'The Perfect Storm'
The Ringer's Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan set sail on the Andrea Gail to catch some fish and to rewatch the 2000 biographical disaster drama 'The Perfect Storm,' starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, and John C. Reilly.
Cast
George Clooney as Captain Billy Tyne
Mark Wahlberg as Bobby Shatford
John C. Reilly as Dale Murphy
John Hawkes as Bugsy
William Fichtner as David Sullivan
Diane Lane as Christina Cotter
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Linda Greenlaw
Allen Payne as Alfred Pierre
Bob Gunton as Alexander McAnally III
Michael Ironside as Bob Brown
Christopher McDonald as Todd Gross
Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen
Written by: Bill Wittliff
Music by: James Horner
Notes
- Made $328 million at the box office.
- Based on Sebastian Junger's book about the 1991 Halloween Nor'easter.
- None of the fish in the movie were real – all rubber or animatronic; Wolfgang Petersen was a huge animal rights guy.
- Family members did not like the movie; the Tyne family sued Time Warner in 2000.
- Major discrepancies from real events: Linda never placed a distress call, no romance between the captains, they were already heading back when the storm hit.
- John Hawkes beat out Steve Buscemi for his role.
- Clooney did a lot of practical jokes on set with fake fish.
Categories
Quote from Rog's review:
“The Perfect Storm is a well-crafted example of a film of pure sensation.”
- The wave actually crushes them – when the sun goes back behind the clouds and hope is taken away.
- Clooney's speech about what it means to be a swordboat captain.
- The boat does a 360 flip, survives, sun comes out – then goes back behind clouds.
- Clooney goes to the Crow's Nest bar to recruit for one last trip.
- Gloucester – 'such an underrated part of Boston'.
- Dirk Diggler reunion: Reilly and Wahlberg back together four years after 'Boogie Nights'.
- Wahlberg's accent and attitude – 'tour de force'.
- John Hawkes's performance.
- The Reilly/Fichtner feud – classic unexplained action movie beef.
- Diane Lane's Boston accent – one of the worst of all time alongside Kevin Costner in Thirteen Days.
- Michael Ironside's accent – rough.
- Clooney's accent comes and goes, then just goes permanently.
- John C. Reilly's son – the kid is a 'dimwit' with a blank stare.
- Ben Affleck was originally sought for Bobby (Wahlberg's role) – said no.
- Nicolas Cage signed up to be Bobby, then had other commitments.
- Harrison Ford turned down Billy (Clooney's role).
- Mel Gibson turned down Billy – wanted $25 million.
Diane Lane – 'there's only one candidate'; 'My guys out there risking his life for a bunch of stupid fish'.
- Christopher McDonald as Todd Gross the weatherman.
- Bob Gunton qualifies as a that-guy.
- Allen Payne – shout out to 'New Jack City'.
Replace William Fichtner's role with Ben Affleck – could break out his Boston accent, dies saving Reilly for a bigger meaningful part.
- None of the fish were real – all rubber or animatronic.
- The real Linda went swordfishing in 2008 on Discovery Channel's Swords: Life on the Line.
- Bo Goldman received an on-screen co-writing credit.
- John Hawkes beat out Steve Buscemi for his role.
- Gloucester – 'Where's the competition? I don't even know'.
- Biggest wave in a movie – yes.
- Not apex mountain for Wahlberg, Reilly, or Clooney.
- John Hawkes's inexplicable bar romance – she shows up at the funeral as if she's one of the wives after talking to him for 7 minutes.
- Set in 1991 but no Red Sox footage or period sports references – German director didn't think to include them.
- The Coast Guard storyline has no setup scenes showing them in calm conditions first.
No interest in this being a 10-episode Netflix show.
- Bigger bummer: dying in the perfect storm or missing out on 12 Boston titles and the end of the Red Sox curse?
- Would you have voted to dump the fish?
- Wolfgang Petersen (Chris's pick) – expert at set pieces and pacing, saved the movie from accent problems.
- Mark Wahlberg (Bill's pick) – best character, best performance, sets up the next 20 years of his career.