Roman Polanski and the Neptune

In the early 1980s, Roman Polanski told Paramount Pictures that his new film, "Pirates," would cost $15 million.By the time the film finally premiered at Cannes in 1986, however, the budget had ballooned to $40 million because of exotic locations, special effects, and the galleon called the Neptune, which was larger than the real thing.At that time, the Neptune was hailed as the most expensive movie "object" of all time, and its dedication to detail was evident. In addition to the ship's steel hull and diesel engine, the galleon had fully functional sails and rigging. In addition, the ship had been intricately carved and painted to perfectly resemble a Spanish galleon, complete with a giant Neptune figurehead. However, the Neptune is actually larger than a historical galleon, and more attention to reality could have resulted in budget savings.Polanski, however, never worried about reality or consequences and built the Neptune in his own image, that is, much larger than life.Today, the Neptune is still at sea, and the Tunisia-built galleon is moored in Genoa harbor, where its impressive rigging towers above modern Italian vessels.