Underrated or underwater? That’s probably the most urgent query the tepid teen thriller Swimfan warrants 23 years after its profitable launch. Baldly billed as a teen Deadly Attraction knockoff, Swimfan is a spinoff, dimwitted feminine stalker flick that, regardless of being drowned by critics, turned a business success within the fall of 2002. The story follows Ben Cronin (performed by Jesse Bradford), a hotshot highschool swimming star who’s focused and plagued by Madison Bell (performed by Erika Christensen), a deeply deranged younger girl whose jilted jealousy sparks a stalking and sabotage marketing campaign that, frankly, sinks to the underside of the subgenre sooner than the ill-fated OceanGate submersible. But, regardless of the predictable nature of the story and the obtrusive lack of titillating terror, crushing carnage, and campy carnality, sophomore director John Polson handles the pacing, cinematography, and casting fairly admirably. With all of the excessive and low water marks thought-about, it’s time to dive to the underside of the pool and discover out what occurred to Swimfan over 20 years later!
Improvement on Swimfan started with the screenplay by first-time function movie scribes Phillip Schneider and Charles F. Bohl. Earlier than Swimfan, the one credit amassed by both author included the 1987 TV film He’s My Woman and the 1998 TV film Noah. So, proper off the diving board, Swimfan’s slight 85-minute story was conjured by two inexperienced tyros working within the horror/thriller realm for the primary time. As soon as the script was accomplished, Michael Douglas’ manufacturing firm, Furthur Movies, turned concerned when two of its staffers, Marcy Drogin and Allison Seagan, learn it and noticed the potential. In fact, Douglas famously starred in Deadly Attraction in 1987, a landmark psychosexual thriller that also holds up and is way superior to Swimfan throughout the board. As soon as Drogin and Seagan introduced the script to GreeneStreet Movies, the manufacturing firm determined to finance the movie.
Seeing eye to eye on the film’s business enchantment, Furthur Movies and GreeneStreet got down to make a teen-driven thriller with an unbiased vibe and modest value whereas boasting shiny, mainstream manufacturing values. As such, efforts have been made to discover a appropriate director who might deftly deal with the fabric and make it appear to be an enormous studio film with restricted sources. After a prolonged search, budding Australian filmmaker John Polson was tapped to direct Swimfan on the energy of his solely earlier function, the 1999 darkish slapstick comedy Siam Sundown. With such unproven expertise employed to put in writing and direct Swimfan, it’s no shock the film finally sank. Nevertheless, the manufacturing firms have been impressed with Polson’s means to tempo a movie made on a shoestring finances correctly. Lengthy earlier than changing into a director, Polson was an completed actor who famously performed Billy Baird in Mission: Not possible II, amongst different roles.
As soon as the mission was greenlighted, the casting course of acquired underway. Erika Christensen, who performed Michael Douglas’ daughter in Visitors in 2000, was chosen to play Madison Bell. To arrange for her position because the wildly unhinged teenage cellist, Christensen spent three months coaching to play the instrument earlier than filming. As for Madison’s highschool crush, Jesse Bradford was forged to play Ben Cronin contemporary off his teenage flip within the hit cheerleading comedy Convey It On. In accordance with Polson, the position of Madison’s cousin, Christopher Dante, was initially written as a chubby nerd. Nevertheless, his character was altered and tailor-made to James DeBello’s oddball vitality after he blew the casting director away in auditions. As for the position of Josh, Clayne Crawford received the half after Polson auditioned roughly 50 actors. Crawford fully stole the forged’s desk learn, which occurred solely per week earlier than filming began.
With the blueprint accomplished and the forged set in place, Swimfan commenced principal pictures in the summertime of 2001. Though the unique script was set in sun-drenched Santa Barbara, California, GreeneStreet Movies all the time envisioned Swimfan as an East Coast chiller. Earlier than filming in the summertime of 2001, the manufacturing crew thought-about taking pictures within the fall and winter of 2000 to mirror the seasonal frigidity, however scheduling couldn’t accommodate it.
Strapped with an estimated finances of $10 million, Swimfan was shot within the New York tri-state space, together with places in suburban New Jersey, Westchester, Brooklyn, Piermont, Lengthy Island, Harlem, and principally Manhattan. The highschool featured within the movie was shot at Bayonne Excessive Faculty in Bayonne, New Jersey, whereas further filming happened in Bergen, Hackensack, and Montclair. The whole film was shot in 36 days, reinforcing its unbiased nature. With time being the most important hurdle, most photographs have been achieved in two or three takes.
Though Swimfan was filmed amid pressing talks of a SAG and WGA strike, principal pictures went comparatively easily with out many hiccups or mishaps. Probably the most urgent downside for Polson was filming on such a decent schedule, citing one night time when he needed to mix two days of taking pictures into one upon studying, on the final minute, that the manufacturing was about to lose the home used for Madison’s residence.
For such a small manufacturing, there was preliminary concern that the upcoming union strikes would restrict their means to discover a competent crew, particularly for the troublesome underwater sequences. But, led by British cinematographer Giles Nutten, contemporary off the odious Battlefield Earth and the chic aquatic thriller The Deep Finish, GreeneStreet was assured that they had discovered the proper individual to create the film’s stark visible aesthetic. To realize the specified visible tableau and blue colour scheme permeating the movie, Giles employed a brand-new kind of Kodak movie inventory that elevated distinction. Giles additionally continuously pushed the movie publicity by one to 2 stops and used a “bleach bypass” approach within the last act to scale back saturation and intensify the bluish tinge that, except for the hospital and Madison’s home, bathes each setpiece.
One of the unsettling photographs within the film comes when Madison is proven enjoying the cello, seemingly alone. Giles positioned Christensen on a rotation dolly, having her spin a technique whereas the digicam spins in the wrong way. The dizzying impact disorients the viewer, partially by having the digicam pirouette and reveal that Madison is giving a tea occasion recital to a room filled with aged ladies. Extra spectacular, the portentous shot was achieved on the second day of filming. Against this, the opening shot of the movie was carried out on the ultimate day of pictures.
Talking of the openings, because the music performs over the credit, a police officer is noticed onscreen. The officer just isn’t solely performed by the movie’s producer, Joseph Caracciolo Jr., however Joseph broke his foot two days into filming, and he does his finest to cover the forged within the driver’s seat.
Regardless of being saddled with exposition, probably the most integral scenes comes when Ben and Madison share a prolonged dialog within the diner. The trade, which was meant to ascertain the characters and their intimate rapport, took roughly 18 takes to movie, the longest any scene had taken to {photograph}.
Arguably, a very powerful scene within the movie comes throughout Madison’s seduction of Ben within the swimming pool. The scene was filmed throughout the canine days of summer time, with out air con, which was so scorching that Polson usually directed scenes in a washing swimsuit. Polson additionally found that the best place within the poolhouse was the ground and normally resorted to directing the scene whereas mendacity on his again. Whereas filming the pool sequence, a security knowledgeable was designated to observe {the electrical} present coursing by means of the swimming pool always to forestall a critical well being hazard.
As for the occasion at Madison’s home, one shot required digital alteration when DP Giles Nutten unintentionally appeared clear as day in a window reflection. Though Polson had different takes to select from, he felt the performances have been so sturdy on this specific take that CGI was utilized to erase Niles’ reflection from the shot. Later within the film, a shot filmed on a wet day needed to be edited to take away all indicators of wetness so it will match the photographs earlier than and after. The manufacturing employed a visible results knowledgeable to erase the rain onscreen, which was not a simple or cheap process in 2002.
Not lengthy after the occasion, there’s a shot of Ben strolling by means of his kitchen that was flipped within the edit. Polson admits he made a mistake within the staging and geographical move of the sequence and had the shot reversed so it will accommodate a seamless transition to the subsequent shot.
In fact, probably the most notable elements of Swimfan is the fashionable editorial bounce cuts used to strengthen Madison’s fractious psychological state. Polson offers sole credit score to Sarah Flack, Steven Soderbergh’s longtime editor, contemporary off The Limey and Full Frontal, and who would go on to edit Sofia Coppola’s Misplaced in Translation. It was Polson who inadvertently discovered the suave bounce cuts and disorienting edits throughout the scene through which Madison seduces Josh and unintentionally calls him by Ben’s title. As soon as Polson witnessed how the cool visible impact underscored Madison’s slipping sanity, he and Flack reverse-engineered the enhancing course of by going again and making use of the identical approach to earlier scenes. For Polson, it’s Flack’s editorial work that units Swimfan aside from most mainstream studio films and offers it that artsy unbiased vibe they sought from the start.
It’s additionally value noting that minor reshoots happened just a few months following Swimfan’s principal pictures. One scene that was filmed throughout reshoots entails Christopher Dante warning Ben of Madison’s earlier romantic obsessions, which results in the hospital scene with Madison’s prior sufferer, Jake Donnelly (performed by Monroe Mann). Initially, Ben went to the hospital alone after discovering an handle, however the scene didn’t work as dramatically as supposed. Earlier than Dante was made the bearer of unhealthy information, Randy (performed by Jason Ritter) was chargeable for admonishing Ben about Madison’s escalating psychosis.
Different minor inserts and pickup photographs have been captured throughout the reshoots, equivalent to Ben grabbing a letterman jacket from a locker. One of the complicated photographs for check audiences got here when Madison all of a sudden escaped the police cruiser with out a lot clarification. To account for this, Polson added a single close-up insert shot of Madison ripping away her handcuffs after she spots the sheriff’s handgun. As soon as the edit was made, hardly any preview viewers members talked about her means to exit the automotive afterwards. For Polson, it was a make-or-break second that, with the advantage of reshoots, was lucky to clear up a confounding plot level that threatened to undermine the story’s credibility.
Nevertheless, probably the most vital reshoot concerned the swimming pool finale, through which Ben finds his girlfriend Amy (performed by Shiri Appleby) held captive in a wheelchair earlier than Madison pushes her into the pool. The initially shot scene entailed Ben arriving and discovering Amy already on the backside of the pool, nonetheless alive. But, when check audiences rejected that scene as totally unbelievable, Polson and the forged returned to the pool with Fox’s blessing to movie what’s depicted within the last lower. For her half, Christensen wrote her personal dialogue throughout the reshot sequence. In the meantime, Appleby’s stunt double had hassle filming the underwater scenes. To her credit score, Appleby volunteered to carry out the aquatic photographs herself and spent roughly seven days perfecting the finale. In accordance with Bradford, the forged had underwater respiratory apparati that allowed them to sit down on the backside of the pool, take heed to instructions by means of a water-resistant speaker, and carry out scenes with out having to dive in first.
As soon as principal pictures wrapped and the enhancing course of was accomplished, twentieth Century Fox launched Swimfan theatrically on September 6, 2002. Regardless of taking a important beating, the movie opened #1 on the U.S. field workplace, incomes $12.4 million and toppling the indie hit My Large Fats Greek Marriage ceremony. The film went on to grow to be a worldwide business hit, grossing $34.4 million in opposition to its reported $10 million finances.
As for Swimfan’s lukewarm reception, the movie sank with a 15% Rotten Tomatoes score and a 29 Metascore. Whereas the 32% Popcorn Meter and 5.1 IMDb rankings are barely extra favorable amongst non-critics, most agree that, regardless of the slick pacing and editorial strategies, the movie fails to hit the goal as a spine-tingling teenage Deadly Attraction it was supposed to be.
Fittingly tantamount to cinematic blue-balls, Swimfan is all tantalizing build-up and irritating anticlimactic letdown. Nowhere close to as sleazy, steamy, attractive, or trashy sufficient for its supposed goal, Swimfan finally drowns in a shallow pool of cliches and trampled style conventions. But, underwhelming because the film stays to this present day, it does earn credit score for its fast tempo, smooth manufacturing design, deft cinematography, and distinctive enhancing strategies.
Though the monetary success of Swimfan by no means warranted a sequel, 10 transient deleted scenes lower roughly 12 minutes of footage from the ultimate edit. These scenes have been added to the U.S. DVD bonus supplies in 2003. Whereas some baseless hypothesis about Swimfan 2 popped up on-line in 2025, none of them look like credible, and the possibilities of a sequel are slim to none at the moment.
And that’s just about the nuts and bolts of Swimfan’s manufacturing historical past. The pretty easy movie shoot was about as rote, routine, and undramatic because the film itself. Nevertheless, over time, the movie has gained considerably of a nostalgic following among the many so-bad-it’s-good film crowd. Almost 25 years later, that’s what occurred to Swimfan!
Now tell us what you assume under. Is Swimfan underrated or as waterlogged as its status suggests?
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