Hook (film)
Hook (titled: Hook (Captain Hook) in Spain and Hook, the return of Captain Hook in Latin America) is an adventure and fantasy film co-produced by TriStar Pictures and Amblin Entertainment and directed by American director Steven Spielberg in 1991. The film is a derivative from the literary work Peter Pan and Wendy, written by J. M. Barrie and published in 1911, in which an adult Peter Pan is forced to return to Neverland after Captain Hook kidnap their children.
The film featured performances by Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman in the lead roles of Peter Pan and Captain James Hook, respectively. Supporting roles went to Julia Roberts as Tinker Bell, Bob Hoskins as Boatswain Smee, and Maggie Smith as the elderly Wendy Darling. Hook was the fifteenth film in Spielberg's filmography and the screenplay was written by James V. Hart, Malia Scotch Marmo and Nick Castle. Some setbacks arose during the film's production: Spielberg shelved the Hook project, demotivated by the initial draft; the budget was increased by $30 million due to the construction of the huge and luxurious sets. that appeared in the film, the work of Norman Garwood and, in addition, Julia Roberts was intractable during filming due to personal problems.
Director Steven Spielberg used various symbols such as clocks or pirates in the film to address themes such as the passage of time, the maturity of the individual and/or the loss of imagination. Upon its release, the film generated criticism negative reviews that ranked it as one of the worst films directed by the Ohio director. Hook was nominated for five Oscars, as well as a Golden Globe and a Grammy, but failed to win any of them. these awards.
Plot
After the events of Peter Pan and Wendy, Peter (Robin Williams) leaves Neverland when he meets and falls in love with Wendy's granddaughter Moira, and is given for adoption by Wendy (Maggie Smith) to the Banning family. As an adult, and having forgotten childhood memories of him, he works as a lawyer, he is married to Moira (Caroline Goodall) and has two children, Jack (Charlie Korsmo) and Maggie (Amber Scott). However, his busy work activity does not allow her to spend more time with his family. On a trip to London that he takes to visit Wendy.
During the night that Great Ormond Street Hospital intends to publicly acknowledge Wendy's work with orphaned children, Captain James Hook (Dustin Hoffman) kidnaps her children and takes them with him to Neverland. When the parents and Wendy get home, they find out what happened. Wendy reveals her true identity to Peter, but he is skeptical about it. To travel to Neverland he is assisted by Tinkerbell (Julia Roberts). Once there, Hook is disappointed in Peter's adult appearance and has him executed along with his children, but Tinkerbell intervenes and proposes a deal to the pirate: after three days he will train Banning to recover his childhood memories and return to life. be the Peter Pan that everyone used to know there.
Banning then undergoes a cathartic process with the help of the Lost Boys and the fairy, and is able to fly again and assume his identity as Peter Pan. Meanwhile, thanks to the bosun's idea of the Jolly Roger , Smee, Hook plans to get back at Peter by making his children start loving him instead of Peter. Although Maggie resists, the boatswain's plan does have an effect on Jack, the eldest son, whom he convinces after the pirates organize a game of baseball, his favorite sport, and then Hook reminds Jack of his broken promise. father by not attending the last game of the league in which he plays.
At the end of the term agreed by Tinkerbell, Peter meets with Hook and the two begin a confrontation during which Peter realizes that Hook has emotionally taken over Jack, whom he has even adopted as his own son. In the end, Peter manages to win back the affections of his son and Hook is swallowed by the same crocodile that in the past had devoured his hand, and now lay stuffed like a silent clock in the square of the pirate dock. With his children freed from the pirates, Peter says goodbye to the Lost Boys and returns to London, leaving Neverland to continue his life with his family.
Cast
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- Dustin Hoffman as Captain Garfio. It was Spielberg's first choice when he started working on the project in 1984. In an interview for the newspaper The Baltimore Sun, Hoffman exclaimed in relation to the film: “I have no idea how Steven [Spielberg] has done to film it...”, and he continued: “Interpreting Garfio made me say to myself: “Now I know what I do is for this.”
- Robin Williams, Ryan Francis and Max Hoffman as Peter Banning / Peter Pan adult, teen and child, respectively. The actor Robin Williams, who gave life to Peter Pan on the screen, said in relation to his character during the documentary on how the film was filmed: “It is an exorcism. Peter [Pan] has to take out that little boy he buried about 20 and so many years ago."
- Julia Roberts and Lisa Wilhoit as an adult champion and girl, respectively. Roberts was chosen to play the role of the magic fairy despite several reluctances of the actress, as she was going through quite delicate personal moments. Roberts was untratable at the set and won the mote Tinkerhell.
- Bob Hoskins like Smee. To interpret the singular countermaster of the "Jolly Roger" Richard Dreyfuss himself offered for the role, a fetish actor in the filmography of the director of Ohio, although it was Spielberg himself who rejected Dreyfuss' offer to avoid a possible ego struggle with Hoffman.
- Arthur Malet like Tootles. In the beginning Spielberg offered the role of Tootles, who dressed as a mophet in the animated version of 1953, Sir Richard Attenborough but he rejected it as he was busy with the direction of Chaplin.
- Maggie Smith and Gwyneth Paltrow as Wendy Darling old and teen/sweet, respectively. Maggie Smith, gave life to the octogenarian Wendy Darling. The actress in 1991, the year she recorded HookHe was fifty-six years old. In particular, the makeup sessions were made especially long to age it. For his part, Hook It was the second film in the filmography of, at the time, Gwyneth Paltrow.
- Charlie Korsmo like Jack Banning. Korsmo played Peter Pan's son. For the choice of such an actor, Spielberg relied on his sad look which he needed for the paper. Korsmo got fame in 1990 in Warren Beatty's film, Dick Tracy.
- Amber Scott like Maggie Banning. The young actress who played Peter Pan's daughter debuted Hook and shared the Young Artist Award with the rest of the cast of the children who appeared in the film. She was also nominated for the same awards in the category "Best young actress under ten years old".
- Caroline Goodall like Moira Banning. Moira is Wendy's granddaughter and Peter's wife, who tries to warn Peter about her careless behavior in relation to her children.
- Dante Basco as Rufio. Rufio is the leader of the Lost Children following the march of Peter Pan of the Never-Never Country, whose position holds after taking over the sword of Pan.
Throughout the film there were several brief appearances including Phil Collins as a police inspector, Glenn Close as a pirate, and Carrie Fisher and George Lucas as an anonymous couple kissing on Westminster Bridge.
Inspiration
Steven Spielberg had known the tale of Peter Pan and Wendy, by Sir James Matthew Barrie, since he was a child thanks to his mother reading to him before bed. At eleven years of age he directed an adaptation of Barrie's play for a school performance and, during an interview in 1985, Spielberg stated: "I always felt like Peter Pan and I still do now. It has been very difficult for me growing up, in fact I am a victim of Peter Pan syndrome."
Eighty years after the publication of Peter Pan and Wendy, Spielberg brought James V. Hart's sui generis adaptation of the original work to the big screen. barrie. In this adaptation Peter Pan grew up, an argument that had the necessary appeal for Spielberg to decide to adapt it. The Ohio director had a few failed attempts as he couldn't find the right approach to the script. In fact, the original idea did not come from Spielberg himself but from the son of screenwriter James Hart who once asked his father: "Dad, did Peter Pan ever grow up?"
Previous adaptations
Prior to Spielberg's adaptation, Barrie's novel was made into a movie several times. The first of these in 1924, directed by Herbert Brenon during the silent film era entitled Peter Pan and produced by Paramount Pictures. In 1953, Walt Disney Pictures brought an animated version of the story to the screen. Created by J.M. Barrie, directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, and Jack Kinney. In 1989, Nippon Animation aired a 41-episode animated television series titled Piitā Pan no Bōken (The Adventures of Peter Pan) It was followed by Spielberg's version and, subsequently, more adaptations were made, even the Disney studios made a sequel in 2002.
Production
Script
Problem with the eraser
The draft script for Hook, written by Jim V. Hart, had been around Hollywood studios since the early 1980s, but they all turned the project down due to its high production costs. until it finally fell into the hands of Spielberg. The director, who already had attempts to adapt Barrie's work with a musical supposedly starring the singer Michael Jackson, returned to focus on the adaptation of Peter Pan from his adulthood after reading the story written by Hart. But when Spielberg seemed to show a clear interest in adapting the Neverland story for a film, the script had already been acquired by director Nick Castle, known for The Last Starfighter, who was thinking of making an adaptation. for TriStar Pictures. Mike Medavoy, Spielberg's former manager and president of TriStar in 1990, declined Castle in favor of Spielberg. As compensation, Castle appeared in the credits alongside Jim V. Hart in the story section.. Malia Scotch Marmo and Carrie Fisher—the latter uncredited—later joined the Hook writing cast by rewriting some lines of dialogue.
Dodi Al-Fayed, an Arab businessman and film producer who later died in 1997 along with Diana of Wales in a car accident in Paris, eventually sold the rights he owned to the work starring Peter Pan to the production company TriStar Pictures, in exchange for his name also appearing in the credits.
Themes and personal ties to Spielberg
Steven Spielberg's regular producer and Amblin Entertainment mogul Kathleen Kennedy testified in a 1990 Variety magazine interview regarding Castle's firing as future head of Hook that "Steven [Spielberg] had already conceived it in his mind".
The Ohio director had repeatedly postponed filming Barrie's play because he no longer felt very close to the character of Peter Pan, until he read Hart's script, in which Pan had grown up and forgotten who he was absorbed in his work as a lawyer. In addition, Spielberg noted similarities between the script and his own life: at the time, he had a busy schedule of work as a filmmaker, and he did not spend much time with his children.
In addition, Hart's script incorporated several of the thematic constants of Spielberg's films. The first: the recurring theme of normal people almost accidentally coming into contact with the fantastic. Peter Banning, thrown into his job as a lawyer, does not even imagine that he is actually Peter Pan. Only when he returns to London to visit his old acquaintance, comes across a fantastic reality. Until that moment, he had grown so much that he had forgotten his own childhood, like Spielberg when shooting Hook .
Another constant in his films that featured in Hart's script was the dysfunctional relationship between father and son, which echoed Spielberg's own relationship with his own father. The director had previously addressed this same theme in films such as E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade whose protagonists —Elliot and Indiana, respectively— have problems with the father figure.
The loss of imagination, and the need to regain it during adulthood, is suggested as a basic subplot of the film, as Spielberg explains during Hook's documentary short: "When Peter [Pan] ] grew up, lost his imagination and became just another guy...".
Shooting
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Hook was the fifteenth film in Spielberg's filmography, who was forty-four years old when he shot it. It was financed by Amblin Entertainment, Spielberg's own production company, and TriStar Pictures, recently acquired by Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Filming Hook spanned nine sets in Culver City. All the sets for the film were built there, including: a full-scale replica of Captain Hook's ship, the "Jolly Roger", the giant tree of the Lost Boys, the pier in Neverland, Captain Hook's personal cabin, among others, all designed by the decorator of the film Brazil, Norman Garwood. Spielberg was also especially pleased to be able to use the set twenty-seven, where the scenes of the Emerald City of the movie The Wizard of Oz were filmed, one of the director's favorites.
The shooting of Hook lasted longer than expected, increasing its initial budget: from an initial 40 million dollars, it was increased to a final 70 million, due to Spielberg taking 40 more days than the 76 scheduled to end with the filming of the film.
The film featured various cameos including musicians Quincy Jones, David Crosby and Phil Collins, actresses Glenn Close and Carrie Fisher, and film producer and director George Lucas.
Soundtrack
John Williams, an American film score composer and regular contributor to Spielberg's filmography, wrote an extensive suite for Hook. Williams stated in a 1992 interview about the film's soundtrack that: «the music I used in Hook could be called "theatrical" or "music for ballet"." The main reason for these statements was because in 1985 the composer was already involved in the same project when it was a staging for a musical, a project that finally ended up being canceled despite to Williams writing ten songs.
Launch and reception
Criticism
Reviews for Hook were generally negative or lukewarm, ranking it as one of the worst films directed by Spielberg to date.
Famous critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that "Hook's flaw is that it tries to find something new, fresh, or different in myth." of Peter Pan when Spielberg should have made a remake of the original story for the public of the 1990s". Instead, Hal Hinson, critic of the publication The Washington Post, was more favorable in his review, praising Dustin Hoffman's performance in particular: “Hoffman does a delightful portrayal of evil with Captain Hook. [...] Without theatrical complexes, his acting is bombastic, pompous, sublime and narcissistic. »
Among Spanish-language critics, the Spanish film magazine Fotogramas described it as a "very free version of the Peter Pan myth that proposes a somewhat debatable reading of the memorable text by James M. Barrie." Fernando Morales, critic of the Spanish publication El País, for his part, described it as a "nice blockbuster".
Awards and nominations
The film by the director of E.T. was nominated for five statuettes at the 64th Academy Awards ceremony, awarded annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of America in the categories of Best Art Direction (Norman Garwood, Garrett Lewis), Best Costume Design (Anthony Powell), Best Makeup (Christina Smith, Monty Westmore, Greg Cannom), Best Visual Effects (Industrial Light & Magic) and Best Original Song ("When You're Alone" composed by John Williams), although he ultimately did not get any of them.
Likewise, Dustin Hoffman, the actor who gave life to the famous Captain Hook, was nominated for the Golden Globe for best actor in a comedy or musical, although he did not get it either. Coincidentally, the winner was his co-star in Hook , Robin Williams who got it for his performance in the film The Fisher King , directed by Terry Gilliam.
Similarly, composer John Williams was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Original Score, which he lost to Alan Menken and Howard Ashman for the score to the Disney film, Beauty and the Beast .
Hook won an award at the Young Artist Awards in the category Best Youth Cast in Film. Likewise, actors and actresses Amber Scott, Dante Basco, Raushan Hammond and Charlie Korsmo they earned nominations in individual categories.
Marketing
Movie Poster
Drew Struzan, a regular collaborator of Steven Spielberg in creating the posters for his productions, also made the one for Hook. Struzan made several sketches prior to the final poster and shuffled through 60 drawings and different compositions and ideas.
Video launch
Hook was released on the old home analog VHS format and later digitally on DVD in a special edition on May 5, 2008. This special edition contained a short documentary about how the movie was made. On November 15, 2011, the film was released on the new digital blu-ray format.
Symbolism
The Clock
Spielberg used the clock symbol several times throughout the film to speak of the passing of time. Captain Hook is a staunch enemy of the "ticking" sound produced by clock hands. During a scene in the film, a museum of broken watches belonging to famous pirates that no longer emit any sound, a museum owned by Hook, is shown, where he invites Jack to break the watch entrusted to him by his father. This ritual is a definite step in gaining the trust of the son of Pan and further distancing him from his father. Towards the end of the film, the Lost Boys attack Hook with a multitude of clocks running and Hook is horrified, to which Peter Pan exclaims: "Hello? TIC Tac? TIC Tac? Is James Hook afraid of a simple watch? I don't think so. I think James Hook is afraid of time, the time he leaves », highlighting one of the main themes of Hook .
Pirates and the Lost Boys
Pirates represent the world of adults and lost innocence, as opposed to the Lost Boys, who in turn represent everlasting childhood. Wendy makes this issue explicit when she talks to Jack and he explains her father's job as her lawyer. After a cruel explanation, she Wendy exclaims: «Peter, you have become a pirate...».
The flight
The theme of flight represents imagination and joyful memories. Both Peter and his children and Tootles use some of their happy memories of him to get off the ground.
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