Gee, That Ship Looks Familiar

What does a first-time director have in common with Steven Spielberg?

A Baltimore clipper.

Actually, Joel Marsden’s soon-to-be-released feature “Ill Gotten Gains” has many striking similarities to Spielberg’s planned December release, “Amistad,” a fact-based account of an 1839 slave revolt by 53 Africans on the Spanish cargo ship Amistad.

Marsden’s film deals with a fictional slave uprising set in 1869. But each uses the same vessel, a replica of the C.W. Lawrence, the very first Coast Guard cutter sent to the Pacific in 1848. The boat, known as the Californian, was built to scale 13 years ago in San Diego by the nonprofit Nautical Heritage Society. The 145-foot ship is now docked in Long Beach.

“We read an announcement in the paper about [“Amistad”] and we got in touch with the DreamWorks people,” says Steve Christman, president and founder of the nautical society. “Turns out we had just what they were looking for.”

The boat had previously been used for documentaries and one feature (Mel Brooks’ “Dracula: Dead and Loving It”), but Christman is pleased the Californian is getting even more exposure.

“We worked with them in making alterations to make the ship look more like the Amistad,” says Christman. “We had to hide a lot of the gear and safety equipment, of course, and we repainted the hull.”

Though Christman relates a positive experience working with the Spielberg team, the filming of “Ill Gotten Gains” proved much more relaxing.

“Joel and his guys were just regular people,” he says. “They were a lot of fun to work with.”

That both films use the same ship is coincidental. While it’s likely Marsden’s debut will be overshadowed by Spielberg’s feature, the native New Yorker says he isn’t overly concerned.

“I know nothing about ‘Amistad,’ but I expect the two films will be very different,” says Marsden, who wrote, directed and produced “Ill Gotten Gains.” “Mine is a more African film. It’s in a sense a film about jungle justice.”

Marsden, who says he conceived of the project more than three years ago, was determined to make as gritty a film as possible and says he never entertained pursuing studio backing.

“There’s plenty of liberal, change-minded people out there, but I know I had to go out and make the movie just the way I wanted,” he says. “There’s a very specific message I want to get across, showing the truth of our past and how it is still affecting us today.”

Marsden’s film is deliberately stark, shot in grainy black and white (on a $2-million budget) and featuring a cast of relative unknowns (Eartha Kitt is featured but never seen as “The Spirit in the Wood,” an animated character based on West African folklore). Coincidentally, one of the actors, African model Djimon Hounsou, has a major role in “Amistad.”

Marsden, who is distributing “Ill Gotten Gains” with his childhood friend Don Wilson, the film’s executive producer, says the movie will be released Nov. 14 in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.