To whom did Luc Besson dedicate “The Big Blue”, which he completed after a long struggle?

I was thrown into the rough sea and my camera and equipment all sank!

It was around 7 a.m. when the sun began to rise over the sea in Lavandou. It turns out that the huge evacuation equipment for diving divers cannot be fixed within 40 meters below the water's surface. When the boat is shaken by a slight wave, the equipment is also shaken along with it. This cannot be used for evacuation. While I hurriedly searched for other equipment, I tried a film test. Although three types of cameras were tested at various depths, times of day, with and without lighting, etc., seawater entered the camera. What's more, Petron had promised to make a video finder to check the angle of view underwater, but they never did. It is said that it takes 15 days to make the finder. I can't wait that long. So, I ended up using a finder called Sportif for underwater photography. It was a plate-like viewfinder made of Plexiglas (safety glass used in cars) with a cross mark to indicate the focus of the image. However, with this, if you aim at an actor, the focus will go out of focus each time he approaches or moves away. Moreover, everything in the water is constantly shaking, so it is extremely difficult to maintain a constant distance between the camera and the actor.

"The Big Blue" © Photofest / Getty Images

The ship's equipment is shaken, the ocean currents wash away the camera, and the cameraman's goggles are obscured by clouds. It was nothing but an underwater nightmare!

The situation on the ship was also terrible. According to Besson, many of the film crews are messy people, and they have a habit of leaving equipment all over the place while they work, and every time the ship rocks, spanners and transceivers slip off the deck and fall into the sea. go. Carlo Varini, the reliable chief cameraman, also had a lot of problems. He trained in a pool before filming, but the actual sea seemed to be different, and at one point he wore so little weight that he thought he floated to the surface like a cork. Now that I think about it, the next day he was carrying too much weight and was sinking like a wrecking ball, and I had to catch him before he died and broke Jacques Mayol's record.

"The Big Blue" © Photofest / Getty Images

And Besson was wrestling with Sportif. The problem with this type of finder is that you can't check the angle of view until you see the lashes, so it took three days to send the film to Paris for lash development and check it. The first rush was a disaster. There are still a lot of winter particles left in the water, and the angle of view is too low. Fix the cross. Three days later, the angle of view was again too high. Three days later, there was no sunlight and I was stranded again. I switched my free time to nighttime underwater photography. Further challenges arise. Due to the Mistral storm, which is unique to the south of France, lights frequently go out, equipment on board is blown up, and fixed Rope come loose one by one. In the darkness, everyone was forced to stop filming and float to the surface.

It is said that the entire staff and cast lost 3 kg after 12 days of hard work during this period, but it is unclear whether Besson did the same.

The angel finally smiled on the 13th day!