DIVE SLATE
//
18
|
FALL 2013
See the film’s official trailer at
Director J.C. Chandor
discusses a scene with
All is Lost star
Robert Redford.
was the world’s largest infinity-edge tank, which sits right on the ocean
shore and is the size of three football fields.
Pete Zuccarini, the film’s director of underwater cinematography, said
it was a blessing that Redford had such terrific water skills: “He could be
in the water eight hours a day and then go swimming for fun when he
went home at night.” This from a man who was 75 years old at the time
the film was made, which wouldn’t necessarily be relevant except that
Our Man’s survival depended on his ability to overcome the hazards of
nature as well as his own frailties.
Special effects supervisor Brendon O’Dell used a massive dump
tank to simulate the violent movements of a sinking ship. Rigging and
hydraulic cylinders were employed to suck the boat downward and move
it side to side. Much of the movie was filmed in tanks, but some scenes
were shot in the open ocean, including scenes of the sailboat at sea in the
Sea of Cortez and shots with sharks in the Bahamas.
Zuccarini recalled conversations with Chandor about the shark
segment, and they briefly considered going to Guadalupe Island to shoot
great whites for the scenes where sharks surround the raft and disrupt the
survival fishing done by Our Man. But Chandor made the call that this
was not supposed to be a monster movie — the sharks were meant to be a
nuisance and somewhat of a hazard; too much shark would overpower the
subtleties of the performance.
Redford performed most of the stunts himself, a fact the producers found
both inspiring and unnerving. After all, he is the only actor in the whole
movie, and if he were to get hurt doing take after take of jumping from the
sailboat into the life raft or being pulled laterally for 50 feet in a breath-hold
stunt, the production would be in serious jeopardy. Regarding Redford,
Zuccarini said, “He was the consummate professional, swimming an hour
a day just to stay fit. To be honest, he’s an inspiration for any working man.
He’s a movie star digging in with physical labor, giving a really convincing
physical performance. He was dragged, rolled over and took more than a
few bumps and bruises. The man was all in for this project.”
— Stephen Frink
Andrew Illson
