The Astronaut's Wife (1999)

After an explosion in space and subsequent two-minute radio-out period, two astronauts return home to their wives. Slightly it's revealed that they're not the same as they were.

Director:

Rand Ravich

Writer:

Rand Ravich

Stars:

Charlize Theron, Johnny Depp, Joe Morton

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Johnny Depp	...	Commander Spencer Armacost
Charlize Theron	...	Jillian Armacost
Joe Morton	...	Sherman Reese, NASA Representative
Clea DuVall	...	Nan
Donna Murphy	...	Natalie Streck
Nick Cassavetes	...	Capt. Alex Streck
Samantha Eggar	...	Dr. Patraba
Gary Grubbs	...	NASA Director
Blair Brown	...	Shelly McLaren
Tom Noonan	...	Jackson McLaren
Tom O'Brien	...	Allen Dodge
Lucy Lin	...	Shelly Carter
Michael Crider	...	Pat Elliott
Jacob Stein	...	Calvin, 2nd Grade Student
Timothy Wicker	...	Wide Eyed Kid #1

Storyline

A pair of shuttle astronauts leave their spacecraft to repair a satellite. There's an explosion. NASA loses contact for two minutes, but the both are rescued and safely returned to Earth. Eventually it becomes evident that neither of the astronauts is quite the same.

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Plot Keywords:

astronaut | mission | electrocuted in bathtub | sister | pilot | 

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Taglines:

Witness the birth of pure evil

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Genres:

Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language and a strong scene of sexuality

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Mr. Reese tracks Jillian to the toy store, he opens his briefcase to show her documents. The lock code was set to '666'.

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Goofs

When Captain Streck is having his medical episode in the hospital, the medical team is putting an Ambu bag over his nose and mouth while he is thrashing around screaming. A bag valve mask (BVM) like this is a hand-held device commonly used to provide positive pressure ventilation to patients who are not breathing or not breathing adequately. That is certainly not the case here.

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Quotes

Sherman Reese: Something happened up there that these men did not train for!

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Alternate Versions

SPOILER: The DVD includes an alternate ending: When Spencer is killed, Jillian is not possessed by the alien. Instead, she moves out to the country. Sitting beneath a tree, looking up at the stars, she tunes her radio to the same signals Spencer was receiving while possessed by the alien - her twin babies controlling her movements from inside the womb, listening - and waiting...

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Connections

References 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

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Soundtracks

Poor Butterfly
Written by Raymond Hubbell, John Golden

User Reviews

Disappointment

In the beginning, it reminded me of "The Devil's Advocate", then "Rosemary's Baby" and Alien". It's a shame that mixing those cult movies resulted in unpresentable and mediocre SF drama. Even Johnny Depp could not save this failure.

6/10

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 August 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Astronaut's Wife

Filming Locations:

One 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10003

Box Office

Budget:

$75,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,027,003, 29 August 1999

Gross USA:

$10,672,566

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$19,598,588

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema, Mad Chance

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1