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Waterworld (1995) | Starring Kevin Costner of Man of Steel and Batman v Superman fame

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It's interesting how high the budgets go for a lot of movies involving a lot of water. Just take a look at the fucking ridiculous budgets of the POTC franchise, alongside stuff like this and Cutthroat Island. I think that's the primary reason why Waterworld's budget got so out of control; it's really hard to make a movie in the sea. Even Spielberg struggled with Jaws when the shark kept breaking down. Although that worked out in the end :P.

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1 minute ago, AABATTERY said:

It's interesting how high the budgets go for a lot of movies involving a lot of water. Just take a look at the fucking ridiculous budgets of the POTC franchise, alongside stuff like this and Cutthroat Island. I think that's the primary reason why Waterworld's budget got so out of control; it's really hard to make a movie in the sea. Even Spielberg struggled with Jaws when the shark kept breaking down. Although that worked out in the end :P.

 

From what I had read somewhere, Costner was unhappy that his hairline looked receding in the dailies. So he had the VFX company go back and paint his hair in in every single scene. That alone added to the budget as well.

 

Plus they had reshoots for which they built an island again.

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1 minute ago, grim22 said:

 

From what I had read somewhere, Costner was unhappy that his hairline looked receding in the dailies. So he had the VFX company go back and paint his hair in in every single scene. That alone added to the budget as well.

 

Plus they had reshoots for which they built an island again.

 

What someone at the studio should have done:

LXeR8et.gif

 

Don't think Costner has that kind of clout these days.

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3 minutes ago, AABATTERY said:

 

What someone at the studio should have done:

LXeR8et.gif

 

Don't think Costner has that kind of clout these days.

 

Some additional info

 

Quote

 


Universal paid $22 million for a quarter-mile long set called "The Atoll," representing the floating junkpile that our piss-drinking, gilled Costner-Mutant finds himself on. Kevin convinced Universal that for the utmost verisimilitude, they had to film on the ocean. But instead of then just filming on the ocean, they built a massive tank...in the ocean, just off the coast of Hawaii.

And then they built a giant set that depleted all the available steel in Hawaii. It weighed 1000-tons, cost $22 million and contained approximately no bathrooms. The crew didn't like the idea of swimming and filming in their own filth, so costs rose as crewmembers had to be ferried back and forth to the island just to use the collection of port-a-potties outside their living quarters, which were old, uninsulated condominiums. By contrast, Costner slept in a villa, complete with a butler, a chef and private swimming pool while collecting a $14 million salary.

Costner realized that audiences would never be able to take his role as a half-fish/half-man seriously if they kept being distracted by his male-pattern baldness. Costner reportedly asked for reshoots and CG fixes, leading to one of many arguments that eventually got director Kevin Reynolds kicked off the movie.
 

 

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Just now, grim22 said:

 

At this point in his career, he was one of the biggest names in Hollywood, no one would say no to him.

 

Yeah. To be fair, he had a string of some really good films around then. I've watched a few recently and I've highly enjoyed them.

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12 minutes ago, franfar said:

No star has that clout nowadays

 

I think RDJ could get away with it, but only in Marvel movies. He had something crazy like 5 trailers on the set of Civil War, IIRC.

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This is interesting: https://www.yahoo.com/movies/waterworld-spin-cycle-how-kevin-costner-and-125207972657.html

 

Quote

Months before Waterworld entered multiplexes two decades ago, the movie already seemed doomed. The Kevin Costner-led production, which envisioned a future Earth where the polar ice caps have melted was plagued by a litany of production problems (a sunken set, included), clashes between Costner and director Kevin Reynolds (which ultimately led to the filmmaker leaving the production), Costner’s crumbling marriage playing out in tabloid headlines, and a budget that infamously spun out of control.

Although its ecological premise has proven somewhat prophetic, journalists and film critics at the time excoriated Waterworld as Costner’s folly (it was mocked as Fishstar and Kevin’s Gate), ridiculing the movie as “the most expensive film ever made.” As Waterworld ramped up for its July 28, 1995 release, Kevin Costner, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Dennis Hopper, and other key players pounded the pavement to promote the seafaring epic and attempt to reframe the narrative around the troubled film.

On the 20th anniversary of the waterlogged movie, we went back and reviewed how Costner and company tried to spin the movie in the face of all that bad publicity.

“I was so surprised that it came from Newsweek. No matter if they cite a source, it’s just bulls–t, and they’re bulls–t for printing it.” —Kevin Costner to CNN, on the rumor he wanted a computer-generated mane to hide his thinning hair.

“I think it’s actually an intrusion for people who are willing to pay money to go see a movie because now they’ve been told bad information… As it turns out that information hasn’t been good. That makes you even more angry that perhaps there might be some people who might never get to see this movie based on what some idiot said… I think the media doesn’t have anything better to do.” —Costner on bad press leading up to Waterworld’s release.

“This one pushed the limits in a way that made me uncomfortable, but there was almost no choice in a way.” —Costner to Extra.

“Wanting to go around the world and coming to Europe was to try to get certain stories straight because in my own country they refuse to acknowledge the facts of Waterworld — both budgetary and politically speaking.” —Costner at a press conference overseas.

“The movie was one of the hardest points in my life. People ask me very often, 'Would you do it again?’ And I say, 'No, I wouldn’t.’ And I mean that. I don’t care how much money Waterworld makes, our lives are short spans that we have. And to have so much upheaval — whether it be personal, professional, financial or whatever — I don’t think is worth it.” —Costner, at that same press conference.

Despite the inevitable bad reviews, the cast’s tireless counterpoint appeared to work. In the end, while not a blockbuster, Waterworld exceeded its reported $175 million production budget by $89 million, once international ticket sales were tabulated, and the film ultimately turned a profit after video and cable sales.

 

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