Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World

Peter Weir reveals he initially turned down the chance to direct this sea-faring epic based on the novels of Patrick O'Brian.

"I don't think it would make a great movie," Weir said to the producer when asked to take the reins. Part of the problem, he explains in The Hundred Days making-of documentary, was that he was a big fan of the books and didn't know if he could do them justice.

"O'Brian's greatness lies in his prose and in his characters and in bringing to life a world on board a ship," he says. "The first thing you do as a film maker is pick up the book and all the words fall out onto the table and all you have left is the front cover and back cover, the skeleton of the plot and the ghostly shape of the characters. You have to replace that prose with images, and it's the most extraordinary experience to attempt to do that."

Once onboard, Weir set about turning O'Brian's 20 Aubrey/Maturin novels into a workable script - a daunting task and one that Weir was only too happy to put off in the name of "research". He visited museums and libraries and spent a considerable part of his salary on buying period artefacts - swords, costumes, paintings - to get into character. Eventually, however, he had to sit down and put pen to paper. It's comforting to know that even a writer of Weir's stature still has to wrestle with the dreaded white page. In the end, he says, he found inspiration in Van Gogh, who overcame his own fear of the white canvas by declaring "the white canvas should be frightened of me".

Casting was Weir's next challenge, but he already had someone in mind to play O'Brian's hero, Captain Jack Aubrey - fellow Antipodean Russell Crowe. He read Weir's early script, thought it was "solid" and agreed to do it - not so much because of the script but because he'd always wanted to work with Weir.

Finding a face for Dr. Stephen Maturin, Aubrey's best friend and right-hand man, was more difficult. Weir liked Paul Bettany but was reluctant to cast him because Bettany had already appeared with Crowe in A Beautiful Mind. With a little gentle persuasion from Crowe, Weir went for Bettany. It was a gamble, he says, but one that paid off in spades.

Maturin is a Renaissance man and Bettany had to learn to play the cello for a couple of scenes. He tells us he plays the guitar but that the cello is "a truly ghastly instrument - I sound like I'm trying to climb into a squirrel."

The Extras are unashamedly high-brow - a refreshing change, given the normal fare of bland interviews and standard promo clips. The Still Galleries feature technical drawings of ships and naval-art stills, while the Multi-Camera Shooting feature and the raw dailies give a fascinating behind-the-scenes insight into the mechanics of setting up a shot. The Featurettes include the HBO First Look documentary and something called Cinematic Phasmids, which explores "the art and craft of visual deception" - special effects, to you and me.

It's all clever stuff, and educational too, with plenty of trivia - 27 miles of rope was used for rigging, 20 gallons of "blood" was needed for the battle scenes and 2,000 costumes were used.