The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

[Two Lane Blacktop]

I'd rather not see fake invented fishes in a Wes Anderson movie.

Oh, wow, I'd really have to disagree.  Just saw the film tonight, so I'm still feeling a little bit of the rush from it, but I was hooked the moment Bill Murray carried the rainbow-colored seahorse away in a champagne glass.  That was so beautiful it almost hurt.

The scene with the coffin sinking in front of Angelica Houston is the greatest moment of the movie... I almost cried when I saw that.

But there, I agree with you.  That was so effing poetic, I got a little choked up myself.

2LB

[Pozer]

SPOILER

You know which scene makes me laughthe most evertime I think of it. When everyone is upset with Zissou and they're expressing their feelings and Klouse says he thinks they have him pegged wrong, then he leaves and his head quickly pops up through that porthole like window on the door.
Godbless that Willem Dafoe.

[Ultrahip]

Just saw this and just, wow, look at that first streak of blood that comes in the wave after the crash. If cinema was a knife stabbing the audience this is what it would feel like and it did. More painful perhaps than any single moment I've ever seen in a movie.

[tpfkabi]

yeah, i love that. i talked about it a few pages back but noone was interested. there are quite a bit of theories going on at the Yankee Racers board.

[Ultrahip]

What and where is the Yankee Racer's board? Clearly a Wes fan page, but a link maybe? Thanks.

[pete]

ah, my hood:
http://p210.ezboard.com/byankeeracers33503

[MacGuffin]

He's the other Steve Zissou
A New York lawyer was 'a little annoyed' to share his name with the title character in 'The Life Aquatic.'
Source: Chicago Tribune

In the end credits of Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou," there's an acknowledgement that Steve Zissou (played by Bill Murray) is a real person.

No, it's not a joke.

Though writer-director Anderson ("The Royal Tenenbaums," "Rushmore") made the name up, the script clearance department at Buena Vista Pictures found a real Steve Zissou. That Zissou is a criminal trial lawyer based in Bay Side, N.Y., not a burned-out underwater explorer.

"When I found out it was part of the title, I was a little annoyed. It's a unique name, and I really didn't want to share it," says Zissou, 49, but he observes he had few legal options because Anderson's film wasn't directly about him.

"They could have made a movie about a New York lawyer who was an anti-Semitic terrorist pedophile, and I still couldn't do anything about it," Zissou says. "If it's about the real Steve Zissou, then maybe you have a shot, but then you have to prove damages."

Perhaps to be on the safe side, the movie studio negotiated with Zissou over use of his distinctive name. He declines to answer questions about the agreement's confidential terms except to say he is acknowledged as a New York attorney in the film credits.

T. Ernest Freeman, a Houston-based entertainment attorney, says obtaining permissions "really gets down to due diligence."

"The question is, if it's a private citizen, would the person whose name is being used be readily identifiable? It's a subjective test applied to the movie," Freeman says.

Case in point: More than 11 years after Richard Linklater's cult hit "Dazed and Confused" opened in theaters, a trio of Texans (Andy Slater, Bobby Wooderson, Richard "Pink" Floyd) is suing the filmmaker and Universal Studios Inc. for "defamation" and "negligent infliction of emotional distress." The suit claims that Linklater did not obtain permission to use the names of former high school acquaintances in his film.

Freeman, representing the plaintiffs in that litigation, says that in the case of Steve Zissou, New York attorney, the studio's legal department was probably playing it safe. "Any diligent studio would make sure there wouldn't be a problem."

Despite his original discomfort at the thought of his name being used, "it's been, to my surprise, a lot of fun," Zissou says. "And I think Bill Murray is America's greatest living actor."

[cowboykurtis]

More painful perhaps than any single moment I've ever seen in a movie.

i hope you're kidding

[A Matter Of Chance]

wait, i just realized something - where was kumar?

[socketlevel]

Just saw this and just, wow, look at that first streak of blood that comes in the wave after the crash. If cinema was a knife stabbing the audience this is what it would feel like and it did. More painful perhaps than any single moment I've ever seen in a movie.

true, i felt the whole scene kind of came out of left field though.  anderson should have built it up a bit more.  Deus ex machina if you ask me.

-sl-

[UncleJoey]

Just saw this and just, wow, look at that first streak of blood that comes in the wave after the crash. If cinema was a knife stabbing the audience this is what it would feel like and it did. More painful perhaps than any single moment I've ever seen in a movie.

true, i felt the whole scene kind of came out of left field though.  anderson should have built it up a bit more.  Deus ex machina if you ask me.

-sl-

I think the fact that the helicopter wasn't taken very good care of was set up pretty well on Steve's island.

[Two Lane Blacktop]

true, i felt the whole scene kind of came out of left field though.  anderson should have built it up a bit more.  Deus ex machina if you ask me.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS

I'm undecided on that part...  on the one hand, a LOT of things happened with only a slight bit of set-up (pirates come to mind).  

On the other hand, I'm not even sure why Ned had to die, even though it gave us the great drifting coffin moment, mentioned upthread.  I only saw the movie two days ago, so I'm still working through it.  I'm assuming his death was meant to affect some final change in Steve's character...  but I think I need to see it again, knowing what's coming, so that I can see what that change is.

2LB

[socketlevel]

Just saw this and just, wow, look at that first streak of blood that comes in the wave after the crash. If cinema was a knife stabbing the audience this is what it would feel like and it did. More painful perhaps than any single moment I've ever seen in a movie.

true, i felt the whole scene kind of came out of left field though.  anderson should have built it up a bit more.  Deus ex machina if you ask me.

-sl-

I think the fact that the helicopter wasn't taken very good care of was set up pretty well on Steve's island.

oh yeah i forgot about that.  i guess he did have it backed up logistically.  thematically, it just kinda felt like, oh cue the death scene, we need some drama.  he could of thought of a better set up.  like if they were on an adventure, like trying to kill the fish and they confronted it, then owen's character died because of that.  it would be more emotional pull.

-sl-

[pete]

possible spoiler

but did you think richie's suicide scene or dignan getting dissed by futureman were set up better?  I don't think the tragedy was suppose to move you that much anyways (and tragedies in Wes Anderson's films are never that sad--it's the reaction to the tragedy that he's interested in), the death itself was a set up for the final confrontation with the shark, when Ned's death made Steve no longer vengeful or crazy.  I think the payoff was when Steve said if he wondered the shark remembers him and everyone put their hand on his shoulders.

[Pozer]

I'm a big fan of the movie and I think that Richie's suicide in Tenenbaums was set up much better. His troubles and emotions were felt in every scene he appeared in and when the moment came, it felt painful and right. I saw Life Aquatic twice and didn't really notice the Klouse is supposed to inspect the helicoptor every six months or whatever reference the first time around. but when it became aware on second viewing, it did feel pretty weak after knowing what was to come. Too quick and underdevloped even for a Wes Anderson movie. That doesn't mean it's not still a beautiful scene, but the flaws became more irrelevent to me apon second viewing.