Cast Away

Cast Away is a 2000 film by 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks about a FedEx employee who is stranded on a deserted island after his plane crashes "somewhere in the South Pacific."

The movie was released on December 22, 2000 Nationwide, with an MPAA Rating of PG-13.

Cast & Credits

Actors

• Tom Hanks. Hanks' performance earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
• Helen Hunt
• Valerie Wildman
• Geoffrey Blake
• Jennifer Lewis

Director

Robert Zemeckis

Producers

• Jack Rapke
• Robert Zemeckis
• Steve Starkey
• Tom Hanks

Score

• Alan Silvestri. He subsequently won a Grammy in 2002 for the End Credit Sequence.

Film Facts

Type: Drama. Length: 2h 23 min (movie version)

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

Description of the Movie

Chuck (Tom Hanks), a FedEx manager, lives through a plane crash and is stranded alone on a deserted island for four years.

After he lands on the island, Chuck's most immediate need is drinking water, which he satisfies by drinking coconut milk and later by storing rain water in the discarded husks. His second immediate need is food. He attempts to fish, but is wholly unsuccessful at the start. As time progresses, his fishing skills steadily increase. Shortly after his first fishing attempt, he finds a compelling need to produce fire, which after great effort, many attempts, and some injury he succeeds in doing. Chuck takes shelter in a small cave for the majority of his stay on the island.

Luckily for Chuck, a few Fedex packages from the plane and the body of one of the pilots washes up on the shore shortly after he lands on the island. After some refitting, Chuck dons the pilot's shoes and salvages some tools he finds in the washed-up packages. A piece of a port-a-john also appears on the shore. Eventually Chuck uses this fragment as a sail for the raft he makes to leave the island. After construction of the raft, Chuck sets off into the ocean with a desperate hope for rescue. After sailing for an unknown period of time -- when he is on the verge of death -- he is rescued by a passing ship.

Wilson

One of Cast Away's more notable characters is called Wilson, who is played by a volleyball. This volleyball plays the role of a mute, infinitely patient, non-living listener in the movie, providing Chuck with a companion for the 1,500 days he spends on the island. From a theatrical standpoint, Wilson also serves to realistically stimulate dialog in a one-person situation.

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