Editing The Bounty (1984 film) (section)

==Production==
===Development ===
====David Lean====
The film was originally a longstanding project of director [[David Lean]] and his frequent collaborator, [[Robert Bolt]]. They started working on a script in Bora Bora in October 1977. Lean and Bolt planned to make two films, one named ''The Lawbreakers'' that would deal with the voyage out to Tahiti and the subsequent mutiny, and the second named ''The Long Arm'', which would be a study of the journey and the mutineers after the mutiny, as well as the admiralty's response in sending out the frigate {{HMS|Pandora|1779|6}}.<ref name="mann"/>

In November 1977, producer [[Dino De Laurentiis]] announced he would finance the project and make it after his version of the ''[[Hurricane (1979 film)|Hurricane]]''.<ref name="clips">{{cite news|title=FILM CLIPS: The Man Behind the Kangaroo|author=Kilday, Gregg|work=Los Angeles Times|date=30 November 1977|page=G 12}}</ref> Phil Kellogg was to produce the films.<ref name="clips"/> In December of that year, Paramount announced they would finance and distribute.<ref>{{cite news|title=FILM CLIPS: Gere, Berenson: Up From Nasty|author=Kilday, Gregg|work=Los Angeles Times|date=12 December 1977|page=f16}}</ref> The intention was to shoot the film in Tahiti, where De Laurentiis had built a large facility for shooting ''Hurricane'', including a brand-new hotel.<ref>{{cite news|title='The Hurricane' Builds—in Cost|author=ALJEAN HARMETZ|work=The New York Times|date=1 June 1978|page=C 15}}</ref>

While working on the script, Lean directed a documentary, ''[[Lost and Found: The Story of Cook's Anchor]]'', about discovering an anchor that belonged to a ship of Captain Cook.

In August 1978, Lean said he expected each film to cost $25 million. "With the high brow critics you're as good as dead if you spend that sort of money on a film", he said. "For that kind of money, the argument runs, anyone should be able to make a good picture. Which is absolute rubbish."<ref>{{cite news|title=Confessions of a Blue-Eyed Arab|date=10 August 1978|work=Los Angeles Times|page=H 12}}</ref> A [[Bounty (1978 ship)|replica of ''The Bounty'']] was built in New Zealand. A script was finished by November 1978.

Bernard Williams became attached as producer. He says Lean and De Laurentiis assumed both films could be made for $40 million in total, but Williams budgeted ''The Lawbreakers'' alone at $40 million.<ref name="mann"/> De Laurentiis decided he could not afford to proceed. "Dino is no longer behind the project", said Kellogg in November, adding "The first script is finished and the second is underway. I expect the pictures to go in about a year by now and we'll make them back to back."<ref>{{cite news|title=Which Is the Fairest Farrah?|author=Mann, Roderick|work=Los Angeles Times|date=14 November 1978|page=F 11}}</ref>

On 12 April 1979, Bolt suffered a massive heart attack, followed by a stroke two days later, with the second script incomplete. In August 1979 Anthony Hopkins announced Lean had asked him to play Bligh.<ref name="play">{{cite news|title=Hopkins: His Play's the Thing: Hopkins: His Play's the Thing|author=Smith, Cecil|work=Los Angeles Times|date=13 August 1979|page=E 1}}</ref>

They looked at making the project as a seven-part TV series. Paramount were interested but decided to pull out after two months feeling the project was too "masculine" and lacked female interest.<ref name="mann"/><ref>{{cite news|title=It's Crystal-Ball Time in Hollywood|author=McCarthy, Todd|work=Film Comment|location=New York|volume=15|issue=1 (Jan/Feb 1979)|pages=77–79}}</ref> Lean tried to interest [[Sam Spiegel]] who persuaded the director to make just the one film. Lean had a go at the script himself.<ref>{{cite news|title=LEAN'S 14-YEAR PASSAGE TO LOVE|author=Mann, Roderick|work=Los Angeles Times|date=10 April 1983|page=W 21}}</ref>

Lean was ultimately forced to abandon the project after overseeing casting and the construction of the ''Bounty'' replica which cost $4 million. In June 1981 the producer was trying to sell the replica.<ref>{{cite news|title=Setting Sale: De Laurentiis' $4.5-Million Bounty Is Up for Grabs H.M.S. Bounty Replica Up For Grabs|author=Christian Williams|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=24 June 1981|page=B 1}}</ref>

"It was three years' work wasted", said Lean later. "And the sad part is, it was the best script I've ever had. It was really a cracker it would have made a marvellous film. But after all that work they pulled the rug from under me."<ref>{{cite news|title=MOVIES: AFtER 15 YEARS LEAN RETURNS TO ACTION|author=Mann, Roderick|work=Los Angeles Times|date=9 December 1984|page=S 37}}</ref>

De Laurentiis did not want to lose the millions he had already put into the project—$2 million in development costs plus the cost of the ship—and looked for another director.<ref>[http://lean.bfi.org.uk/material.php?theme=2&title=bounty] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080505070825/http://lean.bfi.org.uk/material.php?theme=2&title=bounty|date=5 May 2008}}</ref><ref name="los"/>

====Roger Donaldson====
Donaldson was an Australian who had forged a career as director in New Zealand with ''Sleeping Dogs'' and ''Smash Palace''. The latter was the first New Zealand film to obtain a distributor in the U.S. Donaldson said he met with de Laurentiis to discuss filming a sequel to ''Conan the Barbarian''. Donaldson worked on a new script for that film. "Some time during that period I mentioned that I thought The Bounty sounded like an interesting project", Donaldson said. "Well, when I finished with the Conan script, he didn't really like it so I figured, well, I'm finished with Dino."<ref name="phil"/>

The producer then offered him ''The Bounty'' despite not having seen any of the director's films and the fact that his biggest budget to date had been $1 million.<ref name="los">{{cite news|title=MOVIES: DIRECTOR ROGER DONALDSON: NEW MASTER OF 'THE BOUNTY'|author=Mann, Roderick|work=Los Angeles Times|date=6 May 1984|page=R 22}}</ref> (De Laurentiis later says he gave Donaldson the job on the basis of ''Smash Palace''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Mogul on the Bounty|author=de Laurentiis, Dino|work=The Guardian|date=12 May 1984|page=8}}</ref>)

"Making the movie was something that, initially, I wasn't sure I wanted to do", said Donaldson. "I thought it might be perceived as some sort of a remake. But I looked at it and decided I'd do it as long as I could do something completely on my own, not a remake at all, but based much more on fact—something to set the record straight."<ref name="phil"/>
 
"I saw it as an intense personal drama about two friends who have a tragic and violent falling out—a drama in which your sympathies change as events change", Donaldson said. "When you leave the movie, I hope that deep down you feel that you've understood a relationship between two men."<ref name="phil">{{cite news|title=HE BASED HIS 'BOUNTY' ON THE FACTS|author=Lyman, Rick|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=13 May 1984|page=I 2}}</ref>

===Casting===
Anthony Hopkins was one of two actors considered for the role of Captain Bligh by David Lean. The other was [[Oliver Reed]]. Hopkins was approached as early as 1978.<ref name="mann">{{cite news|title=THE 'BOUNTY' CASTS OFF ON THIRD VOYAGE|author=Mann, Roderick|work=Los Angeles Times|date=12 June 1983|page=T 23}}</ref>

In April 1980, when David Lean was still attached, [[Christopher Reeve]] was the favorite to play Fletcher Christian. Lean had enjoyed ''Superman'' and [[Katharine Hepburn]] had recommended Reeve to Lean.<ref>{{cite news|title=MOVIES: THEY'RE STANDING IN LINE FOR CHRISTOPHER REEVE|author=Mann, Roderick|work=Los Angeles Times|date=13 April 1980|page=L 23}}</ref> "It's not a remake", said Reeve. "The other versions were just remakes of the first movie. This is the true story based on the diaries of those actually on the Bounty and from the trial of the mutineers. It's the best screenplay I've ever read and it would be an honor and a privilege to accept the part of Christian."<ref>{{cite news|title=HE'S NOT SUPERMAN!|edition=FIRST|author=Kevin Kelly|work=The Boston Globe|date=24 August 1980|page=1}}</ref>

Reeve stayed on the project through the change in director. However he dropped out at the last minute and was replaced by Mel Gibson.<ref name="los"/> Gibson was looking for a project after ''The Night of the Running Man'' at MGM was cancelled. "I liked the idea they were going to show Bligh and Christian as the young men they were", said Gibson. "I also liked the idea of playing a role that [[Errol Flynn]] first attempted."<ref name="mann"/>

The role of [[Peter Heywood]] (who inspired the character 'Roger Byam' in the [[Mutiny on the Bounty (novel)|novel]] and earlier film versions) was originally intended to be played by [[Hugh Grant]].

Tevaite Vernette was spotted at Papeete Airport and offered the female lead. She had to be persuaded and only agreed to play the lead once filming began.<ref name="los"/>