Swept Away (2002 film)
Encyclopedia
Swept Away is a 2002 Franco-British romantic comedy film
directed by Guy Ritchie
and starring Madonna
, Adriano Giannini
, and Bruce Greenwood
. It was released by Screen Gems
and produced by Matthew Vaughn
. It received generally negative reviews from critics and was a box office failure.
) is 40, beautiful, rich, spoiled, and arrogant beyond measure. Nothing makes this woman happy, including her wealthy but passive husband, Tony (Bruce Greenwood
), a pharmaceutical kingpin.
When Tony takes her on a private cruise from Greece to Italy with two other couples, Amber is unimpressed by this impromptu no-frills vacation and takes out her anger on the ship's first mate, Giuseppe Esposito (Adriano Giannini
). When a storm leaves the two shipwrecked on a deserted island, however, the tables suddenly turn, with Giuseppe gaining the upper hand, followed by the two falling in love.
and Mariangela Melato
and was directed by Lina Wertmüller
.
It was filmed in Sardinia
and Malta
from October 1, 2001 until November 9, 2001 with security increased due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Madonna had only finished her 2001 Drowned World Tour
, two weeks prior to filming.
Adriano Giannini
is the son of Giancarlo Giannini
, who plays the same role in the 1974 film.
, with the consensus "Muddled and lacking the political context of the original, Swept Away offers further proof that Madonna can't act." It holds an 18 out of 100 on Metacritic
, indicating "overwhelming dislike".
, having a budget of $10 million but grossing $598,645 in the United States. It was shown only on 196 screens for two weeks, dropping down to 59 in the final third week of release. In Italy, it grossed €71,575 and in Spain
€105,371 from 174 screens.
:
In addition, the film was nominated for Worst Screenplay (by Ritchie), and Giannini for Worst Actor. The film holds the distinction of being the first film to win both Worst Picture and Worst Remake or Sequel. However, in his otherwise negative review of the film, Slant Magazine
critic Ed Gonzalez said: "Madonna gives her best performance since Abel Ferrara
had her beaten to a pulp in his Dangerous Game
." Madonna even won the Worst Supporting Actress award that same year (for her performance in Die Another Day
).
to Swept Away was composed by Michel Colombier
, and it is mostly his work that is featured on the 12-track soundtrack album. The soundtrack also contain several songs by other artists. "Come On-a My House", sung by Della Reese
, is the only one featured on the album.
Songs from the film not featured on the album include "Lovely Head
" by Goldfrapp
(played during the opening credits), "Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens" by Louis Jordan
(the charades scene), and "Fade into You" by Mazzy Star
(as Amber and Pepe experience life on the island together). Arvo Pärt
's "Spiegel im Spiegel
" plays during the closing moments and end credits of the film.
by Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment. The DVD special features include a filmmakers' commentary with Ritchie and Matthew Vaughn
, an interview with Ritchie and Madonna
, 16 deleted scene
s, Movie Special (making of), theatrical trailers, and filmographies.
Romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy films are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. One dictionary definition is "a funny movie, play, or television program about a love story that ends happily"...
directed by Guy Ritchie
Guy Ritchie
Guy Stuart Ritchie is an English screenwriter and film maker who directed Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Revolver, RocknRolla and Sherlock Holmes.-Early life:...
and starring Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, Adriano Giannini
Adriano Giannini
Adriano Giannini is an Italian actor, son of Giancarlo Giannini. He co-starred in 2002 with Madonna in the widely-panned film Swept Away, a remake of a 1974 Italian film. Adriano played the same role that his father, Giancarlo Giannini, played in the original...
, and Bruce Greenwood
Bruce Greenwood
Bruce Greenwood is a Canadian actor and musician. He is generally known for his roles as U.S. presidents in Thirteen Days and National Treasure: Book of Secrets and for his role as Captain Christopher Pike in the 2009 Star Trek film...
. It was released by Screen Gems
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American movie production company and subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation....
and produced by Matthew Vaughn
Matthew Vaughn
Matthew Vaughn is an English film producer and director known for producing such films as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch and directing the films Layer Cake , Stardust and Kick-Ass...
. It received generally negative reviews from critics and was a box office failure.
Plot
Amber Leighton (MadonnaMadonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
) is 40, beautiful, rich, spoiled, and arrogant beyond measure. Nothing makes this woman happy, including her wealthy but passive husband, Tony (Bruce Greenwood
Bruce Greenwood
Bruce Greenwood is a Canadian actor and musician. He is generally known for his roles as U.S. presidents in Thirteen Days and National Treasure: Book of Secrets and for his role as Captain Christopher Pike in the 2009 Star Trek film...
), a pharmaceutical kingpin.
When Tony takes her on a private cruise from Greece to Italy with two other couples, Amber is unimpressed by this impromptu no-frills vacation and takes out her anger on the ship's first mate, Giuseppe Esposito (Adriano Giannini
Adriano Giannini
Adriano Giannini is an Italian actor, son of Giancarlo Giannini. He co-starred in 2002 with Madonna in the widely-panned film Swept Away, a remake of a 1974 Italian film. Adriano played the same role that his father, Giancarlo Giannini, played in the original...
). When a storm leaves the two shipwrecked on a deserted island, however, the tables suddenly turn, with Giuseppe gaining the upper hand, followed by the two falling in love.
Cast
- MadonnaMadonna (entertainer)Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
as Amber Leighton - Adriano GianniniAdriano GianniniAdriano Giannini is an Italian actor, son of Giancarlo Giannini. He co-starred in 2002 with Madonna in the widely-panned film Swept Away, a remake of a 1974 Italian film. Adriano played the same role that his father, Giancarlo Giannini, played in the original...
as Giuseppe Esposito - Bruce GreenwoodBruce GreenwoodBruce Greenwood is a Canadian actor and musician. He is generally known for his roles as U.S. presidents in Thirteen Days and National Treasure: Book of Secrets and for his role as Captain Christopher Pike in the 2009 Star Trek film...
as Tony - Elizabeth BanksElizabeth BanksElizabeth Maresal Mitchell , known professionally as Elizabeth Banks, is an American actress. Banks had her film debut in the low-budget independent film Surrender Dorothy...
as Debi - Jeanne TripplehornJeanne TripplehornJeanne Marie Tripplehorn is an American film and television actress. She was brought to the public's attention through her supporting role in the 1992 film Basic Instinct, and since 2006 has starred opposite Bill Paxton in the HBO drama Big Love.-Early life:Tripplehorn was born in Tulsa,...
as Marina - Michael Beattie as Todd
- David ThorntonDavid Thornton (actor)David Thornton is an American actor. He is the husband of Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Cyndi Lauper, whom he married in 1991. Their son, Declyn Wallace Thornton Lauper, was born on November 19, 1997.- Filmography :...
as Michael
Production
The film's working title was Love, Sex, Drugs and Money but changed back to the original title. It is a remake of the 1974 Italian film Swept Away by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August, which starred Giancarlo GianniniGiancarlo Giannini
Giancarlo Giannini is an Italian actor and dubber.Giannini was born La Spezia, Liguria, Italy. He studied at the Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Drammatica in Rome, and made his film debut in a small part in Fango sulla metropoli in 1965...
and Mariangela Melato
Mariangela Melato
Mariangela Melato is an Italian actress.Melato was born in Milan and studied at the Milan Theatre Academy. A striking, blonde actress, she began her stage career in the early 1960s and rose to fame after delivering powerful performances for a number of notable Italian stage directors such as Dario...
and was directed by Lina Wertmüller
Lina Wertmüller
Lina Wertmüller is an Italian film writer and director of aristocratic Swiss descent. In 1976, she became the first woman ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing with the film Seven Beauties.-Biography:...
.
It was filmed in Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
and Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
from October 1, 2001 until November 9, 2001 with security increased due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Madonna had only finished her 2001 Drowned World Tour
Drowned World Tour
The Drowned World Tour was the fifth concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna in support of her seventh and eighth studio albums Ray of Light and Music. It was also her first tour in eight years, following The Girlie Show World Tour in 1993...
, two weeks prior to filming.
Adriano Giannini
Adriano Giannini
Adriano Giannini is an Italian actor, son of Giancarlo Giannini. He co-starred in 2002 with Madonna in the widely-panned film Swept Away, a remake of a 1974 Italian film. Adriano played the same role that his father, Giancarlo Giannini, played in the original...
is the son of Giancarlo Giannini
Giancarlo Giannini
Giancarlo Giannini is an Italian actor and dubber.Giannini was born La Spezia, Liguria, Italy. He studied at the Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Drammatica in Rome, and made his film debut in a small part in Fango sulla metropoli in 1965...
, who plays the same role in the 1974 film.
Critical reception
Swept Away received almost universally negative reviews; it currently holds a 5% rating on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, with the consensus "Muddled and lacking the political context of the original, Swept Away offers further proof that Madonna can't act." It holds an 18 out of 100 on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, indicating "overwhelming dislike".
Box office
The film was a box office bombBox office bomb
The phrase box office bomb refers to a film for which the production and marketing costs greatly exceeded the revenue regained by the movie studio. This should not be confused with Hollywood accounting when official figures show large losses, yet the movie is a financial success.A film's financial...
, having a budget of $10 million but grossing $598,645 in the United States. It was shown only on 196 screens for two weeks, dropping down to 59 in the final third week of release. In Italy, it grossed €71,575 and in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
€105,371 from 174 screens.
Accolades
The film was awarded five awards at the 2002 Golden Raspberry Awards2002 Golden Raspberry Awards
The 23rd Golden Raspberry Awards were held on March 22, 2003 at the Sheraton Hotel in Santa Monica, California to recognize the worst the movie industry had to offer in 2002. Pinocchio became the first foreign language film to be nominated for a Golden Raspberry for Worst Picture, and Madonna won...
:
- Worst PictureRazzie Award for Worst PictureThe Razzie Award for Worst Picture is an award given out at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst film of the past year. Following is a list of nominees and recipients of that award, including each film's distribution company and producer.-1980s:...
- Worst ActressRazzie Award for Worst ActressThe Razzie Award for Worst Actress is an award presented at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst actress of the previous year. The following is a list of nominees and recipients of that award, along with the film for which they were nominated....
for Madonna - Worst Screen Couple for Madonna and Giannini
- Worst Remake or Sequel
- Worst DirectorRazzie Award for Worst DirectorThe Razzie Award for Worst Director is an award presented at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst director of the previous year. The following is a list of nominees and recipients of that award, along with the film for which they were nominated....
for Guy Ritchie
In addition, the film was nominated for Worst Screenplay (by Ritchie), and Giannini for Worst Actor. The film holds the distinction of being the first film to win both Worst Picture and Worst Remake or Sequel. However, in his otherwise negative review of the film, Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
critic Ed Gonzalez said: "Madonna gives her best performance since Abel Ferrara
Abel Ferrara
Abel Ferrara is an American film screenwriter and director. He is best known as an independent filmmaker of such films as The Driller Killer , Ms. 45 , King of New York , Bad Lieutenant and The Funeral .-Early life:Ferrara was born in the Bronx of Italian and Irish descent...
had her beaten to a pulp in his Dangerous Game
Dangerous Game
Dangerous Game is a 1993 film directed by Abel Ferrara starring Madonna, Harvey Keitel and James Russo.-Reception:The film opened in US theaters on November 19, 1993 and was trashed by critics...
." Madonna even won the Worst Supporting Actress award that same year (for her performance in Die Another Day
Die Another Day
Die Another Day is the 20th spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth and last film to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond; it is also the last Bond film of the original timeline with the series being rebooted with Casino Royale...
).
Soundtrack
The scoreFilm score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
to Swept Away was composed by Michel Colombier
Michel Colombier
Michel Colombier was a French composer, songwriter, arranger, and conductor.- External links :*...
, and it is mostly his work that is featured on the 12-track soundtrack album. The soundtrack also contain several songs by other artists. "Come On-a My House", sung by Della Reese
Della Reese
Delloreese Patricia Early, known professionally as Della Reese , is an American actress, singer, game show panelist of the 1970s, one-time talk-show hostess and ordained minister. She started her career in the 1950s as a gospel, pop and jazz singer, scoring a hit with her 1959 single "Don't You...
, is the only one featured on the album.
Songs from the film not featured on the album include "Lovely Head
Lovely Head
"Lovely Head" is an electronic song performed by British group Goldfrapp. The song was written and produced by Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory for the duo's debut album Felt Mountain . It was released as the album's first single in May 2000 but did not chart...
" by Goldfrapp
Goldfrapp
Goldfrapp are an English electronic music duo, formed in 1999 in London, England, that consists of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory ....
(played during the opening credits), "Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens" by Louis Jordan
Louis Jordan
Louis Thomas Jordan was a pioneering American jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician, songwriter and bandleader who enjoyed his greatest popularity from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "The King of the Jukebox", Jordan was highly popular with both black and white audiences in the...
(the charades scene), and "Fade into You" by Mazzy Star
Mazzy Star
Mazzy Star is an American alternative rock band formed in Santa Monica, California, in 1989 from the group Opal, a collaboration of guitarist David Roback and bassist Kendra Smith...
(as Amber and Pepe experience life on the island together). Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt is an Estonian classical composer and one of the most prominent living composers of sacred music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs his self-made compositional technique, tintinnabuli. His music also finds its inspiration and influence from...
's "Spiegel im Spiegel
Spiegel im Spiegel
Spiegel im Spiegel is a piece of music written by Arvo Pärt in 1978, just prior to his departure from Estonia. The piece is in the tintinnabular style of composition, wherein a melodic voice, operating over diatonic scales, and tintinnabular voice, operating within a triad on the tonic, accompany...
" plays during the closing moments and end credits of the film.
Home media
In the United Kingdom, the film was released straight-to-videoDirect-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
by Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment. The DVD special features include a filmmakers' commentary with Ritchie and Matthew Vaughn
Matthew Vaughn
Matthew Vaughn is an English film producer and director known for producing such films as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch and directing the films Layer Cake , Stardust and Kick-Ass...
, an interview with Ritchie and Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, 16 deleted scene
Deleted scene
In Entertainment, especially the film and television industry, Deleted scenes are parts of a film removed or censored from or replaced by another scene in the final "cut", or version, of a film...
s, Movie Special (making of), theatrical trailers, and filmographies.