Kevin Costner and Kevin Reynolds reteamed for one of the most notorious blockbusters of the 1990s, Waterworld.
We revisit the project.
This article contains spoilers for Waterworld and the original Planet Of The Apes.
Waterworldwas a good idea, Joss Whedon toldThe AV Clubback 2001.
Sure, it was always going to be ambitious.
Shooting a major blockbuster at sea?
What could possibly go wrong there?
Many, many, many more.
The story ofWaterworld, after all, tends to overshadowWaterworldthe film.
It ran over budget dramatically.
It was the most expensive film ever made.
It was bound to be a bomb.
It became a modest hit.
So why do so many people take against it?
To answer that, we need to go right back to the start.
Christmas cards, had they been exchanged, would have been terse.
The pair agreed to makeWaterworldtogether, with a given budget of $100m.
It was based on a screenplay first penned in 1986 by Peter Rader.
David Twohy would come in and do substantive work on the script too.
Some would suggest, as well come to shortly, that the influence was a heavy one.
As the film spiralled over budget, he would also get a chunk of the blame.
He chose his friend Kevin Reynolds, passing over Robert Zemeckis.
For wasntWaterworldset to be a disaster?
The Film Itself
Theres more than one cut ofWaterworldin existence, and well come to the extended version shortly.
But for the here and now, its the theatrical version weve taken another look at.
And in truth, Ive always quite liked the film.
Take the early sequence inWaterworldwhere the Smokers turn up for the first time.
Mind you, the film actually opens with Costner drinking his own piss.
The planet is covered by sea.
And then we meet Costners Mariner.
Mad Mariner Max
Its pretty much here that theMad Max 2comparisons begin.
Spoiler: they barely end.
Tellingly,Waterworldis nearly twice as long.
Director Reynolds draws influence from George Miller too.
Its at its best when it doesnt leave you pointing at the screen and questioning what its actually doing.
Then, he finds a shop thats sold out of everything, but, er, a tomato plant.
You know that Dry Land everyones looking for?
All that said, Waterworlds world creation is actually verystrong.
Reynolds shoots lots of shots of open sea, and his sets look great on screen.
Furthermore, the action sequences work a treat.
Costner never made his name off action, but hes good at it.
Critics, might we suggest, who havent seen the nether regions of anyone female.
Then, within an hour, rumping and pumping with the webbed one ensues.
Gene Hackman said no.
Gary Oldman said no.
James Caan, Laurence Fishburne, its quite a list.
Hot off the success of his villain turn inSpeedthough, the late Dennis Hopper was game.
The whole idea of the Smokers isnt great though.
Everyone else is looking for Dry Land, they seem to be after duty free.
To motivate his troops, he hands out free fags, or gives a speech based on bullshit.
Heck, he drops a flare into a fuel reserve at one point and walks away.
Who does he think he is?
Director Kevin Reynolds took us inside the practicalities of that.
Those are the kinds of things that people dont realise.
Steven [Spielberg] told me onJawsthe schedule for the picture was 55 days.
Sheinberg said to Reynolds.
And they ended up shooting 155 days.Jawswent 100% over budget.Waterworldnearly did too.
When I was brought in, there was no water in the last 40 pages of the script.
It all took place on land, or on a ship, or whatever.
Im like, isnt the cool thing about this guy that he has gills?
And no one was listening, he recalled.
Another came when a new disagreement between the two Kevins blew up.
In short, history repeated itself.
With two weeks of the production still left on the movie, Kevin Reynolds departed the project.
Reynolds told us, back in 2008, how he would have changed the movie.
And they look down and dump the grass away and thats this plaque.
And that was in script and I was like, oh, of course!
Wow, the highest point on the planet!
That would have been dry land!
It was, he said, like the Statue Of Liberty moment inPlanet Of The Apes.
Its more a sideways move than a forwards one though, although it does reinsert that ending.
Then it did reasonably at the box office, again against expectations.
And you know what?
Its still not a bad film.
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