Comprehensive information and links about The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is Wes Anderson's fourth feature length film and was released in the U.S. on December 25, 2004. It was written by Anderson and Noah Baumbach. The film stars Bill Murray as eccentric oceanographer Steve Zissou, who seeks to exact revenge on a shark that ate his partner Esteban. Zissou's character is both a parody of and homage to Jacques-Yves Cousteau, to whom the film is dedicated.

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The film details the adventures of the once famed documentarian Steve Zissou as he creates the last film near the end of his career. His recent film about his best friend Esteban's (Seymour Cassel) death from a "Jaguar shark" is a flop, and for his next project he is determined to find the creature and destroy it. Steve's crew includes Pelé dos Santos (Seu Jorge), a Brazilian musician who sings David Bowie songs in Portuguese, and Klaus Daimler (Willem Dafoe) who is a lovable German second-in-command who views Steve and Estaban as father figures and feels threatened by Steve's presumed son, Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson).

Ned is a polite, innocent and childlike southern gentleman whose mother had recently died. After meeting Steve at a premiere, he takes a break from his job as an airline pilot to join the Zissou crew and finance the new film when no one else will. Steve is also followed by a reporter Jane Winslett-Richardson (Cate Blanchett), who is a fan of his, and is pregnant with her married boss's child. She eventually falls in love with Ned. As a result, a rivalry develops between Ned and Steve, who is himself infatuated with Jane. The crew sets off on one last mission, facing pirates, financial problems, rescuing a bond company stooge (who is present at Zissou's producer, Oseary Drakoulias (Michael Gambon), insistance to make sure Ned's money is spent appropriately) and his successful, suave, rich, and part-gay nemesis Alistair Hennessey (Jeff Goldblum), and reuniting with his wife Eleanor (Anjelica Huston) who was once married to Hennessey. But while searching for the Jaguar Shark, the Zissou helicopter crashes, injuring Steve and killing Ned. Although it is revealed that Steve is sterile, Steve and Ned are as close as genuine father and son. Steve finally tracks down the shark but decides not to kill it, both because of its beauty and his lack of dynamite. Viewing the shark finally validates a daily existence that Steve feared may have become meaningless. Eleanor is moved by this and falls for Steve again. The finished "film-within-a-film" is a hit, and Steve wins an award and respect.

The sea creatures and underwater scenes in the film were created using stop-motion animation under the direction of Henry Selick, the man behind The shark Zissou hunts (which he has dubbed a "Jaguar shark"The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is actually a fictitious animal created using stop motion animation."Zissou" was the nickname of French photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue's older brother. The portrait of Lord Mandrake, Zissou's mentor, is based on a famous photograph of Lartigue, and the photographer (who died in 1986The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is even credited as playing the part in the end credits. Wes Anderson also referenced the photographer's work in Cate Blanchett's role as a pregnant reporter was originally sought after by Gwyneth Paltrow, Nicole Kidman (who was hired for the part at one point), and Julianne Moore. Blanchett was actually pregnant with her second child at the time.Steve Zissou's unpaid intern #1 was played by Mathew Gray Gubler who was an actual unpaid intern working for Wes Anderson for school credit at N.Y.U.Although Anderson had made up the main character's unlikely name, it was eventually learned that there is a real Steve Zissou, a trial lawyer in New York. After being contacted by the film's production company, Zissou granted permission for his name to be used in the film, and he is listed in the film's credits.[1]Team Zissou's sound editor, Pawel Wdowczak, was the actual sound editor on the movie. His only previous acting role had been for Wes Anderson's prior film, The film was released May 10, 2005, on DVD as part of the Criterion Collection, spine number 300. Anderson is the only director whose films are guaranteed a place on the prestigious label, although this honour has not yet been granted for his earliest feature, Seymour Cassel can be seen on the boat party (smoking a cigar, wearing sunglasses at night) briefly, right after the premiere of the movie showing his character Esteban allegedly dying.Owen Wilson's character Ned dies near the end of the film. Oddly, during the credits sequence, he reappears smoking his pipe on the top of the Belafonte. Though this is difficult to recognize, it has been confirmed by writer Noah Baumbach and writerdirecter Wes Anderson during the feature film commentary of the DVD. Anderson and Baumbach suggest that this scene is possibly a surreal dream sequence or an imaginary curtain call rather than an absurd reincarnation of Ned. If one takes the critical plot view that the entire film is actually by Steve Zissou, then the appearance of Ned at the end (or the appearance of Esteban smoking a cigar during the party after the release of 'part one') makes sense, since Ned would only be playing a role during the main storyline. The end credits to this film are very similar to the end credits to W. D. Richter's , in which Clancy Brown's character, Rawhide also dies, only to reappear during the closing criedits.Before Ned boards the helicopter with Steve, he reads a letter written to him by Jane. The letter only appears on screen for a few seconds, making it impossible to read it entirely without freezing a frame of the shot. It reads as follows:Dear Ned,I just wanted to say again howmuch I loved the sand dollarnecklace. The peppermint dentalfloss was an inspired touch. Whoare you, Ned Plimpton? I findmyself asking that question. Ihope you allow me to find out.Love, JaneThe film is full of cameo appearances. Robert Wilson (father of Luke and Owen Wilson) and Eric Chase Anderson appear during Ned's funeral. Noah Baumbach appears briefly as an extra when Bill Murray and Owen Wilson are visiting Oseary Drakoulias (Michael Gambon).) Devo member Mark Mothersbaugh composed the original score. In addition to Mothersbaugh's music, the soundtrack features songs by older artists and, most notably, David Bowie songs performed in Portuguese by cast member Seu Jorge (who adapted some lyrics to make them relevant to the film's story). All of the David Bowie songs featured in the film are originally from the 1969 album Several songs are featured in the film but do not appear on the soundtrack, including "Starálfur" by Sigur Rós and some of Seu Jorge's performances of David Bowie songs. A more complete compilation of Seu Jorge's performances an be found on