The Boat That Rocked
Encyclopedia
The Boat That Rocked is a 2009 British comedy film
written and directed by Richard Curtis
, with pirate radio in the United Kingdom during the 1960s as its setting. The film has an ensemble cast
featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman
, Bill Nighy
, Rhys Ifans
, Nick Frost
, and Kenneth Branagh
. Set in 1966, it tells the story of the fictitious pirate radio station "Radio Rock" and its crew of eclectic disc jockey
s, who broadcast rock
and pop music
to the United Kingdom from a ship anchored in the North Sea
while the British government endeavors to shut them down. It was produced by Working Title Films
for Universal Pictures
, and was filmed on the Isle of Portland
and at Shepperton Studios
.
The film opened 1 April 2009 and was a commercial failure at the British box office, making only in its first twelve weeks, less than a quarter of its over £30 million production cost. It received mixed reviews, with most criticism directed at its muddled storyline and 2¼-hour length. For its North American release it was re-edited to trim its running time by twenty minutes, and retitled Pirate Radio. Opening 13 November 2009, Pirate Radio was still commercially unsuccessful, earning only about (approximately £5 million).
stations broadcast to the United Kingdom from ships anchored in international waters
, specialising in rock
and pop music
that is not played on BBC Radio
. Seventeen year-old Carl (Tom Sturridge
), recently expelled from school, is sent to stay with his godfather Quentin (Bill Nighy
), who runs the station "Radio Rock" anchored in the North Sea
. The eclectic crew of disc jockey
s and staffers, led by brash American DJ "The Count" (Philip Seymour Hoffman
), quickly accept Carl as one of their own. "Doctor" Dave (Nick Frost
) attempts to help him lose his virginity, but the plan goes awry and results in embarrassment for Carl.
In London, government minister Sir Alistair Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh
) resolves to shut down pirate radio stations due to their commercialism and low morals, instructing his subordinate Twatt (Jack Davenport
) to find legal loopholes that will serve this end. They attempt to cut off the stations' revenue by prohibiting British businesses from advertising on unlicensed radio stations. Quentin counters this by bringing massively popular DJ Gavin Kavanagh (Rhys Ifans
) out of retirement and onto Radio Rock, enticing his advertisers to work around the law by paying their bills from abroad. Gavin's popularity creates a rivalry between himself and The Count.
On his eighteenth birthday Carl is introduced to Quentin's niece Marianne (Talulah Riley
) and falls instantly in love with her, but is heartbroken when she is seduced by Doctor Dave. Carl's roommate "Thick" Kevin (Tom Brooke) observes that the sex, drug, and alcohol-filled atmosphere of Radio Rock is clearly no place for Carl to get on the straight-and-narrow. He theorises that the real reason Carl's mother sent him there is that his father—whom Carl has never met—is someone on the ship, with Quentin being the likeliest suspect.
DJ "Simple" Simon Stafford (Chris O'Dowd
) marries Elenore (January Jones
) in an onboard ceremony, but soon learns that she only married him as a means to live on the ship and be with Gavin, with whom she is infatuated. The Count challenges Gavin to a game of chicken
in defence of Simon's honour: The two DJs climb one of the ship's radio masts
in a clash of egos, reconciling after they are both injured by jumping into the ocean below. Marianne returns and apologizes to Carl for sleeping with Doctor Dave, and she and Carl have sex. When Carl's mother Charlotte (Emma Thompson
) visits for Christmas, she denies his suspicion that Quentin is his father. As she departs, Carl passes on a cryptic message from reclusive late-night DJ "Smooth" Bob Silver (Ralph Brown
), leading to the unexpected revelation that Bob is actually his father.
Meanwhile, Dormandy's mission to ban pirate radio advances when Twatt comes across news of a fishing boat whose distress call was blocked by Radio Rock's powerful signal. Twatt proposes the creation of the Marine Offences Act, which will make pirate radio stations illegal on the grounds that they endanger other vessels. Despite public opinion being heavily in support of the pirate stations, the Act passes unanimously through Parliament
and takes effect at midnight on 1 January 1967. The Radio Rock crew choose to defy the law and continue to broadcast, firing up the ship's engine so that they may avoid arrest by relocating. The ageing vessel cannot take the strain, however: the engine explodes and the ship begins to sink. The DJs broadcast their position in hope of aid, but Dormandy refuses to send rescue boats. Carl rescues the oblivious Bob from his cabin while The Count vows to continue broadcasting as long as possible.
With the lifeboats inoperable, the crew gathers on the prow
as the ship sinks. They are rescued by dozens of fans who have heard their broadcast and sailed out to save them; Carl himself is rescued by Marianne. The Radio Rock ship disappears beneath the sea, with The Count emerging from the sinking vessel at the last moment. Though pirate radio in Britain comes to an end, the music lives on, with rock and pop becoming increasingly popular in subsequent decades.
Additional minor roles were played by Ian Mercer
as the transfer boatman, Stephen Moore
as the Prime Minister
, Michael Thomas
and Bohdan Poraj as Dormandy's subordinates Sandford and Fredericks, Olegar Fedoro
as the Radio Rock ship's captain, Francesca Longrigg and Amanda Fairbank-Hynes as Dormandy's wife and daughter, and Olivia Llewellyn as Marianne's friend Margaret who Felicity falls in love with.
and made by Working Title Films
for Universal Studios
. The producers for Working Title were Tim Bevan
, Eric Fellner
and Hilary Bevan Jones
, with Curtis, Debra Hayward
and Liza Chasin
acting as executive producers. Principal photography
started on 3 March and continued until June 2008. Filming took place on the former Dutch hospital ship Timor Challenger, previously De Hoop, moored in Portland Harbour
, Dorset
; the "North Sea" scenes were shot off Portland Bill, while boat interior shots were filmed inside a warehouse in Osprey Quay on the Isle of Portland
and at Shepperton Studios
. The film's production cost exceeded £30 million.
Following the film's commercial failure at the British box office, Focus Features
commissioned a re-edited version for release in North American release 13 November 2009. Retitled Pirate Radio, this version of the film deleted approximately twenty minutes of footage from the original version to address complaints from several critics that the film's running time was excessive.
based on 149 reviews.
The Daily Telegraph
credited the film with "some magical moments," but called it "muddled" and criticised its length.
Time Out was also critical of the length and said the film was "disappointing". The Hollywood Reporter
ran the headline "Rock 'n' roll movie Boat just barely stays afloat," declaring the film too long to sustain interest.
Total Film
also criticised the film's length and comedic style.
Andrew Neil
writing in The Observer
, remarked that he was disappointed in the "contrived" storyline and the "unnecessarily perverted" history. Channel 4
reviewed the film more positively, calling it "touching", "heartfelt" and an "enjoyable journey", but ultimately questioned its coherence.
The film's British box office revenues in its first 12 weeks of release were £6.1 million, less than a quarter of its production cost.
A shorter version of the film was released in the United States with the title Pirate Radio. Upon that release, Manohla Dargis
wrote:
Robert Wilonsky
, reviewing Pirate Radio after having seen The Boat That Rocked and its UK home video release, said the U.S. theatrical release had had "most of its better bits excised"; according to Wilonsky, "after watching the DVD, Pirate Radio feels so slight in its current incarnation. Shorn of the scenes that actually put meat on its characters' frail bones, the resulting product is vaguely cute and wholly insubstantial, little more than a randomly assembled hodge-podge of scenes crammed in and yanked out that amount to yet another movie about rebellious young men sticking it to The Grumpy Old Man—this time, with a tacked-on Titanic
climax."
The film earned less than $US 3 million in its first weekend (in a mid-scale release of 882 screens as opposed of 3,404 screens for 2012 and 3,683 screens for A Christmas Carol) and suffered a stiff 49.7% drop-off on its second weekend - earning only $US1.46 million. Pirate Radio took in only about (approximately £5 million) in North America.
The official synopsis of The Boat That Rocked before release stated that it tells the fictional story about a group of DJs in 1966 who are at odds with a traditionalist British government that prefers to broadcast jazz. According to director Richard Curtis, the film, though inspired by real British pirate radio of the 1960s, is a work of historical fiction and does not depict a specific radio station of the period.
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
written and directed by Richard Curtis
Richard Curtis
Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis, CBE is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, music producer, actor and film director, known primarily for romantic comedy films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones's Diary, Notting Hill, Love Actually and The Girl in the Café, as well as the hit...
, with pirate radio in the United Kingdom during the 1960s as its setting. The film has an ensemble cast
Ensemble cast
An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...
featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman is an American actor and director. Hoffman began acting in television in 1991, and the following year started to appear in films...
, Bill Nighy
Bill Nighy
William Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He worked in theatre and television before his first cinema role in 1981, and made his name in television with The Men's Room in 1991, in which he played the womanizer Prof...
, Rhys Ifans
Rhys Ifans
Rhys Ifans is a Welsh actor and musician. He is known for his portrayal of characters such as Spike in Notting Hill and Jed Parry in Enduring Love and as a member of the Welsh rock groups Super Furry Animals and The Peth. Ifans also appeared as Xenophilius Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Deathly...
, Nick Frost
Nick Frost
Nicholas John "Nick" Frost is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is best known for his work with Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg in the role of Mike Watt in the television comedy Spaced, as well as the film characters Ed in Shaun of the Dead, PC/Sgt...
, and Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...
. Set in 1966, it tells the story of the fictitious pirate radio station "Radio Rock" and its crew of eclectic disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
s, who broadcast rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
to the United Kingdom from a ship anchored in the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
while the British government endeavors to shut them down. It was produced by Working Title Films
Working Title Films
Working Title Films is a British film production company, based in London, UK. The company was founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe in 1983. It produces feature films and several television productions, including films starring comic actor Rowan Atkinson...
for Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
, and was filmed on the Isle of Portland
Isle of Portland
The Isle of Portland is a limestone tied island, long by wide, in the English Channel. Portland is south of the resort of Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England. A tombolo over which runs the A354 road connects it to Chesil Beach and the mainland. Portland and...
and at Shepperton Studios
Shepperton Studios
Shepperton Studios is a film studio in Shepperton, Surrey, England with a history dating back to 1931 since when many notable films have been made there...
.
The film opened 1 April 2009 and was a commercial failure at the British box office, making only in its first twelve weeks, less than a quarter of its over £30 million production cost. It received mixed reviews, with most criticism directed at its muddled storyline and 2¼-hour length. For its North American release it was re-edited to trim its running time by twenty minutes, and retitled Pirate Radio. Opening 13 November 2009, Pirate Radio was still commercially unsuccessful, earning only about (approximately £5 million).
Plot
In 1966, numerous pirate radioPirate radio
Pirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation...
stations broadcast to the United Kingdom from ships anchored in international waters
International waters
The terms international waters or trans-boundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regional seas and estuaries, rivers, lakes, groundwater systems , and wetlands.Oceans,...
, specialising in rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
that is not played on BBC Radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
. Seventeen year-old Carl (Tom Sturridge
Tom Sturridge
Thomas Sidney Jerome "Tom" Sturridge is an English actor best known for his work in Being Julia, Like Minds, and The Boat That Rocked. As of September 2010, he was filming a role in Walter Salles's highly anticipated film adaptation of Jack Kerouac's On the Road.-Personal life:Sturridge was born...
), recently expelled from school, is sent to stay with his godfather Quentin (Bill Nighy
Bill Nighy
William Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He worked in theatre and television before his first cinema role in 1981, and made his name in television with The Men's Room in 1991, in which he played the womanizer Prof...
), who runs the station "Radio Rock" anchored in the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
. The eclectic crew of disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
s and staffers, led by brash American DJ "The Count" (Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman is an American actor and director. Hoffman began acting in television in 1991, and the following year started to appear in films...
), quickly accept Carl as one of their own. "Doctor" Dave (Nick Frost
Nick Frost
Nicholas John "Nick" Frost is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is best known for his work with Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg in the role of Mike Watt in the television comedy Spaced, as well as the film characters Ed in Shaun of the Dead, PC/Sgt...
) attempts to help him lose his virginity, but the plan goes awry and results in embarrassment for Carl.
In London, government minister Sir Alistair Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...
) resolves to shut down pirate radio stations due to their commercialism and low morals, instructing his subordinate Twatt (Jack Davenport
Jack Davenport
Jack Davenport is an English actor, best known for his roles in the television series This Life, Coupling and as James Norrington in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. He has also appeared in many other Hollywood films such as The Talented Mr. Ripley...
) to find legal loopholes that will serve this end. They attempt to cut off the stations' revenue by prohibiting British businesses from advertising on unlicensed radio stations. Quentin counters this by bringing massively popular DJ Gavin Kavanagh (Rhys Ifans
Rhys Ifans
Rhys Ifans is a Welsh actor and musician. He is known for his portrayal of characters such as Spike in Notting Hill and Jed Parry in Enduring Love and as a member of the Welsh rock groups Super Furry Animals and The Peth. Ifans also appeared as Xenophilius Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Deathly...
) out of retirement and onto Radio Rock, enticing his advertisers to work around the law by paying their bills from abroad. Gavin's popularity creates a rivalry between himself and The Count.
On his eighteenth birthday Carl is introduced to Quentin's niece Marianne (Talulah Riley
Talulah Riley
Talulah Jane Riley-Milburn is an English actress whose films include Pride and Prejudice, St Trinian's, The Boat That Rocked and St...
) and falls instantly in love with her, but is heartbroken when she is seduced by Doctor Dave. Carl's roommate "Thick" Kevin (Tom Brooke) observes that the sex, drug, and alcohol-filled atmosphere of Radio Rock is clearly no place for Carl to get on the straight-and-narrow. He theorises that the real reason Carl's mother sent him there is that his father—whom Carl has never met—is someone on the ship, with Quentin being the likeliest suspect.
DJ "Simple" Simon Stafford (Chris O'Dowd
Chris O'Dowd
Chris O'Dowd is an Irish comedian and actor. He is best known for playing Roy Trenneman in British sitcom The IT Crowd...
) marries Elenore (January Jones
January Jones
January Kristen Jones is an American actress. She is best known for playing Betty Draper on Mad Men.-Early life:...
) in an onboard ceremony, but soon learns that she only married him as a means to live on the ship and be with Gavin, with whom she is infatuated. The Count challenges Gavin to a game of chicken
Chicken (game)
The game of chicken, also known as the hawk-dove or snowdrift game, is an influential model of conflict for two players in game theory...
in defence of Simon's honour: The two DJs climb one of the ship's radio masts
Radio masts and towers
Radio masts and towers are, typically, tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. They are among the tallest man-made structures...
in a clash of egos, reconciling after they are both injured by jumping into the ocean below. Marianne returns and apologizes to Carl for sleeping with Doctor Dave, and she and Carl have sex. When Carl's mother Charlotte (Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson is a British actress, comedian and screenwriter. Her first major film role was in the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall Guy. In 1992, Thompson won multiple acting awards, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, for her performance in the British drama Howards End...
) visits for Christmas, she denies his suspicion that Quentin is his father. As she departs, Carl passes on a cryptic message from reclusive late-night DJ "Smooth" Bob Silver (Ralph Brown
Ralph Brown
Ralph William John Brown is an English actor and writer, known for playing Danny the drug dealer in Withnail and I, the security guard Aaron in Alien 3, DJ Bob Silver in The Boat That Rocked, and the pilot Ric Olié in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace...
), leading to the unexpected revelation that Bob is actually his father.
Meanwhile, Dormandy's mission to ban pirate radio advances when Twatt comes across news of a fishing boat whose distress call was blocked by Radio Rock's powerful signal. Twatt proposes the creation of the Marine Offences Act, which will make pirate radio stations illegal on the grounds that they endanger other vessels. Despite public opinion being heavily in support of the pirate stations, the Act passes unanimously through Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
and takes effect at midnight on 1 January 1967. The Radio Rock crew choose to defy the law and continue to broadcast, firing up the ship's engine so that they may avoid arrest by relocating. The ageing vessel cannot take the strain, however: the engine explodes and the ship begins to sink. The DJs broadcast their position in hope of aid, but Dormandy refuses to send rescue boats. Carl rescues the oblivious Bob from his cabin while The Count vows to continue broadcasting as long as possible.
With the lifeboats inoperable, the crew gathers on the prow
Prow
thumb|right|295pxThe prow is the forward most part of a ship's bow that cuts through the water. The prow is the part of the bow above the waterline. The terms prow and bow are often used interchangeably to describe the most forward part of a ship and its surrounding parts...
as the ship sinks. They are rescued by dozens of fans who have heard their broadcast and sailed out to save them; Carl himself is rescued by Marianne. The Radio Rock ship disappears beneath the sea, with The Count emerging from the sinking vessel at the last moment. Though pirate radio in Britain comes to an end, the music lives on, with rock and pop becoming increasingly popular in subsequent decades.
Cast
- Philip Seymour HoffmanPhilip Seymour HoffmanPhilip Seymour Hoffman is an American actor and director. Hoffman began acting in television in 1991, and the following year started to appear in films...
as "The Count", the brash American DJ on Radio Rock. The character is loosely based on Emperor RoskoEmperor RoskoMike Pasternak, better known by his stage name of Emperor Rosko is a well known pop radio presenter.Born Michael Joseph Pasternak, he is the son of Hollywood film producer Joe Pasternak. He was influenced in his career choice by KYA Radio Los Angeles DJs Lord Tim Hudson and Wolfman Jack...
, a DJ on BBC Radio One during the late 1960s and early 1970s. - Tom SturridgeTom SturridgeThomas Sidney Jerome "Tom" Sturridge is an English actor best known for his work in Being Julia, Like Minds, and The Boat That Rocked. As of September 2010, he was filming a role in Walter Salles's highly anticipated film adaptation of Jack Kerouac's On the Road.-Personal life:Sturridge was born...
as "Young" Carl, who is sent to stay with his godfather Quentin on the Radio Rock ship. - Bill NighyBill NighyWilliam Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He worked in theatre and television before his first cinema role in 1981, and made his name in television with The Men's Room in 1991, in which he played the womanizer Prof...
as Quentin, Carl's godfather who runs Radio Rock. - Will AdamsdaleWill AdamsdaleWill Adamsdale is an English actor.Adamsdale was educated at Eton College and the Oxford School of Drama. In 2004, he starred in a self-penned one man show called Jackson's Way at the Edinburgh Fringe. The intended run for the production was ten days, before the intervention of cult comedian...
as "News" John Mayford, the station's news and weather reporter. - Tom Brooke as "Thick" Kevin, Carl's intellectually dense cabin-mate and a member of the Radio Rock staff.
- Rhys DarbyRhys DarbyRhys Montague Darby is an actor and stand-up comedian from New Zealand, known for his energetic physical comedy routines, telling stories accompanied with mime and sound effects of things such as machinery and animals...
as Angus "The Nut" Nutsford, DJ and lone New Zealander on the ship. - Nick FrostNick FrostNicholas John "Nick" Frost is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is best known for his work with Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg in the role of Mike Watt in the television comedy Spaced, as well as the film characters Ed in Shaun of the Dead, PC/Sgt...
as DJ "Doctor" Dave, who unsuccessfully attempts to help Carl lose his virginity and later ends up sleeping with Carl's crush Marianne. - Katherine ParkinsonKatherine ParkinsonLaura Katherine Parkinson is an English actress and comedian who is known for playing the part of Jen Barber in the Channel 4 comedy series The IT Crowd...
as Felicity, the lesbianLesbianLesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
cook and the only woman permitted to live on the ship. - Chris O'DowdChris O'DowdChris O'Dowd is an Irish comedian and actor. He is best known for playing Roy Trenneman in British sitcom The IT Crowd...
as "Simple" Simon Swafford, Radio Rock's breakfast DJ who marries the too-good-to-be true Elenore only to learn that she is actually in love with another DJ, Gavin. O'Dowd drew inspiration from Tony BlackburnTony BlackburnTony Blackburn is an English disc jockey, who broadcast on the "pirate" stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s and was the first disc jockey to broadcast on BBC Radio 1 in 1967. In 2002 he was the winner of the ITV reality TV programme I'm a Celebrity.....
, the morning DJ on pirate station Radio CarolineRadio CarolineRadio Caroline is an English radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly...
in the 1960s, and his Irish contemporary Larry GoganLarry GoganLaurence 'Larry' Gogan is an Irish broadcaster working for Raidió Teilifís Éireann . He is a disc jockey on RTÉ 2fm. His show is The Golden Hour, during which Larry plays old favourites and classic songs from yesteryear. Gogan spun the first disc on Radio 2, Like Clockwork by The Boomtown Rats...
. - Ike Hamilton as Harold, the station's radio assistant.
- Kenneth BranaghKenneth BranaghKenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...
as Sir Alistair Dormandy, a government ministerMinister (government)A minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet....
who endeavors to shut pirate radio stations down. - Sinead MatthewsSinead MatthewsSinead Matthews is an English actress.She was born in Coventry. She attended Coventry's Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School and Language College, and studied A-level Drama at Stratford Upon Avon College between 1996 and 1998. She graduated from RADA in 2003, and made her television debut in the 2004...
as Miss C, Dormandy's assistant who secretly listens to Radio Rock. - Tom WisdomTom WisdomTom Wisdom is an English actor of theatre, film and television. His film roles includes the downtrodden hero of Danny Patrick's Hey Mr DJ and Astinos in 300 , based on Frank Miller's graphic novel about the Battle of Thermopylae.-Personal life:Wisdom was born in Swindon, Wiltshire, England...
as "Midnight" Mark, Radio Rock's suave nighttime DJ who rarely speaks but nonetheless has female listeners swooning over him. - Gemma ArtertonGemma ArtertonGemma Arterton is an English actress. She played the eponymous protagonist in the BBC adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles, and starred in the feature films St Trinian's, the James Bond film Quantum of Solace, Clash of the Titans, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Tamara...
as Desiree, a female fan who Doctor Dave attempts to trick into having sex with Carl. - Jack DavenportJack DavenportJack Davenport is an English actor, best known for his roles in the television series This Life, Coupling and as James Norrington in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. He has also appeared in many other Hollywood films such as The Talented Mr. Ripley...
as Twatt, Dormandy's subordinate who is assigned the task of finding legal loopholes that can be used to shut pirate radio stations down. - Ralph BrownRalph BrownRalph William John Brown is an English actor and writer, known for playing Danny the drug dealer in Withnail and I, the security guard Aaron in Alien 3, DJ Bob Silver in The Boat That Rocked, and the pilot Ric Olié in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace...
as "Smooth" Bob Silver, "The Dawn Treader", Radio Rock's reclusive late-night DJ who turns out to be Carl's father. - Rhys IfansRhys IfansRhys Ifans is a Welsh actor and musician. He is known for his portrayal of characters such as Spike in Notting Hill and Jed Parry in Enduring Love and as a member of the Welsh rock groups Super Furry Animals and The Peth. Ifans also appeared as Xenophilius Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Deathly...
as Gavin Kavanagh, a massively popular DJ brought out of retirement by Quentin, leading to a professional rivalry with The Count. - Talulah RileyTalulah RileyTalulah Jane Riley-Milburn is an English actress whose films include Pride and Prejudice, St Trinian's, The Boat That Rocked and St...
as Marianne, Quentin's niece whom Carl falls in love with. - January JonesJanuary JonesJanuary Kristen Jones is an American actress. She is best known for playing Betty Draper on Mad Men.-Early life:...
as Elenore, who marries Simon as a means of getting to Gavin, the revelation of which ends the marriage after only 17 hours. - Emma ThompsonEmma ThompsonEmma Thompson is a British actress, comedian and screenwriter. Her first major film role was in the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall Guy. In 1992, Thompson won multiple acting awards, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, for her performance in the British drama Howards End...
as Charlotte, Carl's mother.
Additional minor roles were played by Ian Mercer
Ian Mercer
Ian Mercer is an English actor. On leaving school Mercer trained as an electrical engineer but decided to become an actor when he became an assistant stage manager at the Oldham Coliseum in 1979. His first television appearance was as a butcher in the film Blue Money in 1982...
as the transfer boatman, Stephen Moore
Stephen Moore (actor)
Stephen Moore is an English actor, known for his work on British television since the 1980s. He is known for his appearances in Rock Follies and other TV series such as The Last Place on Earth, the children's series The Queen's Nose and the drama Mersey Beat and the British TV comedy series Solo,...
as the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
, Michael Thomas
Michael Thomas (actor)
Michael Thomas is a British theatre actor who has worked on the English stage and screen for the past forty years. His career has seen him work for the Old Vic, the National Theatre, and the RSC on numerous occasions....
and Bohdan Poraj as Dormandy's subordinates Sandford and Fredericks, Olegar Fedoro
Olegar Fedoro
Olegar Fedoro is a Ukrainian-born former Soviet performer who later became a Spanish and then English actor.He started with a work for Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker...
as the Radio Rock ship's captain, Francesca Longrigg and Amanda Fairbank-Hynes as Dormandy's wife and daughter, and Olivia Llewellyn as Marianne's friend Margaret who Felicity falls in love with.
Production
The film was written and directed by Richard CurtisRichard Curtis
Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis, CBE is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, music producer, actor and film director, known primarily for romantic comedy films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones's Diary, Notting Hill, Love Actually and The Girl in the Café, as well as the hit...
and made by Working Title Films
Working Title Films
Working Title Films is a British film production company, based in London, UK. The company was founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe in 1983. It produces feature films and several television productions, including films starring comic actor Rowan Atkinson...
for Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
. The producers for Working Title were Tim Bevan
Tim Bevan
Tim Bevan, CBE is a film producer.Bevan was born in Queenstown, New Zealand. He co-founded Working Title Films in London with Sarah Radclyffe in the 1980s....
, Eric Fellner
Eric Fellner
-Life and career:Fellner went to Cranleigh School in Surrey, England from 1972-77. He attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He is a good friend of Hugh Grant, who is the star of some of Working Title's biggest box office hits. Fellner and his long-time partner, model Laura...
and Hilary Bevan Jones
Hilary Bevan Jones
Hilary Susan Bevan Jones is a British television producer, who has worked on several acclaimed drama programmes, including the multi-award-winning State of Play . She entered the television industry in 1979, when she gained a job as an assistant floor manager at BBC Television Centre...
, with Curtis, Debra Hayward
Debra Hayward
Debra Hayward is a British film producer. As Head of Film at Working Title Films Debra frequently served as an executive producer for the company's feature films, working alongside fellow Working Title executive Liza Chasin...
and Liza Chasin
Liza Chasin
Liza Chasin is an American film producer. She is the president of the American production arm of Working Title Films.-Biography:Liza Chasin is a graduate of NYU Film School. Prior to joining Working Title Films Chasin worked for several years in various production capacities in New York-based...
acting as executive producers. Principal photography
Principal photography
thumb|300px|Film production on location in [[Newark, New Jersey]].Principal photography is the phase of film production in which the movie is filmed, with actors on set and cameras rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production....
started on 3 March and continued until June 2008. Filming took place on the former Dutch hospital ship Timor Challenger, previously De Hoop, moored in Portland Harbour
Portland Harbour
Portland Harbour is located beside the Isle of Portland, off Dorset, on the south coast of England. It is one of the largest man-made harbours in the world. Grid reference: .-History:...
, Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
; the "North Sea" scenes were shot off Portland Bill, while boat interior shots were filmed inside a warehouse in Osprey Quay on the Isle of Portland
Isle of Portland
The Isle of Portland is a limestone tied island, long by wide, in the English Channel. Portland is south of the resort of Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England. A tombolo over which runs the A354 road connects it to Chesil Beach and the mainland. Portland and...
and at Shepperton Studios
Shepperton Studios
Shepperton Studios is a film studio in Shepperton, Surrey, England with a history dating back to 1931 since when many notable films have been made there...
. The film's production cost exceeded £30 million.
Following the film's commercial failure at the British box office, Focus Features
Focus Features
Focus Features is the art house films division of NBC Universal's Universal Pictures, and acts as both a producer and distributor for its own films and a distributor for foreign films....
commissioned a re-edited version for release in North American release 13 November 2009. Retitled Pirate Radio, this version of the film deleted approximately twenty minutes of footage from the original version to address complaints from several critics that the film's running time was excessive.
Reception
The film has received generally mixed reviews: it holds a 60% approval rating on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
based on 149 reviews.
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
credited the film with "some magical moments," but called it "muddled" and criticised its length.
Time Out was also critical of the length and said the film was "disappointing". The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
ran the headline "Rock 'n' roll movie Boat just barely stays afloat," declaring the film too long to sustain interest.
Total Film
Total Film
Total Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers film, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features...
also criticised the film's length and comedic style.
Andrew Neil
Andrew Neil
Andrew Ferguson Neil is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster.He currently works for the BBC, presenting the live political programmes The Daily Politics and This Week...
writing in The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, remarked that he was disappointed in the "contrived" storyline and the "unnecessarily perverted" history. Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
reviewed the film more positively, calling it "touching", "heartfelt" and an "enjoyable journey", but ultimately questioned its coherence.
The film's British box office revenues in its first 12 weeks of release were £6.1 million, less than a quarter of its production cost.
A shorter version of the film was released in the United States with the title Pirate Radio. Upon that release, Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with A.O. Scott. She was formerly a chief film critic for the Los Angeles Times, the film editor at the LA Weekly, and a film critic at The Village Voice. She has written for a variety of publications, including Film Comment and...
wrote:
"Stuffed with playful character actors and carpeted with wall-to-wall tunes, the film makes for easy viewing and easier listening, even if Mr. Curtis, who wrote and directed, has nothing really to say about these rebels for whom rock 'n' roll was both life's rhyme and its reason."
Robert Wilonsky
Robert Wilonsky
Robert Elliott Wilonsky is an American journalist and the former host of Higher Definition, an interview program on the cable television network HDNet.-Early life:Wilonsky was born in Dallas, Texas to Margaret and Herschel Wilonsky...
, reviewing Pirate Radio after having seen The Boat That Rocked and its UK home video release, said the U.S. theatrical release had had "most of its better bits excised"; according to Wilonsky, "after watching the DVD, Pirate Radio feels so slight in its current incarnation. Shorn of the scenes that actually put meat on its characters' frail bones, the resulting product is vaguely cute and wholly insubstantial, little more than a randomly assembled hodge-podge of scenes crammed in and yanked out that amount to yet another movie about rebellious young men sticking it to The Grumpy Old Man—this time, with a tacked-on Titanic
Titanic (1997 film)
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
climax."
The film earned less than $US 3 million in its first weekend (in a mid-scale release of 882 screens as opposed of 3,404 screens for 2012 and 3,683 screens for A Christmas Carol) and suffered a stiff 49.7% drop-off on its second weekend - earning only $US1.46 million. Pirate Radio took in only about (approximately £5 million) in North America.
Historical setting
Soundtrack
- The soundtrack features songs from The KinksThe KinksThe Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
, The Rolling StonesThe Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, The TurtlesThe TurtlesThe Turtles are an American rock group led by vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. The band became notable for several Top 40 hits beginning with its cover version of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" in 1965...
, Jimi HendrixJimi HendrixJames Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, DuffyDuffy (singer)Aimée Ann Duffy , known as Duffy, is a Welsh singer-songwriter. Her 2008 debut album Rockferry entered the UK Album Chart at number one. It was the best-selling album in the United Kingdom in 2008 with 1.68 million copies sold...
, Box TopsBox TopsThe Box Tops were a Memphis rock group of the second half of the 1960s. They are best known for the hits "The Letter," "Neon Rainbow," "Soul Deep," "I Met Her in Church," and "Cry Like A Baby," and are considered a major blue-eyed soul group of the period...
, The Beach BoysThe Beach BoysThe Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
, Dusty SpringfieldDusty SpringfieldMary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
and The WhoThe WhoThe Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction... - The soundtrack features 32 songs on two discs. The film itself has a 60-song playlist.
Home media
Scenes cut from the film but available in at least some of the film's home media releases include:- a long scene of late-night sabotage aboard a competitor's vessel;
- The Count's homage to the Beatles, delivered in front of Abbey Road studios;
- Gavin Kavanagh in a flashback, dancing in a South American bar to "Get Off of My CloudGet off of My Cloud"Get Off of My Cloud" is a song by the English rock band The Rolling Stones. It was written as a follow-up single to the successful " Satisfaction"...
"; - a heartbroken "Simple" Simon lip syncLip syncLip sync, lip-sync, lip-synch is a technical term for matching lip movements with sung or spoken vocals...
s Lorraine Ellison 's "Stay with MeStay with Me (Lorraine Ellison song)"Stay with Me" is a song co-written by Jerry Ragovoy and George David Weiss. It was first recorded in 1966 by Lorraine Ellison, produced by Ragovoy....
" in its entirety.
| Format | Release date | Additional content |
|---|---|---|
| DVD | Region 1: 13 April 2010 Region 2: 7 September 2009 Region 4: 12 August 2009 |
|
| Blu-ray | Region 1: 13 April 2010 Region 2: 7 September 2009 Region 4: 12 August 2009 |