Perfect Storm Director Let Fish Off The Hook

For Immediate Release:
July 11, 2000

Contact:
Joey Penello 757-622-7382, ext. 372

New York — With PETA staking out CBS in rat and chicken costumes to protest animal cruelty on Survivor, Warner Brothers must be grateful that Wolfgang Petersen, the director of its fishy hit The Perfect Storm, is a longtime PETA member who banned real animals from his set.

With a script that called for the capture and gutting of numerous swordfish and even a shark, shooting the film could have been murder on fish. But Petersen used modern day movie magic to create a cruelty-free flick.

“Not one fish is real … none,” reveals the director. “I’m an animal rights person, and I didn’t want to have one real fish killed for this movie. Every single fish you see is either rubber-if it’s supposed to dead-or it’s animatronic. It’s amazing what you can do in Hollywood in 2000.”

While Storm’s water and wind effects are making the biggest splash with audiences and critics, Petersen is most proud of his faux fish. They can swim, wiggle, dive, and jump-and have even earned the film an official PETA endorsement, which is featured on The Perfect Storm Web site (www.perfectstorm.net).

“The Perfect Storm sets a new standard in a town not known for its ethics,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “If there were an Oscar for compassion, Wolfgang Petersen would be a shoo-in.”