[Hollywood]

Talk about low budget

http://www.openwatermovie.com/

[quote:22741]So the "Blair Witch" directors got some actors lost in the woods and made creepy noises around their campsite. Big deal. In the history of "I dare you" filmmaking, it's possible that no movie has approached the insanity of writer-director Chris Kentis's 2004 Sundance Film Festival entry, "Open Water," about a scuba-diving couple stranded in shark-infested waters after their chartered boat leaves without them. Forget the trials of the "Blair Witch" cast: this movie is a 79-minute triple-dog-dare. Like its Sundance predecessor, "Open Water" had a microscopic budget. Kentis couldn't afford to build a mechanical shark, as in "Jaws," and he certainly couldn't afford computer-generated killers. So he did what any filmmaker-cum-sadomasochist would do: he dropped anchor 18 miles offshore in the Bahamas, dumped chum in the water and filmed the actors quaking as real, live sharks came calling. "It definitely got a little dicey at times," Kentis says.

"Open Water" is based on a true story, and it's a tense, if threadbare, tale of survival. But the finished film is bound to be overshadowed by the tale of how it was made. Actors Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis wore sharkproof chain mail under their wet suits, but that didn't cover their hands. Or their heads. They also weren't covered by insurance. "We just signed waivers saying that we wouldn't sue each other," Kentis says. "There was no way anyone would insure this movie. No way." Both actor give terrific performances in what was going to be, one way or the other, the role of a lifetime. But the gold star for bravery goes to Ryan, who was bitten on the hand by a barracuda on her first day. "And she still stuck with it!" Kentis says. "She's absolutely fearless." Or absolutely nuts.[/quote:22741]