Little-known facts about 2000's 'Cast Away'

Cast Away was a star-driven project. Hanks read an article about FedEx, which illuminated the fact that massive jets filled with packages were crossing the Pacific Ocean multiple times a day for the shipping company. The actor wondered what would happen if one of those planes went down, and that was the seed from which Cast Away grew.

For the screenplay, Hanks turned to William Broyles. Broyles had co-written Apollo 13, as well as done an uncredited rewrite on Saving Private Ryan. Meanwhile, for the director, Hanks got Robert Zemeckis on board. He had directed Hanks to an Oscar in Forrest Gump. All three of these men would later unite again for The Polar Express.

In order to create a greater juxtaposition for the character of Chuck Noland after he had spent four years on the island, Hanks bulked himself up. He gained 50 pounds in preproduction to shoot the early scenes of Chuck before the crash.

Zemeckis and company began shooting the film in January 1999, and then two months later, production took a break…for over a year. Yes, Cast Away did not shoot again until April 2000. During that time, Hanks lost weight and grew out his hair and beard in order to be able to shoot all the later scenes on the island.

Losing all that weight? Hanks managed, but there was one thing that really nagged at him. The toughest thing, he said, was not being able to eat French fries during that time. On the flip side, he said the thing that helped him the most is the fact he would drink a ton of coffee every morning.

While Zemeckis was waiting to return to shooting Cast Away, he didn’t merely twiddle his thumbs. Instead, he went out and shot an entire other film. That would be What Lies Beneath, a supernatural thriller starring Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer.

For the uninhabited island that Chuck washes up on the shore of, they shot on…an uninhabited island. Although, this one isn’t in the middle of nowhere. Monuriki is an island in the Fiji archipelago. It has since become a tourist attraction. As for the scenes at the ranch, those were shot at Arrington Ranch just south of Canadian, Texas.

The acclaimed Alan Silvestri provided the score for Cast Away, and he even won a Grammy for it. However, this isn’t a showy score. In fact, there is no original score in Cast Away until after Chuck manages to escape the island.

FedEx was happy to be involved in Cast Away. They provided access to their facilities in Memphis, Los Angeles, and Moscow, not to mention their planes and uniforms. The company’s real CEO even cameos to welcome Chuck back. FedEx actually didn’t have to pay for product placement. Maybe their payment was the fact the movie depicts a FedEx plane crashing?

Wilson, the volleyball that is Chuck’s only “friend” on the deserted island, is a screenplay convenience, as it gives Chuck somebody to talk to when he’s alone. How did they land on Wilson? Evidently, Broyles isolated himself on a beach for a week to try and live off the land for inspiration. During that time, a volleyball washed up on shore. A little massaging later, and there was Wilson.

Hanks carries on seemingly one-sided conversations with Wilson since his good friend is, you know, an inanimate object. However, for the sake of telling the story, and helping to give Hanks a hand in terms of his motivation, dialogue was written for Wilson in the script.

Arguably, Wilson was the biggest takeaway from Cast Away. Wilson, the sporting goods company, decided to strike while the iron was hot. They began to sell volleyballs with a bloody handprint face on the side just like in the movie. It was available for many years through the Wilson website, though it seems to be out of stock now.

A trailer is promoting a movie about a guy who crashes on a deserted island. The whole crux of the movie is the guy trying to survive on said island. Then, the trailer tells you that…he gets off the island? Yes, the theatrical trailer for Cast Away did indeed spoil the fact Chuck gets off the island. Now, maybe that isn’t surprising, given that this is a Tom Hanks movie. Zemeckis, for his part, compared it to McDonald’s. Specifically, he said, “The reason McDonald's is a tremendous success is that you don't have any surprises.”

Zemeckis and Hanks were a winning combo on paper, so it’s not surprising the movie got a Christmas release. The movie did indeed prove to be a blockbuster. Off of a budget of $90 million, the movie made $429.6 million worldwide. That made for some happy holidays for the studio.

In addition to being a box-office play, there was hope for Cast Away at the Academy Awards as well. However, the movie only ended up getting two nominations. One was for Best Sound, while the other went to Hanks for Best Actor. Neither won, though.

Remember, Cast Away began shooting in January 1999. It would be released at Christmas of 2000. In May 2000, though, a notable new reality show debuted. It centered on a bunch of people stranded on a desert island with the winner receiving a prize of $1 million. Yes, Survivor debuted the same year that Cast Away hit theaters.

FedEx was able to gain even more promotion from Cast Away thanks to a memorable Super Bowl ad. During the Super Bowl between the Raiders and Buccaneers, there was a FedEx ad featuring Chuck returning a package to a woman. He asks what was in the box, to which the woman replies that it contains things like a GPS locator, a fishing rod, and, you know, a bunch of stuff that would help you on a deserted island.

ABC executive Lloyd Braun pitched the idea of a Cast Away TV show not long after the movie came out. It didn’t yield anything at the time, but ABC continued down that road, and eventually they produced a little TV show about a plane crash on a seeming deserted island called Lost.

Now, most of us see a plane crash and we don’t think “job opportunity.” And yet, all that FedEx face time did garner some attention. Reportedly, applications sent in to FedEx rose by 30 percent in the wake of the release of Cast Away.

Hanks was at a New York Rangers game at Madison Square Garden in 2015. Celebrities are often showcased on the big screen at Rangers games, and when Hanks is in the crowd, you know he’s going to get some screen time. Then, somebody tossed him one of those Wilson Cast Away volleyballs we mentioned were sold earlier. Hanks played along, smiling at his long-lost friend after all these years apart.