MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF
THE WORLD (2003)
Synopsis
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is an American period war epic
adapted from three novels in Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey- Maturin series by Peter Weir
who also produced and directed. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, the film stars
Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey, captain in the Royal Navy, and Paul Bettany as
Dr. Stephen Maturin. It follows the HMS Surprise, a British frigate, as it pursues the
French privateer, Acheron, across the Pacific Ocean.
Background
The prolific En glish novelist, Patrick O’Brian (1914–2000), was best known for his
hugely popu lar Aubrey- Maturin books: a series of 20 nautical historical novels pub-
lished between 1969 and 1999, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centering on
the friendship between Royal Navy Capt. Jack Aubrey and his ship’s surgeon,
Dr. Stephen Maturin, a physician, naturalist, and spy. In de pen dent producer Sam
Goldwyn, Jr. bought the film rights to O’Brian’s novels in 1992, but according to
Tom Rothman, chairman of 20th Century Fox, Goldwyn had trou ble finding a top-
flight director and actor: “Sam had many opportunities to make the film with
more workmanlike directors, but he felt it was exceptional material that required
an exceptional director” (de Vries, 2004, p. F1). In early 2000, director Peter Weir
(The Truman Show) stopped by Rothman’s Hollywood office to see what proj ects
he might have for him. Rothman pitched him the Aubrey- Maturin series, a prop-
erty that Weir had passed on in 1993, but this time he accepted the assignment.
Researching tall ships, Weir found the Rose, an exact modern replica of the origi-
nal HMS Rose, a 20- gun Royal Navy frigate built in 1757 and scuttled in 1779. The
newer ship had been built in Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1970 as a dockside attraction.
Even before he had a deal to make the film, Weir asked Fox to buy the Rose, which
it did for $1.5 million; the studio later re- outfitted the ship as the HMS Surprise for
the movie. Weir and screenwriter John Collee then set about writing a script, draw-
ing on many novels from O’Brian’s series but mostly basing their adaptation on The
Far Side of the World (1984), a novel set during the War of 1812 that pits the Surprise
against an American warship, the USS Norfolk. A key change from book to script
involved setting the story in 1805 and having the Surprise fight a French vessel— a
choice obviously made for po liti cal and commercial reasons; opposing Napoleon
was more palatable than having Aubrey fight a fledgling democracy and more