RENNY HARLIN REGRETS CUTTHROAGHT ISLAND, BUT WON’T ADMIT TO MURDERING CAROLCO

Despite only loving two of his films (Cliffhanger and Long Kiss) and having a great deal of affection for, but recognising the undeniable faults, of a few others I really, really, like Harlin as a director and I always thought it sucked that Cutthroat Island, which I haven't seen since I was a kid and remember very little of, was the thing that kneecapped his career. I actually don't think I've seen any of his movies post Long Kiss which I think is a really effective, underated, gem.

The death of CAROLCO wasn't his fault, IMHO. In the course of making CTI he may have contributed to it's demise, but ultimate responsibility for the studio's downfall has to rest with Kassar and the execs, who should have pulled the plug on the film after the original stars, concept and talent either walked the plank or were tossed overboard

In it's final form, there was no logical reason CTI would have seemed like a wise investment as it was budgeted

He also let Larry crash in his NYC pad.  Nice guy.

No love for "Deep Blue Sea"? I thought that one was pretty fun. Loved the Saffron Burrows "Alien" moment, LL Cool J playing an endearingly quirky chef who listens to LL Cool J albums and loves his pet parrot, and Samuel L. Jackson's big speech.

 

Oh, I'd not realized he'd directed that one. Just rewatched DBS the other night on INSTANT. There is alot of fun to be had with that movie, but basic problems like the sharks being more funny than scary are faults I must lay at his feet. Giant sharks should be intimidating, but the only time in the film they actually freak me out is during the scene where Stellan Skarsgard gets his arm bitten (I wish he'd stuck around longer). There is IMHO a noticeable paucity of suspense given the potential of the setting and plot

PS Until I rewatched it, I'd never realized that Thomas Jane was the lead

PPS I also wish the parrot had stuck around longer

The only good thing about Cutthroat Island is John Debney's score.

Has anyone but Spike here even seen the movie? I sure haven't, but always had a morbid curiosity to check it out.

There was a brief period where I had the CTI poster up in my room during the 90s. I'd gotten it for free, I loved the art, and I was too young to know the movie was terrible

I've never seen it though

Harlin's a decent action director, he was always either let down or bolstered(in LKGN) by his scripts. Is this on Instantwatch or anything? I've never seen it in any 5 dollar DVD bin even though it seems like a prime candidate.

If there ever was a script that absolutely had to be knocked out of the park, it was The Long Kiss Goodnight. He only managed to make a good movie out of it. He should have made an excellent one. An action script that good deserved that.

 

His career implosion doesn't bother me in the slightest. 

 

Get outta my head.
 

 

Yeah and lets not forget the bastard almost got Alien 3. Thankfully he walked away. He had nothing original to bring to it and admits so in the Quad set.

 

Harlin is a strange cat I really don't think he ever really made a great flick. Cliffhanger, Long Kiss were good but as was said above Long Kiss should have been amazing and it wasn't.

 

The mans work if we compare the overall budgets how much money and talent has he wasted?

 

He is a studio hack. He merely makes product and brings nothing truly creative to the table.

 

The man finally gave up his Kenny G hair so thats something I suppose.

I feel so alone in my knowledge of Cutthroat Island.

 

It was on TV all the time when I was growing up. I saw it so many times, out of sheer bloody minded boredom, that I could probably reenact the film using kind of shadow puppet theatre. It's completely goofy, but essentially it's a proto-Pirates of the Carribean without a Jack Sparrow or Barbossa character to hold things together.

I actually watched it on blu-ray, Netflix has it. The main problem with Cutthroat is the lead. I just couldn't buy her in this even though I fucking love The Long Kiss Goodnight. 

Reading this interview actually put a piece of the puzzle into place for me vis-a-vis Cutthroat Island. Because Geena Davis was the star, and Harlin her husband, and because she looked so completely out of place I always assumed it was some sort of Kevin Costner style passion project. However I could never reconcile that with how bored and stiff Davis actually was in the film, it makes a shit ton of sense if her role was written larger or if she was brought in as a last minute replacement.

Yeah, I followed the making of this movie pretty closely, and I remember them scrambling to replace Douglas. Offers went out to Keanu Reeves and Charlie Sheen, the millions being offered going up each time. Modine's a good actor, but could never pull off the action hero role, so that sunk them right there. As far as Harlin goes, I love sequences in his films, but very few from beginning to end.

I'd actually be really interested in a behind the scenes documentary about the making of the film, just because I'm sure there were fascinating, terrible, things going on. I actually think Frank Langella is the one thing that really works in the film. But he's so rapturuously chewing scenery that he makes Davis and Modine seem ever more ineffectual.

If he was begging to leave the film, why wouldn't he just leave?  Directors and actors bail all the time.  It doesn't make much sense to make something you have no faith in artistically or financially. 

I know someone who went to film school with Harlin and she said that he's very funny, focused and enthusiastic guy. Someone who wants to "live life to the max".

 

I think Harlin doesn't look for a great story or a great script, he's more of a process-oriented director. He gets a topic he's passionate about and makes a film while exploring the topic. For example he loves the shit out of open-wheel racing, decides to devote one-two years of his life to it and the film "Driven" is the side product of that. Or he becomes obsessed with diving and underwater photography and thus creating the film "Deep Blue Sea" while doing those things.

 

You can't just walk off a film once contracts have been signed. There are tons of stories of directors and stars being forced to make films they had no faith in.

Cutthroat Island is not nearly the massive piece of shit that most make it out to be.  It is just very mediocre movie.  It's that simple.  Frank Langella is DEFINITELY the best part of it, but he's always a ton of fun in a villainous role anyway.

 

 

Exactly.  Studios can release you from a contract if they wish, but you can't just walk out on your own.......................unless you feel like getting sued.

 

 

 

 

As far as Renny Harlin goes, he is a journeyman director and happened/happens to be fairly good at his job.............though he isn't always too discerning about the jobs he takes. I haven't seen Born American (1986).  Prison (1988) is supposed to be a fun cult horror flick, but I've never seen it either.  A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) is the last of the great Freddy films.  While not as good as the original, I love ANOES 2-4.  I've never seen The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990), but it is near the top of my Netflix queue due to the constant recommendations it gets over in the B Movie thread.  Die Hard II (1990) is no classic, but it is a pretty damn solid sequel.  Cliffhanger (1993) is one of my favorite action films and definitely his best effort.  Cutthroat Island (1995), again, is a mediocre film and not the piece of shit that everyone claims.  The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) is another favorite and I wouldn't mind him actually getting a sequel off the ground like he keeps talking about doing.  Deep Blue Sea (1999) isn't a great film, but it is a lot of fun.  I've only seen parts of Driven (2001), but what I've seen was pretty decent.  I'm not a fan at all of Exorcist: The Beginning (2004).  I definitely prefer Paul Schrader's version, though even that is no masterpiece.  The Covenant (2006) is an absolute piece of shit and by far his worst film.  I never bothered to catch Cleaner (2007), so I have no take on it.  12 Rounds (2009) is a serviceable rip-off of Die Hard With A Vengeance, but nothing worth watching more than once unless it is for free.  5 Days of War (2011) looks decent.  Honestly, I'm surprised the man doesn't get more work in Hollywood.  From what I can tell he isn't difficult to work with and is obviously willing to give the studio what they want in most cases.  If John Moore can still get decent jobs, I don't see why Renny Harlin can't as well.

Mediocrity shouldn't be craved SD. The man just never made his mark its that simple.

This guy's claim to fame was a Freddy sequel.  I'm not surprised he's up shits creek without a paddle.

Very much agreed on both counts.......................which again is why I am surprised he isn't a studio staple.

 

There is a story there SD I think you are on to something.

What bothers me most about this is that (if im remembering it right) CI's failure and Carolco's following end prevented Verhoeven's "Crusade" from being made, which is a film ive always had a "what if it had been made?" fascination with.

As for Harlin, he was competent and provided me with a few fun flicks when i was younger (Cliffhanger,  DH2,  etc), but his fall doesnt really bother me much.

CUTTHROAT is likable and I own it. But I'll be damned if I can remember anything beyond Langella and "flesh map" each time after I revisit it. It came during a huge swashbuckling dry spell, so it gets a bit of a pass from me for attempting something big and risky when one of my favorite subgenres wasn't too popular.

 

But Modine? Seriously? He falls into that camp of "he must really be a nice guy behind the scenes". Like Noah Wyle and Eric Stoltz.

 

I've got nothing against Harlin really. He has just been replaced by younger (and less broken) blood like Len Wiseman and Marcus Nispel.

 

Ka is a wheel.

I remember really liking Cutthroat Island when I was a kid (came out when I was fourteen, but I didn't see it until it hit video), but I can't remember a damn thing about it except Davis' final line before she shoots Langella with a cannon or something: "Bad dog!" Of course, I thought Voltron was the shit when I was kid too, so carrying any stock in the opinion of my fourteen year-old self is, in several such cases, inadvisable.