'' 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 .
Released the same year as ''
Waterworld '', ''Cutthroat Island'' was actually a much bigger financial flop. The budget approached $100 million and the total U.S. gross was approximately $10 million. It was a contributing factor to the demise of the movie's production company,
Carolco Pictures , and of Davis as a
Bankable Star . It is also in the
Guinness Book Of World Records for the biggest box office flop of all time.
Guinness World Records
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, Douglas ('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
Royal Navy from
Jamaica under the command of the self-serving Governor Ainslee (
Patrick Malahide ) to end her piratical career. On her ship, ''Morning Star'', Morgan starts the voyage to ''Cutthroat Island''.
- Michael Douglas was offered $15 million to play the lead role. When he withdrew, the same offer was made to Keanu Reeves (who was busy playing Hamlet in Canada ) and Tom Cruise . When Daniel Day Lewis turned the role down, the script was rewritten to make Davis' part bigger and the producers set their casting sights lower. Jeff Bridges , Michael Keaton , Charlie Sheen , Liam Neeson and Tim Robbins all turned down $7 million to take the part before Renny Harlin and Carolco finally agreed on Matthew Modine to star opposite Davis for around $4 million.
- 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 (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. World Wide DVD Forums
- The role of Dawg Brown was originally given to Oliver Reed , however Reed's alcoholism and inappropriate conduct towards Davis during production led to his firing and replacement by Frank Langella.
