They included the number of people that viewed the film (approximately 100 million people have seen the movie in movie theatres, on home video and television), the number of times that the name “Wilson” was spoken by the protagonist (34 times according to Riku Kaijansinkko) and the number of times that the Wilson volleyball appeared in a scene. Maynard and Megan Scala calculated the costs that Wilson Sporting Goods Company would have to pay to advertise their product in the film. He was Forrest Gump, had AIDS, saved private Ryan, and in Cast Away he got a volleyball for a co-star. The additional data that is below the text show that Hanks was probably the most important Hollywood actor of the 90s. It “listened” and provided company to Chuck. This product placement is very interesting for one particular reason: product was not just visible and used, and Chuck didn’t just speak about it – the product became a character. Wilson ball turning into Wilson character in the movie Cast Away (2000, 20th Century Fox, screen capture) During this time, a volleyball washed up on shore, inspiring him to add to the script one of its most creative elements: Chuck’s inanimate companion, Wilson.
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While researching for the film Cast Away, he consulted with professional survival experts and then deliberately stranded himself on an isolated beach for one week, thus forcing himself to search for water and food, and obtain his own shelter. I’ll analyse FedEx’s placement soon, but let’s check some interesting facts about Wilson.Īccording to Wikipedia Wilson was created by screenwriter William Broyles Jr. Apparently Wilson and FedEx, the other prominent brand that had a significant part in the movie, didn’t pay for product placement. That ball eventually became “Wilson”, Chuck’s only company on the island. When he opened boxes from the plane, he found Wilson volleyball.
Somehow he got company … from the unlikeliest source. FedEx packages in the movie Cast Away (2000, 20th Century Fox, screen capture) The film shows his attempts to survive on the island using leftovers of his plane’s cargo, as well as his eventual escape and return to society. Just to remind you: in Cast Away Tom Hanks is Chuck, a FedEx employee who is stranded on an uninhabited island after FedEx’s plane crashes on a flight over the South Pacific. He even gained fifty pounds during pre-production to make him look like a chubby, middle-aged man. For a large period he was on screen alone. He was capable of being the lone character and the movie would still succeed. At the time of movie production Hanks was one of the hottest names in Hollywood. The movie Cast Away was acclaimed by critics and at the same time a box-office success. In 2000 Tom Hanks collaborated for the second time with director Robert Zemeckis in what was one of the most interesting stories about crashing to a deserted island. But in the year 2000 we had an excellent example of a fourth type: a brand became the character. A product or brand can be visible, used or someone can mention it. Wilson's loss is therefore a necessary component if Chuck is to complete his metamorphosis.In my first post on Brands&Films I’ve written that there are three classic types of product placement.
His desperation to hold on to Wilson is not only for friendship but also for stability and a sliver of what he considers normal. With this in mind, Wilson can be seen as the last shred of Chuck's hubris, an entity of his own creation with a literal part of him plastered onto it, floating away. He successfully escapes and gets out into the open ocean, but after a harsh storm, Wilson falls off the boat and floats away, leaving Chuck emotionally shattered.Ĭhuck's journey sees him start off as an obsessive workaholic overly concerned with time and become a humbled individual, stripped of the feeling of control he had over his life.
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Chuck manages to build a durable raft, using the plastic from a portable toilet that washes up to the island as a sail. This is most evident in how their relationship concludes. It sounds silly in concept (especially if all you've seen are parodies of the movie), but thanks to Tom Hanks' dedicated performance, we're taken on as much of an emotional roller coaster as he is. Chuck's relationship with the ball evolves into full-blown bursts of emotional back-and-forth with the inanimate object.
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