The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is Wes Anderson's fourth feature length film and was released in the U.S. on December 25, 2004. It was written by Anderson and Noah Baumbach. The film stars Bill Murray as eccentric oceanographer Steve Zissou, who seeks to exact revenge on a shark that ate his partner Esteban. Zissou's character is both a parody of and homage to Jacques-Yves Cousteau, to whom the film is dedicated.

Trivia

• The movie was filmed in and around Rome, Italy. The sea creatures and underwater scenes in the film were created using stop-motion animation under the direction of Henry Selick, the man behind The Nightmare Before Christmas and the film version of James and the Giant Peach.
• The shark that Steve hunts (which he has dubbed a "Jaguar shark") is actually a fictitious animal created using stop motion animation.
• Cate Blanchett's role as a pregnant reporter was originally sought after by Gwyneth Paltrow, Nicole Kidman (who was hired for the part at one point), and Julianne Moore. Blanchett was actually pregnant with her second child at the time.
• The film was released May 10, 2005 on DVD as part of the Criterion Collection, spine number 300. Anderson is the only director whose films are guaranteed a place on the prestigious label, although this honour has not yet been granted for his earliest feature, Bottle Rocket.