The Relic

The Relic (1997)

Timing: 1:50 (110 min)

6.013/10
584

5.893/10
2133

5.8/10
29690

All about film

Video 1

Photo 38

Actors and characters

Release date

1997-01-10

Country

Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, United States

Production

Paramount, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, Mutual Film Company, TOHO-TOWA, Pacific Western, BBC, Marubeni, Tele München

Genre

Horror, Mystery, Thriller, Science Fiction

Budget

$60 000 000

Revenue

$33 956 608

Website

Director

Peter Hyams

Actors

Penelope Ann Miller, Tom Sizemore, Linda Hunt, James Whitmore, Clayton Rohner, Chi Muoi Lo, Thomas Ryan, Robert Lesser, Diane Robin, Lewis van Bergen
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Sam Mercer, Gale Anne Hurd, Gary Levinsohn, Mark Gordon

Operator

Peter Hyams

Composer

John Debney

Artist

Gary Baugh

Audition

Penny Perry

Editing

Steven Kemper
All team (144)

• The role of Vincent D’Agostino was originally offered to Harrison Ford.
• In the novel of the same name (1995) by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, which served as the literary basis for the film, the administration of the American Museum of Natural History in New York was depicted in a less than favorable light, so the filmmakers were not granted permission to shoot at the museum. Paramount Pictures offered a seven-figure sum for permission, but the administration refused, fearing that filming a movie about monsters would harm the museum's reputation. The filmmakers found themselves in a difficult situation, as only museums in Chicago and Washington could boast similarities to the New York museum. Fortunately for them, the administration of the Chicago museum liked the script and gave the go-ahead for filming.
• During filming, Paramount Pictures kept the creature created by Stan Winston (1946-2008) secret – just as Universal Studios did in 1993 during filming of Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster “Jurassic Park” – so no one involved in the project was allowed to talk about the filming or the creature specifically.
• Visual and technical special effects specialist Stan Winston and his team created three creatures, each controlled by two people, while several others operated electronic equipment responsible for the movements of hands, claws, jaws, etc. Director Peter Hyams looked at Winston’s early sketches, only requesting that the creature be made even more terrifying. A computer model was used in scenes where the creature runs or jumps.
• The character of Lieutenant Vincent D’Agosta, played by Tom Sizemore, is actually a composite image combining two characters from the original novel. These are D’Agosta himself and FBI agent Pendergast, the main hero of the sequel and many subsequent books.
• The enormous head of the creature, which framed the entrance to the museum exhibition, is a life-size replica of the gates at the Park of Monsters in Bomarzo (Italy). The words “Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch'entrate,” or “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here,” are carved above the entrance. According to the author of the “Divine Comedy” (1306-1321), Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), the same words are inscribed above the gates of Hell.
• Creating a monster unlike any seen on screen before proved to be no easy task. Artist Mark “Crash” McCreery depicted several versions of the creature based on a rather fragmented description in the original novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, and director Peter Hyams chose the concept he liked best. The result was a creature with a spider-like head and a five-meter torso, hinting at the features of a lion, alligator, and horse, covered in scales, with tufts of fur protruding along its spine.
• Filming took place not only in Chicago. Another set was built in Los Angeles, depicting a flooded tunnel. Tom Sizemore fell ill with the flu twice during filming because he was constantly cold and soaked through. Work on the film even had to be temporarily suspended when director Peter Hyams became ill.
• The creature appeared on screen in the second half of the film because its production took too long, and for this reason, the film was only released in the winter of 1996/1997.