The Hunt For Red October Director Fought For Undersea Realism, But The Studio Had Other Ideas

Boss Film was a visual effects company that served as a competitor to ILM in the ’80s and ’90s, working on films like “Ghostbusters” and “Big Trouble in Little China.” McTiernan had previously worked with them on “Die Hard,” which presumably is why he retained their services again for “The Hunt for Red October,” but the problem came when McTiernan wanted Boss Film to achieve what he saw as a realistic look for a submarine slicing through the ocean. As Beck explained:

“The thing [John McTiernan] was searching for was — it was actually a very practical understanding. He was searching for the effect that large mass moving through waters at a certain speed generate bioluminescence — a glow, if you will. And all the stuff that they had done for it at Boss, the studio looked at it and said, ‘What in the hell is all this glowing stuff?’ And he kept trying to rectify what he was searching for, and they just wouldn’t have it, until the studio finally just took the picture away from them and said, ‘Look, these guys are going to do it. Here’s the boards. Go with God, get this thing done.’ So Boss lost a film, we finished it up to the studio’s acceptance and it went out and was a big hit.”