Assembling a stellar cast of past, present, and future stars together to repurpose a famous story that had already been the subject of an equally famous film and then placing it in the hands of a first-time director presents many potential obstacles, with Anthony Hopkins left convinced the end product failed to clear them.
Lewis Milestone’s 1962 classic Mutiny on the Bounty wasn’t even the first adaptation of the real-life events that inspired its narrative, but a decade and a half later, David Lean signalled his intentions to mount another retelling. As one of the greatest directors in the business, his involvement alone was enough to generate excitement.
It was The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, and Doctor Zhivago helmer Lean who first asked Hopkins if he’d be interested in leading the ensemble as William Bligh, but he never ended up wielding the megaphone. Lamenting The Bounty as both “the best script I’ve ever had” and “three years’ work wasted,” Roger Donaldson ended up making his first American picture instead.
Hopkins remained on board, with his mentor Laurence Olivier being added to the roster alongside a cavalcade of talents that reads as being about as eclectic as it gets with 40 years of hindsight. Mel Gibson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Liam Neeson, Bernard Hill, Neil Morrisey, John Sessions, and Dexter Fletcher are all present and accounted for, with Donaldson’s The Bounty promising the untold story.
Aiming for a more accurate slant, the narrative hinged on the oft-overlooked fact Bligh and chief mutineer Fletcher Christian were close friends and regular crewmates before the former’s tyrannical behaviour led to him being usurped, cast adrift, and left to fend for himself on the open water alongside his supporters.
It’s a solidly crafted, well-acted, and engaging period piece with some stunning backdrops, but Hopkins was not a fan of The Bounty. “It was such a sad mess of a film, such a botched job,” he said. “Yet, I’d put so much time and effort into the role.” Believing his sacrifices to be in vain, the future two-time Academy Award winner declared that he’d never make those same mistakes again.
“I will no longer invest so much effort in something over which I have no control,” he continued. “It’s too frustrating. That film was sort of a turning point for me.” Hopkins is excellent as Bligh, but clearly, behind-the-scenes issues left him with a bad taste in his mouth, one of which may have been Lean’s departure.
Then again, he did reunite with Donaldson more than 20 years later for The World’s Fastest Indian, so any hypothetical bad blood between the two wasn’t permanent. Either that, or Gibson’s hard-partying antics were such a stark contrast to the teetotal Hopkins’ commitment to his craft that he lost interest in heading to sun-kissed locales to spend months in the baking heat for a production he didn’t think was worth it in the end.