Hook (film)



Hook is a 1991 American fantasy adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by James V. Hart and Malia Scotch Marmo. It stars Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook, Robin Williams as Peter Banning / Peter Pan, Julia Roberts as Tinker Bell, Bob Hoskins as Mr. Smee and Maggie Smith as Granny Wendy. It acts as a sequel to J. M. Barrie's 1911 novel Peter and Wendy  focusing on an adult Peter Pan who has forgotten all about his childhood. In his new life, he is known as Peter Banning, a successful but unimaginative and workaholic corporate lawyer with a wife (Wendy's granddaughter) and two children. However, when Captain Hook, the enemy of his past, kidnaps his children, he returns to Neverland in order to save them. Along the journey, he reclaims the memories of his past and becomes a better person.

Spielberg began developing the film in the early 1980s with Walt Disney Productions and Paramount Pictures, which would have followed the storyline seen in the 1924 silent film and 1953 animated Disney film. It entered pre-production in 1985, but Spielberg abandoned the project. James V. Hart developed the script with director Nick Castle and TriStar Pictures before Spielberg decided to direct in 1989. It was shot almost entirely on sound stages at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. Released on December 11, 1991, Hook received unfavorable reviews from critics, and while it was a commercial success, its box office take was lower than expected. It has gained a strong cult following since its release. It was nominated in five categories at the 64th Academy Awards. It also spawned merchandise, including video games, action figures, and comic book adaptations.

Plot
Peter Banning is a successful corporate lawyer in San Francisco, but his workaholic lifestyle strains his relationship with his wife Moira and children Jack and Maggie. The family prepares to fly to London to visit Moira's grandmother Wendy Darling. Peter, in effort to complete his work before leaving, inadvertently misses Jack's baseball game.

In London, Peter is still drawn away by work and yells at his children for interrupting a business call, causing Moira to throw Peter's cell phone away. That evening, Peter, Moira, and Wendy attend a charity dinner in Wendy's honor, while Tootles, an old friend of Wendy, watches over the children. When the adults return, they discover the house ransacked, the children missing, and a note supposedly written by Captain James Hook. Peter tries to involve the authorities, but Wendy tells Peter that he is really Peter Pan; Peter had visited her when she was a girl and had taken her to Neverland frequently, but while Peter never aged, Wendy grew older and eventually could not go. Peter met young Moira and fell in love with her, and decided to stay. He grew up, forgot his memories of Neverland, and became the Peter Banning of today. Peter refuses to accept this story, but he then encounters Tinker Bell, who uses her pixie dust to bring him to Neverland.

Tinker Bell drops Peter within the ranks of Hook's pirates, but both she and Hook realize that Peter lacks any of the skills that Peter Pan used to have. Tinker Bell makes a deal with Hook to return Peter in three days for a climactic battle, which should Peter win, Hook will return his children. Tinker Bell takes Peter to the Lost Boys, currently led by Rufio. The Lost Boys initially scoff at the idea that Peter is Peter Pan, but with Tinker Bell's help, Peter finds using his imagination helps restore some of his abilities, though he remains unable to fly and fight against Rufio.

Meanwhile, Mr. Smee suggests to Hook to try to turn Peter's children against him. Though Maggie refuses to accept Hook as a father-figure, Jack is swayed, particularly after Hook has his pirates play a game of baseball. Peter, spying on Hook, sees this and becomes depressed. Tinker Bell takes Peter to the treehouse that he brought Wendy and her brothers to. She not only does this to show him the happy memories of his past, and convinces him to come up with new happy memories, but to express that she has always loved him. Peter recalls how he was brought to Neverland as an infant by Tinker Bell, and then remembers the joy of becoming a parent, restoring his ability to fly. The Lost Boys cheer at his success, and Rufio cedes control to Peter.

On the third day, Peter and the Lost Boys arrive to fight the pirates as promised. Jack sees Peter trying to fight for him, and realizes what Hook had been trying to do. As Peter rescues Maggie and reunites with Jack, Rufio attempts to attack Hook, but Hook fatally stabs him. Rufio tells Peter he wishes he had a father like him before dying. Inspired by Rufio's words, Peter has a one-on-one fight with Hook. Hook eventually is caught in the collapse of the taxidermied crocodile that had taken his hand and killed. The remaining pirates surrender, ending the battle. While Peter wants to stay in Neverland, Tinker Bell reminds him of his family at home. Peter turns over the Lost Boys to Thud Butt to lead while he is away, and then departs with Jack and Maggie.

Peter wakes back up in Kensington Gardens, where Tinker Bell says she will always love Peter before saying goodbye. Peter races to Wendy's house and sees Jack and Maggie, and they happily reunite with Wendy and Moira. Peter recalls Thud Butt having given him a bag of marbles before leaving, and gives it to Tootles, who had been a Lost Boy. The bag of marbles contains pixie dust, and Tootles uses it to fly out the window. Peter admits to Wendy that his adventures are not yet over as he hugs his family.

Cast

 * Dustin Hoffman as Captain James Hook
 * Robin Williams as Peter Banning / Peter Pan
 * Ryan Francis as teenage Peter Pan
 * Max Hoffman as young Peter Pan
 * Matthew Van Ginkel as baby Peter Pan
 * Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell
 * Lisa Wilhoit as Tinkerbell in a flashback in which Peter is a baby
 * Bob Hoskins as Smee
 * Maggie Smith as Granny Wendy
 * Gwyneth Paltrow as teenage Wendy Darling
 * Charlie Korsmo as Jack
 * Caroline Goodall as Moira
 * Dante Basco as Rufio
 * Amber Scott as Maggie
 * Jasen Fisher as Ace
 * Laurel Cronin as Liza, Granny Wendy's maid
 * Phil Collins as Inspector Good
 * Arthur Malet as Tootles
 * Isaiah Robinson as Pockets
 * Raushan Hammond as Thud Butt
 * James Madio as Don't Ask
 * Thomas Tulak as Too Small
 * Alex Zuckerman as Latchboy
 * Ahmad Stoner as No Nap

In addition, a number of celebrities and family members made brief credited and uncredited cameos in the film: musicians David Crosby and Jimmy Buffett, as well as Oscar-nominated actress Glenn Close and former NFL player Tony Burton, appear as members of Hook's pirate crew; two major Star Wars associates, George Lucas and Carrie Fisher, play the kissing couple sprinkled with pixie dust; two of Hoffman's children, Jacob and Rebecca, both under 10-years-old during filming, briefly appeared in scenes in the “normal” world; screenwriter Jim Hart's 11-year-old son Jake, who years earlier inspired his father with the question "What if Peter Pan grew up?", plays one of Pan's Lost Boys.

Inspiration
Spielberg found close personal connection to the Peter Pan story from his own childhood. The troubled relationship between Peter and Jack in the sequel echoed Spielberg's relationship with his own father. Previous Spielberg films that explored a dysfunctional father-son relationship included E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Peter's "quest for success" paralleled Spielberg starting out as a film director and transforming into a Hollywood business magnate. "I think a lot of people today are losing their imagination because they are work-driven. They are so self-involved with work and success and arriving at the next plateau that children and family almost become incidental. I have even experienced it myself when I have been on a very tough shoot and I've not seen my kids except on weekends. They ask for my time and I can't give it to them because I'm working." Like Peter at the beginning of the film, Spielberg has a fear of flying. He feels that Peter's "enduring quality" in the storyline is simply to fly. "Anytime anything flies, whether it's Superman, Batman, or E.T., it's got to be a tip of the hat to Peter Pan," Spielberg reflected in a 1992 interview. "Peter Pan was the first time I saw anybody fly. Before I saw Superman, before I saw Batman, and of course before I saw any superheroes, my first memory of anybody flying is in Peter Pan."

Pre-production
The genesis of the film started when Spielberg's mother often read him Peter and Wendy as a bedtime story. He explained in 1985 "When I was 11 years old I actually directed the story during a school production. I have always felt like Peter Pan. I still feel like Peter Pan. It has been very hard for me to grow up, I'm a victim of the Peter Pan syndrome."

In the early 1980s, Spielberg began to develop a film with Walt Disney Pictures that would have closely followed the storyline of the 1924 silent film and 1953 animated film. He also considered directing it as a musical with Michael Jackson in the lead. Jackson expressed interest in the part, but was not interested in Spielberg's vision of an adult Peter Pan who had forgotten about his past. The project was taken to Paramount Pictures, where James V. Hart wrote the first script with Dustin Hoffman already cast as Captain Hook. It entered pre-production in 1985 for filming to begin at sound stages in England. Elliot Scott had been hired as production designer. With the birth of his first son, Max, in 1985, Spielberg decided to drop out. "I decided not to make Peter Pan when I had my first child," Spielberg commented. "I didn't want to go to London and have seven kids on wires in front of blue screens. I wanted to be home as a dad." Around this time, he considered directing Big, which carried similar motifs and themes with it. In 1987, he "permanently abandoned" it, feeling he expressed his childhood and adult themes in Empire of the Sun.

Meanwhile, Paramount and Hart moved forward on production with Nick Castle as director. Hart began to work on a new storyline when his son, Jake, showed his family a drawing. "We asked Jake what it was and he said it was a crocodile eating Captain Hook, but that the crocodile really didn't eat him, he got away," Hart reflected. "As it happens, I had been trying to crack Peter Pan for years, but I didn't just want to do a remake. So I went, 'Wow. Hook is not dead. The crocodile is. We've all been fooled'. In 1986 our family was having dinner and Jake said, 'Daddy, did Peter Pan ever grow up?' My immediate response was, 'No, of course not'. And Jake said, 'But what if he did?' I realized that Peter did grow up, just like all of us baby boomers who are now in our forties. I patterned him after several of my friends on Wall Street, where the pirates wear three-piece suits and ride in limos."

Filming
By 1989, Ian Rathbone changed the title to Hook, and took it from Paramount to TriStar Pictures, headed by Mike Medavoy, who was Spielberg's first talent agent. Robin Williams signed on, but he and Hoffman had creative differences with Castle. Medavoy saw the film as a vehicle for Spielberg and Castle was dismissed, but paid a $500,000 settlement. Dodi Fayed, who owned certain rights to make a Peter Pan film, sold his interest to TriStar in exchange for an executive producer credit. Spielberg briefly worked together with Hart to rewrite the script before hiring Malia Scotch Marmo to rewrite Captain Hook's dialog and Carrie Fisher for Tinker Bell's. The Writers Guild of America gave Hart and Marmo screenplay credit, while Hart and Castle were credited with the story. Fisher went uncredited. Filming began on February 19, 1991, occupying nine sound stages at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. Stage 30 housed the Neverland Lost Boys playground, while Stage 10 supplied Captain Hook's ship cabin. Hidden hydraulics were installed to rock the set-piece to simulate a swaying ship, but the filmmakers found the movement distracted the dialogue, so the idea was dropped.

Stage 27 housed the full-sized Jolly Roger and the surrounding Pirate Wharf. Industrial Light & Magic provided the visual effects sequences. This marked the beginning of Tony Swatton's career, as he was asked to make weaponry for the film. It was financed by Amblin Entertainment and TriStar Pictures, with TriStar distributing it. Spielberg brought on John Napier as a "visual consultant", having been impressed with his work on Cats. The original production budget was set at $48 million, but ended up between $60–80 million. The primary reason for the increased budget was the shooting schedule, which ran 40 days over its original 76-day schedule. Spielberg explained, "It was all my fault. I began to work at a slower pace than I usually do."

Spielberg's on-set relationship with Julia Roberts was troubled, and he later admitted in an interview with 60 Minutes, "It was an unfortunate time for us to work together." In a 1999 Vanity Fair interview, Roberts said that Spielberg's comments “really hurt my feelings.” She “couldn’t believe this person that I knew and trusted was actually hesitating to come to my defense. . . it was the first time that I felt I had a turncoat in my midst.”

Soundtrack
The film score was composed and conducted by John Williams. He was brought in at an early stage when Spielberg was considering making the film as a musical. Accordingly, he wrote around eight songs for the project at this stage. The idea was later abandoned. Most of his song ideas were incorporated into the instrumental score, though two songs survive as songs in the finished film: "We Don't Wanna Grow Up" and "When You're Alone", both with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse.

The original 1991 issue was released by Epic Records. In 2012, a limited edition of the soundtrack, called Hook: Expanded Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, was released by La-La Land Records and Sony Music. It contains almost the complete score with alternates and unused material. It also contains liner notes that explain the film's production and score recording.
 * Commercial songs from film, but not on soundtrack
 * "Pick'em Up" – Music by John Williams and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse
 * "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" – Written by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer

Video games
A video game based on the film and bearing the same name was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991. The game was released for additional game consoles in 1992.

Box office
Spielberg, Williams, and Hoffman did not take salaries for the film. Their deal called for them to split 40% of TriStar Pictures' gross revenues. They were to receive $20 million from the first $50 million in gross theatrical film rentals, with TriStar keeping the next $70 million in rentals before the three resumed receiving their percentage. The film was released in North America on December 11, 1991, earning $13,522,535 in its opening weekend. It went on to gross $119,654,823 in North America and $181,200,000 in foreign countries, accumulating a worldwide total of $300,854,823. It is the sixth-highest-grossing "pirate-themed" film, behind all five films in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. In North America totals, it was the sixth-highest-grossing film in 1991, and fourth-highest-grossing worldwide. It ended up making a profit of $50 million for the studio, yet it was still declared a financial disappointment, having been overshadowed by the release of Disney's Beauty and the Beast and a decline in box-office receipts compared to the previous years.

Critical response
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 26% of critics have given the film a positive review, based on 61 reviews, with an average rating of 4.6/10. The site's consensus states: "The look of Hook is lively indeed but Steven Spielberg directs on autopilot here, giving in too quickly to his sentimental, syrupy qualities." On Metacritic, the film has a 52 out of 100 rating, based on reviews from 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that: "The sad thing about the screenplay for Hook is that it's so correctly titled: This whole construction is really nothing more than a hook on which to hang a new version of the Peter Pan story. No effort is made to involve Peter's magic in the changed world he now inhabits, and little thought has been given to Captain Hook's extraordinary persistence in wanting to revisit the events of the past. The failure in Hook is its inability to re-imagine the material, to find something new, fresh or urgent to do with the Peter Pan myth. Lacking that, Spielberg should simply have remade the original story, straight, for this generation." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine felt it would "only appeal to the baby boomer generation" and highly criticized the sword-fighting choreography. Vincent Canby of The New York Times felt the story structure was not well balanced, feeling Spielberg depended too much on art direction. Hal Hinson of The Washington Post was one of few who gave it a positive review. Hinson elaborated on crucial themes of children, adulthood, and loss of innocence. However, he said that Spielberg "was stuck too much in a theme park world".

Accolades
The film was nominated for five categories at the 64th Academy Awards. This included Best Production Design (Norman Garwood, Garrett Lewis) (lost to Bugsy), Best Costume Design (lost to Bugsy), Best Visual Effects (lost to Terminator 2: Judgment Day), Best Makeup (lost to Terminator 2: Judgment Day) and Best Original Song (for "When You're Alone"; lost to Beauty and the Beast). It lost the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film to Aladdin, in which Williams co-starred, while cinematographer Dean Cundey was nominated for his work by the American Society of Cinematographers. Hoffman was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Hoffman actually lost to his co-star Robin Williams for his performance in The Fisher King). John Williams was given a Grammy Award nomination for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media; Julia Roberts received a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actress (lost to Sean Young as the dead twin in A Kiss Before Dying).

Legacy
In 2011, Spielberg told Entertainment Weekly: "There are parts of Hook I love. I'm really proud of my work right up through Peter being hauled off in the parachute out the window, heading for Neverland. I'm a little less proud of the Neverland sequences, because I'm uncomfortable with that highly stylized world that today, of course, I would probably have done with live-action character work inside a completely digital set. But we didn't have the technology to do it then, and my imagination only went as far as building physical sets and trying to paint trees blue and red." Spielberg gave a more blunt assessment in a 2013 interview on Kermode & Mayo's Film Review Show: "I wanna see Hook again because I so don't like that movie, and I'm hoping someday I'll see it again and perhaps like some of it."

In 2018, Spielberg told Empire, "I felt like a fish out of water making Hook... I didn't have confidence in the script. I had confidence in the first act and I had confidence in the epilogue. I didn't have confidence in the body of it." He added, "I didn't quite know what I was doing and I tried to paint over my insecurity with production value," admitting "the more insecure I felt about it, the bigger and more colorful the sets became."