Fishtales

Infobox Film
name = Fishtales

---

image_size =
caption = Promotional poster.
director = Alki David
producer = Alki David
Billy Zane (co-producer)
writer = Alki David
Melissa Painter
narrator =
starring = Kelly Brook
Billy Zane
Alki David
Amber Savva
music =
cinematography = Aggelos Viskadourakis
editing = Alki David
distributor = 111 Pictures
released = August 24, 2007
runtime = 90 min.
country = United Kingdom
Greece
language = English
Greek
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://fishtalesmovie.com/
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0918628

"Fishtales" is a 2007 family comedy film directed by Alki David, and starring Billy Zane and Kelly Brook about a widowed father who falls in love with a mermaid. The film was released theatrically in the UK on August 24, 2007.

At the time of filming, co-stars Billy Zane and Kelly Brook were engaged to be married, but they have since then have split. This is the second film that the couple have worked on together, the previous being 2006's "Survival Island", where they met.

Plot

Widowed Greek-History Professor Thomas Bradley (Billy Zane) is about to lose his research grant studying ancient love spells. He knows he is close to a major academic breakthrough and desperately needs more time to complete his research. Thomas is given one last chance to finish his work, and goes to the Greek island of Spetses, where he has been invited to stay at the home of a supportive Oxford don Professor Coulter. Thomas brings along his 12 year-old daughter, Serena (Amber Savva). The house is in tolerable condition, and Serena finds a book about mermaids that has an ancient Greek inscription on the cover.

Serena is supportive of her father and readily asks him about ancient mythology, but feels that he dedicates too much of himself to his work. The pair meet a fisherman named Captain Mavros (Alki David) and his son Dimitri (Felix Yanez); Dimitri develops a crush on Serena.

While exploring the island, Serena finds a "forbidden" cove where she is told that Professor Coulter's daughter disappeared years ago. She throws a necklace into the water, and when she later returns to the cove, she sees a mermaid. Serena dives into the water and meets Neried (Kelly Brook), who explains that she came because Serena made an offering. The pair become friends, and Serena insists that Neried meet her father, as they both share a love of ancient mythology.

Neried, who can only gain legs at night, travels on land to meet Thomas. When they initially cannot get along, Serena asks that Neried only help her father translate some old relics for his work. Neried does, and when she and Thomas speak the ancient love spell in unison, they fall in love with each other. Thomas realizes that the writing on the book Serena had discovered earlier is the key to understanding all the ancient text, enabling him to continue his work.

Captain Mavros, who has learned from Dimitri that Serena has befriended a mermaid, follows Serena to Neried's cave. Mavros wants to kill Neried for her jeweled tail, not knowing that Neried has decided to sacrifice her immortality as a mermaid to become a human. Serena and Neried swim out of the cave and are trapped in Mavros' net, but Thomas manages to save them.

The film ends with Thomas, accompanied by Serena and Neried, returning to Oxford to present his thesis, which is received in triumph.

Cast

* Billy Zane as Dr. Thomas Bradley
* Kelly Brook as Neried
* Alki David as Captain Mavros
* Amber Savva as Serena Bradley
* Felix Yanez as Dimitri Mavros
* Effi Papatheodorou as Klymeni
* John Nettleton as Professor Coulter
* Terrence Hardiman as Professor Ratcher
* John Quayle as Professor Whiner

Production

The film was shot on location on the Greek Island of Spetses during the summer of 2006, with extra footage filmed later in London. Director Alki David, an avid dive enthusiast, paid particular attention to the quality of the underwater sequences. David's companies, 'BIOS' and 'Full On Entertainment' sponsor and film free-diving world record attempts on the island of Spetses where the film was filmed. Specialist equipment was required to achieve the underwater scenes in the film.

During shooting for the film, Brook, when attempting to surface between shots, hit her head on the underside of a rock and almost drowned in her full costume. [cite news | title=Kelly Brook Almost Killed By Fishtales | publisher=Celebrity Gossip | date=2007-05-28 | url=http://www.celebrity-gossip.net/celebrities/hollywood/kelly-brook-almost-killed-by-fishtales-200860/ | accessdate=2008-08-18]

Brook had a stunt and body double for the portions of the film that involved swimming beyond her ability, the job was given to a 29 year old free-diver from Cornwall. The double, Hannah Stacey, currently holds the UK's free diving woman's record of 54m (177ft) on a single breath.

Both Brook and Stacey wore tails that were moulded individually to fit each of them and took three and a half months to build.

Release and response

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007, where it received very poor reviews and some critics walked out before the film had finished. [cite news | last=Harmsworth | first=Andrei | title=Kelly and Billy's wet 'Fishtales' flops | publisher=Metro.co.uk | date=2007-05-18 | url=http://www.metro.co.uk/fame/article.html?in_article_id=49609&in_page_id=7 | accessdate=2008-08-18] [cite news | title=Kelly Brook and fiance Billy's film bombs in Cannes | publisher=DailyMail.co.uk | date=2007-05-18 | url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-455681/Kelly-Brook-fiance-Billys-film-bombs-Cannes.html | accessdate=2008-08-18]

It was released theatrically in August 2007 across the UK, USA and Canada.

It was released on DVD in August 2008 across the USA.

References

External links

*
* [http://fishtalesmovie.com/ Official site]
* [http://www.111pictures.com/index.php Official site of 111 Pictures - Production company.]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cornwall/6077522.stm BBC News story about Kelly's double]
* [http://www.slamcartel.com Alki David's website.]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SxiiP88i3c Official trailer]
* [http://www.myspace.com/fishtalesmovie Official Myspace]