Were any animatronic whales used in the Free Willy movies?

Yes. Animatronic whales were used in all of the Free Willy movies.

Although Jason James Richter, the human star of the first Free Willy film did get nose-to-snout with the mammal, the scenes in which he rides Willy around the sea park's tank are fake.

In the wide shots, Richter's stunt-double can be seen on the back of the real killer whale. ''Then when it's a close-up on me, that's the animatronic whale," says Richter.

The full-sized phony was designed by Walt Conti, who also built and operated the miniature humpbacks in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and some of the underwater wonders in James Cameron's The Abyss.

Keiko, the killer whale that starred in the film died in 2003, a year after being released into the wild. The 35ft-long, six-ton orca became too ill to eat and died of pneumonia.

Of interest, discover 10 Facts About the '90s Classic Free Willy You May Not Know, shared by MoviePilot.com.

Tags: keikofree willywhale 
Wednesday, June 29 2016


Source: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1997-08-08/entertainment/9708080051_1_keiko-whale-amusement-park

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