How Did Robert Zemeckis Turn a Volleyball Into a Beloved Movie Character?

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Throughout his career, Robert Zemeckis turned well-liked actors into mega-stars. From Michael J. Fox to Tom Hanks, Zemeckis, now known for his prevalent use of CGI and other visual gadgets, is well aware of the power of a movie star who can hold the camera and take the audience along for the ride, whether it be a high schooler traveling to his parents' adolescence in Back to the Future or an ordinary man who stumbles into various pivotal events in American history in Forrest Gump. However, these accomplishments are nothing compared to the magic trick in Zemeckis' survival drama, Cast Away, where the director made the world sentimental toward a piece of synthetic leather. In the 2000 film, the star was not Tom Hanks or Helen Hunt; it was one mononymous thing that today needs no introduction: Wilson.

Tom Hanks is Stranded With a Volleyball 'Cast Away'

After the cultural phenomenon that was Forrest Gump, a box office triumph and Best Picture winner, Zemeckis and Hanks' follow-up would be met with loud fanfare. For their next collaboration, Zemeckis, after allowing Hanks to digitally interact with Elvis Presley, John Lennon, and John F. Kennedy, left his star alone on an island.Cast Away follows Chuck Noland (Hanks), a workaholic FedEx executive who survives a plane crash during an overnight air delivery. The crash leaves him stranded on an uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean, and he must fend for his survival all on his own. All he's left with is a pocket watch with a picture of his partner, Kelly Frears (Hunt), who presumes that Chuck died in the crash.

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On this island, Chuck has more to cling to than just a pocket watch and his precious memories. In the wreckage, Chuck opens all the FedEx packages, hoping to discover anything that will help him survive. After he cuts his hand while trying to start a fire, Chuck violently tosses one of the items, a Wilson-brand volleyball, leaving a bloody handprint. Out of sheer boredom and desperation for interaction, Chuck draws a face into the blood and aptly names the ball "Wilson." Four years later, with a disheveled Chuck accepting his fate of being stranded forever, Wilson becomes his confidant. The personified object becomes a friend and spouse-like figure to Chuck, as he constantly bickers with Wilson as if they're a married couple. During Chuck's climactic escape from the island, when he loses Wilson in the ocean, leaving the now-rescued Chuck despondent, you genuinely empathize with his grief.

How Robert Zemeckis Made Wilson Into a Cultural Icon in 'Cast Away'

How did Robert Zemeckis make an inanimate object the heart of this sobering drama about a man grappling with his hopeless fate? The concept of a stranded person on the brink of psychological breakdown turning to a volleyball as an imaginary friend reads like a draft of a cheap sketch comedy routine. While it's rooted in absurdity, there is nothing glib about Wilson's relationship with Chuck. After all, if you crash-landed on a deserted island without readily available food, water, or shelter, you would likely throw all sound human behavior and etiquette out the window.

Initially, Chuck lending Wilson personified traits signals his decaying mental state. However, as the film progresses, the viewer begins to recognize the volleyball as Hanks' co-star with his own autonomy, a miraculous stroke of character construction considering that Wilson can't speak or express emotion. Wilson's emotional heft in the story and his lasting impact on pop culture is a testament to Tom Hanks' effortless movie star radiance. Hanks turns in one of his most impressive performances to date, as he makes pure magic on the screen with nothing but rocks, sticks, and a volleyball. Wilson's effectiveness is also a product of Robert Zemeckis' preternatural abilities as a storyteller and character builder. The film wisely never cuts away from Chuck on the island until he is finally rescued, as placing the audience in isolating confines is essential to the character's arc. The director also never abandons the Wilson bit and gives the ball its due attention as a focal point in Chuck's harrowing adventure.

As an established blockbuster director, Zemeckis approaches surface-level themes, in Cast Away's case, loneliness, with distinct clarity. Similar to the image of the fading family photograph in Back to the Future representing Marty McFly's race against time, Wilson symbolizes the tragedy of Chuck's life — a man with a beautiful life ahead of him is now stuck with an inanimate object. Zemeckis is able to conjure Chuck's pathos and resilience by cutting to Wilson's blank stare. The ball's sturdy presence gives him a reason to fight. Without that blood-stained volleyball, Chucky may have never made it off the island.