Cutthroat Island

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cutthroat Island

DVD cover for Cutthroat Island
Directed by Renny Harlin
Produced by Renny Harlin
Written by Michael Frost Beckner
Robert King
Starring Geena Davis
Matthew Modine
Frank Langella
Rex Linn
Maury Chaykin
Patrick Malahide
Music by John Debney
Cinematography Peter Levy
Editing by Derek Brechin
Florent Retz
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s) December 22 1995
Running time 119 min.
Language English
Budget $98 million
IMDb profile

Cutthroat Island is a pirate-themed action film starring Geena Davis and directed by her then-husband Renny Harlin, filmed in various locations around Malta. It was released in 1995.

Made the same year as Waterworld, Cutthroat Island was actually a much bigger financial failure. The budget approached 100 million dollars and the total US gross was approximately 10 million dollars. It was a contributing factor to the demise of the movie's production company, Carolco Pictures and Davis as a bankable star. It is also in the Guinness Book of World Records for the biggest box office bomb of all time.[1]

The film was originally due to co-star Michael Douglas but he withdrew and was replaced by Matthew Modine.

[edit] Plot

Morgan Adams (Geena Davis) and her learned slave, William Shaw (Matthew Modine), are on a quest to recover the three portions of a treasure map. The treasure is hidden on a mysterious Cutthroat island. Unfortunately, the final portion is held by her villainous uncle, Dawg Brown (Frank Langella). Her crew is skeptical of her leadership abilities, so she must complete her quest before they mutiny against her. This is made more difficult by the efforts of the British Royal Navy from Jamaica to end her piratical career. On her ship, Morning Star, Morgan starts the voyage to Cutthroat island.

[edit] Trivia

  • According to an interview with Empire magazine, Davis and Harlin were both huge fans of V8 juice. When filming wrapped, the crew discovered a truck full of unopened cartons of V8 juice. Modine saw this as indicative of the wasteful excesses of the production.
  • The British release of the film was originally rated 15 (no patron under the age of 15). Distributors decided to target a family audience and so over a minute of film was cut to get a PG certificate. [2]

[edit] External links