Winter, the dolphin, was caught in a crab trap in 2006. She was taken to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida who kept her alive, but lost her tail. Winter learned to swim without one, something no dolphin had ever done in captivity. Then she was fitted with a prosthetic tail.
“Dolphin Tale” is a fictionalized 3-D version of the rescue and rehabilitation of Winter. “The true story, the fact that Winter is playing herself, those were big selling points” of the film, said Steve Wegner, a producer with Alcon, which is filming the movie for Warner Bros. to release next fall. The movie stars Connick as the aquarium director, Ashley Judd, Morgan Freeman and Kris Kristofferson. A boy befriending Winter has been added to the story, like Jack and Rose in Titanic.
State Johnson and Kosove: “We are very excited about doing this project and bringing Winter’s extraordinary story to the big screen. We are committed to only filming wild dolphins in their natural habitat and the dolphins at Clearwater Marine Aquarium, whose motto is ‘Rescue, Rehabilitate and Release.’” Alcon’s latest releases The Blind Side, starring Sandra Bullock, and The Book of Eli, starring Denzel Washington, have both been worldwide successes.
See Winter here.
