Trivia / Orca: The Killer Whale

• Blooper: The opening sequence of the Orca and his mate cavorting. In far away shots, it appears to be at night in the moonlight, but closeups have it happening in broad daylight.
• California Doubling: Large parts of the film were shot in Malta and the Marine World animal park in Redwood City, California.
• Creator Backlash: While Richard Harris wasn't ashamed of the film and enjoyed his experiences on-set, he did admit that he regretted turning down the chance of being in Ingmar Bergman's The Serpent's Egg. That said, he would become furious if you claimed Orca was a Jaws rip-off in front of him.
• Dueling Movies: With Jaws and a number of "When Animals Attack" films that were released in the 70s.
• Fake Nationality: The film's set and shot in Newfoundland, Canada. Most of the cast is American except Charlotte Rampling, who is English, and Irish Richard Harris.
• Follow the Leader: Several elements seem directly lifted from Jaws, most clearly Nolan's death scene and Annie's attack scene, both of which draw heavily on Quint's death scene. Ironically, Jaws: The Revenge would go on to lift major elements of Orca, most notably in giving the animal human-like motivations for revenge.
• No Stunt Double: The 46-year-old Richard Harris insisted on performing his own stunts in the polar sequences and was nearly killed on several occasions.
• Referenced by...: Clips from this film are used for dramatic effect in the documentary Blackfish, to point out how aggressive orcas can be under the wrong circumstances.
• Science Marches On: Turns out orca males don't stay with their mates or have much, if anything, to do with their own offspring, making its Papa Wolf behavior unlikely.
• What Could Have Been: Had the film been a success at the box office, audiences would have been treated to, OF ALL THINGS, King Kong vs Orca. With both of them apparently being cyborgs.

---