~Behind the scenes of Free Willy~
This picture was taken during the filming of Free Willy in 1992. Do you remember this scene? Only "Jesse" was on "Willy" not a board!
Free Willy was filmed in Mexico City, Distro Federal; Asoria, Oregon, Cannon Beach Oregon Portland, Oregan in USA in 1992.

Two weeks before the actual shooting started Jason went to Reino Aventura, Mexico City to meet Keiko the killer whale. After about two weeks Keiko happily responded to his hand signals and the shooting could start. Jason admited that when he 1st saw Keiko he was a bit scared of him but soon feel in love. Wouldnt you?

Whale action in this film was accomplished with both Keiko and animatronic or mechanical whales, both life-size and miniature. The reason for this is that some scenes were too dangerous for Keiko to play himself. All filming with Keiko was done at Reino Aventura in Mexico City and an American Humane representative was present at all times.

The film begins with some spectacular footage of a pod of whales cavorting freely in the ocean. Before long, whaling boats appear and men set nets as they pursue and encircle the whales. One whale is separated from the rest behind a net and calls to the others outside. This scene was accomplished by editing documentary wildlife footage with scenes staged with animatronic whales. Only animatronic whales were used for interplay between the whaling boats and the orcas.















A life-size, 20 foot animatronic whale was used in the sequences with the whale and Jesse interacting in the tank and in all scenes with the whale out of the tank. For the scene where Jesse falls into the pool, unconscious, a photo-double was used for the actor. The scene was shot in cuts. As the photo-double went to the bottom of the pool, a trainer cued Keiko to go to the photo-double. The whale swam to the bottom of the tank and placed his nose under the double and moved her to the surface, over to the pool's edge, and nudged her onto the platform. The actor then replaced the double. The trainer then cued the whale to come up and nudge Jesse by using his fist as a target on Jesse's side and instructed Keiko to push. Keiko received a food reward for each of his actions.

When Willy is in a net in the pool being examined by the veterinarian, the animatronic whale was used. For the scene where Jesse feeds Willy by hand and pets Willy and Willy performs for Jesse, the scene was shot in many cuts. These were all trained behaviors by the real whale and trainers were placed strategically off camera so that they could cue the whale and give him his fish reward. The young actor also cued the whale at strategic times and personally fed the whale.

When Jesse and Willy bond with a tongue pat, a trainer stationed Willy by the tank edge. The actor knelt by Willy and personally cued him to open his mouth and rubbed his tongue and fed him. Jesse then patted Willy's face and gave him another food reward. When Jesse and Willy perform for the aquarium's owner, the scene was shot in cuts using both the young actor and his photo-double. Again, these were all trained behaviors which the whale performed in response to cues by either the actor, the double, or an off-camera trainer with food as a reward.

For the scene where Jesse and Willy do their show for the public and Willy will not perform, the whale responded to his off-camera trainers cues rather than to any of the cues Jesse gave him. For the scene in which the children are banging at the windows of Willy's tank, a full-sized articulated or mechanical whale was used.

For the scene where Jesse visits Willy at night just before Jesse decides to run away from home again, Willy made his movements in response to cues by his off camera trainer. The scene where Jesse gets Willy into a harness and sling and hoists him out of the water was accomplished with the real and mechanical whale and was shot in cuts. A fake harness with only two sides was used on the real whale. From this point on all of Willy's action in the film is accomplished with either a full-sized or miniature articulated whale and/or special effects which are extraordinarily realistic. The final effect is very moving emotionally. Audiences will cheer as Willy explodes out of the water.

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