Cast Away is a 2000 American survival drama film directed and co-produced by Robert Zemeckis, written by William Broyles Jr. and starring Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, and Nick Searcy. Hanks plays a FedEx troubleshooter who is stranded on a deserted island after his plane crashes in the South Pacific, and the plot focuses on his desperate attempts to survive and return home. Filming took place from January to March 1999, and April to May 2000.
Cast Away was released on December 22, 2000, by 20th Century Fox in the United States and Canada and by DreamWorks Pictures (through United International Pictures) in other territories. It grossed $429.6 million worldwide, making it the third-highest-grossing film of 2000. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the screenplay and Hanks's performance. Hanks won Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama at the 58th Golden Globe Awards and was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 73rd Academy Awards.[2]
Plot
In December 1995, a FedEx courier collects a package from a sculptor, whose gate carries the names "Dick & Bettina". The package, marked with pink angel wings, is delivered to her husband, who is in Moscow with another woman.
Meanwhile, Chuck Noland is a FedEx systems analyst who travels the world resolving productivity problems. He lives with his girlfriend Kelly Frears in Memphis, Tennessee. They talk of getting married but experience setbacks because Chuck is constantly called away to work, straining their relationship. During a Christmas dinner, Chuck experiences a recurring toothache just before he is summoned to resolve a FedEx problem in Malaysia. Before leaving, Kelly gives Chuck her grandfather's pocket watch with a photo of her in it. He gives her a small box, saying she can wait to open it on New Year's Eve when he returns, implying that it is an engagement ring.
The FedEx cargo plane Chuck boards is off-course and out of radio contact, and it crashes into the Pacific Ocean during a storm, leaving him as the only survivor. He deploys an inflatable liferaft during the crash, but the attached survival kit rips free and is lost. Washing ashore on a deserted island, Chuck discovers several FedEx packages washing up on the coast as well as the body of one of the pilots, Albert Miller, which he buries. In the following days, Chuck struggles to locate food and water. After seeing a ship on the horizon, he tries to escape the island on the inflatable raft but is pushed back by waves, during which his leg is badly injured on a reef and the raft is irreparably punctured. Realizing that it is unlikely he will be rescued, Chuck opens most of the packages, finding items he uses to improve his living conditions. However, he does not open a package with golden wings painted on it, thinking the wings have symbolic meaning. While attempting to start a fire, Chuck cuts his hand and furiously throws several objects including a Wilson volleyball, leaving a bloody handprint. He draws a face in the blood, names the ball Wilson, and adopts it as a surrogate companion. Chuck gradually acquires survival skills, including firestarting, spearfishing, and opening coconuts, but realizes the chances of his rescue are low because of the wide search area and contemplates suicide. Because of the severe toothache, he performs his own extraction using a rock and an ice skate.
Four years later, Chuck, now bearded and disheveled, has adapted to life alone on the island. After a plastic section of a portable toilet enclosure washes up, he begins constructing a raft. He waits for the prevailing wind to make its annual shift to a favorable direction, then uses the panels as a makeshift sail to boost him through the surf, escaping the island with Wilson and the unopened FedEx package secured to the raft. A strong storm destroys the sail and severely damages the raft, and Wilson is dislodged and floats away. Devastated, Chuck loses all hope, discarding his oars and surrendering to fate. A passing container ship rescues a semi-conscious Chuck on the remnants of the raft.
After four weeks, Chuck returns to the United States, where he learns that he was presumed dead. As he is given a hero's welcome at the FedEx headquarters in Memphis, he is met by his endodontist Jerry Lovett, who has married and had a daughter with Kelly, who is emotionally unable to greet him. Later that night, he visits Kelly. Chuck returns the pocket watch so it can remain her family heirloom. Kelly shows him his Jeep Cherokee, which she kept after his disappearance. They share a passionate kiss and confess their love for each other but she realizes she cannot leave her family. Chuck tells his friend Stan he will miss Kelly, but his experience has taught him that he must move on.
Chuck drives to Texas to return the angel-winged package to the address of the sender; the sculptor's home, where the gate now reads only "Bettina". A sculpture of golden wings stands in the yard. Finding no one home, he leaves it at the door with a note saying the package saved his life. He drives away and stops at a crossroads. The sculptor, in a pickup truck, stops and tells him where each road leads. As she leaves, Chuck notices the same angel wings painted on the tailgate of her truck. He looks down each road and smiles when he faces the road taken by her truck.
Cast
Production
Development
In a 2017 Actor Roundtable with The Hollywood Reporter, Tom Hanks stated[3] ""
Filming
The film was not shot chronologically. It began on January 18, 1999, before halting two months later. Filming resumed on April 3, 2000, and finished the following month. Hanks gained 50 lb during pre-production to make his physical transformation more dramatic. After most of the film was shot, production was paused so he could lose the weight and grow his hair and beard to look like he had been living on the island for years. Another four-month production halt preceded the filming of the return scenes. During the year-long hiatus, Zemeckis used the same film crew to make another film, What Lies Beneath.[2][4] While the film was in production, Hanks nearly died when he suffered an infected cut on his leg.
Reception
Box office
Cast Away opened in 2,774 theaters in North America and grossed $28.9 million (an average of $10,412 per theater) in its opening weekend.[24] For the four-day Christmas long holiday weekend, it took in a total of $39.9 million.[25] At that point, it had the highest Christmas opening weekend of any film, surpassing Patch Adams.[26] Upon opening, Cast Away reached the number one spot at the box office, beating another Helen Hunt film, What Women Want, as well as The Family Man and Miss Congeniality. It would also compete against How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which was released the previous month.[27] With a total gross of $8.5 million, Cast Away held the record for having the biggest New Year's Eve
Home media
In North America (Region 1), Cast Away was released on VHS and DVD on June 12, 2001, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.[43] The DVD version of the film is a THX certified two-disc Special Edition release that features a DTS 6.1 ES audio track and several bonus features, including galleries, special effects vignettes, audio commentary, trailers, TV spots, behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, featurettes and more.[44] It became the fastest-selling DVD release in 20th Century Fox history, selling 1.8 million copies and surpassing X-Men. Additionally, the film generated $5.5 million in rentals, which broke Traffic's record for having the highest DVD rentals.[45] Cast Away went on to hold this record until 2002 when it was taken by The Fast and the Furious.[46]
In popular culture
A 2002 FedEx commercial aired during Super Bowl XXXVII parodied the final scene of the film, in which a character similar to Noland returns a package to its sender after being stranded with it for five years. The survivor curiously asks the woman living in a suburban house what was in the box, to which the woman replies, "Just a satellite phone, GPS locator, fishing rod, water purifier, and some seeds. Just silly stuff," all items that would have alleviated or ended his situation quickly.[71]
Media executive Lloyd Braun of ABC first suggested the idea of a Cast Away–type television series at a dinner party in 2003.[72] Thom Sherman later pitched the idea for Cast Away – The Series, but never developed the idea.[72] The concept was later developed and pitched with the title Nowhere, which later turned into the ABC show Lost.[72]
External links
References
- Cast Away (2000) Box Office Mojo, January 1, 2001, retrieved January 10, 2015^
- Dave Kehr. 'Cast Away' Director Defies Categorizing The New York Times, December 17, 2000, retrieved October 18, 2012^
- Stephen Galloway. Actor Roundtable: Tom Hanks, James Franco and More on 'Predators Everywhere' and Secrets of 'Legends'