Cast Away remains one of Tom Hanks most iconic movies to date, in which he gives an Oscar-nominated (and Golden Globe-winning) performance as a man marooned on a deserted island after surviving a plane crash.
The film, directed by Forrest Gump’s Robert Zemeckis, follows Hanks’ Chuck Nolan, a FedEd systems engineer-turned survivalist who undergoes a physical and emotional transformation while attempting to stay alive on a remote island in the South Pacific.
Hanks himself endured a near-death experience while filming after getting an infection in his leg. The actor was rushed to hospital and production shut down for three weeks while he recovered.
“[Cast Away] put me in the hospital. I was there for three days with something that, believe it or not, almost killed me,” he told BBC Radio 1. “I got an infection from a cut and it was eating its way through my leg.
“I didn’t know it, I just thought I had a sore. I went to the doctor who took one look and said, ‘I have to put you in the hospital because we have to get this infection out of you before it poisons your blood and you die. We had to shut down for three weeks while my skin reformed.”
Meanwhile, the film’s cast also includes Helen Hunt, Paul Sanchez, and of course, Wilson the Volleyball.
While Hanks picked up a Golden Globe for his role, he lost out on an Oscar to Russell Crowe for Gladiator.
Although the situation Chuck finds himself in is precarious, the setting is breathtakingly idyllic, boasting crystal clear water, white sand, rugged landscapes and palm-lined beaches. We’ve found out more about where exactly the movie is set, and whether it can be visited by Cast Away fans and intrepid travellers.
Read on for more details about Cast Away’s location below.
Where is Cast Away filmed?
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The deserted island in Cast Away was filmed on Modriki Island in Fiji. Modriki Island, also known as Monuriki Island, is a tiny uninhabited island situated in the Mamanuca Island group, located just off the main island of Viti Levu, Fiji’s largest island.
At approximately 600m wide, 1km long and with a land area of just 100 acres, Modriki Island can be explored by tourists on foot. It’s surrounded by coral reef on all sides, making it ideal for snorkelling and scuba-diving, and also features volcanic rocks, lagoons and a number of small beaches.
Over 100 members of the film’s cast and crew lived on the island while production was underway, and the island has become a tourist attraction after the film’s release in 2000.
Almost every resort on the nearby islands offers day trips to Modriki, and Fiji’s Seaspray schooner sails daily from Denarau and a number of other island resorts.
Meanwhile, scenes were also filmed in Moscow, and the movie begins and ends in the same location, on the Arrington Ranch in the Texas Panhandle south of the city of Canadian, Texas.
Cast Away can be rented or purchased on Amazon – try Amazon Prime Video for free for 30 days. Check out our Film hub for more news, interviews and features or find something to watch with our TV Guide.
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