Flight of the Phoenix (2004 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Flight of the Phoenix (2004) | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | John Moore |
| Produced by | William Aldrich |
| Written by | Scott Frank, Edward Burns |
| Starring | Dennis Quaid, Tyrese Gibson, Giovanni Ribisi, Tony Curran |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | 17 December 2004 (USA) |
| Running time | 113 min |
| Language | English |
| Budget | ~ US$45,000,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
Flight of the Phoenix is a 2004 remake of the 1965 film The Flight of the Phoenix, based on the book of the same name. Survivors of a plane crash in the Gobi Desert work together to build a new plane.
The film opened in the US on December 17th with the tagline, "The only way out, is up."
Contents |
[edit] Cast
- Dennis Quaid - Frank Towns
- Tyrese Gibson - A.J.
- Giovanni Ribisi - Elliott
- Miranda Otto - Kelly
- Tony Curran - Rodney
- Kirk Jones - Jeremy
- Jacob Vargas - Sammi
- Hugh Laurie - Ian
- Scott Michael Campbell - Liddle
- Kevork Malikyan - Rady
- Jared Padalecki - Davis
- Paul Ditchfield - Dr. Gerber
- Martin Hindy - Newman
- Bob Brown- Kyle
- Anthony Wong - Lead Smuggler
[edit] Plot summary
When an Amacor oil rig in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia proves unproductive, Captain Frank Towns (Quaid) and copilot A.J (Gibson) are sent to shut the operation down. However, on their way to Beijing, a major dust storm forces them to ditch their C-119 Flying Boxcar in an uncharted area of the desert. Their cargo consists of used parts and tools from the rig, the rig's crew, and one lone drifter. On the way down, the plane is damaged beyond repair, one crewmember, Kyle, falls to his death out the plane's damaged cargo hatch, and two others, Dr. Gerber (Ditchfield) and Newman, die from trauma inflicted by turbulence and impact.
When the storm ends and the dust settles, it becomes apparent that they are 200 miles off course with only one month worth of water available. At first, they decide, with the counsel of Captain Towns, to wait for rescue. However, after surveying the situation and realizing that their value to Amacor is less than they had originally believed, they reconsider and are convinced by Elliot (Ribisi), who claims to be an aircraft designer, to retool the remains of their C-119 into a new airplane which they christen "The Phoenix" after the legendary bird.
They struggle for several weeks through dust storms, nomad attacks, lack of water, the death of two more crewmembers, and the revelation that Elliot's aircraft design experience had, to this point, been restricted to the design of models. However, they eventually are able to construct the new aircraft and take off barely in time to escape an army of nomadic attackers.
[edit] Trivia
- The film was shot on location in Namibia.
- A ferry sank during transportation of a major set piece across a river forcing the river bottom salvage of the plane fuselage.
- Four planes were used during the film:
- C-119G, N15501 - flying shots. (still flies as of 2006)
- C-119F, BuNo.131700 / N3267U - desert wreck.
- C-119F, BuNo.131691 - Phoenix movie prop.
- C-119F, BuNo.131706 - Phoenix movie prop.
- A "Phoenix" that could be taxied but not flown was built for closeups. The ""Phoenix"" flying scenes version were done using a radio controlled model and computer graphics. For the 1965 version of the film, a flying "Phoenix" was built. The resulting plane wasn't strong structurally and crashed killing stuntman Paul Mantz.
- During the filming of Flight of the Phoenix Jared Padalecki flipped his vehicle and reportedly thought he was dead.
- Hugh Laurie got the lead part of Gregory House in the medical drama House with an audition tape which was shot during the filming of this movie.
- The making of featurette on the DVD shows director John Moore losing his temper (at times violently) at the cast and crew of this film.
