Cutthroat Island

Episode Transcript
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(02:47):
Hi, everyone. I'm Em, andwelcome to Verbal Diorama, Episode
304, Cutthroat Island. This isthe podcast that's all about the
history and legacy of movies,you know and movies you don't. Hosted
by the host the Wishes She'dNever Learned Latin. Because I did
learn Latin for a year at highschool. It was mandatory. And for
that one year of Latin, I gotmy first and only commendation from

(03:11):
high school. But no, I won'tbe translating your treasure map
because the text is actuallymirrored, not in Latin. Welcome to
Verbal Diorama. Whether you'rea brandnebrand-newwlistener,whetheryou'rearegularreturninglistener,thank
you for being here. Thank youfor choosing to listen to this podcast.
As always, I'm so happy tohave you here for the history and
legacy of Cutthroat Island.Thank you to everyone who listens

(03:32):
to this podcast, who supportsthis podcast and has done for the
last, oh, six years, nothingand 300 episodes minor. Thank you
for your support. It genuinelymeans so much to me and you guys
who are listening to thisepisode and other episodes are the
reason why I continue to dothis podcast. So I'm so happy to

(03:53):
be here. I'm so excited to behere, mostly because Cutthroat island
has been a long time coming tothis podcasta,andndI'veheld off on
purpose, but then I just feltlike I couldn't really hold off anymore,
and it's like, you might aswell just do these things. So I figured,
why not baby Kaijune? There'sobviously a little thing that I did

(04:13):
last month that was reallycute, right? Just a couple of giant
monster creatures with bigteeth out to kill people for lolz.
I am planning for Kaijune toretureturn,rnand alsoplanning forit
to bealotbigger than it wasthis June. So let me know what you'd
like to see included next timearound. Obviously, we're talking

(04:36):
June 2026 for this, but I willsay that chances of an Anaconda or
Lake Placid sequel are slim tonone. I'll be honest. But we are
staying on the water becausewho doesn't love to film stuff in,
on and around water? Becauseit's so easy. Why don't more movies
do it? In fact, pirate movies.Why doesn't Hollywood make more pirate

(05:00):
movies? Everyone knowspirates, and Disney certainly wasn't
the first to take a punt on apirate movie. But while they were
hugely popular in the 30s and40s, the 80s was a rough time at
sea for the cinematic pirateand the 90s. Well, we've all heard
the tales of Cutthroat island,but did it really sink a studio?

(05:23):
And did it really take abarrel of gunpowder to the careers
of Rennie Harlin and GeenaDavis? Or is the humble pirate movie
just a poison chalice? Andwhat did Spider-Man have to do with
the making of CutthroatIsland? I guess we need to jump on
board and find out. So here'sthe trailer for Cutthroat Island.

(07:25):
Morgan Adams is a piratecaptain who inherits part of a treasure
map from her dying father fromhis skull. To find the legendary
treasure, she must obtain theremaining pieces of the map from
her treacherous uncles,Mordecai Fingers and Douglas Dawg
Brown, who want to kill herand claim the treasure for themselves.
Morgan teams up with a roguishconman and alleged doctor, William

(07:47):
Shaw, though his loyaltyremains questionable. Throughout
their adventure, they raceacross the Caribbean against Dawg
to find the elusive Cutthroatisland first and claim the booty.
And let's be honest, everyonejust wants to hear an English person
saying the word booty. Let'srun through the cast of this movie.
We have Geena Davis as MorganAdams, Matthew Modine as William

(08:10):
Shaw, Frank Langella asDouglas Dawg Brown, Maury Chaykin
as John Reed, Patrick Malahideas Ainsley, Stan Shaw as Glasspool,
Rex Lin as Mr. Blair, andHarris Yulin as Black Harry Adams.
Cuthbert island has ascreenplay by Robert King and Mark

(08:31):
Norman, story by Michael FrostBeckner, James Gorman, Bruce A. Evans
and Raynal Gideon, and wasdirected by Rennie Harlin. Ahoy me
hearties. Avast. Dead men tellno tales, There'll be no parlay.
Hiya else, I'll send you toDavy Jones Locker. We've got us some
legendary booty here, savvy?It may not glimmer like regular treasure,

(08:55):
but treasure it is all thesame. Gar. Cutthroat island is infamous
for many reasons. Infamous forsinking a studio. Infamous for being
a Guinness Book of WorldRecords record holding box office
flop. Only one of those istrue though, and as is customary
for this podcast, I feel likeCutthroat island has for too long

(09:16):
had a reputation that this wasa huge 90s shipwreck and that bringing
a woman aboard a ship is badluck. Well, maybe it was bad luck,
but as the captain of thisship add the token woman, I'm here
to fly the flag for a 90spirate movie that always seems to
end up on people's lists ofmovies to ridicule for no good reason.

(09:36):
There's a lot that went wrongfor Cutthroat island, much of it
not the movie's fault. Theblame includes other parties like
Arnold Schwarzenegger andSpider-Man. But there's also a lot
that went right and this yearis Cutthroat Island's 30th anniversary.
But to start our story, weneed to go back to the golden age
of pirates on screen, whichbegan in the 1930s and peaked in

(09:59):
the 1940s. Errol Flynnessentially defined the swashbuckling
genre with 1935's CaptainBlood and 1940s the Seahawk. Both
were major box officesuccesses. These films established
the template for romantic,adventurous pirate stories that audiences
embraced. Flynn possessed theperfect combination of athletic grace,

(10:21):
roguish charm and romanticappeal. He could handle sword fights
with balletic elegance whilemaintaining an air of dangerous sexuality
that appealed to both male andfemale audiences. Flynn's on screen
partnership with Olivia deHavilland created some of cinema's
most memorable romanticchemistry. And these pirate films

(10:42):
were among the mosttechnically ambitious of their time.
Warner Brothers and otherstudios invested heavily in elaborate
ship sets, spectacular seabattles and innovative camera work.
The Sea Hawk featured some ofthe most impressive naval combat
sequences ever filmed, usingminiatures, full scale ship replicas
and clever editing to createbreathtaking action. Studios spared

(11:06):
no expense on theseproductions. They had elaborate costumes,
detailed period sets andcareful attention to nautical detail
to give these filmscredibility. The pirate genre began
losing steam in the 50s asaudience tastes shifted. However,
there were still occasionalsuccesses, such as the crimson pirate
in 1952 with Burt Lancaster.The genre was considered outdated

(11:30):
and campy. By the late 1970s,swashbuckling adventure seemed quaint
compared to the grittier, morerealistic action films that were
becoming popular, like DirtyHarry, the French Connection and
later in the 80s, Die Hard,which all represented a new kind
of action hero, morecontemporary, more thoughtful and

(11:51):
psychologically complex thanthe romantic rogues of the Golden
Age. The success of sciencefiction following Star wars and the
rise of contemporary actionfilms meant studios were investing
their big budget elsewhere.Why would you make a period pirate
film when you could make amodern thriller or a space opera?

(12:12):
By the time the 80s rolledaround, the success of adventure
films like the Indiana Jonesseries suggested that audiences still
enjoyed old fashioned pulpyadventure. But while studios were
still attempting piratemovies, they still struggled at the
box office. The pirate moviein 1982 was perhaps the most notable
attempt. It was a musicalcomedy starring Christopher Atkins

(12:34):
and Christy McNichol that wasboth a critical and commercial disaster.
This was followed by attemptslike the ice Pirates in 1984 and
Roman Polanski's Pirates in1986, both of which were also financial
disappointments, with only theGoonies and the Princess Bride containing
pirate themes andswashbuckling elements being both

(12:55):
critically acclaimed andcommercially successful. There hadn't
been a major pirate film indecades, but one studio may have
seen it as more of an untappedmarket than a dead genre. That studio
was Carolco. But before we getinto the story of Carolco, which
I know for a fact, I havepronounced over the years as Carolco

(13:18):
as well as Korolko, but youknow me and my pronunciations, I
do try my best. Before we gointo that, we have to Start with
the original script from thewriting team of James Gorman and
Michael Frost Beckner. Theyhad a development deal with Disney
and they pitched to Disney adarkly comic pirate strip as a potential
Pirates of the Caribbean moviein the early 90s. Michael Eisner

(13:39):
turned this idea down. It wasthen pitched to Carolco, who bought
it for $1.7 million. Carolcowas founded in 1976 by Mario Kassar
and Andrew G. Vajna, twoentrepreneurs who initially focused
on foreign sales anddistribution. Their breakthrough
came with understanding how toleverage foreign pre sales to finance

(14:00):
big budget productions. Thiswas a relatively new model at the
time that allowed them tocompete with major studios without
the major studio resources.Their first major success was First
Blood in 1982, which theyacquired and helped turn into a surprise
hit. This led to First BloodPart 2 in 1985, which became a massive

(14:22):
global phenomenon, earningover $300 million worldwide. The
success of the Rambo franchiseestablished Korolco as a major player
and proved their model couldwork on a large scale. The golden
age of Carolco peaked in theearly 90s, which saw them producing
some of the decade's biggestaction hits like total recall in

(14:42):
1990 with ArnoldSchwarzenegger, which was both a
critical and commercialsuccess. And then the behemoth that
was Terminator 2 Judgment Day,which became their crowning achievement.
The most expensive film evermade at the time, but also one of
the most successful. Grossingover $500 million worldwide and setting

(15:03):
new standards for visualeffects. Carolco would sell distribution
rights to foreign territoriesbefore production began, using that
money to finance films. Thisallowed them to make big budget movies
independently, but it alsomeant they were constantly levering
future revenues againstcurrent productions. The model worked

(15:23):
brilliantly when films werehits like Total Recall, Basic Instinct
and Terminator 2. But itcreated enormous financial pressure
when they weren't movies likeJohnny Hansen, Music Box, Air America
and Mountains of the Moon,which were all financial disappointments.
Unlike major studios withdiverse revenue streams and large

(15:43):
libraries of content, Carolcowas essentially betting everything
on each individual film. Andthis was starting to become a huge
issue. When films failed tomeet projections, there was no corporate
cushion to absorb the losses.Plus they'd set a dangerous precedent
for themselves with hugebankable stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger

(16:04):
and Sylvester Stallone. By theearly 90s, staff salaries and production
costs were spiraling upward.And to secure top talent, they had
to pay larger salaries. ArnoldSchwarzenegger reportedly received
$15 million for total recall.And because of this huge increase
in salary, other studiosstarted to follow suit and pay bigger

(16:26):
salaries, which then meantthat smaller studios were being priced
out of the big bankable stars.To mitigate their losses, Carolco
began taking on too manyexpensive projects simultaneously.
They were financing multiple50 plus million dollar films at once,
spreading their resourcesdangerously thin and debts were piling

(16:47):
up. Carolco's plans for aSpider man movie also came crashing
down in 1993. Listen to myepisode on Spider man for more on
that. But essentially in April1992, Korolco stopped an active production
on Spider man, citingcontinued financial and legal issues.
Producer Menahem Golan thensued Korolko to revoke his contract

(17:07):
with them. Since then,director James Cameron had Golan's
executive producer nameomitted from the film credits. It
was more lawsuits than Kuroconeeded and despite them filing suit
against Columbia Pictures andViacom in an effort to gain the home
video and TV rights to Spiderman, they would then counter sue
Carolco and long story short,the courts did not rule in Krolko's

(17:29):
favor. The Spider man filmrights reverted to Marvel and they
were eventually sold toColumbia. And then we got Sam Raimi's
Spider man movies. By the time1994 came around, Carolco needed
a big hit and they had achoice between two potential saviors.
An Arnold Schwarzeneggerstarring Paul Verhoeven directed
historical epic called Crusadeand a pirate movie. There was no

(17:54):
way they could afford to haveboth movies in production at the
same time. Crusade was giventhe green light in 1993 and pre production
had already begun on the Rrated action epic. Both ideas were
expensive, but Crusade wasbudgeted higher before shooting started.
The plug was pulled on Crusadewith Schwarzenegger receiving a payoff

(18:15):
and they decided to go withthe then cheaper pirate adventure
which Mario Casar had optionedback in 1990. Just FYI, this movie
would not remain the cheaperoption for long. This movie is set
in 1668 during the golden ageof piracy, specifically the Buccaneer
Age which focused primarily onthe Caribbean. After the 1655 capture

(18:37):
of Jamaica by England fromSpain, the early English governors
of Jamaica freely grantedletters of marque to Tortuga buccaneers
and to their own countrymen.While the growth of Port Royal provided
these raiders with a far moreprofitable and enjoyable place to
sell their booty. Thesebuccaneers called themselves privateers.
However, many had no concernfor legality and took the opportunity

(19:00):
to pillage whether they had aletter of mark or not. Letters of
mark were also often forged.Female pirates, while uncommon, did
exist in the 17th and 18thcenturies. Though they faced significant
legal and social barriers,most had to disguise themselves as
men to join crews. Initially,as ships were traditionally mail

(19:22):
only spaces, those who werediscovered often had to prove their
worth through exceptionalskill in combat or navigation to
remain aboard. While piracyitself was illegal. Regardless of
gender, women could sometimesescape the death penalty through
pregnancy claims or by arguingthey were coerced. Some operated
under letters of marque asprivateers, which gave them semi

(19:45):
legal status when attackingenemy vessels during wartime. While
Cutthroat Island's premise ofa female pirate captain wasn't historically
impossible, it would have beenextremely rare. Just as rare are
female action leads inHollywood movies. And while they
are nothing new, bothSigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton

(20:06):
had established the templateand made significant impact as women
who could be both toughleaders as well as sympathetic heroes.
There were exceptions to thegeneral rule that men dominated the
action genre. But generally,as in most things in life, there
were only a handful ofexceptions. And I want to start this
section of the episode bysaying vehemently, truthfully and

(20:30):
honestly, the Cutthroat islandis not a bad movie. It's just not.
It's not a great movie, butit's no bad movie. And the reception
that this movie got is simplyunjustifiable. When you see what's
on screen, and let's behonest, we're going to talk about
finances, the money is clearlythere on screen. This is an expensive

(20:53):
movie, but the money isvisible. But first Carolco had to
figure out where to get thismoney from. So before a frame of
film was shot, Carolcoobtained $50 million by aggressively
selling to overseasdistributors at Japan's Pioneer Electric
Corporation, Canal plus inFrance, Rizzoli, editor of Italy,

(21:15):
and the French bank CreditLyonnaise, who paid upfronts for
the rights to show the movie.And this was a movie that could easily
be sold too. It was going tobe directed by Renny Harlin, director
of Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger.Cliffhanger was also a Carolco picture
and it also had beengruelling. Tristar had to step in
to co finance that movie dueto Carolco's existing debts. In 1989,

(21:40):
Mario Kassar had parted wayswith his founding partner Andrew
G. Vajna, who'd been paid $100million for his share in the company.
In 1991, Carolco posted a lossof $265 million. They restructured
in 1992 and sold off shares in1993. Their only chance to survive
was to have a box Office hitin 1995, this pirate movie had to

(22:04):
be a winner. There was noother option. Carolco was out of
money. This was it. So in manyways, Cutthroat island was set up
for failure right from the getgo. To lead this pirate movie, Renny
Harlin pushed for his thengirlfriend, Geena Davis, who had
been mostly known for comedicand dramatic roles. There was no

(22:27):
doubting that Davis had thelooks. By the time filming started,
Harlin and Davis had marriedand they referred to the film as
their honeymoon, the perfectway to start married life. Spoiler
alert. The pair divorced a fewyears later in 1997. Not because
of the failure of this movie,they'd actually go on to work together
on the long kiss goodnightafter Cutthroat Ireland, but because

(22:48):
Rennie Harlin had an affairwith Geena Davis, personal assistant,
and fathered a child with her.Yeah, that'll do it. But before all
that, Harlin wanted tosupercharge Davis's career and saw
making an action movie theideal use of both of their talents.
Haran was great at spectacleand Davis was coming off of A League

(23:09):
Of Their Own, the best sportsmovie ever made. She'd done a lot
of her own baseball stunts forthat movie. The logical next step
was, of course, Pirates. Theproduction also managed to nab Michael
Douglas, then Hart off ofBasic Instinct for the role of William
Shaw, a roguish Errol Flynnlike con artist who steals Morgan's
treasure map and then herheart. While Geena Davis's salary

(23:31):
for Cutthroat island has neverbeen published, Michael Douglas was
offered $13 million to playWilliam Shaw and he saw the role
as another Romancing theStone. Douglas had two conditions.
Filming needed to startimmediately and his character had
to have the exact same amountof screen time as Geena Davis. In

(23:53):
Romancing the Stone, MichaelDouglas was very much the lead actor,
with Kathleen Turner playingsecond to him, and he wanted this
dynamic for Cutthroat island.And he's literally just been completely
outshone on screen for SharonStone in Basic Instinct. However,
as the script developed,Davis's part kept getting bigger
and he's smaller. Douglasasked for the male part to be beefed

(24:16):
up, but when the director ismarried to the lead actor, that lead
actor in this case was notMichael Douglas. So Douglas left
the movie when he realised hewould be second billing to Geena
Davis, who, while she was areasonably big name at the time,
she wasn't. Compared to thename Michael Douglas, the now vacant
role of William Shaw became abit of a poison chalice. Though,

(24:39):
because which white male alist actor in Hollywood would want
to play second fiddle to thedirector's wife? Tom Cruise, Mel
Gibson, Liam Neeson, JeffBridges, Ralph Fiennes, Charlie Sheen,
Michael Keaton, Tim Robbins,Daniel Day Lewis, Kurt Russell and
Gabriel Byrne were all offeredit, and they all passed. And so,

(25:00):
with the greatest respect toMatthew Modine, they went with a
less than a list actor.Significantly less bankable than
Douglas, but 15 years hisjunior. Modine was best known for
his leading role in StanleyKubrick's Full Metal Jacket and in
Memphis Belle. It was anecessary casting on many levels.
They needed a man for therole, and at this point, they needed

(25:22):
someone cheap. Modine fit bothof those, and he also had experience
fencing. Ironically, the stateof play was so desperate by this
point that both Harlin andDavis wanted to leave the production.
However, they both signedcontracts, so they had no choice
but to continue. They were notthe only ones. They were so concerned
about the script at that pointthat Renny Harlin personally spent

(25:45):
a million dollars of his ownmoney to hire Mark Norman to perform
script rewrites. Harlin wasallowed to complete other commitments.
As pre production on Cutthroatisland began, set designers and builders
were sent to Malta weeksbefore Harlin arrived. They built
entire streets without thedirector's approval because he wasn't
around. So when Harlin finallyarrived in Malta, he didn't like

(26:08):
any of the work and demandedit be changed to how he wanted it,
which obviously led to morecost. A thousand feet of buildings
along the quayside in Maltaneeded new facades erected to double
as port Royal in 1668. The setchanges in Malta and the increasingly
desperate search for a malelead caused morale both on and off

(26:29):
set to sink lower than DavyJones locker. As the date approached
for the cameras to roll,several senior people involved with
the film decided to abandonship, including producer David Nichols,
who regularly argued withHarlin, and chief camera operator
Nicola Pecorini, who was firedby Harlin after a tussle. Pecorini

(26:49):
took two dozen other crewmembers who were tired of Harlin's
outbursts with him. Artdirector Wolf Kroeger also walked.
There were serious injuries onset, too. They used giant tanks in
Malta to film certain oceanscene, but in the first week, cinematographer
Oliver Wood fell off a craneinto one of the tanks, breaking his
leg, and had to be replaced byPeter Levy. Matthew Modine needed

(27:13):
stitches after getting hit onthe head by a rogue barrel in a scene
which actually ends up in themovie, but Harlin didn't want to
cut Corners. He wanted a fullsized, big scale, epic pirate movie
unhindered by reality orbudget. This would obviously be an
issue. The film's two pirateships, the Morning Star and the Reaper,

(27:34):
had 20 working cannons on eachside. They were full sized replicas
of 17th century ships whichcost a million dollars each. They
were able to fight full scalesea battles once the tank's hydraulic
wave machine was activated.During filming, one of these ships
caught fire and disaster wasnarrowly averted, but production
was still suspended for threedays. Yet more cost add to the accounts

(27:59):
department, Harlin wrote tohis crew in a July 1994 leaked memo.
I don't want big, I want huge.I don't want fast, I want explosive.
I don't want accidents, I wantdisasters. Broken pipes also cause
raw sewage to pour into thewater tank where the actors were

(28:19):
supposed to swim. Renny Harlincontinued to justify the excessive
costs, flying in horses fromAustria, carpenters from England
and stuntmen from Poland. Heordered 2,000 costumes, 309 firearms,
620 swords, 250 daggers andalmost 100 custom made axes. The

(28:39):
shoot would move from Malta toThailand to film on the open waters,
which as we all know, isespecially tricky. And while out
there, the movie suffered moredelays through injuries and sickness.
Most of the crew were hit withstomach bugs from food poisoning,
including Harlan and Davis.Matthew Modine was remarkably unscathed
as he refused to eat the localseafood. Davis also struggled with

(29:03):
exhaustion with the stuntwork, leaving her often bruised and
sometimes injured after havingto do stunts over and over again.
And the costs kept climbing.Every scene had three cameras in
constant use, resulting inyards and yards of film for every
shot. And the lead actor anddirector were very demanding too,

(29:24):
requiring dozens of cases ofV8 vegetable juice to be shipped
out to Malta only for them todrink. Towards the end of the shoot,
an entire room of V8 was left.So to save waste, everyone else on
the cast and crew had to drinkit. This was confirmed by Matthew
Modine several years later. Hewould also say that Renny Harlin

(29:44):
wouldn't actually speak to himbecause he was so focused on his
wife and his wife'sperformance. And showing his wife
in the best possible light,which is admirable as a husband,
but if you're a director, youkinda need to direct everyone, not
just your wife. Modine hadseen the project as a breakout movie
for his career, andunderstandably, he started to express

(30:06):
some bitterness after itsrelease. Directed especially towards
Harlin and Davis, the indoorscenes were shot at Mediterranean
Film Studios in Calcutta,Malta and Models were shot at paddock
tank in Pinewood studios herein the uk. The visual effects work
included miniature shipmodels, which were obviously a staple

(30:27):
of the golden age of piratemovies. Peter Field worked as a B
camera operator on the UKmodel unit and he was the son of
Roy Field who worked onSuperman's visual effects. The miniature
ships do not age particularlywell when watching this movie in
high definition, but I kind oflove them. Renny Harlin required

(30:48):
actors to do their own stuntswherever possible, but this often
led to injuries, includingGeena Davis narrowly escaping permanent
spinal damage. In one of thebest stunts in the movie, she fell
out of the window too soon,rolled down the roof and under the
carriage rather than on thecarriage. And this stunt is widely
cited as being Davis in themovie and she herself has said that

(31:10):
it's her doing the stunt.However, some experts claim the stunt
is too complex, containingmultiple moving elements for any
actor to be allowed to do it.That no insurer would actually cover
is definitely her after thehair flips back. However, you also
could say it could be acomposite shot with Davis taking
the place of the stunt person.Either way, it is a brilliant, brilliant

(31:33):
stunt and this is where themovie excels the stunts and the action.
The film's explosions usedtraditional pyrotechnics rather than
digital effects, which wasstill in their infancy in 1995. The
naval battle sequences withcannon fire and ship explosions required
extensive coordination betweenthe special effects team, stunt coordinators

(31:55):
and safety personnel, withdetailed storyboarding of each explosion
sequence, careful placement ofpyrotechnic charges, and multiple
safety rehearsals. For theship to ship combat scenes, they
used a combination of fullscale practical explosions on the
actual ship sets and miniaturework with model ships. Jim Henson's
creature shop also suppliedthe film with animatronic animals,

(32:19):
including the eel puppets.Just on a by note, Renny Harlin loves
a good explosion. See also thelong Kiss Good Night. Digital effects
were used, such as whenMatthew Modine and Geena Davis are
hanging off the cliff. Theydigitally erased safety wires and
added the crashing waves belowthem. Some of the digital compositing

(32:39):
is seamless and some of thedigital effects really show their
age. When the production movedto Thailand, they couldn't take the
two ships with them, so theybuilt a single ship in Jakarta. But
they made it withinterchangeable parts so they could
use it as two different shipsby swapping out the elements, the
front and rear, and then usedediting and digital compositing to

(33:02):
fund these extra costs thatHarlan had jacked up. Mario Casa
had managed to get an extra$40 million out of a European banking
syndicate just to get the filmfinished, obviously promising that
they would definitely gettheir money back because it was going
to be a huge hit. When theshoot finished in Thailand, there

(33:23):
was a wrap party on AprilFool's Day, but Geena Davis and Renny
Harlin didn't attend. Due tothe various costly delays, the release
date for Cutthroat island wasmoved from summer 1995 to a much
more competitive slot inDecember. Christmas would not be
a jolly time for this movie.Let's segue, though, into the jolliest

(33:46):
part of this podcast. It istime for the Obligatory Keanu reference.
If you don't know what thisis, it's where I try and link every
movie that I'm featuring withKeanu Reeves for no reason other
than he is genuinely the bestof men. And he has continued to be
the best of men since, oh, thestart of time. And this was remarkably
easy because another anusactor who passed on the role of William

(34:09):
Shaw was Keanu Reeves. Andthis would have been literally just
after speed for him, possiblyreplacing either Johnny Mnemonic
or A Walk in the Clouds. Irecently re watched Johnny Mnemonic
after, well, not seeing itsince the 90s. And that is a strange
beast of a movie. And I don'tthink I've seen A Walk in the Clouds

(34:32):
or if I have, it's not verymemorable. Unlike Cutthroat island,
which is incredibly memorable,as is Cutthroat Island's score. Now,
John Debney's score forCutthroat island has actually been
praised for its style, whichis reminiscent of the Golden Age
Hollywood swashbuckling scoresby Eric Wolfgang Korngold. It's been

(34:55):
noted as one of Debney's bestcompositions. The score uses traditional
orchestral backing with achoir and was performed by the London
Symphony Orchestra with choralcontributions by the London Voices
and was conducted by DavidSnell. So we're getting into the
release of this movie. Theyhave a pirate movie ready to go and
now they need to market thatmovie. Now, they did do quite a lot

(35:20):
of TV spots in Americafeaturing Geena Davis, with her being
interviewed, talking about theprocess of filming. But when it came
to actively marketing themovie, post it being finished, there
were more problems. Carolcohad already spent a lot of money
and now their distributor,mgm, is in the process of being sold,

(35:42):
so there was no financing formarketing. So this meant that despite
the film's massive budget, itlacked the promotional support that
a blockbuster of that scalewould normally receive. Then, a month
before Cutthroat island wasdue to be released, Carolco finally
gave up the ghost and filedfor Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The bankruptcy

(36:04):
filing occurred that while thefilm was still in its post production
and marketing phases, whichobviously then severely limited any
financial resources that mighthave been available for promotion
because they filed forbankruptcy. Cutthroat island could
have been the greatest moviein the world, but there was no one
to market it, no money forpromotional material, no huge star

(36:26):
names to guarantee footfall,and it had cost a hell of a lot of
money. So in many ways,Cutthroat island was doomed before
it ever set foot in cinemas.Regardless of its quality. Cutthroat
island was released on 22December 1995 in the US in a crowded
box office with other moviesout at the time, including Toy Story,

(36:49):
which was number one after sixweeks. Jumanji, which was number
three after two weeks. Heatwas at number six after two weeks.
Goldeneye was at 13th aftersix weeks. Also out the same week
as Cutthroat Island, Waitingto Exhale, Grumpier, Old Men, Sudden
Death, Tom and Hook, DraculaDead and Loving it and Nixon. And

(37:12):
all of those movies chartedhigher than Cutthroat Island. On
its debut at the US boxoffice, Cutthroat Ireland was 14th
in its second week, it onlydropped one place to 15th. But the
damage was already done.Cutthroat Ireland was removed from
cinemas after just two weeks,and the reason for this was simple

(37:33):
bums on seats. Since Cutthroatisland was clearly not attracting
moviegoers, theatre owners hadno financial incentive to continue
showing it. So the movie wassimply removed. This is when we obviously
get into financials andfinancials for the movie are mixed.
Estimates are that the Moviecosts between 92 to 98 million dollars,

(37:57):
although some sources put thefigure as high as 115 million dollars.
Box office mojo state 98million. So that's the one that I'm
gonna go with. On its $98million budget, Cutthroat island
grossed $10 milliondomestically in the US and $6 million
internationally, for a totalworldwide gross of $16 million. $98

(38:22):
million in 1995 in today'smoney is $206 million. Adjusted for
inflation, the losses equal150 to $200 million. Cutthroat Thailand
was once listed as having thelargest box office loss by the Guinness
Book of World Records. Thecost of producing, financing, marketing

(38:45):
and distributing Cutthroatisland totaled $121 million. Carolco
lost about 47 million on theproject, but most of that was carried
by the unfortunate investorswho invested in this project. Carolco's
chairman, Mario Cassab, didstill receive his one million dollar
fee for ensuring thatCutthroat island was finished, and

(39:08):
he is probably the only personto actually make money off of this
movie now, despite it being abit of a huge financial bomb, critically,
A Rotten Tomatoes actuallysits at a reasonably decent 40%.
Bear in mind this is anaggregate score of the percentage
of reviews that are 3 out of 5or 6 out of 10 or higher, the site's

(39:31):
consensus reads. Cutthroatisland may aspire towards the earnest
thrills of classicswashbucklers, but a distinct lack
of charm and stilted scriptmake this adventure a joyless hodgepodge
of the pirate genres flotsamand Jetsam. Roger Ebert liked the
movie and gave it a three outof four stars, saying, this is in

(39:52):
short, a satisfactory movie,but it doesn't transcend its genre
and it's not surprising orastonishing. I saw it because that
was my job and having seen it,I grant it skill and award it three
stars on that basis. Butunless you're really into pirate
movies, it's not a necessaryfilm. Is that a compliment or? Cutthroat

(40:15):
Island did receive a RazzieAward nomination for Worst Director
for Renny Harlin. He did notwin. It's unfortunate. Out of 6 worst
director Golden RaspberryAward nominations, he's never had
the privilege of winning foranything. So he was nominated in
1991 for the Adventures ofFord Farlane, in 1996 for Cutthroat

(40:38):
island, in 2002 for Driven, in2005 for Exorcist, the Beginning,
in 2015 for the Legend ofHercules and in 2022 for the Misfits.
Six nominations and no winsfor Renny Harlin for Worst Director.
I'm sure he's very upset aboutthat. Of course, there were no sequels

(40:58):
to Cutthroat island and thereprobably never will be. And unsurprisingly,
no remakes of Cutthroat islandand there probably never will be.
And so that's the story ofCutthroat island and that was the
end of Carolco. Sort of. Thestudio that had produced hits like
Terminator 2, Basic Instinctand Total Recall was completely destroyed

(41:22):
by the financial losses. Twomonths after Showgirls, which they
sold off in pre production toUnited Artists and Pathe, and one
month after Cutthroat Island,Korolco was over. But Carolco's demise
was never down to CutthroatIsland. Cutthroat island was the
patsy. Carolco was doomedyears before Cutthroat island, and

(41:43):
it feels vastly unfair toshift the blame for the financial
decisions made by Korolko'smanagement to a movie that didn't
ask to get made, don't blamethe child for the decisions of the
parent, etc. Cutthroat islandwas wildly ambitious and tried to
give us something we're alwaysasking for something new, something

(42:05):
different. But just like everyother female headlined action movie,
they always have to provesomething else. They'll forever be
deemed a failure and must alsoprove something. Even after years
of female led actionblockbusters like Kill Bill, Charlie's
Angels, Atomic Blonde, theHunger Games, Lucy, Star Wars, Episode

(42:27):
7, the Force Awakens, WonderWoman and Captain Marvel, there still
exists in Hollywood this ideathat every big female led movie is
it just here to test the boxoffice credibility of movies by,
for, from and featuring women.And every time one of those movies
underperforms in any way, theycite Catwoman, Aeon Flux, Barb Wire

(42:52):
and Ultraviolet. Because amale led action movie is allowed
to underperform, but a femaleled one just isn't. And those that
succeed are quickly forgottenabout as soon as one does. Bomb it
is a heinous double standardthat's getting better over time,
but it's still not great. Aswith many movies that end up box

(43:13):
office bombs, it's often notthe movie itself that's the problem,
but the politics behind thescene. I'm going to say it again
for the people in the back.Cutthroat island is not a bad movie.
It has some severe scriptingcharacter problems, but it looks
gorgeous in parts, the stuntsand practical effects are incredible,
and it shines most when it'sjust allowed to exist without the

(43:36):
talking. And again, I meanthat with the utmost respect to these
actors, but with the exceptionof Franklin Geller, who's clearly
relishing every moment onscreen, everyone else is kind of
struggling. Geena Davis givesit some real gusto, but she's never
really allowed to trulyembrace being a pirate. Presumably
because she was worried abouther image. Cutthroat island was automatically

(43:59):
the poster child for womencan't lead action movies as well
as pirate movies of box officepoison. And yet we know both aren't
true. So why does Cutthroatisland still retain this unfortunate
label? And this is where Ithink the tides are finally turning.
When the movie bombed, it wasthe nail in the coffin for pirate

(44:20):
movies until despite beingreminded of Cutthroat Island's failure,
Disney produced 2003's Piratesof the the Curse of the Black Pearl,
which is a terrific movie. Itstill holds up today and has produced
several sequels of varyingquality. Cutthroat island was a cautionary
tale of don't do it this wayrather than any other form of inspiration.

(44:43):
Making Elizabeth a pirate bynecessity rather than starting her
out as one, as well as Disneyhaving full and complete financial
backing before attempting tomake a costly disaster like Carolco
did. And I still maintain thisis a fun movie. If they'd attempted
to write Morgan Adams with abit more personality, Geena Davis

(45:04):
career trajectory may havebeen different. Her attempt to break
into action movies wasambitious but risky. Who's to say
if it would have been betterwith Michael Douglas? But the chemistry
between Davis and MatthewModine is non existent. No one is
well written in this moviebecause this is a bad script. Even
when she and Harlin triedagain with the Long Kiss Good Night

(45:26):
the year later. While itmanaged to become a moderate success,
the spirit of Cutthroat islandhaunted Davis for years afterwards.
Even Harlin only really hadone big success after this, and that
was Deep Blue Sea in 1999.Matthew Modine also struggled after
this movie, although he thengot a prime role in Stranger Things,
so he's doing okay from it.Geena Davis now chairs the Geena

(45:50):
Davis Institute, whichprovides research, direct guidance
and thought leadership aimedat increasing representation of marginalized
groups within six identitiesgender, race and ethnicity, lgbtqia,
disability, age and body type.We love Geena Davis and we love Cutthroat
Island. So where is Carolconow? Well, after filing for bankruptcy,

(46:14):
Carolco sold its assets toCanalPlus for $58 million in 1996.
Today, the ancillary rights toCarolco's library up to 1995 are
held by the French productioncompany Studio Canal. The company's
founders, Mario Kassar andAndrew Vajna, reunited in 1998 and
formed C2 Pictures. Thecompany would produce Terminator

(46:38):
3, Rise of the Machines andBasic Instinct 2, neither of which
were brilliant financialsuccesses. Film producer Alexander
Baither purchased the Carolconame and logo and on the 20th of
January 2015 he renamed hisproduction company Bricktop Productions
to Carolco Pictures. He thenrecruited Mario Kassar as the chief

(47:00):
development executive of thenew Carolco. But in 2017, Studio
Canal filed a legal disputeover the Carolco brand. Studio Canal
and the new Corelco reached anagreement whereby Studio Canal would
have sole control of theCarolco name and logo, and the Carolco
Pictures company would berenamed Recall Studios. So Carolco

(47:25):
is pretty much still dead, butCutthroat island is not. And as I
said, the tide is seeminglyturning for Cutthroat Island. After
30 years of critical bashingand blame for sinking a studio, people
are re evaluating this movieand giving it its dues. It recently
had a 4K UHD steelbookrelease, and the fact is, getting

(47:48):
a premium 4K UHD releasesuggests that there's enough of a
fan base to justify thatrelease. Simply put, Cutthroat island
is a well crafted adventurefilm that was unfairly dismissed
due to its commercialcircumstances rather than its actual
quality. It's a swashbucklingpirate flick in the finest tradition,

(48:09):
full of fighting and brawling,epic stunts and explosions, swords
and cannons, huge, elaboratelydetailed ships and gorgeous ocean
vistas. It's time toreconsider it. It's time to re evaluate
it. And honestly, it's time itgot the love it deserves. If Showgirls
can become a cult classic reevaluated and adored by its fans,

(48:32):
so can Cutthroat Island. It'sa movie that was destined to fail.
And yet it's no failure. Notto this podcast. To me, this movie
is a dream. Don't be a baddog. It's been 30 years. It's time
to give this movie a chance.Drink up me hearties. Yo ho. Thank
you for listening. As always,I would love to hear your thoughts

(48:53):
on Cutthroat island and thankyou for your continued support of
this podcast. If you want toget involved and help this podcast
grow, you could tell yourfriends and family about this podcast.
You can leave a rating orreview wherever you found this episode
or you can find me and followme on social media. I am@VerbalDiorama
where you can like posts,share posts, comment on posts. It

(49:16):
all helps with visibility andwith getting the general word out
there about this podcast andabout what I'm trying to do, the
stories that I'm trying Totell, the 300 plus episodes of previous
stuff that's out there forpeople to listen to. It would be
a huge help if you couldsupport this podcast in some small
way. And if you like thisepisode on Cutthroat island, you

(49:37):
might Also like episode 43, ALeague of Their Own. It is genuinely
the best sports movie ever.And episode 88 the Long Kiss Good
Night because we might as welltalk some more about Rennie Harlin
and Geena Davis and the LongKiss Good Night is also a really
fun movie. Rennie Harlinreally loves his explosions, man.

(49:59):
If you've not seen the LongKiss Good Night, please find it and
watch it and have a listen tothat episode and as always, give
me feedback on myrecommendations. Let me know what
you think. So the next episodeactually has a link to this one that
I was not aware of until Istarted looking into it a little
bit. Because in 1989 Andrew G.Vajna sold his interest in Carolco

(50:24):
and he founded CinergiPictures. Now Cinergi would have
their fair share of box officebombs. They would go on to dissolve
in 1998, but they also hadtheir fair share of hits including
Die Hard With a Vengeance,Evita and the Next Episode. Just
like the pirate genre,Westerns were most popular during

(50:46):
the golden age of Westerns,the 40s to the 60s, with spaghetti
Westerns popular in the 70s.But the 90s also led to a resurgence
of the Western, with Tombstoneone of the most successful both critically
and and commercially. But it'salso got a really interesting story
behind the scenes too. Solet's look into the history and legacy

(51:10):
of Tombstone next week, shallwe? Now, if you enjoy what I do for
this podcast or you simplywant to support an indie podcaster
who does everything on herown, if you have some spare pennies
you can financially contributeto the upkeep of this podcast, you're
under no obligation. Thispodcast is free and it always will
be free. However, if you doget value out of what I do, there

(51:33):
are a couple of ways you canhelp. If you have the means to, and
only if you have the means to.You can make a one off donation@verbaldiorama.com
tips or you can subscribe tothe patreon@verbaldiorama.com patreon
and all money made goes backinto this podcast by paying for things
like website hosting,equipment and software subscriptions.

(51:56):
I'm hugely grateful to theamazing patrons of Verbal Diorama.
They are Simon, Laurel, Derek,Kat, Andy, Mike, Luke, Michael, Scott,
Brendan, Ian, Lisa, Sam, Jack,Dave, Stuart, Nicholas, so Kev, Heather,
Danny, Stu, Brett, Philip M.Zenos, Sean, Rhino, Philip K, Adam,

(52:18):
Elaine, Kyle and Aaron. If youwant to get in touch you can email
verbal dioramail.com or youcan go to the feedback form which
is@verbaldiorama.com you cansay hi. You can give me feedback
or suggestions. You can alsotalk to me about Cutthroat island
or just literally any moviethat I've ever done. Feel free to

(52:39):
have a chat with me about it.I Do respond to every email I receive.
And thank you so much to thepeople who have recently sent me
emails. I really love to hearfrom you, so feel free to get in
touch, whether that's on thewebsite or by email or on social
media, too. And finally.
What do you got there?Treasure. Bags of it. Be careful

(53:02):
what you do. You can lose alot. Put a ball between his eyes.
No, no. My head. It's about £4million now. Wait, that's a guess.
But I can't be off by morethan a million pounds or so.
Cut the rope, William. Get away.
William. Let's make a deal. Ican be reasonable. Send Morgan down.

(53:26):
I'll send the treasure up andwe'll both have what we want. All
right, William, we have adeal. Here she comes. I wish I'd

(53:51):
never learned Latin. We haveboth. Hold them in.
Don't watch me fall.
I'm coming with you.
Don't be mad.
Why? Don't argue. Let's agreeupon something for once. Thank you.
On account of three, then.
Come to me. Morgan.

(54:13):
Wait.
One more thing.
What?
Considering everything, Ireally think that from now on we
should be partners. Fullpartners. What do you say? 60? 40?
50. 50. Pool partners. Verywell. They have a lot to say to each
other, don't they? Are youready now? Ready. One.

(54:41):
Two. Now.
Love. Who can explain it?

(55:03):
Bye.

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