''Fishtales'' is a 2007 family comedy film directed by Alki David and
Michael Greenspan
Michael Greenspan (born 1974) is a Canadian film director best known for his premiere film, the psychological thriller '' Wrecked'', which debuted at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Film Festival and starred Academy Award-winning actor Adrien Brody and actre ...
, and starring
Billy Zane
William George Zane Jr. (born February 24, 1966) is an American actor. His breakthrough role was in the 1989 Australian film ''Dead Calm'', a performance that earned him a nomination for the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promi ...
and Kelly Brook about a widowed father who falls in love with a
mermaid
In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Mermaids are sometimes asso ...
. The film was released theatrically in the UK on 24 August 2007.
At the time of filming, co-stars
Billy Zane
William George Zane Jr. (born February 24, 1966) is an American actor. His breakthrough role was in the 1989 Australian film ''Dead Calm'', a performance that earned him a nomination for the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promi ...
and Kelly Brook were engaged to be married, but they later split up. This was the second time the two worked together on a film, the first being when they met, on the set of ''
Survival Island
''Survival Island'', also known as ''Three'', is a 2005 erotic thriller survival film written and directed by Stewart Raffill and starring Billy Zane, Kelly Brook, and Juan Pablo Di Pace.
Plot
Jack and Jennifer are a wealthy couple who are y ...
''.
Plot
Widowed Classics Professor Thomas Bradley (
Billy Zane
William George Zane Jr. (born February 24, 1966) is an American actor. His breakthrough role was in the 1989 Australian film ''Dead Calm'', a performance that earned him a nomination for the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promi ...
) is about to lose his research grant studying ancient love spells at Oxford University. He knows he is close to a major academic breakthrough and desperately needs more time to complete his research. Thomas is given one last chance to finish his work, and goes to the Greek island of
Spetses
Spetses ( el, Σπέτσες, grc, Πιτυούσσα "Pityussa", Arvanitika: Πετσε̱) is an upscale affluent island in Attica, Greece. It is included as one of the Saronic Islands. Until 1948, it was part of the old prefecture of Argolis ...
, where he has been invited to stay at the home of a supportive Oxford don Professor Coulter. Thomas brings along his 12-year-old daughter, Serena (
Amber Savva
Amber Zoe Savva (born 1993) is a British actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Serena in the 2007 film ''Fishtales''.
Filmography
* ''The Bill'' (2005, 1 episode) Sanura Azmi
* ''Fishtales
''Fishtales'' is a 2007 family comedy ...
). The house is in tolerable condition, and Serena finds a book about merpeople that has an ancient Greek inscription on the cover.
Serena is supportive of her father and readily asks him about ancient mythology, but feels that he dedicates too much of himself to his work. The pair meet a fisherman named Captain Mavros ( Alki David) and his son Dimitri (Felix Yanez); Dimitri develops a romantic crush on Serena.
Neried ( Kelly Brook), a mermaid who can only take human form at night, travels on land to meet Thomas. When they initially cannot get along, Serena asks that Neried only help her father translate some old relics for his work. Neried does, and when she and Thomas speak the ancient love spell in unison, they fall deeply in love with each other. Thomas realises that the writing on the book Serena had discovered earlier is the key to understanding all of the ancient text, enabling him to continue his work.
Cast
*
Billy Zane
William George Zane Jr. (born February 24, 1966) is an American actor. His breakthrough role was in the 1989 Australian film ''Dead Calm'', a performance that earned him a nomination for the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promi ...
Amber Savva
Amber Zoe Savva (born 1993) is a British actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Serena in the 2007 film ''Fishtales''.
Filmography
* ''The Bill'' (2005, 1 episode) Sanura Azmi
* ''Fishtales
''Fishtales'' is a 2007 family comedy ...
as Serena Bradley
* Felix Yanez as Dimitri Mavros
* Effi Papatheodorou as Klymeni
* John Nettleton as Professor Coulter
*
Terrence Hardiman
Terrence Hardiman (born 6 April 1937)Biographical detail
* Rosie Ashcroft – Hyperventilating "the sun"
* Alkie Davis – Ocean Lies
* Puscha - Steal Your Life Back
Production
The film was shot on location on the Greek Island of
Spetses
Spetses ( el, Σπέτσες, grc, Πιτυούσσα "Pityussa", Arvanitika: Πετσε̱) is an upscale affluent island in Attica, Greece. It is included as one of the Saronic Islands. Until 1948, it was part of the old prefecture of Argolis ...
during the summer of 2006, with extra footage filmed later in London.
Director Alki David, an avid
dive
Diving most often refers to:
* Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water
* Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes
Diving or Dive may also refer to:
Sports
* Dive (American football), a ...
enthusiast, paid particular attention to the quality of the underwater sequences. Specialist equipment was required to achieve the underwater scenes in the film.
During shooting for the film, Brook, when attempting to surface between shots, hit her head on the underside of a rock and almost drowned in her full costume.
Brook had a stunt and body double for the portions of the film that involved swimming beyond her ability, the job was given to a 29-year-old
free-diver
Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving is a form of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear.
Besides the limits of breath-h ...
from
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
. The double, Hannah Stacey, used to hold the UK's free diving woman's record of 54 m (177 ft) on a single breath.
Both Brook and Stacey wore tails that were moulded individually to fit each of them and took three and a half months to build.
Release and response
The film premiered at the
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
in 2007, where it received very poor reviews and some critics walked out before the film had finished. One critic claimed 'This is the worst movie I've seen in a very long time I fell asleep within the first 15 minutes'
Due to the film's very poor reception, it only grossed $9,216 when it was released in the United Kingdom, potentially qualifying it as a box office bomb. Other gross figures remain unknown.Box Office Mojo /ref>
It was released theatrically in August 2007 across the UK, US and Canada.
It was released on DVD in August 2008 across the US and Canada.