A new film starring Robert Redford is bound to interest Soundings readers and plays out much like the life-or-death ordeals reported in the magazine.
“All Is Lost,” scheduled for an Oct. 18 release, is a survival tale in which a solo sailor hundreds of nautical miles offshore in the sea off Sumatra must use his wits and tenacity when he strikes a shipping container and begins taking on water.
Click play to watch the movie trailer.
Redford’s character makes mayday calls that bring back nothing but radio static. The sailor must fix the hull breach or risk the obvious — the first in a series of issues involving weather, the boat’s construction and his supplies. Over the course of the film, the sailor must find ways to overcome each obstacle.
“What I wanted to do was tell the audience as little information as possible so that, if it’s a little jarring at first, after a while they’ll start filling in their own story,” director J.C. Chandor told the Los Angeles Times. “My producer had a word for it — he called it an ‘existential action movie.’ “
The 76-year-old Redford said he did much of his own stunt work for the physically demanding role.
“It was ego, just ego. I used to like to do my own stunts, and I thought at this age I could still do it. The director said, ‘No, no, I just want you for close-ups. I have two doubles.’ I said, OK, but then when we got there and things started moving, I thought, Well, maybe I can do that,” he told Esquire magazine. “Once I started doing stuff, he got excited — and the next thing I knew, the doubles were gone and I was getting the sh – – beat out of me. Turned out to be a mistake.”
Filming took place for two months at Baja Studios in Rosarito Beach in Mexico in an indoor tank. At a press conference after the film’s screening at Cannes 2013, Redford revealed that his ear was damaged during the production.
The movie’s debut at the Cannes Film Festival in May drew positive reviews from critics and early movie industry buzz is predicting an Academy Award nomination for Redford.
