This action film contains one of the most challenging scenes in cinema history: It cost 5 million dollars, 11 months and 135 cameras for a single word in the script

24 years ago, an action film with a stellar cast including John Travolta, Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman and Don Cheadle hit theaters — but despite the big names and impressive production values, it fell somewhat into oblivion. We’re talking about The Password: Swordfish, a feature film about a convicted hacker hired by a crime boss to carry out a billion-dollar robbery.

Directed by Dominic Sena (Kalifornia), the film received mostly negative reviews from the specialized press and, at the box office, Swordfish proved to be a disappointment, grossing 147.1 million dollars worldwide – especially considering its budget of 102 million, which makes it one of the most expensive features of the year. For comparison purposes, The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring cost “only” 93 million in the same year.

The spectacular 100 million action film with two of the most expensive scenes in history is available on streaming

The 5 Million Dollar Scene

Five million of that amount was spent on a single scene – described in the script by Skip Woods (Die Hard – A Good Day to Die Hard) with just one word: “Kaboom”. It involves a gigantic explosion, which is a standard element in a high-budget Hollywood action blockbuster. But no one anticipated the effort required to film the Matrix-inspired scene. Dominic Sena described his plans in the production notes as follows (via Espinof.com):

“During this scene, police cars explode. People are thrown into the air, and everything had to be timed so precisely that a man floated across the frame in camera 125. I’ve never seen a scene so difficult to set up. One shot for the explosion, one for the car being launched into the air, one for the people who were supposed to be next to the car. All of this was filmed separately to avoid injuries. So there were many different takes. It took us days to film a 30-second scene.”

135 cameras ensure maximum precision

The filming itself took three days, but the preparations alone took three months. The reason: it was necessary to precisely plan which shots could be filmed live and which would be added later using computer animation. Furthermore, a special multi-camera system was developed to film the scene in question, consisting of a platform with 135 permanently installed cameras. This was necessary to ensure millisecond-level accuracy.

In fact, 85% of the scene was created using practical effects – computer graphics were only used for a few elements considered dangerous. So while The Password: Swordfish may not be a masterpiece of the genre, the spectacle, put together with enormous effort, surpasses many of today’s action blockbusters.