‘The Sea Beast’ Director Chris Williams: 6 Movies That Inspired the Oscar-Nominated Ocean Adventure

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I didn’t know you could be a grown-up and still be that passionate about this kind of thing. It was reassuring because I could knew I could growup and I wouldn’t have to let go of all of the things I love as a kid.

It was a really important experience for me. It’s one of the handful of movies that made me want to make movies and tell stories visually.”And all of that fed into “The Sea Beast.” “Of course, the spirit, the adventure of it, in terms of the tone, the sensibility, that was one of the things I was most inspired by as far as ‘The Sea Beast’ goes,” Williams said.This next one might be harder to see in “The Sea Beast,” but it’s there.

Peter Bogdanovich’s 1973 classic “Paper Moon,” a Depression-era comedy starring Ryan and Tatum O’Neal. But then when you think more about it, you can sense the connection, especially since “The Sea Beast” was initially called “Jacob and the Sea Beast,” before the production added the much-needed character of Maisie.“I loved the dynamic between the two leads in ‘Paper Moon.’ There was something about the approach to the young girl with this fiery energy and this point-of-view and she was very much driving things.

And the way she would knock Ryan O’Neal back on his heels and he was so much better. They were great foils for each other,” Williams explained. “Both characters were better because they had such great foils.