Deep Blue Sea Information

Deep Blue Sea is a 1999 science fiction horror film that stars Saffron Burrows, Thomas Jane, LL Cool J, Michael Rapaport, Stellan Skarsgård and Samuel L. Jackson. The film was directed by Renny Harlin and was released in the United States on July 28, 1999.

Plot

On Aquatica, a remote former submarine refueling facility converted into a laboratory, a team of scientists are searching for a cure for Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Susan McAlester (Saffron Burrows), violates a code of ethics (the fictitious "Harvard Genetics Compact"), and genetically engineers three Mako sharks to increase their brain capacity so their brain tissue can be harvested as a cure for Alzheimer's. The increased brain capacity makes the sharks smarter, faster, and more dangerous. Aquatica's financial backers become skeptical about the tests and send a corporate executive, Russell Franklin (Samuel L. Jackson), to visit the facility after one of the animals escapes and nearly kills a group of boating teenagers.

To prove that the research is working, the team manage to remove brain tissue from the largest shark. While examining the shark, Jim, one of the researchers, is attacked and his arm is torn off. Brenda calls a helicopter so Jim can get to safety but the helicopter crashes as the sharks attack it, killing Brenda. A shark breaks the glass of the underwater laboratory by ramming it using Jim, flooding the lab and setting free the sharks inside the facility. The group has to escape the sinking research center and avoid being killed as the sharks begin targeting the scientists as prey.

Carter, Susan, Janice, Russell and Tom make their way to the top of the center. They find a way to get to freedom but for their hope to fall short as Russel is killed by the sharks. Going another way, the group climb up a ladder but the ladder falls leaving them dangling over the water. Janice falls in, but despite Carter's attempts to save her, she is eaten. Meanwhile the cook Preacher kills a shark by blowing it up. He appears in time to save Carter, Tom and Susan.

Tom, despite being shocked by Janice and Russell's deaths goes with Carter to the flooded lab as the controls to open a door are in the lab. A shark attacks them and Tom is killed. Carter manages to get to safety. Susan heads into a room to collect some research. A shark follows her and almost eats her but she manages to electrocute it, killing it instantly. Carter, Susan and Preacher head to the top of the research center. While swimming Preacher is caught by the shark and is almost eaten by a shark. He swims to safety.

Dr. McAlester, in an effort to distract the third and final shark, cuts herself and dives into the water, but when she attempts to climb out, the ladder crumbles and breaks, and she is devoured by the enormous shark. But in attacking her, the shark has moved close enough for Preacher to shoot it with an explosive harpoon, which he detonates by connecting the trailing wires to a battery. With all three sharks now gone, Preacher and Blake wait on top of the flooded facility as they see a boat containing other researchers arriving.

Cast

• Saffron Burrows as Dr. Susan McAlester
• Thomas Jane as Carter Blake
• Samuel L. Jackson as Russell Franklin
• Jacqueline McKenzie as Janice Higgins
• Michael Rapaport as Tom Scoggins
• Stellan Skarsgård as Jim Whitlock
• LL Cool J as Sherman "Preacher" Dudley
• Aida Turturro as Brenda Kerns

Production

According to an interview in the Los Angeles Times, "Deep Blue Sea" was originally inspired by Australian screenwriter Duncan Kennedy's witnessing firsthand "the horrific effects of a shark attack when a victim washed up on a beach near his home." This brought on a recurring nightmare of "being in a passageway with sharks that could read his mind." The interview mentions that Kennedy "purged those dreams by sitting down and writing a screenplay that eventually evolved into (the) Warner Bros. thriller, "Deep Blue Sea."" Kennedy acknowledged that "whenever anyone mentions a shark movie, they naturally think of Steven Spielberg. The problem with approaching a shark movie is how do you do it without repeating 'Jaws' ?"

Renny Harlin describes the production on the film's commentary. The film was shot entirely in Mexico. The sets used for the interiors of the facility were built so that they could be submerged in a water-tank to create the illusion of the facility sinking practically. However, for windows, separate water-tanks with lights shining through them were used.

The film made an extensive use of digital doubles for actors being eaten by sharks. Depending on the scenes, the sharks were either animatronic (when interacting with actors) or computer generated (when in water). As an added homage to Jaws, the license plate pulled from the shark's teeth by Carter at the beginning of the film, is the same plate found in the tiger shark carcass from the 1975 Steven Spielberg film.

Samuel Jackson was initially offered the role eventually played by LL Cool J. Jackson's management didn't like the idea of him playing the role of the chef and so Harlin created the role of Russell Franklin for him.

Speaking with the Los Angeles Times, Screenwriter Kennedy noted that in "Jaws," the shark was 25 feet long, so Harlin had to do Spielberg one better. "He increased [our shark] to 26 feet," Kennedy said.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 57% rating with 52 out of 91 reviews counted fresh. The site's summary is "Aside from a few thrills, Deep Blue Sea is unoriginal and unintelligent." Empire magazine gave the film three out of five stars, saying "It was never going to crash any parties come Oscar night, or usurp previous nature-fights-back epics (Jurassic et al), but Deep Blue Sea remains defiant. It's about giant sharks eating people. And that's exactly what you get." Roger Ebert went further, saying of the film "In a genre where a lot of movies are retreads of the predictable, 'Deep Blue Sea' keeps you guessing."

The film opened on July 28, 1999 and grossed $19,107,643 ($25,164,533 including Thursday screenings/previews) in its opening weekend and went on to earn $73,648,142 domestically and $164,648,142 worldwide. Adjusted for inflation, the film's worldwide total would equal $258,168,286 in 2011. The film is listed as #12 on Box Office Mojo's list of highest grossing "Creature Features" (1982 -) behind such films as the "Jurassic Park" franchise, though outgrossing such films as "Predator" and "Alien: Resurrection." The film was released on DVD December 7, 1999 and was ranked #1 release for the week ending December 12, 1999 and remained in the DVD rental top 10 for eight weeks.

Soundtrack

See Deep Blue Sea (soundtrack) for more information A soundtrack was released on June 27, 1999 by Warner Bros. Records featuring rap and R&B music. The soundtrack made it to #55 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Composer Trevor Rabin scored the original music for the film. The released soundtrack contains 10 tracks.

In popular culture

• Samuel L. Jackson's surprising death scene in the film appears on several lists of best movie deaths of all time - including Den of Geek's "10 surprise deaths in blockbuster movies", the list "Greatest Movie Deaths of All Time" and The Vine's "Top ten surprise movie deaths".
• Deep Blue Sea appeared on Mythbusters in the episode "Phone Book Friction" when they tested the many elements of the shark's death at the end of the film, with most being proven untrue.
• The Sealab 2021 episode "Tinfins" centers around the crew of Sealab making a movie which is an obvious spoof of Deep Blue Sea.
• Several film reviews, including Rolling Stone, have noted distinct plot similarities between Deep Blue Sea and Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011). Both stories center on researchers using genetic therapies on animals' brains in an attempt to cure Alzheimer's disease; therapies that inadvertently make the animals intelligent, enabling them to escape and cause murderous mayhem. Reviewer Peter Travers noted that the newer film has mixed "twists lifted from 1972's Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and 1999's Deep Blue Sea."
• In the popular comedy series Chappelle's Show (Episode 2-1) Dave Chappelle plays Samuel L. Jackson in a beer commercial for "Samuel Jackson beer." Chappelle, as Jackson, yells at a restaurant customer drinking his beer: "You ain't ever seen my movies?... Deep Blue Sea? They ate me, a fucking shark ate me!" in reference to Jackson's death scene in the film.

See also

• List of killer shark films