Trivia / Water (1985)

• Box Office Bomb: Budget, unknown. Box office, $1,256,862. Its failure marked a negative turning point for HandMade Films, which would be compounded by several other bombs in the ensuing years.
• Casting Gag: Jay Jay the DJ is played by Jimmie Walker, alias JJ from Good Times (a reference that most British viewers wouldn't have gotten, as the series was never shown in Britain).
• Contest Winner Cameo: BBC television presenter Paul Heiney played the mercenary commander, as part of the "In at the Deep End" series.
• Creator Backlash: Dick Clement later reflected:
  I think Water just misses. I feel it's not quite connecting in the right way. I look back on it and I'm fairly uncomfortable. For me I always did have a problem with fictional countries or places, I always like things rooted a little bit more in reality. I have a feeling that kind of thing works perhaps in fiction, but I always find that film is a very literal medium, you've got to sell stuff on the screen and I think it was larger than life in a way that isn't quite comfortable on screen and I don't think I pulled it off...And again in hindsight as much as I love Billy Connolly I think a black guy in that part would have been better. I think that would've helped the credibility of making it a Caribbean island.
• Descended Creator: Co-writer Bill Persky plays the TV director in the "Concert for Cascara" sequence, which is also a case of Cast the Expert, since he was a prolific Sitcom director.
• Vindicated by Cable: It was an HBO staple in the latter part of The '80s.
• What Could Have Been: John Cleese was originally offered the role of Sir Malcolm Leveridge, but he turned it down after reading the script.

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