| Cast Away | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Robert Zemeckis |
| Produced by | Jack Rapke Robert Zemeckis Steve Starkey Tom Hanks |
| Written by | William Broyles Jr. |
| Starring | Tom Hanks Helen Hunt |
| Music by | Alan Silvestri |
| Cinematography | Don Burgess |
| Editing by | Arthur Schmidt |
| Studio | ImageMovers Playtone |
| Distributed by | USA/Canada 20th Century Fox International DreamWorks |
| Release date(s) | December 7, 2000 |
| Running time | 143 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $90,000,000 |
| Gross revenue | $429,632,142 |
Cast Away is a 2000 drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks as a FedEx employee stranded on an uninhabited island after his plane crashes in the South Pacific. The film depicts his successful attempts to survive on the island using remnants of his plane's cargo, as well as his eventual escape and return to society. Hanks was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 73rd Academy Awards for his critically acclaimed performance.
Contents |
Plot
In 1995, Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) is a time-obsessed systems analyst, who travels worldwide resolving productivity problems at FedEx depots. He is in a long-term relationship with Kelly Frears (Helen Hunt), with whom he lives in Memphis, Tennessee. Although the couple wants to get married, Chuck's busy schedule interferes with their relationship. A Christmas with relatives is interrupted by Chuck being summoned to resolve a problem in Malaysia. Chuck was actually going to propose to Kelly on New Year's Eve, having given her the ring box as a Christmas present with instructions to not open it till he returned home from his trip.
Flying through a violent storm, his plane crashes into the Pacific Ocean. Chuck is able to escape the sinking plane and is saved by an inflatable raft, but in the process, the raft's emergency locator transmitter breaks off. He clings to the raft, loses consciousness and floats all night before being washed up on an island.
After he awakens, he explores the island and soon discovers that it is uninhabited. Several FedEx packages from the crashed plane wash up on the shore, as well as the corpse of one of the pilots, named Albert Miller (which he buries). He initially tries to signal for rescue and makes an escape attempt with the remnants of his raft, but he cannot pass the powerful surf. He searches for food, water, shelter and opens the packages, finding a number of potentially useful items. He leaves one package, with a pair of wings painted on it, unopened.
During a first attempt to make fire, Chuck receives a deep wound to his hand. In anger he throws several objects, including a Wilson volleyball from one of the packages. The stain of blood from Chuck's bloody hand has a subtle appearance of a face and Chuck fondly names it "Wilson" and begins talking to it.
Four years later, Chuck is dramatically thinner, bearded, his hair is longer and he is wearing a loincloth. He has become adept at spearing fish and making fires. He also has regular conversations and arguments with Wilson. It is revealed that he has, several times, contemplated suicide, going so far as to make a test dummy which he had tossed off a cliff in order to plan the act.
After a large plastic section from a portable toilet washes up on the island, Chuck uses it as a sail in the construction of a raft. After spending some time building and stocking the raft and deciding when the weather conditions will be optimal, he launches, using the sail to overcome the powerful surf. After some time on the ocean, a storm nearly tears his raft apart. The following day, Wilson falls from the raft and is lost, leaving Chuck overwhelmed by grief and loss. Later, he is found drifting by a passing cargo ship.
Upon returning to civilization, Chuck learns that he has long been given up for dead; his family and friends held a funeral and Kelly has since married Chuck's dentist and has a daughter. After reuniting with Kelly, the pair profess their love for each other but, realizing a future together would be impossible due to her commitment to her family, they part. Kelly gives Chuck the keys to the car they had once shared.
Chuck then travels out into the country to return the unopened FedEx package to its sender. A new Wilson volley ball sits in the front seat next to him. The house at the address is empty, so he leaves the package at the door with a note saying; "This package saved my life. Thank you, Chuck Noland." He then departs and stops at a remote crossroads. A woman passing by in a pickup truck stops to explain where each road leads. As she drives away, Chuck notices an illustration on the back of her pickup truck that is similar to the one on the parcel. Chuck is left looking down each road. The camera focuses on his face, as he smiles while looking toward the departing woman in the truck.
Cast
- Tom Hanks as Chuck Noland
- Helen Hunt as Kelly Frears
- Nick Searcy as Stan
- Jenifer Lewis as Becca Twig
- Chris Noth as Jerry Lovett
- Lari White as Bettina Peterson
- Vince Martin as Albert "Al" Miller
- Geoffrey Blake as Maynard Graham
Production
The film was not shot consecutively. Hanks gained fifty pounds during pre-production to make him look like a pudgy, middle-aged man. After a majority of the film was shot, production was halted for a year so that he could lose the weight and grow his hair and beard to look like he had been living on the island for years. During the year-long hiatus, Zemeckis used the same film crew to make another film, What Lies Beneath.[citation needed]
Cast Away was filmed on Monuriki, a member of the Mamanuca Islands.[1] It is in a subgroup of the Mamanuca archipelago, which is sited off the coast of Viti Levu, Fiji's largest island. The island became a tourist attraction following the film's release. Although it is identified by Kelly after Chuck's return as being "about 600 miles south of the Cook Islands," there is actually no land between the southern-most Cook Islands of Mangaia and Antarctica.
The producers made up a list of seemingly useless items that would be in the packages that Noland recovered: party dress, ice skates, divorce papers, video tapes, and other sundries. They turned this over to a group of survival experts who decided how the protagonist might be able to use them. In a panel discussing the film, director Robert Zemeckis joked that the unopened package contained a waterproof, solar-powered satellite phone.[citation needed] This led to a Super Bowl commercial that parodied the film[citation needed], which shows Chuck (though not played by Hanks) delivering the unopened package; as he does so, he asks the recipient "by the way, what's in the package?" and she replies "nothing really, just a satellite phone, GPS locator, fishing rod, water purifier, and some seeds."[2]
FedEx
FedEx paid nothing for product placement in the film.[3] FedEx CEO Fred Smith did make an appearance as himself for the scene where Chuck is welcomed back, which was filmed on location at FedEx's home facilities in Memphis, Tennessee. Although the idea of a story based on a FedEx plane crashing gave the company "a heart attack at first", the overall story was seen as positive and the company saw an increase in brand awareness in Asia and Europe following the film's release.[4]
Wilson the volleyball
In the film, Wilson the volleyball serves as Chuck Noland's personified friend and only companion during the four years that Noland spends alone on a desertedisland.[5][6][7] The character was created by screenwriter William Broyles Jr. While researching for the film Cast Away, he consulted with professional survival experts, and then chose to deliberately strand himself for one week on an isolated beach in the Sea of Cortes, to force himself to search for water and food, and obtain his own shelter. During this time, a volleyball washed up on shore. This was the inspiration for the film's inanimate companion. From a theatrical view, Wilson also serves to realistically imply dialogue in a one-person-only situation.[8]
One of the original volleyball props was sold at auction after release of the film for $18,500 to the ex-CEO of FedEx Office's Ken May. In addition, many near identical replicas of Wilson are available for sale,[9][10][11] and the Wilson company manufactures a volleyball with the handprint face on one side.[12]
At the time of the film's release, Wilson Sporting Goods launched its own joint promotion centered around the fact that one of its products was "co-starring" with Tom Hanks. Wilson manufactured a volleyball with a parody of the hand print face on one side. It was sold for a limited time during the film's initial release and continues to be offered on the company's website.[13]
Reception
Cast Away was acclaimed by critics. The film holds a score of 90% on Rotten Tomatoes.[14] The film was a success at the box office, earning over $429,632,142 worldwide in ticket receipts.[15]
Awards
- Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama (Tom Hanks)
Nominations
- Best Actor in a Leading Role (Tom Hanks)
- Best Sound (Randy Thom, Tom Johnson, Dennis Sands and William B. Kaplan)
- Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Tom Hanks)
- Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role (Tom Hanks)
- Best On-Screen Team (Tom Hanks and Wilson
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