Trivia for
Waterworld (1995) More at IMDbPro »

• Anna Paquin was the first choice to play Enola.
  
  
• Rumors abound that director Kevin Reynolds walked off the set with two weeks of filming left, and Kevin Costner completed the film.
  
  
• The sunken city visited by the Mariner and guest is actually a digitally edited Denver, Colorado. The "Norwest Building" (roughly shaped like a cash register) can be seen in one shot.
  
  
• Prior to Titanic (1997), this was the most expensive movie ever produced.
  
  
• If the icecaps melted, the oceans would only rise a few hundred feet; not enough to flood civilization into a floating oblivion.
  
  
• The real Exxon Valdez was repaired and renamed the Sea River Mediterranean. It is used to haul oil across the Atlantic.
  
  
• In the scene where The Deacon (Dennis Hopper) takes aim at The Mariner (Kevin Costner) with his rifle, he first licks his thumb and then wipes the rifle sight, just like Gary Cooper does with his Alvin York character in Sergeant York (1941).
  
  
• The picture on the wall that Deacon refers as "Old Saint Joe" is actually Joseph Hazelwood, infamous captain who crashed the Exxon Valdez oil tanker into the Alaskan landscape, negligently discharging millions of gallons of crude oil. The base of the Smokers is the Exxon Valdez, as evident when it sinks. The stern rises and the word "Valdez" is visible.
  
  
• The most remembered line from Waterworld (1995), "Dryland is not a myth; I have seen it", is never spoken in the actual movie.
  
  
• The four-machine gun chassis in the atoll assault scene is called a Maxon Mount. It is comprised of four .50 caliber Browning machine guns and was used as an anti-aircraft battery during World War II. It also came in a two gun mount which was used upto & in the Vietnam War as a Point Defense Weapon.
  
  
• Joss Whedon flew out to the set to do last minute rewrites on the script. He later described it as "seven weeks of hell".
  
  
• Because the movie didn't make as much money as planned, it was nicknamed "Fishtar", after the 1987 box office bomb Ishtar (1987).
  
  
• Stunt coordinator Norman Howell got hit with compression sickness during filming of an underwater scene and was rushed to a hospital in Honolulu via helicopter. He recovered fairly quickly from the potentially life-threatening sickness and returned to the set a couple days later.
  
  
• Kevin Costner was on the set 157 days, working 6 days a week.
  
  
• Mark Isham's score was reported rejected because it was "too ethnic".
  
  
• Jokingly called "Kevin's Gate" because it had an over-inflated budget like Heaven's Gate (1980) did.
  
  
• The name of the child, Enola, is alone spelled backwards.
  
  
• Widely considered to be one of the biggest box-office bombs of all time. Although it grossed $255 million from a $175 million production budget, this does not factor in marketing and distribution costs, or the percentage of the gross that theaters keep (which is up to 45% of a film's box office takings).
  
  
• For the Japanese premiere, Kevin Costner had his private plane flown to Tokyo. However, he failed to get permission to store his plane at the airport for the duration of his trip. He asked the Navy if he could use their airport at Atsugi. They agreed, contingent on Costner showing the movie there, and making a personal appearance.
  
  
• Gene Hackman, James Caan and Gary Oldman all turned down the role of the Deacon.
  
  
• LOGO GIMMICK: The Universal Studios logo, the planet Earth, was given a close-up, and as it got closer, the continents began to fade away until there was nothing left... but water.
  
  
• Tina Majorino was nicknamed "Jellyfish Candy" by the crew after she was stung three different times by the creatures during production.
  
  
• The language Kevin Costner speaks to the lemon-stealing drifter early in the movie is Hindi.
  
  
• It has been reported that Roger Corman passed on making this film because he felt it could not be made for less than $3 million.
  
  
• The map tattoo on Enola's back is in Chinese traditional characters (or Japanese Kanji). The characters in the middle surrounding the arrow are actual coordinates for longitude and latitude. While one number is not quite readable, the others give almost exact coordinates for Mount Everest, which is Latitude 27° 59' N Longitude 86° 56' E. The movie coordinates give: Latitude 27 or 28° 58' N Longitude 86° 56' E.
  
  
• Laird John Hamilton, the famous big wave rider was Kevin Costner’s double for many water scenes.
  
  
• The atoll set was over 1/4 mile in circumference.
  
  
• Costume designer John Bloomfield estimated that over 2000 costumes were made.
  
  
• The 1,000 ton floating set used up all the available steel in the Hawaiian Islands. When more was required, it had to be flown in from California.
  
  
• The 1,000 ton floating set did not have any restrooms, nor were there any on any of the 30 boats used by the cast and crew. The result was that filming had to halt so those in need could be ferried to a barge anchored near the shore which had several portable toilets on it.
  
  
• Costner was put up in an oceanfront villa with a butler, chef, and his own private swimming pool. Cost: $4,500 a night.
  
  
• In stark contrast to the luxury enjoyed by Costner, the film crew were forced to live in un-insulated condominiums which were subject to temperature swings of up to fifty degrees. The inequity of accommodations contributed to hostility and low morale on the set.
  
  
• Kevin Costner's salary for the movie was $14 million.
  
  
• The studio's first choice for director was Robert Zemeckis.
  
  
• Kevin Costner insisted that his friend Kevin Reynolds be given the director's position, or he would quit. Later, Costner had a falling out with Reynolds over the film's direction.
  
  
• The studio didn't spend any money researching weather patterns off Hawaii's Kona coast, where the film was shot. If they had, they would have learned that the area was subject to 45 mph winds, which constantly blew the set out of position and ruined shots.
  
  
• Jeanne Tripplehorn and Tina Majorino were nearly drowned on their first day of filming when the trimaran they were on sank, dragging them behind it.
  
  
• The script underwent 36 different drafts which involved six different writers.
  
  
• Gary Busey and Laurence Fishburne also turned down the part of the Deacon.
  
  
• The shoot was shut down 3 times due to hurricane alerts.
  
  
• Kevin Costner personally invested $22 million of his own money into the film.
  
  
• Jeanne Tripplehorn, refused to strip for this film, even though she had done nude scenes before, and would do them again later as well. She insisted however on choosing her body double as she wanted the naked backside shown to resemble her own. She had the three finalists come into her trailer and drop their robes. She described it as such an odd experience none of them could stop laughing. In between takes of the nude scene Tripplehorn remained off camera to offer a robe or towel to the double
  
  

Related Links