User:Happy Evil Dude/Dark Tide Workshop

Dark Tide is an upcoming 2011 American independent thriller film directed by John Stockwell and starring Academy Award winner Halle Berry and César Award winner Olivier Martinez in the lead roles. Berry plays Kate Mathieson, a troubled diving instructor who finds herself confronted to great white sharks on an expedition with her ex-boyfriend Jeff, played by Martinez.

Unrelated to the 1994 film of the same name, Dark Tide, along with Shark Night 3D, marks the return of the theatrical shark monster movie, 12 years after Deep Blue Sea. In the meantime, the sub-genre had been restricted to direct-to-video and TV efforts. The film was shot in South Africa and at Pinewood Studios during the summer of 2010 and is currently in the post-production stages with an expected release sometime in 2011.

Premise
Katie Mathieson (Halle Berry) was once a shark naturalist and documentarian, renowned for her attraction to great white sharks and her willingness to swim among them without the protection of a cage. One day, Kate and her fellow researchers were out in the ocean, tagging some great whites. As they were just about finished, they decided to go after one last shark, foregoing the regular security procedures in their haste. The tagging process went horribly wrong and Kate suffered a near-fatal encounter with the huge shark during which she witnessed the death of her mentor Walter (Sizwe Msutu). A year later, Kate spends her time as a diving instructor giving mundane wildlife tours around Guadalupe Island. On day, during monsoon season, she agrees to accompany a small group of tourists and marine biologists, among whom is her estranged husband and partner Jeff (Olivier Martinez), but disaster strikes as the group finds themselves shipwrecked on a rocky island, surrounded by great whites and with no means to escape. Mathieson will be forced to push through a series of physical and emotional challenges, face her fears and eventually overcome them.

Cast

 * Halle Berry as Kate Mathieson, a diving instructor and the film's heroine
 * Olivier Martinez as Jeff, Kate's estranged husband and partner
 * Ralph Brown as Brady
 * Sizwe Msutu as Walter, Kate's mentor

Writing
Dark Tide marks the first screenplay sale for journalist Amy Sorlie. A fan of Steven Spielberg's Jaws, Sorlie said she tried to be respectful to great white sharks as opposed most other shark films which she describes as cheesy. The screenwriter claims to have done a substantial amount of research while penning the initial drafts of her script, and even went cage diving at the Farallon Islands, a spot of the coast of San Francisco renowned for its great white population. Sorlie's script was later rewritten by Ronnie Christensen, best known for his work on the thrillers Passengers and Locked In.

Development
Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey (Twilight) bought Amy Sorlie's script through Temple Hill Entertainment and are credited as executive producers. The film's budget was arranged by Social Capital Films' Martin Shore and Christopher Tuffin (Hood of Horror) who also receive executive producer credits. The relatively low-budget independent film is produced by Jeanette Buerling (The Experiment) and Matthew E. Chausse (The Countess) along with an array of 21 executive, associate, supervising, line and co-producers for various production companies including the Magnet Media Group, Mirabelle Pictures, 1984 Films, Lipsync Productions and Film Afrika Worldwide.

The film was initially to be directed by Clark Johnson, best known for the films S.W.A.T. and The Sentinel. Johnson was involved in all aspects of the film's pre-production, including casting and location scouting. Sometime during development, the lead character's name was changed from Sara to Kate. While unconfirmed, it is possible that the change occured due to Shark Night 3D's main character also being called Sara, with both shark films getting released the same year.

Casting
Halle Berry (X-Men, Die Another Day) was cast in early September 2009, making her the first actor involved with the film. Along with Frankie and Alice, the film marks a comeback for the actress, who'd taken a break since Things We Lost in the Fire in 2007 to concentrate on motherhood. Berry's casting was met with a considerable amount of derision and speculation that the actress wasn't the star she once was by the online film community, due to the low-budget nature of the film and Berry's former A-list status. Other however viewed Berry's participation as potential that the film "could end up being the sexy version of Jaws". According to screenwriter Amy Sorlie, the actress' involvement with the film was what made it possible for Dark Tide to eventually get made. She reportedly took the role due to the promise of "filming thrilling scenes amidst great white sharks in the deep sea". Indeed Film Afrika Worldwide spokesperson Joy Sapieka declared that "this is the most physically daring shoot Berry has ever signed on for and the gripping action scenes place her in touching distance of the sharks".

Colin Jones and Gail Stevens (You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger) served as the film's casting directors.

Filming
While initially stated to start filming in South Africa in late 2009, Dark Tide was delayed till the summer of 2010. As a result, Shoe Addicts Anonymous, in which Halle Berry was set to star at the time was delayed itself. Clark Johnson actually directed a few initial shots in June, but by the time principal photography started in late July, he'd been replaced by John Stockwell. Like Johnson, Stockwell started out as an actor, and to his advantage he already had considerable experience with water-centric films, having previously helmed the hits Blue Crush and Into the Blue, the latter which also involved sharks.

Halle Berry left for South Africa, which doubles for Guadalupe Island, on July 24 with her daughter and her ex-boyfriend Gabriel Aubry. Although the couple had recently separated, Berry legally needed Aubry to be present if she wanted her daughter to accompany her during the shoot. The estranged family rented a house to live in and Berry paid Aubry as a full-time nanny to compensate him for his troubles. The actress celebrated her 44th birthday while shooting the film and made an effort to go sightseeing with her daughter and her ex when she wasn't filming.

Locations in South Africa include Cape Town, Seal Island (a well-known great white shark haunt), Simon's Town , False Bay , Hout Bay and Gansbaai. The production acquired permits to attract great whites for cage diving, which Halle Berry actually performed herself.

The production sought the support of the Save Our Seas Foundation, and sent the film's script to the organization. Save Our Seas turned down the proposition however, and one of their representatives in South Africa, Alison Kock, declared to the media that "[the foundation's] mandate is to try to change people’s perceptions of sharks. The first script that we got sounded very much like it had a thriller aspect to it and a personal kind of aspect to it as well. But fighting off a shark, or surviving a shark attack - we couldn’t see the positive side of that, as much as we tried".

Early on in production, a great white shark breached the filming enclosure in what could have been a dangerous incident. No one was hurt, but the shark did rip apart one of the film's seal decoys. Halle Berry had two body doubles on the film, local free-diving expert Hanli Prinsloo and 37-year-old aspiring documentary filmmaker and part-time singer Elise Fernandez for driving scenes. Fernandez had been battling breast cancer for two years before working on the film and planned to use the money she earned on it by paying for a mastectomy. She started working just four days after undergoing surgery to remove a lump from her right breast.

Lead actors Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez got along famously during the shoot, and in fact decided to emulate their characters' actions by dating in a relationship which provided tabloid fodder for several months.