Fishing for the 'Perfect' Boat - Warner Brothers buys boat to film 'The Perfect Storm' - Brief Article

Boat/US Magazine, March, 2000 by Elaine Dickinson

To make the location scenes even more real, the production took advantage of two of last summer's hurricanes and sent the boat out the day Hurricane Floyd hit the area as well as the day after to get real footage of big seas.

So what was it like going fishing with the likes of George Clooney?

"They were all real gentlemen. The finest people I've ever worked with," McCook said. "They work so hard it's unbelievable. They work long, hard hours and were always professional."

McCook said he was impressed the most, not by Hollywood egos, but by the seriousness with which they took on the roles. Everyone involved, from the set decorators to the top stars, immersed themselves in researching the subject matter before filming began, from reading books to even staying in rooms above the rough-and-tumble Crow's Nest bar, the local watering hole where many of the Andrea Gail's crew hung out.

"They really strived to make everything look as realistic is possible," McCook said. In many scenes filmed of the boat under way, McCook or Layton were in the wheelhouse, out of view or in a lower helm station while Clooney drove the boat. He did quite well, McCook said, and even docked the Andrea Gail" by himself.

In the 20 years he's owned the Lady Grace, McCook said she probably survived half-a-dozen hurricanes. When you're three days away from any port, you have no choice but to endure storms at sea. A typical fishing trip would last 20 to 25 days, he said.

Unlike the Andrea Gail, which went only after swordfish, the Lady Grace fished for tuna and swordfish, going typically 140 miles offshore, between Montauk, NY, and Cape Hatteras, NC. She fished 12 months a year and brought in anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 pounds of fish per trip.

Since commercial fishing regulations have been tightened up in the last year, McCook is not sure he'll buy his boat back. If "The Perfect Storm" movie is as big a hit as the book, which is still on best-seller lists, perhaps he can just park it at the dock and sell tickets.

Editor's Note: When it became apparent that Sebastian Junger's first book was becoming an enormous success, the author set up The Perfect Storm Foundation to aid the children of the lost crewmen and other young people in the Gloucester fishing community. Warner Brothers made a $25,000 donation to the foundation.