Steve Zissou
The Life Aquatic
- The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou was inspired by a single image director and co-writer Wes Anderson had of seeing the inner workings of a boat cut in half. The vision ended up in the final movie and was created using a massive set that measured 150 feet long and 40 feet high.
- Anderson was also inspired to make the movie because of one of his childhood heroes: Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the popular oceanographer and adventurer. Many of the details in the movie mirror Cousteau’s real life. The character of Zissou was originally supposed to be named “Steve Cousteau,” and besides being an ocean-documentarian like the fictitious Zissou, Cousteau also had a research vessel named the Calypso (Zizzou’s is the Belafonte), which, like Zissou’s ship, had a mini-sub, a gyrocopter, and a research balloon. Cousteau's crew wore red knit caps and uniforms, and his son Phillipe was tragically killed in a plane crash.
- Cousteau can also be found in other Wes Anderson movies: Max Fischer, the lead character from Rushmore, finds an inscription in the book Diving for Sunken Treasure by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Philippe Diole, which leads him to Miss Cross. Also, a Richard Avedon portrait of Cousteau can be seen behind Owen Wilson and James Caan’s characters in Bottle Rocket when the two are at a party.
- Besides the Cousteau influence, the now-famous blue polyester Team Zissou uniforms were also inspired by the uniforms worn by the characters on the U.S.S. Enterprise in the original Star Trek TV series.
- The character of Steve Zissou was written specifically for Bill Murray. Anderson originally told Murray about the idea for The Life Aquatic on the set of Rushmore. Anderson allegedly wanted to make the character an amalgamation of Jacques Cousteau, the character of Guido Anselmi played by Marcello Mastroianni from the Federico Fellini film 8½, and Murray himself. Murray has appeared in every Wes Anderson feature film so far except for Bottle Rocket.
- The Life Aquatic marks the first collaboration between Anderson and Roman Coppola, who served as the film’s second unit director. Coppola would later go on to co-write, co-produce, and again serve as second unit director on Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited, provide the voice of the Squirrel Contractor in Fantastic Mr. Fox, co-write Moonrise Kingdom, co-write and co-produce Anderson’s short film Castello Cavalcanti, and was a part of the special photography unit on The Grand Budapest Hotel.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go on an overnight drunk, and in 10 days I'm going to set out to find the shark that ate my friend and destroy it. Anyone who wants to join me is more than welcome."
- Renowned oceanographer Steve Zissou