Development The film was one of three movies that
HandMade Films intended to shoot in 1984, the others being
A Private Function and a comedy from John MacKenzie,
The Travelling Man (which ultimately would not be made). It was written by the experienced comedy duo Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement, who had just made
Bullshot (1983) for HandMade. "I guess it was like an
Ealing film," said Clement, "but it was not a conscious effort to recreate that style. I can see the analogies with something like
Passport to Pimlico."
Writing Le Frenais and Clement had made a television pilot in the US with Bill Persky who came up with the idea of a fictional British colony in the Caribbean which sought independence. The three of them wrote a screenplay which Persky wanted to direct (he had made the film
Serial (1980)) but they were unable to raise finance. Then when Clement and Le Frenais made
Bullshot for Handmade they showed the script to
Denis O'Brien, head of the studio. "It was Denis who absolutely loved the script and really responded to it and said, 'Let's do it'," said Clement. The fictional island of Cascara, which was the Caribbean island of
Saint Lucia, is a play on
Cascara, a plant which has laxative properties because in the film a re-opened oil well is discovered to produce mineral water with a 'slight laxative effect'. After Clement and Le Frenais wrote another draft of the script, they sent it to Michael Caine, who loved it and wanted to be in the film. Clement says, "We were thrilled because we knew that meant we would get the film made, and suddenly it was a go project." At the time Billy Connolly was an emerging comedian, much admired by Denis O'Brien. "They were always trying to put him into a movie because Denis was convinced that Billy Connolly was the funniest man in Britain," said Clement. "He was way ahead of the pack there." O'Brien insisted that Connolly be in
Bullshot and
Water. "He was actually cast before anybody else," said Clement. O'Brien offered the lead role of Baxter to Michael Palin who turned it down. Palin wrote in his diary about the script, "First 16 pages are wonderfully funny, but it all falls apart and there isn’t a laugh after that. No characters are developed, new characters are thrust in instead and the jokes become stretched and laboured." Clement called Palin, who called the director "intelligent and tactful and is, after all, a TV writer with an impressive record —
Likely Lads, etc. We can understand each other’s language. He professes his liking for naturalistic comedy, and yet sees
Water as an international film. I tell him that I think ‘international’ comedy a very dangerous concept." Palin also felt the casting of Connolly "to play the black revolutionary a real commercial cop out... 'Well, he'll be sort of brown,' Dick reassures." O'Brien tried to persuade Palin to change his mind but two months later Palin wrote in his diary, "having re-read the script I know it’s going to be only a slightly more exciting version of
Yellowbeard and
Bullshot." Palin made
A Private Function instead. Michael Caine played the lead role. Billy Connolly later recalled the making of the movie. "We went to Heathrow to fly out, and fly out we did. Not knowing that - there were no mobile phones then of course - they were racing up to tell us not to go. That the money had fallen through. But by the time the plane landed in Saint Lucia, they'd got the money again!" The television presenter
Paul Heiney played a small role in the film for an episode for the BBC series
In at the Deep End.
Filming The movie started filming in May 1984. The same month
A Private Function also went into production and people who worked on that film felt their budget was sacrificed in order to fund
Water. Shooting took place mostly on
Saint Lucia. There were few filmmaking facilities so items had to be shipped there by sea. Studio work was done at
Shepperton Studios in London and the oil rig scenes were shot in Devon. Dick Clement later said, "We were rewriting the ending as we went along and that's never good... In hindsight, I always think you need to get those decisions out of the way before you get on the set. But, on the whole, it was a good shoot. Michael Caine was a fantastic trouper on the film, he was really a joy to work with, enormously supportive. I can’t be more appreciative of his work on it and how professional he was. In a way, Michael had the straightest part in the film, he was almost the straight man. He kept saying to me, 'You realise I'm having to carry all the plot here?'" Connolly said Caine "taught me so much, about how to be generous to other actors. We were climbing up a hill and we were being filmed from the top. Suddenly he went, oh! My leg! And he spoiled a whole take. So they said we're doing it again, and he whispered to me 'next time, move further to the right, they can't see you'. He was lovely." The concert scene was shot in a single day at Shepperton Studios. Clapton, Starr and Harrison were paid the musician's minimum rate for a playback session on set. ==Soundtrack==