 BIOGRAPHY
A family man
Quotes
The others
Important dates
ACTOR
Filmography
Gallipoli
The year of...
The river
Max and Riggs
Hamlet
Smith and Rocky
The Patriot
What Women want
We were soldiers
Signs
Soon we´ll
PRODUCER
Icon Productions
DIRECTOR
The debut
The Passion
Apocalypto
AWARDS
Oscars and...
MEGAFANS
|
|
|
David Lean, the distinguished director of such classics as "The Bridge on the river Kwai", "Lawrence of Arabia" and"Doctor Zhivago" decided to have a go at a fifth version of the novel "Mutiny on the Bounty". Lean was determined to tell the true story of the mutiny and its aftermath. He envisioned making two films and commissioned Robert Bolt to do the screenplays. Bolt completed the two scripts, but the exorbitant cost of making them scared the producer, Dino De Laurentis, who insisted that the scripts be condensed to make one feature . Bolt did so, but Lean dropped out of the production in its early stages. Young New Zealand director Roger Donaldson was recruited to direct the project.
David Lean had approached Christopher Reeve to star Fletcher Christian, but Reeve, upset by all the changes, pulled out of the film just six weeks before shooting was scheduled to commence. Finally, Mel was cast as Fletcher and Anthony Hopkings as Bligh. Daniel Day-Lewis, Sir Lawrence Olivier joined them.
Mel tried very hard to mould the character of Fletcher into something that he thought would appeal to everyone, and cleverly, asked a London psychistrist to assess different aspects of Christian´s life. Then he made a pilgrinage to the house in the Lake Disctrict of Cumbria where Fletcher was born.
|
|
Meanwhile, an exact replica of the Bounty from original plans held at the Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London, was built by a New Zealand Company. Its cost: $2,5 million. Final estimates of the film budget were in the region of $40 million.
The soundtrack was composed by Vangelis.
"The Bounty" begins with a military inquiry into a mutiny and his wake, which captain Bligh explains in a series of flashbacks, beginning with his friendship with Christian, a young but experienced seaman. The ambitious Bligh wants to make a name for himself in His Majesty´s service. He always places the blame for his miscalculations and misjudgments on others, including Christian. Fearing for their lives, the crew mutinies and Christian leads them.
Most of the film was shot on location in Tahiti and Gisborne under some difficult conditions. The first few weeks on Moorea went reasonably well. But then bad wheather set in and tempers frayed. Hurricane-force winds swept across the bay where The Bounty was anchored- Mel was knocked and washed to the other end of the vessel by a huge wave.. All in all, the shooting of this movie was not a particularly good period for Gibson.
"The Bounty", that was given a royal premiere in London, finally arrived in movie theatres in the spring of 1984. The reviews were very critical. In a seven-week run in the US it took just $3,5 million, an absolute disaster considering the final cost of the project.
|
|
