Development In a 2017 Actor Roundtable with
The Hollywood Reporter, Tom Hanks stated {{blockquote
Filming The film was not shot chronologically. It began on January 18, 1999, before halting two months later. Filming resumed on April 3, 2000, and finished the following month. Hanks gained during pre-production to make his physical transformation more dramatic. After most of the film was shot, production was paused so he could lose the weight and grow his hair and beard to look like he had been living on the island for years. Another four-month production halt preceded the filming of the return scenes. During the year-long hiatus, Zemeckis used the same film crew to make another film,
What Lies Beneath. While the film was in production, Hanks nearly died when he suffered an infected cut on his leg. He was rushed to a local hospital to undergo surgery and stayed there for three days. Filming of
Cast Away was suspended for three weeks to allow Hanks to recover from the injury. Filming lasted for sixteen months.
Cast Away was filmed on
Monuriki, one of the
Mamanuca Islands in
Fiji. It is in a subgroup of the Mamanuca
archipelago, which is sited off the coast of
Viti Levu, Fiji's largest island. The island
became a tourist attraction after the film's release. After Chuck's return, it is identified by Kelly as being "about south of the
Cook Islands," but there is no land between the southernmost Cook Islands of
Mangaia and
Antarctica. The film begins and ends in the same location, on the Arrington Ranch in the
Texas Panhandle south of the city of
Canadian, Texas.
Music The film's minimal score was composed and conducted by
Alan Silvestri for which he won a
Grammy Award in 2002. The film's soundtrack is most notable for its lack of score and creature sound effects (such as bird song or insect sounds) while Chuck is on the island, which is intended to reinforce the feeling of isolation.
Cast Away contains no original musical score until Chuck escapes the island. However, there is a Russian choral piece heard near the start of the film that was not composed or even recorded by Silvestri, so it does not appear on the film's soundtrack list. It is a traditional Russian song written by
Lev Knipper called "Oh, My Field"
("Polyushko, Polye") and it is available on various collections of Red Army hymns. The official soundtrack CD is an
anthology of musical pieces from all the films up to that point that were directed by Zemeckis and scored by Silvestri. The only track from
Cast Away itself is the theme from the end credits. The album was released in 2001 by soundtrack specialty label
Varèse Sarabande, rather than by
Fox Music or
DreamWorks Records, which were the in-house labels of 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks Pictures.
FedEx FedEx provided access to their facilities (Memphis, Los Angeles, and Moscow) as well as airplanes, trucks, uniforms, and logistical support. A team of FedEx marketers oversaw production through more than two years of filming. FedEx CEO
Fred Smith made an appearance as himself for the scene where Chuck is welcomed back, which was filmed on location at FedEx's home facilities in Memphis, Tennessee. The idea of a story based on a FedEx plane crashing gave the company "a heart attack at first", but the overall story was seen as positive. FedEx, which paid no money for
product placement in the film, saw an increase in
brand awareness in Asia and Europe following the film's release.
Wilson the volleyball In the film, Wilson the
volleyball serves as Chuck Noland's
personified friend and only companion during the four years that Noland spends alone on a deserted
island. Named after the volleyball's manufacturer,
Wilson Sporting Goods, the character was created by screenwriter
William Broyles Jr. While researching for the film, he consulted with professional survival experts, and then chose to deliberately strand himself for one week on an isolated beach in the
Gulf of California, to force himself to search for water and food, and obtain his own shelter. During this time, a Wilson-branded soccer ball washed up on shore, providing the inspiration for the film's inanimate companion. When the idea was presented to Tom Hanks, he happily agreed on the volleyball as a memento to his wife,
Rita Wilson, knowing he would be away from home for a long period for filming. From a screenwriting point of view, Wilson also serves to realistically allow dialogue to take place in a solitary scenario. It is rumored, but not true, that one of the original volleyball props was sold at an auction for $18,500 to the ex-CEO of
FedEx Office,
Ken May. At the time of the film's release, Wilson launched its own joint promotion centered on its products "co-starring" with Tom Hanks. Wilson manufactured a volleyball with a reproduction of the bloodied handprint face on one side. It was sold for a limited time during the film's initial release and continues to be offered on the company's website. An original Wilson the volleyball prop sold via
Heritage Auctions on December 7, 2024, for $162,500. == Reception ==