Cocoon (film)
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| Cocoon | |
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 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Ron Howard |
| Produced by | David Brown Richard Zanuck |
| Written by | Tom Benedek David Saperstein |
| Starring | Don Ameche (Arthur) Wilford Brimley (Ben) Hume Cronyn (Joe) Jessica Tandy (Alma) Maureen Stapleton (Marilyn) Gwen Verdon (Bess) Steve Guttenberg (Jack) Brian Dennehy (Walter) Jack Gilford (Bernie) |
| Music by | James Horner |
| Cinematography | Donald Peterman |
| Editing by | Daniel P. Hanley Mike Hill |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | June 21, 1985 |
| Running time | 117 minutes |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Followed by | Cocoon: The Return |
| IMDb profile | |
Cocoon is a 1985 science fiction film, directed by Ron Howard about a group of elderly people who are rejuvenated by aliens. The movie starred Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Hume Cronyn, Brian Dennehy, Jack Gilford, Steve Guttenberg, Maureen Stapleton, Jessica Tandy, Gwen Verdon, Herta Ware, Tahnee Welch, and Linda Harrison.
The movie was filmed in and around St. Petersburg, Florida: locations included the St Petersburg Shuffleboard Club, The Coliseum, and Snell Arcade buildings. The film was given two Academy Awards.
It spawned one sequel, Cocoon: The Return, in which almost all of the original cast reprised their roles.
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[edit] Plot
Around 10,000 years ago, a group of peaceful alien lifeforms, from the planet Anterea, formed an outpost on the planet Earth on an island known to mankind as the mythical civilization Atlantis. As per legend, this outpost sank due to an earthquake, and in order for them to leave, 20 members remained behind so that the rest would have enough lifeforce to return to their home planet.
Eventually, a group of four Antereans returns to pick them up. They disguise themselves as humans, rent a house with a swimming pool, and charge this pool with lifeforce, so that the cocooned Antereans can sustain enough energy to survive the trip home.
Meanwhile, Ben, Arthur and Joe, three local residents from a retirement home (played by Wilford Brimley, Don Ameche, and Hume Cronyn respectively) go to swim in the pool secretly and take in some of the lifeforce, which causes them to feel younger, stronger, and happier again. They are caught, but are eventually given permission by the head Anterean, Walter (played by Brian Dennehy), to use the pool through negotiation with one of them. Bernie, one of the other elderly people from the retirement home (played by Jack Gilford) well-known for his extreme pessimism, who also knows of the nature of the aliens, obstinately refuses to use the healing power that he and his dying spouse need, believing it to be unnatural to extend or interfere human life in this manner. He carelessly reveals the secret of the pool's rejuvenating power one day by confronting his "pool" friends out loud about it during a group dinner at the retirement home, resulting in all of the other elderly residents rushing off and breaking in on to the Antereans' property, and barging their way into the pool. Walter, infuriated, ejects the retirement home inhabitants, but as too many people have been in the pool at one time (and some of them carelessly tampered with a few of the cocoons), all the life force has been drained, and the Antereans cannot take along the cocoons anymore; in fact, at least one of the cocoon inhabitants dies as a result of the loss of the pool's nourishing energy.
That night, Bernie's wife dies and he takes her to the pool, tenderly splashing water over her face to try to revive her, but Walter explains that the power of the pool is gone and that there is nothing he can do to bring Bernie's wife back to life. With the help of Ben, Arthur and Joe the Antereans return the cocoons to the ruins of Atlantis. Because the Antereans are unable to take the cocoons with them to their home planet, they offer the spare places aboard their spaceship to the retirement home inhabitants, and, with the exception of Bernie, who chooses to live out his natural life on Earth, most of the main cast return with the Antereans to their homeworld, where they will never grow ill, never age and never die.
[edit] Trivia
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- The dialogue in the scene where Wilford Brimley fishes with his grandson was totally improvised after Brimley suggested to the director that his character talk to the boy, originally the scene was shorter with no dialogue, just showing them fishing.
- Initially Robert Zemeckis was attached to direct Cocoon, but, after working on the project for a year, he was replaced with Ron Howard. Zemeckis later explained, "I was fired from Cocoon! Not because I was difficult or anything [but] because I showed them the rough cut of [my film] Romancing the Stone. The next day: Wham!"[1] 1984's Romancing the Stone, dismissed by many studio insiders as a surefire flop, actually became a surprise hit upon its release.
- The music during the Coast Guard chase scene at the end of the film features a cue of "The Genesis Countdown" from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The cue can be heard just before Ben's grandson jumps overboard to distract the Coast Guard boats. Both soundtracks were composed and conducted by film composer, James Horner.
- Ron Howard's brother, mother and father all appear in the film. His brother, Clint Howard, portrays "John Dexter", one of the nursing home orderlies.
- Wilford Brimley was only 50 years old at the time of this film's production. He had to have his hair dyed gray in order to make him look geriatric.
- Hume Cronyn was a Golden Gloves boxer and lost sight in one eye. In the scene where he hits the young orderly, without depth perception, he actually hit the young man and knocked him out.
- The effects team revealed in interviews that the dolphins in the underwater scenes were animatronic, not live ones.
- The real dolphin is said to live in the Bahamas, at a "swim with the dolphins exhibit."
- In the episode 'My Five Stages' (Season 5, ep.13) of the sitcom Scrubs, J.D describes what death will be like for a patient, to which Dr. Hedrick replies, "That was the ending to...Cocoon."
- Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy were husband and wife in real life and played husband and wife in Cocoon. They played husband and wife also in the sequel, Cocoon: The Return, and *batteries not included.
[edit] Awards
- Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Don Ameche in 1985
- Academy Award for Visual Effects in 1985
[edit] References
- ^ Horowitz, Mark. "Back with a Future," American Film July/Aug. 1988. pp. 32-35.
[edit] External links
- Cocoon at the Internet Movie Database
- Cocoon at Rotten Tomatoes
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