The Fountain (2006)

 ●  English ● 1 hr 36 mins

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Soulful and suspenseful, this thrilling love story delves into the lives of three men – one each from the past, present, and future – who are separated by time and space, but united by purpose. Each of them, for different reasons, in different ways, desperately is in pursuit of eternity with their love. A conquistador in Mayan country searches for the tree of life to free his captive queen; Tommy, a modern-day medical researcher, working with various trees, desperately attempts to find a medical breakthrough that will save the life of his cancer-stricken wife, Izzi; a space traveler, traveling with an aged tree encapsulated within a bubble, moves toward a dying star that's wrapped in a nebula; he seeks eternity with his love. The stories intersect and parallel; the quests fail and succeed.
See Storyline (May Contain Spoilers)

Cast: Ellen Burstyn, Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz

Crew: Darren Aronofsky (Director), Matthew Libatique (Director of Photography), Clint Mansell (Music Director)

Rating: U/A (India)

Genres: Drama, Family, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi

Release Dates: 22 Nov 2006 (India)

Tagline: Death as an act of creation.

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Did you know? Both Rachel Weisz and Hugh Jackman agreed to work on the film at a reduced rate. Read More
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as Dr. Lillian Guzetti
as Tomas / Tommy / Tom Creo
as Isabel / Izzi Creo
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
as Captain Ariel
as Betty
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
as Father Avila
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
as Antonio
as Grand Inquisitor Silecio

Direction

Director
First Assistant Director

Production

Executive Producer
Associate Producer

Distribution

Distributor

Writers

Screenplay Writer
Story Writer

Camera and Electrical

Director of Photography

Music

Music Director

Sound

Sound Designer
Sound Re-recording Mixer
Foley Artist
Boom Operator

Art

Production Designer
Art Director

Casting

Casting Director

Costume and Wardrobe

Costume Designer

Editorial

Special Effects

Special Effects Coordinator
Special Effects Technician

Stunts

Stunt Director

Visual Effects

Visual Effects Producer
Digital Compositor
Visual Effects Artist
Film Type:
Feature
Language:
English
Colour Info:
Color
Sound Mix:
Dolby Digital, DTS
Camera:
Panaflex Millenium XL, Panaflex Platinum, Panavision Panaflex
Frame Rate:
24 fps
Aspect Ratio:
2.35:1
Stereoscopy:
No
Taglines:
Death as an act of creation.
Death frees every soul.
What if you could love forever?
Death is the road to awe.
Goofs:
Miscellaneous
There was no 'Kingdom of Spain' in the 16th century. Isabella of Castile created a dynastic union by Ferdinand of Aragon. It did not become a coherent single kingdom till much later.

Character Error
Tikal is mentioned by the queen's priest, however, it wasn't discovered until the mid 19th century, and the name Tikal ("place of voices") was applied only in the early 20th century by archaeologists. This scene is a novel-within-the-film written by Izzi Creo, whose research may not be perfect.

Errors in Geography
The "Xibalba Nebula" in the movie is the Orion Nebula - which is not gold and does not contain dying stars, unlike in the movie. It is largely pink (from ionized hydrogen gas) and is a stellar nursery where young stars are forming. The first stars to die there will be massive and will not create nebulae first (they will supernova instead).

Errors in Geography
The map used by the conquistadors to find the Tree of Life is erroneous. The priest says the three points which form an equilateral triangle on the map are Chichen Itza, Yaxchilan, and Tikal. However in reality, the three Mayan sites form an obtuse triangle, with Chichen Itza being the northern-most and the eastern-most point.

Errors in Geography
The second brightest star of Orion constellation, Betelgeuse, is missing in the sky views throughout the film.

Factual Mistake
In the final scene, Tommy plants a tree seed pod at the foot of Izzi's grave. The seed pod is from a Sweetgum tree but the pod appears to have lost its seeds already. The sweetgum seed is actually smaller than a grain of sand. It is disbursed by wind and rain from this pod. The pod never generates a tree directly from it.
Trivia:
Darren Aronofsky did not shave his beard till production was finished, a tradition he started while shooting Pi (1998).

Hugh Jackman had to shave off all of the hair on his head and chest for scenes in the last third of the movie.

In early 2002, writer/director Darren Aronofsky cast Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in the central leads of Tom and Izzi with a budget of $75 million. During pre-production, Pitt and Aronofsky were having major creative differences, so Pitt left to film Troy (2004) instead and the film was shut down, and the sets and props built in Australia were auctioned off. In early 2004, with a smaller budget of $35 million, Aronofsky cast Hugh Jackman as Tom and Rachel Weisz replaced Blanchett as Izzi. Warner Bros., who had invested 20 million dollars in the canceled version, agreed to finance the new, cheaper version.

Instead of using CGI, Darren Aronofsky chose to do the special effects for the film by using micro-photography of chemical reactions on tiny petri dishes. He has said that CGI would take away from the timelessness of the film and that he wants the film to stand the test of time.

Warner Bros. refused to do a director's commentary for the DVD release, so Darren Aronofsky recorded one in his living room and released it on his website.

Of the 70 extras cast as Mayan warriors, 20 were actual Mayans flown in from Guatemala. Fernando Hernandez, who played the Lord of Xibalba, was the only one who could speak English. Before shooting at the Mayan pyramid, the Mayan actors blessed the set.

Both Rachel Weisz and Hugh Jackman agreed to work on the film at a reduced rate.