Released: July 28, 1995

Directed By: Kevin Reynolds

Written By: Peter Rader and David Twohy

Stars: Kevin Costner, Dennis Hopper, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Tina Majorino, Michael Jeter and a bunch of other actors.

Plot: In a future where the polar ice-caps have melted and Earth is almost entirely submerged, a mutated mariner fights starvation and outlaw “smokers,” and reluctantly helps a woman and a young girl try to find dry land.

Taglines: Beyond the horizon lies the secret to a new beginning.

How did this movie do?
Budget: $175 Million ($235 Million after marketing & distribution)
Box Office: $264 Million ($88 Million at the US box office, $176 at the foreign box office)

• Samuel L. Jackson turned down the role of Deacon in order to be in Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995). Gene Hackman, James Caan and Gary Oldman also all turned down the role of the Deacon. Jack Nicholson was considered for The Deacon, but was deemed too expensive.
• Tina Majorino was nicknamed “Jellyfish Candy” by the crew after she was stung three different times during production.
• Jeanne Tripplehorn and Tina Majorino would later go on to star together in the HBO series Big Love (2006).

• Nominated for Best Sound at the Academy Awards

• The film originally started out as a low-budget apocalyptic film for the studio of Roger Corman, but as soon as the decision was made to situate it mainly on sea, Corman had to pull out due to budget concerns.
  
  
• Co-written by David Twohy, who cited The Road Warrior (1981) as a major inspiration.
  
  
• A comic book sequel to the movie reveals that Mariner’s mutation is actually from genetic engineering vs. evolution and that his origins may be linked to those of the “Sea Eater”, the sea monster seen during the fishing scene in the film.
  
  
• In July 2021, it was announced Universal Cable Productions was in early development on a follow-up TV series to be directed by Dan Trachtenberg.
  
  
• The preferred 3-hour cut of director Kevin Reynolds was drastically edited back to a 135-minute theatrical version by Kevin Costner and the studio, probably in an effort to recoup the film’s inflated $175 million dollar budget (since Costner’s previous 3-hour movie Wyatt Earp (1994) had been a box office bomb). ABC later broadcast an extended TV version that restored almost 40 minutes of deleted scenes, which explain more about the world, the people who live there, the Smokers’ religious beliefs and their ability to refine crude oil.
  
  
• There is a fan-edit version restoring cut footage that was sanctioned and rereleased by the distributor called Waterworld: The Ulysses Cut.
  
  
• It is rumored that director Kevin Reynolds and Kevin Costner had a huge squabble over the film, resulting in Reynolds walking off the project, and leaving Costner to take over directing and oversee editing. Reynolds was quoted as saying that “Kevin Costner should only star in movies he directs. That way, he can work with his favorite actor and favorite director”.
  
  
• Seventeen years after their falling out and after this movie was released, Kevin Costner and Kevin Reynolds made amends and worked on Hatfields & McCoys (2012).
  
  
• Prior to Titanic (1997), this was the most expensive movie ever produced.
  
  
• The floating atoll set used up all the available steel in the Hawaiian Islands. When more was required, it had to be flown in from California. The runway at Kona Airport actually had to be extended by a quarter mile to accommodate the heavy planes that had to land there.
  
  
• Joss Whedon flew out to the set to do last-minute rewrites on the script’s third act aboard the Smokers’ ship, the ‘Deez’. He later described it as “seven weeks of hell”, stating that he did little more than taking notes from Kevin Costner and trying to work them in the script, because nobody listened to his ideas. In the end he “wrote a few puns, and a few scenes that I can’t even sit through because they came out so bad.”
  
  
• Jeanne Tripplehorn refused to strip for this film, even though she had done nude scenes before (and would do them after this film). She insisted on choosing her body double, as she wanted the naked backside shown to resemble her own. She had the three finalists come into her trailer and drop their robes. She described it as such an odd experience that none of them could stop laughing. In between takes of the nude scene, Tripplehorn remained off-camera to offer a robe or towel to the double.
  
  
• The sunken city visited by the Mariner and guest consists of elaborate miniature buildings shot in smoke to simulate the opacity of water. Shots of Kevin Costner and Jeanne Tripplehorn were filmed separately inside a water tank used for astronaut training, and composited into the underwater shots; computer-generated images (CGI) were used to add water ripple effects and bubbles. One of the buildings was a miniature of a local donut shop, jokingly called ‘Mike’s Donuts’ in honor of visual effects supervisor Michael J. McAlister (Mike), with a big life preserver on top instead of a donut. Another miniature is a sunken version of the ‘Orca’ from Jaws (1975). These miniatures were combined with backgrounds of a digitally edited Denver, Colorado. The “Norwest Building” (roughly shaped like a cash register) can be seen in one shot.
  
  
• Jeanne Tripplehorn and Tina Majorino nearly drowned on their first day of filming when the trimaran they were on sank, dragging them behind it.
  
  
• Kevin Costner nearly died when he got caught in a squall while tied to the mast of his trimaran. The ship was rocking dangerously, and the crew had to navigate it to calmer waters before they could attempt to get Costner safely down the mast.
  
  
• The language Kevin Costner speaks to the lime stealing drifter early in the movie is Hindi.
  
  
• Kevin Costner was going through a bitter divorce during filming, which Kevin Reynolds felt probably added to his grim and somewhat unsympathetic portrayal of the Mariner.
  
  
• The cost of the Atoll floating set, 1,000 tons and a quarter of a mile in length, was $22m.
  
  
• Director Kevin Reynolds asked Steven Spielberg for counsel, as he had experience with filming on water while making Jaws (1975). Spielberg gave him one simple advice: do not shoot on open water. Jaws had a production that was almost as troubled as Waterworld’s would be, due to Spielberg’s insistence to shoot on the ocean rather than a water tank or lake. The inability to control the elements on the open sea caused Jaws’ shoot to infamously balloon from a scheduled 55 days to over 155.
  
  
• The harpoon gun (Greener light harpoon gun) used by the Mariner is the same model used by Quint in Jaws.
  
  
• Filming shut down 3 times due to hurricane alerts.
  
  
• Although the exact year that the film takes place is never mentioned, production designer Dennis Gassner has suggested it’s set in 2500. This is mentioned Janine Pourroy’s “The Making of Waterworld,” published by Boulevard Books in 1995.
  
  
• The child’s name, Enola, is “alone” spelled backwards.
  
  
• The entire slaver faction was written out when the set was destroyed.
  
  
• Screenwriter David Twohy later went on to write and direct the Riddick films starring Vin Diesel as the title anti-hero Richard B. Riddick which were produced and released by Universal Pictures which was the production company that produced and released Waterworld (1995).
  
  
• Although it is never confirmed in the theatrical cut that Dryland is actually Mount Everest, the numbers on the tattoo on Enola’s back actually give Everest’s exact coordinates. In the longer Ulysses Cut of the film, it is made explicit: as Helen and Enola wave goodbye to the Mariner from a mountain top, they find a plaque that commemorates the first explorers (Hillary and Norgay) setting foot on Mount Everest’s summit in 1953.
  
  
• In the original ending of the film, it was explained that The Mariner isn’t leaving simply because he is freaked out over Dryland or that he feels he truly belongs on the open waters of Waterworld. He reveals to Helen that there may be other mutants like himself out there and that he must find them to tell them about Dryland and Helen. This ending was restored in the extended Ulysses Cut of the film.
  
  
• In the extended cut of the film (the Ulysses Cut), at the end when The Mariner is about to set sail and leave Dryland, Helen tells The Mariner about the Greek legend of Ulysses (from the Odyssey), which is Helen’s farewell gift to The Mariner, which he will need on his journey and that she is suggesting that Ulysses should be his name. Helen herself was named after Helen of Troy, from the Illiad and the Odyssey.