With other similar survival movies drawing from real-life events, there is some question if Cast Away is based on a true story. The movie follows the story of FedEx executive Chuck Noland (Hanks) as he's stranded on a deserted island in the middle of the South Pacific after a plane crash. Movies like 127 Hours and Adrift deal with the accounts of real people who faced impossible odds to survive, but Cast Away is more fiction than either of these movies. Nevertheless, there are many real-life experiences that influence the movie.
Isolated for four years, Noland struggles to survive and stay sane, with his only company being Wilson, a volleyball that was part of the plane's cargo, which has a painted face made by Noland's own bloody handprint. Written by William Broyles Jr. and directed by Robert Zemeckis, the Tom Hanks movie was a box office hit, making nearly $430 million worldwide (Box Office Mojo) while Hanks was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his central performance. Years later, its visceral and grounded feel has audiences still asking about the Cast Away true story.
How William Broyles Jr. Researched The Cast Away True Story
The Screenwriter Isolated Himself On An Island To Prepare
Noland braved the elements and managed to survive for years in Cast Away, eventually being able to return home. While researching and writing the story for Cast Away,Broyles Jr. consulted professional survival experts before taking the significant step of deliberately isolating himself on an island in the Gulf of California, intending to put himself in the shoes of his main character. Broyles discussed his time in isolation and how it later inspired the screenplay in an interview with The Austin Chronicle. His experience on the island informed many of the critical moments portrayed in Cast Away.
The writer speared and ate stingrays on the island, drank coconut juice, built a tent out of bamboo and palm leaves, and struggled to make his own fire, aiming to get a small sense of the experience depicted in survival movies based on true stories like 127 Hours. The experience gave Broyles an understanding of “what it means to be truly alone.”
When he found a deserted volleyball on the beach, he named it Wilson, which served as inspiration for Noland’s only friend during his four years. Cast Away isn't totally based on a true story, but is heavily inspired by the Broyles' research.
Is Cast Away Based On A True Story?
Several Real-Life Explorers Inspired The Movie
It is more than Broyles' intense prep work that serves as Cast Away's inspiration. The movie was initially inspired by Robinson Crusoe, and actor Tom Hanks had the idea to do a modern-day version of Daniel Defoe’s classic adventure story. Hanks told THR that he was inspired by a news article about FedEx for Cast Away. Hanks noted:
“I realized that 747s filled with packages fly across the Pacific three times a day... what happens if (the plane) goes down?”
This question sparked the idea that would evolve into the movie and led to creative product placement in Cast Away.
Like Defoe’s historical fiction, though there is no true story behind Cast Away it was inspired by the lives of real-world explorers. Alexander Selkirk is thought to have been the biggest inspiration behind Defoe’s novel, and he was a Scottish castaway who spent four years on a Pacific island in the early 1700s. After being rescued by an English expedition in 1709, Edward Cooke, who was part of the rescue team, wrote about Selkirk in his book, A Voyage to the South Sea, and Round the World.
Real-life people who inspired Cast Away:
People | Time Period |
|---|---|
Alexander Selkirk | 1700s |
Edward Cooke | 1790 |
Pedro Serrano | 16th century |
Ada Blackjack | 1921 |
The Robert Zemeckis-directed Cast Away also draws on the experiences of other survivors to create an original story grounded in reality. A range of other real-life castaways inspired some of literature's most famous stories, including Spanish sailor Pedro Serrano, who was reportedly shipwrecked on an island off the coast of Nicaragua in the first half of the 16th century. Ada Blackjack was another, sometimes referred to as a "female Crusoe" – she was a seamstress who became stranded on an island near Siberia in 1921 and was rescued two years later.
These explorers and others like them helped to inspire Chuck Noland and his experiences in his island location in Cast Away.
Cast Away Was Filmed On A Real Island In Fiji
The Island Has Become A Tourist Destination
Cast Away's location almost makes up for the trials and hardships that Tom Hanks' character has to endure while stranded. It's a credit to the movie's authenticity that the island isn't part of some big set in Hollywood. Instead, it's a real island that's open to the public. Though the island appears to be remote, in real life, it's a thrumming, vibrant tourist location. The location in which the movie was filmed is called Modriki, a small island just off the coast of Fiji that also serves as a tourist hotspot.
A wide array of movies have been filmed in Fiji, such as Contact, The Blue Lagoon, and The Fall. Modriki, also known as "Cast Away Island Beach," has no real amenities like hotels or restaurants. However, it does feature an abundance of sea life, plenty of surf, and a dazzling variety of plant life. Hanks at least lucked out with his filming location: the island is uninhabited, and anyone can take a tour of Modriki to see where Cast Away was filmed.
How Tom Hanks Brought Realism To His Cast Away Role
Hanks Insisted On Being On His Own On Screen
Part of what sells the authenticity of Cast Away is Tom Hanks' performance. It takes a very rare actor who can hold a movie as virtually the only one on screen for the entire runtime, and Hanks proves he is that talented. Once Chuck is on the island, the movie relies on Hanks' performance to make the audience care about his journey and become invested in his survival.
Unlike Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis' Forrest Gump collaboration, the actor doesn't have a unique and likable character to embrace, as Chuck is meant to be an ordinary man in an extraordinary situation. In an interview about Cast Away (via ABC News), Hanks spoke about the importance of keeping the stakes real and the situation Chuck was in as desperate as possible.
He said they avoided having any other human character interacting with Chuck or coming into the story as "we’re going to take this so far that the audience has no recourse. They’re stuck on the island with them — with Chuck — no matter what happens to him." Hanks' committing to the realness and rawness of Chuck's journey in Cast Away is what made it feel so truthful.
How Realistic Is Cast Away?
The Extraordinary Survival Story Does Mirror Other Incredible True Stories
Given that Cast Away is not based on a true story, the film faces an uphill battle to make audiences believe that the narrative is realistic. Extraordinary events like surviving a plane crash and learning to live on a desolate island for four years are hard to believe, but it's way more realistic than other fictional survival movies.
Other survival films led by just one actor like The Martian and Gravity might look stunning and are full of scientific explanations, but they aren't anywhere near as realistic as Cast Away, and they require that audiences suspend disbelief. There's also a surprising number of real-life survival stories that mirror Cast Away's narrative. In 1965, a group of teenage boys known as the Tongan castaways were shipwrecked on Ata, an uninhabited island, for 15 months (via People). The boys ran away from their boarding school and stole a boat, but they washed up on Ata after a shipwreck during a storm.
A Japanese WWII soldier didn't hear that the war had ended, and he managed to survive in a Guam jungle on his own for a whole 27 years too (via Smithsonian). Island of the Blue Dolphins is based on the true story of a 12-year-old girl who survived on San Nicolas Island alone for 18 years, which isn't too different from Cast Away.
How Cast Away Compares To Other Survival Movies Inspired By True Stories
Cast Away's Largely Fictional Story Makes For A More Compelling Survival Story
There are many survival stories based on true stories that have a huge impact because they are telling real stories of real people. However, Cast Away has a freedom that other movies of its kind don't have as it can tell its amazing survival story without being tethered to real-life facts. Every movie based on true stories is going to change details to make it fit a more cinematic type of storytelling. However, there are limitations on how much deviation the audience will accept for stories like these.
Survival stories are engrossing because they involve ordinary people surviving extraordinary circumstances through seemingly miraculous means. If the movie is based on a true story but adds elements of survival that didn't really happen, it makes the story seem less impactful. For Cast Away, though it could draw from real-life events, it was still a fictional story and could include whatever elements the filmmakers deemed most important for Chuck's journey.
In Cast Away, there is a feeling that the entire rest of the movie could take place on that island, and it is actually a shock when Chuck is rescued.
Likewise, most survival stories are forced to adhere to a specific tone. While there may be survivors at the end, in many instances, there are real people who died during these events. The movies have to respect the tragedy of the situation and maintain an appropriate tone. Depicting the true story of Society of the Snow, the movie is a harrowing and intense experience for the viewers. In Cast Away, the tone is able to shift at different times, adding humor that makes for a more engrossing, palatable viewing experience.
Of course, there is also the element of surprise that Cast Away has over other true survival stories. In 127 Hours, the audience knows the main character survives to tell this story. In Cast Away, there is a feeling that the entire rest of the movie could take place on that island, and it is actually a shock when Chuck is rescued.
Though there are many people who are fascinated with seeing true stories depicted on screen, Cast Away is an example of how movies can tell types of stories that are based in reality, but still have the freedom to make an original movie.
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8/10
Cast Away
PG-13
Adventure
Documentary
Drama
Directed by Robert Zemeckis in his second collaboration with Tom Hanks, Cast Away tells the story of FedEx executive Chuck Noland, who strives to survive in a deserted island after a plane crash. The film, which mostly takes place in the uninhabited island, earned Hanks a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
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- Director
- Robert Zemeckis
- Release Date
- December 22, 2000
- Cast
- Paul Sanchez , Lari White , Leonid Citer , David Allen Brooks , Jelena Papovic , Valentina Ananyina
- Runtime
- 143 minutes
