The Bounty

Top 10 Fun Facts

1. If you're itching to walk in Mel Gibson's footprints, the ship used to portray The Bounty is now a cruise charter in Discovery Bay, Hong Kong.
2. Mel Gibson joined an elite group of actors who have played Fletcher Christian, including Errol Flynn, Clark Gable and Marlon Brando. Dave Foley also played a man named Fletcher Christian on an episode of "The Kids in the Hall," but he was the assistant manager of a shoe store and not a nautical hero.
3. Before Gibson was cast as Fletcher Christian, several other actors were considered for the role, including British singer Gordon Sumner - better known as Sting.
4. Another British singer had a crack at the role - but when David Essex didn't get the part, he went on to co-write and star as Fletcher Christian in a West End musical version of the story called Mutiny! That's not a joke. Look it up.
5. Christopher Reeve was recommended for the part of Fletcher Christian by his good friend Katharine Hepburn, but Reeve turned it down. Creative free will: just one of the many perks of being Superman.
6. Coincidentally, Warner Bros. backed out of the project in the early development stages, because the studio was hugely over budget with its 1978 action flick Superman.
7. The film was originally conceived as a sprawling historical epic in two separate parts. Like Kill Bill with scurvy.
8. Check your history books: the characters mention "Australia" even though it was still known as New Holland at the time the film's events took place.
9. It's not as bad as Moses wearing a wristwatch in The Ten Commandments, but a pair of modern channel markers is visible as The Bounty leaves Tahiti.
10. This is why the Boy Scouts say you should be prepared: Hugh Grant was cast in the film, but was then fired for not having a union card. He missed out on his first film role and a trip to Tahiti.

Cast

Crew