Renny Harlin and Geena Davis Really Did Not Want To Make Cutthroat Island
"Originally, Michael Douglas was supposed to star in [the movie]. And he walked away. At that point I was left there with my then-wife, Geena Davis and myself, and a company that was already belly-up. We begged to be let go. We begged that we didn't have to make this movie." In fact, the couple was so frightened that they sunk their own money into a last-ditch script rewrite. "We felt that a pirate movie with a female lead was suicidal, but we were contractually obligated. [...] I personally spent a million dollars of my own money, I hired Mark Norman, who had won an Oscar for writing Shakespeare in Love." Even so, Cutthroat Island turned out to be one of the biggest box office disasters of all time and sunk Carolco production company. Lesson learned! [KCRW via SlashFilm]
Subscribe to the new Movieline on YouTube
Comments
Delightful story, Renny, but Cutthroat Island started shooting about four and a half years before Marc Norman won his Oscar. Why would've he had paid him that kind of money without that sort of clout?
It's great how Harlin makes it seem like any of the names mentioned (including the title of the film) are still of any relevance. Or were of any relevance before the cameras even started rolling, actually.
I can relate, Renny. After the first 15 minutes of the movie, my brain realized it really did not want to WATCH Cutthroat Island, and i fell asleep. True story.
Fabulous John Debney score. I had to import the CD - the movie was such a bomb that the soundtrack was hard to find in the U.S. - but it is one of my favorite action movie scores of all time. I would love to hear the Cutthroat Island end credits played at one of those "Music from the Movies" pops orchestra concerts.