Cast Away is a 2000 American survival drama film directed and produced by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, and Nick Searcy. Hanks plays a FedEx troubleshooter who is stranded on an uninhabited island after his plane crashes in the South Pacific, and the plot focuses on his desperate attempts to survive and return home. Initial filming took place from January to March 1999 before resuming in April 2000 and concluding that May.

Plot

In December 1995, Chuck Noland is a FedEx systems analyst who travels the world resolving productivity problems. He lives with his girlfriend, Kelly Frears in Memphis, Tennessee. During a Christmas dinner, Chuck is summoned to resolve a problem in Malaysia. Before leaving, Kelly gives Chuck her grandfather’s pocket watch with a photo of her in it. Chuck gives her a small box, saying she can wait to open it on New Year's Eve when he returns, implying it is an engagement ring. However, the FedEx cargo plane he is on gets caught in a violent storm, loses control and crashes into the Pacific Ocean. Chuck is the only survivor and escapes on an inflatable life raft, losing the emergency locator transmitter in the process. The next day, he washes up on an uninhabited island.