The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

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The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Wes Anderson
Produced by	Wes Anderson, Barry Mendel and Scott Rudin
Written by	Wes Anderson Noah Baumbach
Starring	Bill Murray Owen Wilson Cate Blanchett Anjelica Huston Willem Dafoe Jeff Goldblum Michael Gambon
Music by	Mark Mothersbaugh
Cinematography	Robert Yeoman
Editing by	David Moritz
Distributed by	Touchstone Pictures
Release date(s)	December 25, 2004 (USA)
Running time	119 minutes
Country	Italy, France
Language	English
Budget	$25 million
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is Wes Anderson's fourth feature length film and was released in the U.S. on December 25, 2004. It was written by Anderson and Noah Baumbach and was filmed in and around Naples, Rome and the Italian riviera. The offbeat comedy film stars Bill Murray as Steve Zissou, an eccentric oceanographer who sets out to exact revenge on the "jaguar shark" that ate his partner Esteban. Murray's character is both a parody of and homage to Jacques-Yves Cousteau, to whom the film is dedicated.

It was released May 10, 2005, on DVD as part of the Criterion Collection.

[edit] Plot

This movie details the adventures of the once-famed oceanographer and documentarian Steve Zissou. As with most of his recent films, his current film, concerning his best friend Esteban du Plantier's (Seymour Cassel) death from a "Jaguar shark" attack, is a flop, and for his next project he is determined to find the creature and destroy it. Steve's crew aboard his "research vessel" Belafonte includes Pelé dos Santos (Seu Jorge), safety expert and Brazilian musician who sings David Bowie songs in Portuguese; Klaus Daimler (Willem Dafoe), a lovable German second-in-command who views Steve and Estaban as father figures and feels threatened by Steve's presumed son, Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson). Minor crew members include Vikram Ray (Waris Ahluwalia), a cameraman identified mostly by his long beard and wearing a red turban as opposed to the trademark red Zissou beanie that the other crew members wear, and described in Zissou's featured film documentary as a man "born on the Ganges"; Bobby Ogata (Niels Koizumi), Team Zissou's frogman who is usually seen eating (in the film he was seen eating a banana as Ned was diving and a slice of bread in the sauna); Vladimir Wolodarsky (Noah Taylor), crew experimentator and original score composer; Renzo Pietro (Pamel Wdowczak), screen editor; and Anne-Marie Sakowitz (Robyn Cohen), script girl who is usually seen topless throughout the movie. She commits mutiny and jumps ship with Zissou's pack of unpaid college interns (who attend the University of North Alaska) after being raided by pirates.

Ned is a polite, innocent and childlike Southern gentleman whose mother had recently died. After meeting Steve at a film premiere, he takes a break from his job as an airline pilot in Kentucky to join the Zissou crew, and finances the new film when no one else will. Steve is also followed by a reporter Jane Winslett-Richardson (Cate Blanchett), who is a fan of his and pregnant with her married boss's child. She eventually falls in love with Ned. As a result, a rivalry develops between Ned and Steve, the elder of which is himself infatuated with Jane. The Belafonte crew sets off on one last mission, facing pirates, financial problems, rescuing a "bond company stooge" (Bud Cort) hired by Zissou's producer Oseary Drakoulias (Michael Gambon) and Zissou's successful, suave, rich, and "part-gay" nemesis Alistair Hennessey (Jeff Goldblum), and reuniting with his wife Eleanor (Anjelica Huston) who was once married to Hennessey. But while searching for the Jaguar Shark, the Zissou helicopter crashes, injuring Steve and killing Ned. Although it is revealed that Steve is sterile, Steve and Ned are as close as genuine father and son. Steve finally tracks down the shark but decides not to kill it, both because of its beauty and his lack of dynamite. Viewing the shark finally validates a daily existence that Steve feared may have become meaningless. Eleanor is moved by this and falls for Steve again. The finished "film-within-a-film" is a hit, and Steve wins an award, regaining respect worldwide.

[edit] Cast

• Bill Murray - Steve Zissou
• Owen Wilson - Edward "Ned" Plimpton/Kingsley Zissou
• Cate Blanchett - Jane Winslett-Richardson
• Anjelica Huston - Eleanor Zissou
• Willem Dafoe - Klaus Daimler
• Jeff Goldblum - Alistair Hennessey
• Michael Gambon - Oseary Drakoulias
• Noah Taylor - Vladimir Wolodarsky
• Bud Cort - Bill Ubell, "Bond Company Stooge"
• Seu Jorge - Pelé dos Santos
• Robyn Cohen - Anne-Marie Sakowitz
• Waris Ahluwalia - Vikram Ray
• Niels Koizumi - Bobby Ogata
• Pawel Wdowczak - Renzo Pietro
• Matthew Gray Gubler - Intern #1

[edit] Soundtrack

As with all of Anderson's previous films, Devo member Mark Mothersbaugh composed the original score. In addition to Mothersbaugh's music, the soundtrack features songs by older artists and, most notably, David Bowie songs performed in Portuguese by cast member Seu Jorge (who adapted some lyrics to make them relevant to the film's story). All of the David Bowie songs featured in the film are originally from the albums: 1967's David Bowie, 1969's Space Oddity, 1971's Hunky Dory, 1972's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and 1974's Diamond Dogs. Anderson also enlisted the services of Australian film composer Sven Libaek.

[edit] Track listing

1. "Shark Attack Theme" - Sven Libaek
2. "Loquasto International Film Festival" - Mark Mothersbaugh
3. "Life on Mars?" - David Bowie
4. "Starman" - Seu Jorge
5. "Let Me Tell You About My Boat" - Mark Mothersbaugh
6. "Rebel Rebel" - Seu Jorge
7. "Zissou Society Blue Star Cadets/Ned's Theme Take 1 [Take]" - Mark Mothersbaugh
8. "Gut Feeling" - Devo
9. "Open Sea Theme" - Sven Libaek
10. "Rock & Roll Suicide" - Seu Jorge
11. "Here's to You" - Joan Baez
12. "We Call Them Pirates Out Here" - Mark Mothersbaugh
13. "Search and Destroy" - Iggy & the Stooges
14. "La Niña de Puerta Oscura" - Paco de Lucía
15. "Life on Mars?" - Seu Jorge
16. "Ping Island/Lightning Strike Rescue Op" - Mark Mothersbaugh
17. "Five Years" - Seu Jorge
18. "30 Century Man" - Scott Walker
19. "Way I Feel Inside" - The Zombies
20. "Queen Bitch" - David Bowie

[edit] Soundtrack trivia

• Several songs are featured in the film but do not appear on the soundtrack, including "Starálfur" by Sigur Rós, and some of Seu Jorge's performances of David Bowie songs. A more complete compilation of Seu Jorge's performances can be found on The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions Featuring Seu Jorge (released by Hollywood Records on November 22, 2005). The Criterion Collection release of the movie also features his performances on the second disc marked "supplements."
• The song "Let Me Tell You About My Boat" by Mark Mothersbaugh contains the melody of "Scrapping & Yelling" played backwards. "Scrapping & Yelling" is a song that Mothersbaugh created and was featured previously in Wes Anderson's film The Royal Tenenbaums. Mothersbaugh muses that this was for "good luck".
• Some songs were featured in The Lonely Island's failed Awesometown pilot. Mothersbaugh is one of Jorma Taccone's influences.
• Though Devo member Mark Mothersbaugh has scored all of Wes Anderson's films, this is the first to actually include a Devo song, Gut Feeling.

[edit] Film references

• At the end of the film as Ned Plimpton is about to take off in a helicopter, Klaus shows up and thanks Ned for stitching the letter K into the crew's newly made insignia next to a dolphin. Ned brushes him off, and Klaus then steps back in and says "You're not listening; I didn't just like it!" and then does a military salute. This is similar to a scene in Lawrence of Arabia where T.E. Lawrence follows up a first thanks with a second thanks, and then a lame salute to the contemptuous General Murray who reluctantly signed off on a mission proposed by Mr. Dryden that would send T.E. Lawrence to Arabia to appraise the situation.
• In "This is an Adventure," one of the Criterion Collection extras, a scene featuring Willem Dafoe is described in one take by Wes Anderson as "Christlike." This slyly refers to Willem's portrayal of Jesus in the Martin Scorsese film The Last Temptation of Christ.
• At one point Steve Zissou and Klaus Daimler are standing outside Jane Winslett-Richardson's cabin door. Steve says "Not this one, Klaus", a little homage to the character of Jules in the Truffaut film Jules et Jim. Jules and Jim have been happily sharing their girlfriends, but when Kathe comes onto the scene, Jules is smitten.
• There is a scene from the documentary in which Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Cate Blanchett are arranged in a row and are pointing forward, looking straight ahead. This is a reference to an earlier Anderson film, Bottle Rocket, where characters Dignan, Anthony and Bob are arranged as such for the cover.

[edit] Trivia

"Crayon Pony Fish" given to Steve by Klaus's nephew Werner.

• The scene at the end of the movie with Steve walking the red carpet with Klaus' nephew on his shoulders was inspired by Francis Ford Coppola walking with daughter Sofia on shoulders at Cannes Film Festival in the late 70's. The scene is the same down to the white knee socks and black shoes Sofia wore.
• The ship used as the Belafonte is the former HMS Packington (M1214).
• "Zissou" was the nickname of French photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue's older brother. The portrait of Lord Mandrake, Zissou's mentor, is based on a famous photograph of Lartigue, and the photographer (who died in 1986) is even credited as playing the part in the end credits. Wes Anderson also referenced the photographer's work in Rushmore. Although Anderson had made up the main character's unlikely name, it was eventually learned that there is a real Steve Zissou, a trial lawyer in New York. After being contacted by the film's production company, Zissou granted permission for his name to be used in the film, and he is listed in the film's credits.[1]
• Hydrogen psychosis is a fictional ailment acquired by SCUBA divers, which is also referred to as "Crazy Eye". It is apparently based on the very real health risk of nitrogen narcosis, caused by the effects high partial pressures of dissolved nitrogen in brain tissue which acts as an anesthetic gas.
• The scene during the credits, in which the characters walk along a pier, was inspired by the film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. When the characters board the ship, there is a man wearing a pilot's uniform and smoking a pipe at the top most point of the ship, before the rest of the crew have boarded. This is Ned reappearing for a "curtain call" (per the director's commentary).
• The name of Zissou's research ship was the Belafonte. The name is a parody of Jacques Cousteau's ship "The Calypso". Harry Belafonte was a famous singer of Calypso music.
• The title of the Panic! at the Disco song "I Constantly Thank God for Esteban" is taken from a line in the movie.
• The orca shown briefly in the film is known as "Valentin" in real life. He resides at Marineland Antibes in Antibes, France.
• The Family Guy episode The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou and the Simpsons episode The Wife Aquatic are parodies of the title.
• The Jaguar Shark was one of the largest stop motion puppets ever created for a film at over eight feet long.

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

• The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou at the Internet Movie Database
• The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou at Box Office Mojo
• The Criterion Collection DVD
• www.thelifeaquatic.org A site for marine biologists, wildlife film makers, and those who love the sea and adventure.
• Interview with Wes Anderson Interview Magazine