Trailer
Plot summary
Amacore's test rig in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia has produced nothing, so the company sends Captain Frank Towns and co-pilot A.J. to close the operation and fly the crew out. Among the passengers are Amacore executive Ian, rig supervisor Kelly, and a hitchhiker named Elliott. En route to Beijing, a dust storm takes out an engine, and the C-119 Flying Boxcar comes down in an uncharted stretch of desert. The survivors find themselves 200 miles off course with roughly a month's water. When no rescue comes, Elliott pitches an idea: rebuild the wrecked plane into something that can fly.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Flight of the Phoenix (2004)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Camera operator and second unit cinematographer Ciaran Barry was filming behind a plywood barrier when an 800-pound fiberglass model plane, propelled down an elevated track, bounced off a sand dune in the Namibian desert and crashed into his hut. In October 2009 a Los Angeles jury awarded Barry $3.95 million for broken legs and neurological damage.
- Co-writer Edward Burns was personally asked to rewrite the film's dialogue by Tom Rothman, then president of Fox, who had discovered Burns when he bought The Brothers McMullen as Fox Searchlight's first acquisition. It is the only film Burns has a writing credit on that he did not also direct.
- A ferry sank during transportation of a major set piece across a river, forcing the river bottom salvage of the aircraft fuselage, and Jared Padalecki flipped his vehicle during the production.
- One of the C-119 aircraft used for the flying shots, N15501, was still flying as of 2007 and is now part of the Lauridsen Collection at the Buckeye Municipal Airport.
