Yet another classic television show, Gilligan’s Island, may be headed to the big-screen. Not unlike the castaways’ many rescue attempts, there’ve been numerous movie plans in the past that haven’t gone anywhere. Will the Gilligan movie actually be made this time?
The Gilligan’s Island TV show was created by Sherwood Schwartz (The Brady Bunch) and follows a diverse group of people who’ve been shipwrecked on an uncharted island in the Pacific. The sitcom debuted in 1964 and ran for just three seasons. Though there are only 98 episodes, the sitcom became incredibly popular in syndication and the characters have become a part of popular culture. The original castaways are the Skipper (Alan Hale, Jr.), first-mate Gilligan (Bob Denver), the wealthy Howells (Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer), movie star Ginger (Tina Louise), the genius Professor (Russell Johnson), and farmgirl Mary Ann (Dawn Wells).
Most of the castaways reunited for a number of projects over the years, including three TV movies (Rescue from Gilligan’s Island, The Castaways on Gilligan’s Island, and The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island), two animated series (The New Adventures of Gilligan and Gilligan’s Planet), and numerous guest-spots on shows like ALF, Baywatch, and Roseanne.
There’s been talk of doing a big screen movie version of Gilligan’s Island on and off for many years. At one time, it looked like Jim Carrey was going to play Gilligan. Now, there are new plans in the works.
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Schwartz was recently inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Hall of Fame. Longtime friend and Brady Florence Henderson introduced him on stage. At the ceremony, the 92 year-old said that he and son Lloyd had just signed the deal for a Gilligan movie. He reportedly told TV Guide, “[It] just happened in the last 48 hours. I can’t take this much excitement at my age.”
Though the project is still in the very early stages of development, Schwartz would love to see Michael Cera (Arrested Development) as Gilligan and Beyonce Knowles as Ginger. Of the latter, original castmember Wells chimed in said, “There isn’t anybody sexier than Beyonce!”
If the movie is eventually made, it’s doubtful that any of the surviving actors from the original series would reprise their roles. Only three — Louise, Johnson, and Wells — are still with us. Still, it does seem likely that they’d be offered cameos, in a similar vein as some of the original Brady actors who popped up in the first Brady Bunch movie. Will it be made? Stay tuned! 
What do you think? Who would you like to see board the S.S. Minnow for a new three hour tour? Should a Gilligan movie finally be made or should the idea be thrown out to sea before it goes any further? Share your thoughts below!
Simon Baker (The Mentalist) who has an uncanny resemblance to Russell Johnson…should be an obvious choice for the professor.
I totally agree with the above statement. Simon Baker hits the Professor’s resemblance on the head.
Maybe you should include Beyoncee, and the cast of Charles Angels, diversify the show, keep it from being color blind. They are all good actors, they can fit the characters.
Justin Long would make a great Gilligan. I agree with Kevin James as the Skipper. Amy Adams or Drew Barrymore would make a good Ginger. Anna Faris or Rachel McAdams for Mary Ann. Jeff Goldblum or Tim Allen for the professor. Mike Myers and Christine Baranski as the Howell’s.
Jim Carrey would make an awesome Gilligan, stick with the original plan, original theme, NO rescue etc., would be very funny.
I agree Jerry Trainor from ICarly would be an excellent Gilligan. We associate Trainor with innocents and Humor. The Michael Cera dude- we associate him with teen rated R dirt movies. Yes, please make it clean and witty. Please don’t prevert it by have them have sexual ralations behind palm trees etc etc…. We big fans long for the good ol Gilligan Island Clean Witty Humor. For Ginger, there is an undisovered talent — look her up on youtube– her name is Suzie Kennedy. Her youtube page is http://www.youtube.com/user/suziekennedy She is perfect… she die her hair red. For MaryAnn —… Read more »
This will only be a good movie if they stick to good clean comedy. It needs to be >>>PG<<<!!!!! And this is coming from a 23 year old so don’t think only old people are turned off by smut. They better not ruin it like they did the Get Smart movie. They add a bunch of sex, language and dirty jokes I’m gonna be MAD! It’s a great show the way it is, and if they stick to the corny and clean (but hilarious) dialogue, slapstick, and endearing characters it’ll be a good movie. By the way, the kid he… Read more »
I think the brendan gleeson from lake placid, and also played mad eye moody in harry potter, should definatly play the skipper, he looks so much like alan hale, and is also a very versitile actor.
I’d like to see Tina Louise as Mrs.Howell. I’d prefer to see the cast they used in that Making of…movie they did a few years ago. I thought they did a great job of recapturing the series. However, instead of a retread of the series it should be more topical and parody the series Lost. Think about it. Lost has already acknowledged it’s debt to Gilligan’s Island with frequent references to it. With over eight potential locations referred to in the original series I’ve always thought of Lost as taking place on Gilligan’s Island anyway. It was always a weird… Read more »
Beyonce? Are you serious? That has to be a misprint. PLEASE choose ANYONE else besides Beyonce if this movie wants to make it.
A new film would be GREAT, but I agree with oldtimer et al that the new movie has to be CLEAN!. Please don’t destroy the good old fashion comedy by adding so much sex, nudity, sex, lanquage and more sex. The fans of G I won’t want to see it and it’s the fans who have kept the memory of Gilligan alive. So please do us a favor and make any new film TRUE to the old Castaways! It has to be rated G to pass. The reality series that was introduced was appalling due to the sex, especially the… Read more »
Absolutely make it!! I’m 46 and have seen every episode a dozen times. It is T V history material. Don’t really care who is in it, just keep to the original characters identities and storylines. You can modernize a little, as if it happened today, a LITTLE sex would be o.k. but don’t make it so that it can’t be a G or PG13 If you spend the $$$ to get all the big names….it will pay off with sales.
Cera is too young to play Gilligan. Didn’t Gilligan and the Skipper become buddies after Gilligan saved the Skipper’s life on a destroyer in the Navy?
Jerry Trainor would make a better Gilligan. Kevin James as the Skipper. Kevin Pollak as Mr. Howell. Julia Duffy as Mrs. Howell. David Schwimmer as the Professor. Jenna Elfman as Ginger Grant, and Mila Kunis as Mary Ann.
Sure make it… but make it CLEAN! I’m sick of hollywood perverting and stupidifying all the old tv show remakes. Come on… those into crude, stupid stuff will still watch a clean movie if it’s well done. But those NOT into crude, stupid stuff WILL NOTWATCH IT! So, in trying to target a broader audience by putting in garbage they actually limit their audience. Do you honestly think parents are gonna want their kids watching perverted trash? Why do you THINK we enjoyed the old Gilligan’s Island… ’cause it was CLEAN, CLEVER HUMOR! And the “inuendo” (mostly involving Ginger) was… Read more »
I dunno. Yeah, sure, the movie is a good idea, and I’m not going to lie, I wanted to write a script based on the orignal series and submit it. Micheal Cera is a good choice as the role of Gilligan, but I don’t know about Beyonce. Yeah, she’s hot, but I don’t think that she should be on the island. They should stick to the profiles of the original castaways, because if they don’t. the movie is ruined in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I like Beyonce, I just don’t find that she’s right for Gilligan’s island, mainly… Read more »
If Payton Reed directs it, the tone might be right. Cera is appropriate for Gilligan, Beyonce is plenty sexy but I would cast her as Mary Anne rather than Ginger. There is a chance for Satire with a shallow movie star that we love to hate. We don’t want to cheer for indignities suffered by Beyonce. The girl born to play Ginger is Lindsay Lohan. Lohan as Ginger, problem solved. For the skipper I can only see Horatio Sanz from SNL but they might want to re-team Cera with Jonah Hill who is actually much older. Professor: Vince Vaughn, The… Read more »