10 Behind-The-Scenes Movie Stories Better Than The Actual Plot

9. The Whole Production Was At Sea - Waterworld

FITZCARRALDO KLAUS KINSKI
Universal

It has been said that Kevin Costner makes one type of movie: Movies that Kevin Costner likes. Well, we're not totally sure even Costner liked Waterworld, certainly not filming it - since he almost drowned on at least one occasion.

One of the biggest issues with Waterworld was the set: It was filmed on an artificial atoll off the coast of Hawaii. A day consisted of all the actors getting into costume and makeup and then the cast and crew had to be boated from dry land to the atoll to film for a few hours. Then they were all boated back to land for lunch, then boated back out for the next set of filming. It was a logistical nightmare that caused the budget to balloon to nearly double its original amount.

The other big issue on set was Kevin Costner. Costner was a constant pain to the director with what was termed 'backseat directing'. Eventually the director, Kevin Reynolds, left the film entirely and Costner had to direct it himself, calling Joss Whedon to help with last-minute rewrites to the script. Whedon referred to it as "Seven weeks of hell," wherein he just followed Costner around and had to hammer Costner's train-of-thought ideas into the script.

Contributor
Contributor

Author of Escort (Eternal Press, 2015), co-founder of Nic3Ntertainment, and developer behind The Sickle Upon Sekigahara (2020). Currently freelancing as a game developer and history consultant. Also tends to travel the eastern U.S. doing courses on History, Writing, and Japanese Poetry. You can find his portfolio at www.richardcshaffer.com.