylvester Stallone and Christopher Reeve turned down the role.
  • Initially, Michael Douglas was unsure about taking the role in this film, although he liked the script. He finally decided to take on the project after realizing he could showcase the climbing skills he had developed in his youth while filming the historical drama 'Spartacus' (Stanley Kubrick and Anthony Mann, 1960), which starred his father Kirk Douglas and was filmed primarily in Death Valley National Park, California.
  • Reports of increased kidnappings in Colombia prompted the filmmakers to move filming to Mexico.
  • The film's title was borrowed from the professional jargon of jewelers, where these words denote the transformation of a precious stone into a piece of jewelry.
  • The treasure map for the film was created by the renowned puzzle maker Dr. Krypton.

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