Big Fish


Big Fish is a 2003 American fantasy drama film directed by Tim Burton. It is based on the 1998 novel Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace. The film stars Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Helena Bonham Carter, Alison Lohman, Robert Guillaume, Marion Cotillard, Steve Buscemi, and Danny DeVito. It tells the story of a frustrated son who tries to distinguish fact from fiction in the life of his father, a teller of tall tales.
The film's screenwriter, John August, read a manuscript of the novel six months before it was published and convinced Columbia Pictures to acquire the rights. He began adapting the novel as a screenplay while producers negotiated with Steven Spielberg about directing the film; Spielberg eventually left the project to focus on Catch Me If You Can. Tim Burton and Richard D. Zanuck took over after completing Planet of the Apes, and brought McGregor and Finney on board.
The film's theme of reconciliation between a dying father and his son had special significance for Burton, whose father had died in 2000. Big Fish was shot on location in Alabama in a series of fairy tale vignettes with a Southern Gothic aesthetic. The film premiered on December 4, 2003 in Manhattan. It was released in limited capacity on December 10, followed by a wide release on January 9, 2004. It received various award nominations, including seven BAFTA nominations, four Golden Globe nominations and two Saturn Award nominations. It also received an Academy Award nomination and a Grammy Award nomination for Danny Elfman's original score. A musical adaptation of Big Fish premiered in Chicago in April 2013.

Plot

At William Bloom's wedding party, his father Edward recalls the day Will was born, claiming he caught an enormous catfish using his wedding ring as bait. Will has heard his father's fanciful tales many times, and believes they are lies. Fed up by the stories, Will has a falling out with his father. Three years later, Edward is diagnosed with cancer, prompting Will and his pregnant wife Joséphine to spend time with him in Alabama.
Edward's life is chronicled through flashbacks, beginning with his boyhood encounter with a witch. She shows Edward how he will die, which does not faze him. As he reaches adulthood, he finds his home too confining, and sets out into the world. He meets a giant named Karl, and they begin traveling together. When they find a fork in the road, they take separate paths. Edward traverses a swamp and discovers the hidden town of Spectre, where he befriends the poet Norther Winslow and the mayor's daughter, Jenny. Not ready to settle down, Edward leaves Spectre, but makes a promise to Jenny that he will return.
At Joséphine's request, the bed-ridden Edward tells her how he met his wife, Sandra. In more flashbacks, Edward and Karl visit the Calloway Circus, where Edward falls in love with a beautiful woman. Edward and Karl get jobs in the circus, and the ringmaster Amos Calloway reveals to Edward one detail about the woman each month. Three years later, Edward discovers that Amos is a werewolf, but shows no ill will towards him. In gratitude, Amos reveals the woman's name as Sandra Templeton. Edward confesses his love to Sandra, but she rebuffs him despite his romantic gestures. Sandra's fiancé, Don Price, beats Edward up, which prompts Sandra to break off their engagement and marry Edward instead.
In more flashbacks, Edward is conscripted into the army and fights in the Korean War. He parachutes into the middle of a North Korean military show, steals important documents, and persuades the conjoined twins Ping and Jing to help him escape in exchange for making them celebrities. Upon returning home, Edward becomes a traveling salesman.
In the present, Will investigates the truth behind his father's tales. He meets an older Jenny, who explains that Edward rescued Spectre from bankruptcy and rebuilt it with help from his circus friends. Jenny reveals that although she loved Edward, he remained loyal to Sandra.
Edward has a stroke and Will visits him at the hospital. Unable to speak much, he asks Will to narrate how his life ends. Will tells his father a fantastical tale of their daring escape from the hospital. They arrive at the banks of a lake, where everyone from Edward's stories has gathered to see him off. Will carries his father into the river, where he transforms into a giant catfish and swims away. Satisfied by Will's story, Edward dies peacefully. At the funeral, Will and Joséphine are surprised to see all the people from Edward's stories, although they appear less fantastical. Later, Will passes on Edward's stories to his sons.

Cast

  • Ewan McGregor as Edward Bloom
  • *Albert Finney as Edward Bloom
  • *Perry Walston as Edward Bloom
  • Billy Crudup as Will Bloom
  • *Grayson Stone as Will Bloom
  • Jessica Lange as Sandra Bloom
  • *Alison Lohman as Sandra Bloom, née Templeton
  • Helena Bonham Carter as Jenny / The Witch
  • *Hailey Anne Nelson as Jenny
  • Robert Guillaume as Dr. Bennett
  • Marion Cotillard as Joséphine
  • Matthew McGrory as Karl the Giant
  • David Denman as Don Price
  • *John Lowell as Donald "Don" Price
  • Missi Pyle as Mildred
  • Loudon Wainwright III as Beamen
  • Ada Tai and Arlene Tai as Ping and Jing
  • Steve Buscemi as Norther Winslow
  • Danny DeVito as Amos Calloway
  • Deep Roy as Mr. Soggybottom
  • R. Keith Harris as Ed's Father
  • Karla Droege as Ed's Mother
  • Zachary Gardner as Zacky Price
  • Darrell Vanterpool as Wilbur
  • Miley Cyrus as Ruthie
  • Joseph Humphrey as Little Brave
  • Billy Redden as Banjo Man
  • Russell Hodgkinson as Some Farmer
  • Daniel Wallace as Econ. Professor
  • George McArthur as Colossus
  • Bevin Kaye as River Woman

    Production

Development

About six months before it was published, the screenwriter John August read a manuscript of the 1998 novel Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace. In September 1998, August convinced Columbia Pictures to acquire the film rights on his behalf. He worked hard to turn the episodic book into a cohesive screenplay, which he decided needed multiple narrators. In August 2000, the producers Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks began discussions for Steven Spielberg to direct the film. Spielberg planned to have DreamWorks co-finance and distribute Big Fish with Columbia, and intended to start filming in late 2001, after completing Minority Report.
Spielberg courted Jack Nicholson for the role of the older Edward Bloom. He felt that the script did not give Nicholson enough to do, so he asked August to write new sequences. Spielberg eventually left Big Fish when he became involved with Catch Me If You Can, and DreamWorks also backed out of the project. With Spielberg no longer involved, August and the producers restored the script to its previous version. Spielberg later admitted that he made a mistake by asking August to alter the screenplay. August took his favorite elements from the previous drafts and came up with what he called "a best-of Big Fish script". August, Jinks and Cohen considered Stephen Daldry as a potential director before deciding to approach Tim Burton. At this point, August felt the script was the best it had ever been.
Burton had just finished directing the big-budget film Planet of the Apes and was ready for a smaller-scale project. He liked the Big Fish screenplay, feeling that it was the first unique story he had been offered since Beetlejuice. The script's combination of an emotional drama with exaggerated tall tales allowed him to tell multiple stories of different genres, which he enjoyed. Burton's father had died recently, and he found that he could process emotions related to his father's death by making the film. He signed on to direct in April 2002, which prompted Richard D. Zanuck, who worked with Burton on Planet of the Apes, to join Big Fish as a producer.

Casting

For the role of Edward Bloom, Burton spoke with Jack Nicholson, Spielberg's initial choice for the role. Burton had previously worked with Nicholson on Batman and Mars Attacks!. In order to depict Nicholson as the young Edward, Burton intended to use a combination of computer-generated imagery and prosthetic makeup. Jinks and Cohen, who were working with Ewan McGregor on Down with Love at the time, suggested that Burton cast both McGregor and Albert Finney for Edward. After viewing Finney's performance in Tom Jones, Burton observed similarities between him and McGregor, and coincidentally found a People magazine article comparing the two. The Scottish McGregor found it easier to perform Edward's Southern American accent than a standard American accent. He said of the Southern accent: "ou can really hear it. You can get your teeth into it. Standard American is much harder."
A process of dual casting also applied to the role of Edward's wife, Sandra, who would be played by Jessica Lange and Alison Lohman. Both Burton and Zanuck had been impressed with Lohman's performance in White Oleander, and felt she was the ideal candidate for the role. Burton's girlfriend, Helena Bonham Carter, was cast in two roles: Jenny and the Witch. Her prosthetic makeup for the Witch took five hours to apply. She was pregnant during filming and experienced morning sickness, which was exacerbated by the fumes from the makeup.
Burton personalized the film with several cameos. While filming in Alabama, the crew tracked down Billy Redden, one of the banjo players from Deliverance. Redden was a co-owner of a restaurant in Clayton, Georgia, and he agreed to appear in the Spectre sequence. As Edward first enters the town, Redden can be seen on a porch plucking a few notes from "Dueling Banjos". Daniel Wallace makes a brief appearance as Sandra's economics teacher.