Trailer
Plot summary
Captain John Finnegan runs a boat with his crew, Joey and Leila, until Hanover and his armed mercenaries hire them for a crossing of the South China Sea to a rendezvous point. The Argonautica, a luxury cruise ship owned by Simon Canton, is on its maiden voyage when a thief, Trillian, is caught and locked in the brig, the ship's navigation and communication systems fail, and something from beneath seizes the hull. A speedboat the Argonautica shook loose collides with Finnegan's boat, and the mercenaries seize control, meaning to loot the liner's vault and then sink it with torpedoes stored aboard. They board and reach the grand atrium, where they find blood and no passengers. Finnegan and Joey go to the workshop for parts to repair their boat, and Trillian, escaped, runs into them.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Deep Rising (1998)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Claire Forlani was originally cast as Trillian but quit after just three days over creative differences with director Stephen Sommers; her replacement, Famke Janssen, almost lost the part too because producers thought she was too recognizable from GoldenEye.
- Harrison Ford turned down the role of John Finnegan, which later went to Treat Williams, and the film's budget was afterwards downsized.
- Stephen Sommers began writing the script while working at Hollywood Pictures in the mid-1990s, under the title Tentacle, and was inspired to write it after reading a National Geographic article about jellyfish.
SPOILER
The cruise ship Argonautica is an original design not based on any existing vessel; its exterior shots were computer-generated, and two models were built, a 38-foot one for shots at sea and a 110-foot one for the sinking.
