QIs it true that they destroyed a real ship in order to film this movie?
AYes. An aging ship, the French luxury liner SS Ile de France, had been sold to a Japanese scrapyard and was rented (for $1.5 million) for the filming of the movie. The ship was towed to a shallow spot in the Sea of Japan, where parts of the movie were filmed. The ship's interior was exploded as seen in the movie, and the ship itself was flooded so that it would sink lower in the water. However, the ship never sank completely, because it was already resting on the sea bottom. Ironically, the Ile de France was among the ships who came to the aid of the Andrea Doria and picked up hundreds of its survivors.
QA Note Regarding Spoilers
AThe following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.
QHow closely does the movie follow the events on the 'Andrea Doria'?
AThe basic premise -- that of a woman trapped in the cabin of a sinking ship while her husband races to find a tool to release her -- is intact, however the circumstances have been altered, which is what makes the movie 'based on' rather than 'the story of'' the Andrea Doria. For example, the name of the ship in the movie is the SS Claridon. The Claridon sinks because of an explosion in the boiler room, whereas the Andrea Doria was rammed by another ship. The Claridon sinks in one hour; the Andrea Doria stayed afloat for 11 hours. The 'tool' in this movie is an acetylene torch; it was a jack in the Andrea Doria. The Claridon goes down 'in the middle of the ocean' on its way to Japan; the Andrea Doria sank off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts.
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