The Development of FEARLESS (1993)
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- A detailed account of how Peter Weir's "Fearless" (1993) started out as a novel by Rafael Yglesias, who then adapted it into a spec script, and collaborated with Weir to make changes to the story in order to turn it into a film.
Music by Maurice Jarre and Henryk Górecki.
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted.
"Fair Use" guidelines: www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html
Over on Vimeo, this video can be watched in slightly better quality at 360p. I was disappointed that here on RUclips, it could not be uploaded at a quality higher than 240p, which horribly pixelates the screencaps that I used from Rafael Yglesias's book. It's impossible to read the text in those screencaps. This might've happened because I ripped the film from a Blu-Ray, and maybe Adobe Premiere was unable to compress this Blu-Ray footage into a clean-looking H.264. I'm not sure. What I've learned from this experience is to only rip from DVDs for my video essays from now on. I will not be ripping from Blu-Rays again. On the bright side: Peter Weir and Rafael Yglesias both told me that they enjoyed this video, so at least I achieved what I set out to do with it. Although I will keep this video on RUclips purely because RUclips has a bigger audience, I urge everyone who comes here to please watch this video on Vimeo instead: vimeo.com/359519160
This masterpiece is so underrated and unknown, thank you so much for sharing this great essay.
A agree 100%. Great essay and wonderful movie.
I was a teen in crisis when this film came to my VHS rental shop. Every week my mother would take me to pick out 2 films for the weekend to watch alone. I can't tell you the amount of times I reached for this one. I felt like it spoke to the very awakening I was having...my own mortality...being surrounded by people living under the proverbial sea while I tried to speak with them about the existence of water. I felt like the protagonist (and the boy on the plane)...I lost 13 friends and family from freshman year to sophomore year of high school...I was surrounded in death and also felt somehow immortal, even testing the theory. I'd been in 4 car accidents before high school was done, and had busted 3 windshields with my face. I escaped with only a slightly bowed nose from the last one, that I wear to this day. I eventually encountered the physical fear of death at 18, accidently ending up 10 feet into a snow drift suspended upside down, suffocating as the snow melt drew tighter and tighter on my face...unable to bring my hands forward to recue myself. I awoke surrounded in 12 classmates all gasping and laughing that I started breathing again. The first kid said "he's breathing! dude, you look like a smurf", as the blood had filled my face and oxygen deprivation turned me purple. I has seen a tunnel of white light...and I had eventually relaxed into it, stopping struggling to free myself. I felt a warm peace...it wasn't a destination to fear. I watched this film again as 40yo man...and it ALL came back to me...sobbing through the credits. This is what great film is all about, a perfect film...but maybe just for me.
I will never understand why Rosie Perez was not given the Oscar. Her performance in this film is magnificent and heartfelt. It was if she opened her soul and it was easy to see her from the inside and the outside. She truly deserves that credit.
Perez would've been my choice as well, but it's easy to see why Anna Paquin won, given that Paquin gave a strong performance at such a young age. Also, while I vastly prefer "Fearless" to "The Piano", there's no denying that the latter film was more critically and commercially successful.
27th May 2023
Hi Adam.
The moment you share your passion for something with others, who in turn do the same, a common bond is formed that benefits everyone.
Thank you for being another person sharing their passion for this truly wonderful film by Peter Weir.
My social worker at the time took me to see "Kes" by Ken Loach that was part of a double bill with "Les Quatre Cents Coups" by François Truffaut. She thought they were pertinent to me at that time. They were the first films I ever saw in a cinema when I was ten years old in 1970.
Kind regards from Ealing, London.
One of my favorites of all time. So brilliant,so moving,so so underrated. I remember the first time I saw it. I felt a myriad of emotions that was rare from just watching a film. I was shocked it wasn't more successful at the box office but that's typical. A lot of amazing films get overlooked and forgotten about.
The Internet needed this. Huge fan of this under rated gem. Essay released near the 25th anniversary of the film's theatrical release. Thank you.
How brilliant is this film ??
I cried watching your review. Thank you for reviewing this 90’s masterpiece of cinema.
Thank you so much for doing an in-depth video on this magnificent and criminally underrated gem. Fearless is my No.1 favourite film of all time. It had a massive emotional impact on me. It's an unbelievably beautiful and soul-stirring cinematic experience.
If we ever really fully perceived the cosmic situation we are in we would drop unconscious, I think, from shock. -- Roger Ebert. // Adam Zanzie, thank you for making a fantastic documentary about "Fearless" -- I've replayed the first and last scenes from this movie several times in the past few days. So this was just what I wanted/needed to see.
Beautiful explanation. Thank you. One of my favorite movies. It never leaves me. It is haunting. Watching your presentation, the choking strawberry scene triggered a recent event in my life that I never fully experienced.
I was in a hot sulfur pool in the mountains. Hard to reach area. The locals go there to soak. Suddenly an elderly man stopped breathing. No real help there and his friends just figured he passed away.
I suddenly became very anxious. (like the wife in this movie) In my mind I heard, “he doesn’t have to die.” I picked up the body and wrapped my arms around him chest to chest, and started to violently pound his back. His friends fought me, thinking I was just too violent and passionate. We fought for the body, and I kept punching his back.
Suddenly he had a great heave and spit up a wad (like the strawberry) of heavy mucus lodged in his windpipe. He lived. His friends gathered around him.
Watching this scene now with your narration, I began to shower tears of great emotion, remembering what happened. I never really could complete the experience at the time because I was an American, the only foreigner there, and not able to speak their language very well at the time.
I had such a great fear of the man dying and his family finding out, and his just never returning home again. That fearful thought motivated a powerful action in me.
Brilliant. Thank you for this. It seems you not only admire great directors but have a knack for directing yourself! The Roger Ebert quote at the end was a magnificent addition and so beautifully written I am so glad you found it. I hope to see your name on the big screen one day under the word "Director".
You are an incredible narrator. Thank you for explaining this film. You have great talent.
Thank you. That was really great. Fearless is one of my favorites of all time. I hate how criminally underrated it is. You captured a lot of my own feelings about this film.
This was wonderful to watch and revisit! It's one of the most intense films I've ever seen, for it's very brief 10 minute ending which had me sobbing in the hands of a sweet friend who has been a cancer survivor for years now. It hit her just as much as it hit me. Everyone should see this film!
Fearless is a fantastic underrated films of the nineties.
Thank you for this: a masterful analysis of one of the best films ever made.
Wow what a beautiful movie. Your insights of book and film have opened this story to me again. Thanks
Underrated film. Underrated channel.
I love Peter Weirs films, especially this one, there's something mystical about them. Thanks adamzanzie, there's so little about this film.
I stumbled to this today when I started watching reinvented movie trailers. When I watched a new very well made trailer for Fearless it reminded me of how much I loved this movie. I saw it with my longtime girlfriend who has since in 2017 passed away from cancer. I am your typical American male. Rather stoic and not very emotional. The final scene with the haunting music by Gorecki crippled me emotionally. It was all I could do to make it to our car without breaking down. I cried profusely for several minutes once I entered our car. It's something I really can't explain. I purchased the Gorecki cd of the music to Fearless and it always was an emotional experience foe me. I haven't watched this movie for probably 20 years but it still haunts me. Bridges has always been on my Mount Rushmore of actors and it might be his best work imo. Thank you for this very well done piece on a forgotten gem..
I'd like to thank you for making this video, prompting me to watch my new favourite film. Beloved's next!
Thank you for this video essay. I couldn't agree with you more. This was excellent. The movie is Weir's best and his filmography has a few contenders for that title. But FEARLESS. WOW
What a wonderful essay this was. Just watched this incredible film and I didn’t know about this film before though I love Peter Weir films.
Superb essay and this film is in my top ten.
Very good and informative essay. I cried like hell when I watched the conclusion to this film. This movie and another one called 'Last Exit to Brooklyn" really showed me how powerful and how moving a film can be.
Thank you so much for sharing this about my favorite movie
Very well done..
Loved this movie and enjoyed your informative thoughts on it.
thank you for this analysis of a masterpiece.
Highly underrated review right here
Amazing essay!!!! Job really well done man 👍 Great tribute to this great film
Awesome essay on one of my favorite movies of all time. Was hunting around and found your work. Well done man!
And there you go. December 2021, and I never knew this had been a book. Learn something new every day. This movie was SIMPLY UNNERVING AND UNFORGETTABLE. I wonder how good the book IS. . .we shall see. . .
This analysis is beyond well-executed. Bravo, definitely won my subscription!
Great job on a great movie. You're right about the end. I can watch parts of the movie. But that ending is incredible. The Music is so pivotal to me. For a long time I searched online trying to find Jarre's score for that scene. Couldn't find it. Finally I found something that referenced Goreki's Symphony. Since I found that I've been able to listen to that grand dramatic piece countless times. Even at it's 26 minute length. Such a moving film. Thanks for providing so much information on the history of the project.
It is a unique YT experience to agree with the uploader and most of the comments.
Mosquito Coast is better in retrospect, The Year of Living Dangerously less so, but FEARLESS is more than just a movie.
If you can get into it, you will make discoveries about yourself.
Excuse me for being trite, but they just don't make 'em like this anymore.
I’ve considered this one of the greatest movies ever made since it came out and that final scene is one of the greatest if not the greatest that I’ve ever seen and it never fails to bring me to tears. I see Max as a Christ like figure and the final scene like the passion and the resurrection of not just Christ but of humanity, an awakening. Peter Weir is a true artist and a genius!
I saw this when it was originally released. There were only about 8 people in the theater. Such a great film and no one knew it was out. They were probably watching Jurrasic poop for the 50th time.
I have a good copy on DVD, but would love a better one with extras. I really appreciate your essay on one of my all time favorite films! Thank you
Very well done. This is also my favorite Peter Weir film and has one of the most incredible endings in a motion picture I’ve ever seen. It completely baffles me how this movie didn’t do better at the box office. I don’t know if Warner Bros messed up the promotion or what because I don’t even remember it in the theaters and I went quite frequently to the movies back then. The only thing that bothers me about Peter Weir is he didn’t make more movies, there couldn’t be enough of them as far as I’m concerned.
The industry has changed so much that I wouldn't blame Weir if he chooses to retire, but like all of his fans, I would love to see him return to directing in a big way.
I’m not so much saying that now, he’s 76 years old. What I meant was I wish he was a little more prolific in making movies in his prime. After Green Card, he had huge intervals in between movies. I just wish he made a few more during that time.
thanks for making this.very interesting to hear the story of how it came to be made.such an extraordinary film.
I'm glad to see that there are others out there who love this gem of a movie.
One thing that no one talks about was that this movie was released in late 1993. The next 12 months was one of the worst 12 months in US aviation history with 8 fatal airline crashes. It was so bad that the FAA called a big aviation safety summit in January 1995. It revolutionized safety, and there hasn't been a mainline fatal crash since 2001, no regional crashes from 2009.
So yea, it made avian much more safe, but it made Fearless bomb at the box office.
One of my favorite scenes of all time
She should’ve won the Oscar
Best movie EVER and great analysis, thank you!
Great video 👏
Much like the movie itself this video essay about it has received shockingly few views despite being one of the best I’ve ever seen.
Thank you so much! You did a great job. One of my favorite directors.
Great work, thank you
One thing you said at 3:20 that plane is not a dc-10 the tail shown and cockpit are more in line with a 737 or 707 the dc 10 was a trijet with a distinctive engine mounted bellow the tail fin, here it’s mounted directly to the fuselage with no are for said engine to be, other than that fantastically made video just thought I’d say so. Also the interior airplane shots show a single isle narrow body jet not the dual isle wide body interior of a dc-10. Fantastic video regardless!
Thank you for this video! It's my favourite film. I also really want a special edition of Fearless on blu-ray (4K?) with audio commentary, making of, Jeff Bridges' photos from the set, etcs.
there aren't many movies I see more than once, but Fearless is an exception: it has multiple layers of meaning for me, and is memorable for its celebration of living life to the full, after almost losing it.
Okay, here's a comment. First time watching a video of yours, liked and subscribed. Now, regarding the movie. (English is not my first language, sorry for any mistakes.)
It's been quite some years since I last saw it, but I've always felt as if the representation of the accident was more concerned with revealing the mental process Max goes through. There's a scene that is absolutelly essential that you didn't mention. When Laura goes into Max's office, disturbed, looking for answers, and she finds Max's sketchbook. And she sees his drawings of spirals, many different representations, always the same subject. Spirals. And that is an insight into his mental journey. There is a direct correlation between the drawings of spirals and his inner view of the airplane spiraling out of control.
So, in a way, it is a representation of a man departing into another plane of inteligence. You could almost say that he has become mad. Obviously, that is a representation of PTSD. But the beautiful thing is that Max didn't lose his fear. He gave up on life. During that fateful accident, he "knew" he was going to die, and he accepted death, he let go of life. And the entire movie is about his jorney back into life. His fearless state is just a symptom. He went through that mental vortex, that spiral, and detached himself from this ordinary day reality. And in doing so, he was able to experience life from an entirely different, exhilarating perspective. But the truth is, he was mentally "dead", beyond life. But, fortunately, he finds his way back, showing us how precious and magnificent our own plane of existence is, telling us that even with our own fears and uncertainties, we should savour it as much as we can.
Thanks for an insightful video. Best regards.
You would enjoy Rafael Yglesias' book. It goes even deeper into the phenomenon, since Rafael experienced something like it in real life. My interpretation of the representation of the accident is that Weir moved the crash itself to the end of the film in order to help the film build to more of a dramatic climax; if the film had simply ended with Max choking on the strawberry, the ending might not have been as powerful, especially since Weir also did not include Max and Carla's climactic sex scene from the book.
Well done!
My favorite movie from Peter Weir, a crear one!
Great Film from script to cast.
Notice how Carla not only survives a horrible plane and car crash but we never see a scratch on her ?
In the cinematic universe in my head, the planet crashed due to sabotage by Elijah Price, aka Mister Glass.
Carla was an unbreakable!
The Radiohead song 'Lucky' was inspired by this film.
Thank you for this essay, today i rewatched fearless for a third time and really didnt all this stuff, u made a lot of things clear for me.
P.s. i wish he dropped acid in the movie
I have always loved this film. It is truly great. Poignant, but in no way sloppily sentimental. It ranks up there with the movie A Pure Formality, and Blade Runner. Both fabulous films.
I want to watch Dead Poets Society since I think Weir is such a criminally underrated director. Dead Poets Society and The Truman Show feature two pheominal lead performances from two of my favorite comedic actors Robin Williams and Jim Carrey. Truman Show is the only film by Weir that I’ve managed to watch as of yet and its so good, Jim’s performance was just so believable. Fearless seems like my kind of film, I came across it yesterday when I was particulary feeling very europhic and calm. It’s a serious film, yes, but it looks very inspiring and beautiful. It just looks very good.
Best Movie ending I have ever seen.
Brilliant film should of had more Oscars but that's Hollywood anything outstanding they reject. Brilliantly narrated so please to of found this . Thanks
My favourite movie....
Btw, Your comment at 19:00 is wrong... no, Max is no wrong... it isn't really about 'freedom to do what You want'... in that state of mind, even thinking about 'freedom to do what You want' is obsolete... He is pissed about his son's state of mind.
My point is that Max is no longer in a position to be so judgmental about his son's hobbies. Max thinks of himself as a ghost, therefore he forfeits his right to be any kind of authoritarian father.
@@adamzanzie yeah, understand it... at the end it is all about do You look at it from the perspective of the 'normal human' or the 'ghost'...
From the perspective of someone who had been 'ghost' for 10 years, Max is right 😉
@@simepanda6764 Have you read Rafael Yglesias' original book? In the book, Max doesn't mind that Jonah plays video games; there's even a scene where he tells Jonah to let Byron play the games with him and his friend. In the film, Yglesias changed Max's attitude about video games so that Max could express in words his complicated feelings about how permanent death is. Max has a point when he warns Jonah that while video games may provide us with the security of multiple lives, we only get one life in reality. However, in trying to communicate such an esoteric point, Max is overly cruel by taking the game away from Jonah and almost breaking it.
@@adamzanzie no, did not read it.
This explains situation... To give overview of such 'esoteric points' in a movie they put Max in several situations which cannot be attributed to the person in that state of mind...
Also, if Yglesias hold on that feeling for more than just couple of days, ending would be different. (coming from a person who had similar experience, but got hold on that feeling for years)
Btw, 3rd season of the Netflix Sinner is also tackling this state of mind (although somewhat poorly).
Anyway - great video and thank You for that!
I loved this movie. I especially loved the plane crash scene. I loved that he was stupefied and undone at surviving. I loved his journey.
I hated, hated the very end when he survived the strawberry. This was a character meant to die and not to live. He had had his life after, his purgatory and I loved that and and I absolutely despised the last scene.
I saw this twice in the theater. First time alone. Second time after I talked it up and hyped it to my friends. I told them up front that I was going to walk out about one minute before credits roll.
Our host obviously disagrees, but I [bleeping] hated the "he lives" ending. He should have died. He was alive after he should have died and he did what he needed to do.
One of my favorite movies. I touted it to my friends hard and arranged a movie date for all of us for them to see it. The movie I pretend in my head ended differently than it did. Max dies in the end. That's my ending.
Second show I walked out when he was dying and, to me, that was the best conclusion.
What a movie
👍👍👍🎥
Is there a place where I can read the book?
It's available for purchase on Amazon and it can be checked out for free at certain local libraries.