Moby Dick - videos, teasers and stills from filming

All videos, teasers and footage from the filming of the film "Moby Dick"

Moby Dick (1956)

Timing: 1:55 (115 min)

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All about film

Video 3

Photo 59

Actors and characters

Moby Dick (1956) - Theatrical Trailer

English

3:14

Ernest Dickerson on MOBY DICK

English

3:53

Moby Dick (1956) Original Trailer [FHD]

English

3:13

What's left behind the scenes

Two 25-meter models with steel frames and rubber shells were constructed for the scenes with Moby Dick. Both models, costing approximately $30,000 each, were lost at sea during filming. A third had to be ordered for filming on the Canary Islands. At one point during filming, the cable holding the model in place snapped, and it began to drift out to sea with Gregory Peck (1916-2003) on it.
When Starbuck enters the captain's cabin and tells him it's time to sleep, Ahab replies that his bed is his grave. Sailors slept in hammocks, in which they were also buried, as if in shrouds. Officers had berths resembling boxes. In the event of their death, they were also laid in the berth, and the body was thrown overboard.
Orson Welles (1915-1985) was terribly nervous during the filming of the sermon. To help the actor calm down, director John Huston hid a bottle of brandy on set, told Welles where it was, and allowed him to take sips – strictly for medical purposes.
At one point, John Huston (1906-1987) insisted on filming aboard a ship in open water. The sea became rough, and all members of the film crew and actors were struck with seasickness. Filming had to be interrupted until people recovered, which led to overspending on the film. A debt of $4.5 million still remains with the film's creators.
Later, many participants in the filmmaking process, including John Huston and Gregory Peck, recounted that between one and three (accounts vary) whale models were lost during filming. From these stories, it was concluded that the visual effects department had indeed constructed enormous whale models, however, things were not as they seemed. According to Oswald Morris’s autobiographical book, during filming near the 'Pequod,' a barge was stationed with mock-ups of whale body parts (hump, tail, etc.). These were filmed when needed. As for the shots showing the whale in its entirety, these were shots of small-scale mock-ups, filmed in a pavilion at the Shepperton Studios in a special pool. According to Morris, the only thing lost during filming in open water was a 6-meter mock-up of the mid-torso, and Morris does not claim that Peck was on the mock-up at the time, requiring an urgent rescue.
The world’s largest coffeehouse chain, Starbucks, borrowed its name from Starbuck, the first mate of the whaling ship Pequod.
Subsequently, many participants in the filming process, including John Huston and Gregory Peck, recounted that between one and three (accounts vary) whale models were lost during filming. From these stories, it was concluded that enormous whale models had indeed been constructed in the visual effects department, however, things were not as they seemed. According to Oswald Morris’s autobiographical book, during filming near the “Pequod,” a barge was located with mock-ups of whale body parts (hump, tail, etc.). These were filmed when needed. As for the shots showing the whale in its entirety, these were shots of smaller-scale mock-ups and were filmed in a special pool in a pavilion at the Shepperton studio. According to Morris’s recollections, the only thing lost during filming in the open sea was a 6-meter mock-up of the mid-torso, and Morris does not claim that Peck was on the mock-up at the time and had to be urgently rescued.

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