The Director Of ‘Free Willy’ Explains How A Freaking Rocket Launcher Helped Create The Film’s Most Iconic Scene

If you were a kid during the early ’90s, just hearing the words Free Willy conjures up an immediate mental picture of the film’s climactic moment. As Jason James Richter‘s character finally fulfills the movie’s title by literally freeing Willy, the orca whale leaps over his human pal in a heartwarming moment for the ages.

As for how director Simon Wincer pulled off the stunt at a time when CGI graphics were in their infancy and crazy expensive, the answer is surprisingly simple: A freaking rocket launcher.

In an effort to make the moment look as realistic as possible while keeping the budget under $20 million, Wincer came up with the clever workaround to literally give Willy an explosive jump before handing things off to the digital VFX team.

Via The Guardian:

I remember saying to my agent: “If I can deliver the finale – where the whale leaps to freedom – we’ve got a movie.” We had so many meetings about how the hell we were going to do it. It was the early days of CGI so we shot at high tide in a small harbour – and literally built a rocket launcher with an animatronic whale on it. It would fly out of the water and come to a stop then CGI would take over. Like any pivotal movie moment, it was sound, emotion and picture coming together to lift you to your feet.

Turns out Wincer was right. Willy’s jump is an iconic piece of ’90s cinema all thanks to strapping a fake whale to a rocket launcher. Movie magic, folks, there’s nothing like it.

You can see the iconic Free Willy scene below: