commemorating the filming of
Moby Dick in the town
Development and writing During a meeting to discuss the screenplay,
Ray Bradbury informed
John Huston that regarding
Herman Melville's
novel, he had "never been able to read the damned thing". According to the biography
The Bradbury Chronicles, there was much tension and anger between the two men during the making of the film, allegedly due to Huston's bullying attitude and attempts to tell Bradbury how to do his job, despite Bradbury being an accomplished writer.
Norman Corwin did some uncredited rewrites. The film was bankrolled by brothers
Walter,
Harold, and
Marvin Mirisch, who financed Huston's
Moulin Rouge. The Mirisches made a deal with
Warner Bros. Pictures in order to release the film. Under the agreement, WB would distribute
Moby Dick for seven years, after which all rights would revert to the Mirisch brothers' company, Moulin Productions.
Casting Gregory Peck was initially surprised to be cast as Ahab (part of the studio's agreement to fund the film was that Huston use a
"name" actor as Ahab). Peck later commented that he felt Huston himself should have played Ahab. Huston had long wanted to make a film of
Moby-Dick, and had intended to cast his own father, actor
Walter Huston as Ahab, but he had died in 1950. Peck went on to play the role of
Father Mapple in the
1998 television miniseries adaptation of Melville's novel, with
Patrick Stewart as Ahab. Peck, comparing his performances in this film and the 1998
Moby Dick miniseries, said he liked the miniseries better because it was more faithful to the novel and had a greater sense of adventure. Peck and Huston intended to shoot Herman Melville's
Typee in 1957, but the funding fell through. Not long after, the two had a falling-out. According to one biography, Peck discovered to his disappointment that he had not been Huston's choice for Ahab, but in fact was thrust upon the director by the Mirisch brothers to secure financing. Peck felt Huston had deceived him into taking a part for which Peck felt he was ill-suited. Years later, the actor tried to patch up his differences with the director, but Huston, quoted in Lawrence Grobel's biography
The Hustons, rebuked Peck ("It was too late to start over", said Huston) and the two never spoke to each other again. Nevertheless, Huston's daughter
Anjelica confirmed in a 2003
Larry King Live interview that her father had "adored" Peck. At the age of four, Anjelica Huston met Peck dressed as Ahab when she visited the set of her father's film. Decades later, she and Peck would meet again and become close friends with each other until the latter's death.
Orson Welles later used the salary from his appearance to fund his own stage production,
Moby Dick—Rehearsed, in which
Rod Steiger played Captain Ahab.
Friedrich von Ledebur wore skintight prosthetics made by a local nylon factory for
Queequeg's tattoos.
Filming The film began shooting in
Wales at
Fishguard and
Ceibwr Bay, Fishguard at Huston's request. Parts of the movie were shot at the sea in front of
Caniçal, a traditional
whaling parish in
Madeira Islands,
Portugal, with real action of whaling done by whalers of
Madeira Island. It was also filmed in
Las Canteras beach,
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria,
Canary Islands, Spain. Captain
Alan Villiers commanded the ship for the film. Many exterior scenes set in
New Bedford were shot on location in
Youghal, Co.
Cork, Ireland. Reportedly in search of "a port that hadn't changed in a hundred years", Huston chose the town from a shortlist that included
Wicklow,
Arklow, and
Kinsale. The local government made Huston a
freeman of Youghal in thanks. The town's harbor basin stood in for New Bedford's harbor. Production required local craftsmen to dredge the harbor by hand, erect facades over coastal buildings to resemble 1800s New Bedford, and dress telephone poles with canvas to appear as ships' masts. In order to create a visual effect reminiscent of old whaling prints, a black and white print was superimposed on a color print. The resulting effect was similar to a
bleach bypass. The film went overbudget, from $2 million to around $4.4 million, which crippled Moulin Productions;
Moby Dick was ultimately sold to
United Artists in order to recoup some of the Mirisch brothers' debt (Warner Bros. still distributed the film, corresponding to their original licensing agreement; when the agreement ended, United Artists took over the film's distribution rights. After UA was acquired by
MGM in 1981, the latter studio assumed distribution and holds the film's copyright).
Moby Dick did not recoup its budget upon its initial release.
Special effects A myth that was put to rest in cinematographer
Oswald Morris' autobiography,
Huston, We Have a Problem, is that no full-length whale models were ever built for the production. Previous accounts have claimed that as many as three 60-foot rubber "white whales" were lost at sea during filming, making them "navigational hazards". In fact the titular whale shown in the film was constructed by
Dunlop in
Stoke-on-Trent, England. Moby Dick was 75 ft long and weighed 12
tons, and required 80 drums of compressed air and a hydraulic system in order to remain afloat and operational. According to Morris, after the prop was lost the
Pequod was followed by a barge with various whale parts (hump, back, fin, tail). Ninety percent of the shots of the white whale are various size miniatures filmed in a water tank in
Shepperton Studios in
Surrey, near London. Whales and longboat models were built by a special effects man,
August Lohman, working in conjunction with art director
Stephen Grimes. Studio shots also included a life-size Moby jaw and head - with working eyes. The head apparatus which could move like a rocking horse was employed when actors were in the water with the whale. Gregory Peck's last speech is delivered in the studio while riding the white whale's hump (a hole was drilled in the side of the whale so Peck could conceal his real leg).
Ships The
Pequod was portrayed by, appropriately, the
Moby Dick. Built in England in 1887 as the
Ryelands, the ship came into the hands of the film industry in the 50s, and was also used in
Treasure Island. It was destroyed by fire in
Morecambe, England, in 1970. The
schooners used were
Harvest King and
James Postlethwaite, both from
Arklow, Ireland. In the documentary accompanying the DVD marking the 30th anniversary of the film
Jaws, director
Steven Spielberg states his original intention had been to introduce the Ahab-like character Quint (
Robert Shaw), by showing him watching the 1956 version of the film and laughing at the inaccuracies therein. However, permission to use footage of the original film was denied by Gregory Peck as he was uncomfortable with his performance. == Release ==