20 Things You Didn't Know About Waterworld

If you needed a young hotshot writer to spruce up your script in the mid-90s, Joss Whedon was basically your man, with the Avengers filmmaker serving as an uncredited script doctor for the likes of The Getaway, Speed, and Twister.

Whedon also worked extensively on Waterworld, even being flown out to the set to spend seven weeks rewriting the script as it was being shot.

Reportedly, the bulk of the work entailed translating Costner's new ideas into punchier form, with Whedon later dubbing the experience "seven weeks of hell." He further said:

"Waterworld was a good idea, and the script was the classic, 'They have a good idea, then they write a generic script and don't really care about the idea...When I was brought in, there was no water in the last 40 pages of the script. It all took place on land, or on a ship, or whatever. I'm like, 'Isn't the cool thing about this guy that he has gills?' And no one was listening.

I was there basically taking notes from Costner, who was very nice, fine to work with, but he was not a writer...And he had written a bunch of stuff that they wouldn't let their staff touch. So I was supposed to be there for a week, and I was there for seven weeks, and I accomplished nothing. I wrote a few puns, and a few scenes that I can't even sit through because they came out so bad."