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The Fog
Directed by	Rupert Wainwright
Produced by	John Carpenter, David Foster, Debra Hill
Written by	Cooper Layne (screenplay) John Carpenter, Debra Hill (1980 screenplay)
Starring	Tom Welling Maggie Grace Selma Blair DeRay Davis Rade Šerbedžija Kenneth Welsh
Music by	Graeme Revell
Cinematography	Nathan Hope, Ian Seabrook (underwater)
Editing by	Dennis Virkler
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	October 14, 2005
Running time	100 min.
Language	English
Budget	$18,000,000 (estimated)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Fog is a 2005 horror film directed by Rupert Wainwright. It is a remake of John Carpenter's The Fog (1980), but with more of a "teen horror film" angle. The original music score is composed by Graeme Revell.

• Tom Welling – Nick Castle
• Maggie Grace – Elizabeth Williams
• Selma Blair – Stevie Wayne
• DeRay Davis – Brett Spooner
• Kenneth Welsh – Tom Malone
• Adrian Hough – Father Robert Malone
• Sara Botsford – Kathy Williams
• Cole Heppell – Andy Wayne
• Mary Black – Aunt Connie
• Rade Šerbedžija – Captain Blake
• Jonathon Young – Weatherman Dan
• R. Nelson Brown – Mr. Machen

The backstory of the film is somewhat similar to the original film: In the late 1800s, a group of men conspired to mislead and murder the crew of the Elizabeth Dane, a clipper carrying a group of lepers seeking sanctuary. The Dane was captained by William Blake, a wealthy man infected with leprosy who made an agreement with the town's founders to buy half of the island for a leper colony. However, when the islanders' leaders meet with Blake onboard the Dane to make the purchase, the islanders double-cross the lepers, loot the ship and then set the ship on fire, slaughtering everyone onboard. In this film, the town of Antonio Bay is preparing to celebrate a new statue dedicated to the "founding fathers" of the town. This awakens the ghostly crew of the Elizabeth Dane, who have sworn revenge on the town for what the "founding fathers" did to them. Again, while it is not explained, the presence of the ghosts is announced by a large fog bank.

The film was green lit by Revolution Studios before the script was written. When the remake was announced, rumors circulated the Internet that Charisma Carpenter had been cast as Stevie Wayne and Jessica Biel as Elizabeth. Later reports stated Carpenter was deemed 'too old' for Stevie Wayne and Biel simply did not want to do any more horror films. Similarly, reliable websites announced that Chris Isaak had signed on to play Nick Castle, which was completely untrue as the character was being rewritten to be in his mid-twenties. Before Tom Welling was cast, actors considered for Nick Castle included David Boreanaz, Jesse Metcalfe, Matthew Davis, Henry Cavill, Adam Garcia, Michael Cassidy, Oliver Hudson, and Peter Facinelli. Matthew Fox and Benjamin McKenzie were also considered for the role and met with the director, but due to conflicting television schedules they did not read for producers. Tom Welling had three weeks left on Smallville (2005) season 4 when he began shooting The Fog (2005). Selma Blair often joked that the director kept two cameras running during his scenes - one for The Fog, and one for Smallville.

During early development, Julia Stiles expressed interest in the role of Elizabeth. The screenplay was subsequently tailored, the character matured, and the role expanded. When Stiles did not come aboard, Maggie Grace was immediately cast, and the character of Elizabeth was rewritten to be younger and more innocent than in previous drafts. Maggie Grace beat Emilie de Ravin, her Lost (2004) co-star, for the role of Elizabeth.

Selma Blair did almost all of her own stunt work for the film, and spent 12 hours in a water tank (with only short surface breaks) for two straight days to shoot her underwater scenes.

The film was poorly received by critics and movie fans. The film was further negatively viewed due to its numerous plot holes and abandonment of many of the elements from the original film. To date, the film has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 5%[1].

• Official site
• The Fog at the Internet Movie Database