Canoe (2003)

Directed by:
Kim Plausible

Writing credits:
Kôji Suzuki (novel)
Hiroshi Watanabe (screenplay for Canoeu no soku Cherokee-chan)
Fred Smith (manga)
Paul Mosoko (screenplay of the manga of the movie of the novel)

Genre: Horror / Suspense / Thriller / Mystery (more)

Tagline: Some secrets are best left a forgotten secret.

Plot Outline: Jennifer Gransom is a New York reporter who escapes a domineering ex-husband and heads with her daughter to the quiet town of Ghastingvale, Maine. While reconnecting with an old high school flame she learns of the secret disappearances of Ghastingvale's children at Old Ghost Lake. Her search for the truth behind strange dreams and a mysterious canoe may uncover more terrible things than she ever could have (more) (view trailer)

User Comments: Absolute horrid shit from the Hollywood bilge pipe. The Japanese version was at least a thousand times better and more moving, but Hollywood had to dumb it down for the simple baka Gaijin audiences and (more)

User Rating: A STAR!? A STAR!? A STAR!? A STAR!? A STAR!? A STAR!? A STAR!!!! A STAR!!!! NO STAR!!!! NO STAR!!!! 5.8 / 10 (8,034 votes)

Credited cast:
Scarlett Johansson....Jennifer Gransom
Joaquin Phoenix....Vic Lafferty
Dakota Fanning....Megan Gransom
Robert Patrick....Robert Ex
Jon Shoots Droids With Lasers....Cherokee Shaman
Bruce McGill....Sheriff O'Barely
Piper Oatson....Canoe Spirit
(more)

Also Known As: Arisch Goddess die Wampum Geist Schutzen mit Sexualisch Fucktacular (Germany)
Runtime: USA: 144 min / Germany: 146 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Color: Blueish (Blueotrope)
Sound Mix: John Honest's Sound Mixing and Beer-Battered Shrimp

Goofs:
Child prodigy Dakota Fanning was accidentally left out overnight early in the filming and she spoiled. Luckily, her parents were able to rehydrate another in time for the day's shoot. (more)
Memorable Quotes:

Jennifer Gransom: She's gone!
Vic Lafferty: Megan?
Jennifer Gransom: That canoe...took her!
Vic Lafferty: A canoe can't kidnap someone.
Jennifer Gransom: (terrified whisper) This one can. (more)

AMDB Trivia:
  • The MPAA briefly considered an R-rating for the film because of supporting actress Dakota Fanning 's "ridiculous stripper name." This was after several hundred CGI saw horses were added to scenes to conceal Bruce McGill's unrelenting priapism and maintain a PG-13 rating. The MPAA later relented.
  • Lead actress Scarlett Johansson became so terrified of owls during location shoots in Maine that she hired a pair of Penobscot Indians to scout all shooting locations ahead of time and kill any owls they found with air rifles.
  • Robert Patrick ate fresh cat feces during the confrontation in the park in order to sell the illusion that he was dangerous.
  • Real native Mexicans were hired to create the Cherokee village that appears in the dream sequences.
  • Savvy producers avoided a possible lawsuit from Cherokee tribal leaders by including a disclaimer at the end of the film stating that, "No Cherokee Indian has ever been photographed transforming into a canoe."
  • More than a quarter of the film's special effects budget was spent on "unsettling the audience" by digitally adding the World Trade Center to the Boston skyline.
  • The barnacles on the canoe were recovered and imported from sunken galleons found off the Spanish coast in 2002.
  • The spectral face that appears on the canoe's prow in the first dream sequence is director Kim Plausible's daughter, who became trapped inside the canoe's frame while playing a game of seek and find with Dakota Fanning. Rather than disrupt shooting by tearing apart the canoe, Plausible waited until her daughter had lost enough weight to fall out on her own.
  • Director's Trademark: A tomahawk bursting through a window as harmonica music reaches a crescendo.
  • During shooting actor Joaquin Phoenix found a nest full of orphaned baby owls. Phoenix kept the baby owls in his shirt pocket throughout the shoot, pausing occasionally mid-scene to chew up a baby mouse and spit it through a straw into the waiting mouths of his adopted owls. A good eye can spot the owls looking over the hem of his pocket in several shots during the square dancing scene.
  • This movie was Dakota Fanning's big break and her parents were strict disciplinarians when it came to memorizing lines. After a particularly difficult day on the set, Fanning's parents forced to her to dig her own grave and told her, "it'll be waiting for you if you die out there again tomorrow."
  • The mule that gets loose on the train and then hangs itself was created by combining a real mule with a computer.
  • Actor Robert Patrick fell seriously ill during filming and director Kim Plausible was forced to use isolated footage from Terminator 2: Judgment Day with audio looped in late in the editing process. This is why the second half of the argument that starts in the park takes place as Patrick is punching his metal lower arms through an elevator door.
  • First-time actor Jon Shoots Droids With Lasers was a late addition to the cast and was so unhappy with the script that he frequently had to be shot around as he was chained in protest to the camera truck along with several dozen other Native Americans.
  • Director's Trademark: A screaming canoe.
  • The Honda Acura driven by Scarlett Johansson was actually a Panzer V tank cleverly disguised with cardboard and plastic. Provisions were also made for her to wear an Old Navy pullover, but the props department did not complete their modifications to the Shroud of Turin in time.
  • The movie's third act was re-written at the last minute by screenwriter Paul Mosoko to coincide with a real-life scheduled demolition of a mall in New Jersey. Most of this footage was ultimately unusable, but the fight with the canoe inside the exploding Orange Julius was left in the DVD as a deleted scene.
  • Actor Joaquin Phoenix drank so heavily during the location shooting in Maine that he frequently woke up in strange houses or in dumpsters. He had to be rescued from a cave twice and search parties from the crew once found him sleeping inside a beehive.
  • The uncredited Rolling Stones song that plays during the credits is "Make a Girl Into a Thing of Shit," one of their lesser-known B-sides.
  • The boomerangs the Indian braves use to subdue the ghost in the flashback were made by painting bananas red and then flattening them with a hammer.
  • Shooting was suspended for three days when Dakota Fanning's wrist broke open and spilled several liters of mercury into a nearby stream.
  • Director's Trademark: Male lead feeding baby birds in his pocket through a straw.
  • Body doubles were used for the love scene between Jennifer and Vic in the cabin. Those are Scarlett Johansson's left hand, right breast and nipple and mouth, but they are a body double's left breast, eyes, right hand and arms. The left nipple belongs to Joaquin Phoenix and the index finger of the left hand belongs to his body double.
  • The talking hamburger used more moving parts than a steam locomotive.
  • Scarlett Johansson was so appreciative of the giant key to the city given to her by residents of Wanapuckett, Maine, that she paid to have the whole town enclosed by a dome that could only be opened by that key.
  • Vengeful Indians scalped and left director Kim Plausible for dead, but Plausible turned the event into a publicity stunt, claiming that "ghosts of the red man" were responsible.
  • Cast and crew were reportedly appalled by the filthy living conditions in which Dakota Fanning was kept. In response, they took up a collection and paid to purchase a grooming brush and garden hose. Every morning, volunteers took turns hosing her off and brushing out burrs caught in her coat overnight.
  • Robert Patrick's mustache was paid more for 27 seconds of screen time than the average adult American earns over a five year period.
Recent Posts (updated daily)
User
 
the manga was way better
 
xAlucardx
 
Canoeu no soku Cherokee-chan was better
 
goku69
 
Canoeu no soku Cherokee-chan REgion 1 DVD?
 
evangelion007
 
the book was 500x better!
 
CyborgKnight
 
buttlips_fatty is a g.a.y. and f.a.t.
 
evangelion007
 
I like the american version better
 
buttlips_fatty
 
Scarlet Johnson anked in this 1?
 
QTGurl404

– Zack "Geist Editor" Parsons (@sexyfacts4u)

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