Green Ice (1981)

Interesting facts

Green Ice is a 1981 British adventure film starring Ryan O'Neal. It was also released under the name Operation Green Ice.

Production

The film was based on a novel by Gerald Browne, best known for writing 11 Harrowhouse. Browne was fascinated by emeralds and spent extensive time in Colombia researching the book, which was published in 1978.

In July 1978 David Niven Jr, who had just made Escape to Athena, arrived in Hollywood to commence preproduction on the film adaptation. Browne had said that Richard Burton would star in the lead but Niven Jr said this was not true, and that there was not even a script.

In October 1978 ITC announced the film was part of a slate of movies that also included Raise the Titanic, The Lone Ranger, The Chinese Bandit, Eleanor Roosevelt's Niggers, The Golden Gate, The Gemini Contenders, Trans-Siberian Express, and The Scarletti Inheritance. Only Green Ice and the first two would be made.

The original director was Anthony Simmons, best known for Black Joy (1977) which had been backed by ITC. Simmons says he got the job on the back of the critical success of On Giant's Shoulders (1979). Simmons had said the original novel "was a huge book with about five different stories, any one of which would have been perfect action thriller, and the producers wanted to do the section set in Bolivia.

Simmons had said the budget was going to be £7 million and the writer was to be Troy Kennedy Martin. He said he worked on the script and the "set action pieces" for over a year and ITC "spent a million dollars looking for locations first in Spain, then in Mexico."

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