Cast Away

Cast Away (2000)

45 mistakes

(55 votes)

Factual error: When Chuck cleans out the pocket of the dead pilot, we see the pilot's employee ID badge. He is employee number 186801 and was hired in 1987. I was hired in 1992 with an ID number of 161XXX. My brother was hired in 1988 with an ID number of 88XXX. The pilot's ID number should have been lower than my brother's.

luchador

Continuity mistake: When Tom Hanks sees the ship from the beach, it is obvious there is a pane in front of the camera. However, as he is jumping up and down through the scene, his shadow changes angles from in front of him, to a very low angle behind him.

Visible crew/equipment: When he collects coconuts for the first time if you look in the lower right corner you can see some sort of light flashing, I'm guessing maybe a light meter or possibly a two-way radio that the crew was using.

Other mistake: When Tom Hanks throws the spear at the fish it's sticking straight up. He's too close for that to happen. He would've had to throw it straight up a long way for that to happen.

Family5

Other mistake: In the cave we see Tom Hanks drawing an analemma without a precise timekeeper, which is needed to draw one. What he could have done is a meridian rect, which is build with the meridian time. The analemma is the differential chart between the solar time and civil time.

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Suggested correction: No, what we see is Tom Hanks drawing a chalk outline on a wall to approximate the date. There is no reason to assume he got it exactly right or knew exactly what he was doing. He probably started just by drawing lines on the cave wall to mark the days then noticed the light.

Greg Dwyer

I'm afraid "just drawing lines" doesn't create the well-crafted analemma you see in the movie. A very precise time-keeping device is necessary: just a minute off will dramatically change the shape.

Chuck Noland: I couldn't even kill myself the way I wanted to. I had power over nothing.

More quotes from Cast Away

Trivia: When the shots on the island were finished, the sound had to be completely redone, as the surf was too loud.

More trivia for Cast Away

Question: Does anyone know what's officially in the mystery package and why Chuck never opens it, or is it just a 'McGuffin' like the briefcase in Pulp Fiction?

Answer: No one knows what was in the package. I think Chuck doesn't open it in order to keep his sanity. The package is his only link to his life before being stranded, working for FedEx and making sure packages get delivered. He was determined to make sure it got delivered just as he was determined to survive and get back to civilization. Success in one meant success in the other. While Zemeckis has joked there was a waterproof satellite phone in it, the real answer from the script is, no joke, salsa verde. Its a care package with a note imploring Bettina's (the artist) husband (naked cowboy) to come back and spice up their life like the salsa.

Answer: The package he got had divorce papers in them. He signed them and then placed them back in the package for return to her.

Here's my spin. Bettina's husband travels and is on assignment in Moscow. He's cheating on her, she knows it, files for divorce, and sends the papers through FedEx to him in Moscow. He signs them and returns in the same box. They end up on Chuck's flight, which crashes. He recovers them but decides not to open them. They re-file for divorce. Chuck returns the box, gazes down the road, and decides to go back and tell his story to her. They laugh about the old papers and live happily ever after.

Answer: In the third draft of the movie there's a scene where Chuck opens the package and finds salsa and a note from the woman in the beginning asking her husband to come home. It's also revealed that she doesn't mind that he never got the package. Pretty unsatisfactory, probably why it was cut and left a mystery.

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