Cutthroat Island
Malta - 1995
Directed by Renny Harlin the film has the ignominious entry in the Guinness Book of Records as being the biggest box office flop of all time and largely blamed for bankrupting the studio who paid for it, Carolco; although there is more to that demise than this one film. I have to say it did not seem that bad while working on it.
For a relatively small Island of some 316 squared km. Malta has a heady mix of cultures from the various occupations by Phoenicians, Romans, and Normans with even Napoleon making his mark for the French in 1798 and then the English booting him out, ruling until independence in 1964. If you intend visiting prepare for a bumpy landing as the coastal runway is regularly visited by cross winds from the med and the plane is challenged all the way in! Often referred to as the Hollywood of the Med, Malta was home to the largest infinity water tank in the world although probably now surpassed by the one built in Mexico for Titanic. Built on the rocky coast it can be flooded with seawater and the edge that looks out over the Mediterranean overflows to make a visually seamless watery vista.
It was here that the pirates ship would be seated, fixed to hydraulic gimbals to make it roll and rock as if out at sea. The first trip out to Malta was to film preparation so the ship had not yet been placed in the empty tank. One evening while we were there the cinematographer Oliver Wood (Die Harder) had decided to climb down into the tank to ponder his lighting strategy, unfortunately wandering in the dark he failed to spot the deep central well designed to house the rocking mechanism, fell straight in and broke his ankle. So Renny lost his chosen DP before a frame of film was shot, perhaps an ominous start?
Renny had agreed to record the director’s voice over for the DVD release of Cliffhanger and invited the 'behind the scenes' director John Pattyson to come over one morning to the villa he was renting with his relatively new wife Geena Davis. Armed with a VHS copy of Cliffhanger, we drove the short hop from Valetta to the villa on the other side of the island. Renny invited us all in and we set up in the bedroom where a large TV and VHS player was positioned at the end of a disheveled king-size bed. A couple of well bruised bottles of red wine adorned the bedside table and with no other seating available we all piled on to the bed to set up.
Renny proceeded to watch the movie we had all worked on the previous year describing how each scene was achieved, while we recorded the anecdotes on the camera's audio tracks. To the far wall of the bedroom was a short flight of steps rising to a door which cracked open about 20 minutes into proceedings and a scrutinizing eye could be seen in the gap. The door closed only to open a few moments later; it was Geena clutching a towel wrapped around her modesty having worked out her husband was not just talking to himself. She tippy toed down the stairs, her face ambushed by a beaming girly grin, gripping the towel to her ample chest with one hand she offered a welcoming wave to us all with the other. We all forced an awkward grin and waved back, all except Renny who ever the professional just carried on with his voice-over as his wife traversed the room passing in front of the TV and removing here sturdy frame out the bedroom door. The next time we saw Geena was on set.
Part of the joy filming on foreign locations is discovering the local cuisine and identifying an authentic restaurant not contaminated by the demands of tourists. Production companies often produce a 'welcome pack' for the crew outlining general information about the country; it's culture and customs. It always includes a short list of recommended restaurants compiled by a local crew member so it becomes the first call for a good food guide. Only problem is you then tend to just bump into the crew on the day off so have to curtail set gossip.
We were staying at the Plaza in Malta's main coastal resort Sliema but if you walk around the harbor towards St. Julians there are a number of local restaurants such as The Villa overlooking Balluta Bay serving a fusion of Mediterranean and Arabian influenced food. Since filming is concluded at dusk we had plenty of time to enjoy Maltese hospitality. The harbor area around Valetta was framed by a number of old forts that had been used in many films, notably doubling for a Turkish prison in Alan Parkers 'Midnight Express'. It was here that a scene for Cutthroat was staged where pirate Geena springs Matthew Modine from prison and attempt to escape.
The scene involved Geena and Matthew being hauled into the air clutching a hoist, up the walls of the prison. As with most stunts the real actors would be seen beginning the action then stunt persons would do wider shots. For safety Geena and Matthew were attached to the wooden bar of the hoist by wires and a harness under their costumes. We had a sound feed transmitted from the production mixing desk so could hear all the dialogue despite being a couple of hundred feet away from the action which proved to be more than anyone had expected. It appears the team involved in operating the hoist had lost in translation exactly what was to happen so on action they just merrily hoisted Geena and Matthew high into the air, maybe some 50 or 60 feet off the ground. Well, Geena clearly miscalculating her ability to support her not insubstantial frame began to slip her grip from the bar and wailed in fear of falling. The crew all thought it part of the scene and all but ignored her screams and sobs, I could see her hands sliding off the bar and hear her cries magnifying over the radio microphone we were listening in to. Renny leapt from the monitor yelling to get them down, and Matthew Modine bravely let go of the bar to hang trustingly by the safety wire as he reassuringly wrapped his arms and legs around Geena to support her.
Well, I just kept filming knowing this was a real drama well worth documenting. Eventually the hoist was slowly lowered with Geena and Matthew still entwined, Renny ran over and hugged the visibly shaking and sobbing Davis, pure EPK gold I kept thinking in a cruel selfish way. Then one of the oddest moments I have ever experienced occurred. Renny walked over to us and asked me directly, “Did you get all that?” and I replied, “Yes it's probably the best stuff I have ever film on a movie!” He then asked if I would rewind and show him what I had filmed. So now the entire crew, the whole film had ground to a complete halt so I could show the director my handiwork. Renny silently watched the whole thing, then told me Geena knew I was filming and was not happy about how she had panicked, I repeated to Renny that I thought it was still great documentary material that could be used without the sound of her distress and he suggested a compromise that I should save everything up to the abject panic and wipe everything else. Of course I had to agree and wiped the recording from the agreed point in front of him to prove it was done. The rest of the days filming was of course abandoned to allow Geena some composure time. Never before or after has a director taken such an interest in what we do, it usually ends in just being kicked off the movie as you will read later (Fred Claus – Vince Vaughn) The film was released at the end of 1995 but failed to connect with any significant audience and the studio that financed it folded, although not just on the back of this one project. It did unfortunately put the dampers on Geena’s career, or future female pirates for that matter.
Production Budget $98 million
Worldwide Box Office $18.5 million