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50 free Cast Away trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Cast Away trivia quiz covers Robert Zemeckis's 2000 film scene by scene: the Christmas dinner in Memphis, the pocket watch, the crash, the packages on the beach, the bloody handprint that became Wilson, the ice-skate dentistry, the porta-potty sail, the storm that took Wilson, and the crossroads in Texas. There are questions on Chuck Noland, Kelly Frears, Dr. Lovett, the pilot Chuck buries and the winged package he never opens. It also covers how it was made: Tom Hanks's original idea about FedEx 747s, the 50 pounds he gained and the year-long break to lose them, the leg infection that nearly killed him, Monuriki island in Fiji, the film Zemeckis shot during the pause, the score that only starts when Chuck leaves the island, and the sale of the Wilson prop for $162,500. About a third are easy for anyone who has seen the film, a third are medium, and the rest are for people who know what Wilson was in the screenwriter's own castaway week. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia and the production sources it cites, and each question carries the sentence that establishes it. If you think one is wrong, use the report button and we will look again.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who directed Cast Away?
Robert Zemeckis
It was his second film with Tom Hanks after Forrest Gump; he shot What Lies Beneath during the production break.
Q 02What is the name of Tom Hanks's character?
Chuck Noland
He is a FedEx systems analyst who travels the world fixing productivity problems.
Q 03For which company does Chuck work?
FedEx
The company lent planes, trucks and its Memphis hub, and paid nothing for the placement; its CEO plays himself.
Q 04Where does Chuck live with his girlfriend Kelly?
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is FedEx's home base, and the hero's welcome on his return was filmed at the company's real facilities there.
Q 05Who plays Kelly Frears?
Helen Hunt
She was cast in January 1999; the film opened the same weekend as her other hit, What Women Want.
Q 06What does Kelly give Chuck before he leaves on the fateful flight?
Her grandfather's pocket watch
It holds a photo of her; he gives her a small box, implied to be an engagement ring, to open on New Year's Eve.
Q 07Where was Chuck being sent to resolve a FedEx problem when the plane went down?
Malaysia
The plane was far off course and out of radio contact in a storm when it crashed into the Pacific.
Q 08In what month and year does the story begin?
December 1995
The opening scene follows a package from a Texas sculptor's gate marked 'Dick & Bettina' to Moscow.
Q 09Whose body washes ashore and is buried by Chuck?
A pilot, Albert Miller
Chuck also uses the man's boots, which are too small for him.
Q 10Which package does Chuck deliberately leave unopened?
The one painted with angel wings
He thinks the wings have symbolic meaning; at the end he returns it to its sender in Texas with a note saying it saved his life.
Q 11How does Wilson the volleyball get his face?
Chuck's bloody handprint after he cuts his hand
He throws the ball in fury while trying to start a fire, then draws a face in the blood.
Q 12What tool does Chuck use to knock out his rotten tooth?
An ice skate blade and a rock
The toothache had been nagging him since the Christmas dinner; his endodontist later turns out to be Kelly's new husband.
Q 13How long is Chuck stranded on the island?
Four years
The film jumps ahead to find him bearded, lean and expert at spearfishing.
Q 21Roughly how much weight did Tom Hanks gain before filming so his island transformation would be dramatic?
50 pounds
Production then paused for about a year so he could lose it and grow the hair and beard.
Q 22Which film did Zemeckis make with the same crew during the year-long break in shooting?
What Lies Beneath
The Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer thriller came out five months before Cast Away.
Q 23Hanks nearly died during production from what?
An infected cut on his leg
He spent three days in hospital after surgery and filming stopped for three weeks.
Q 14What washes ashore and gives Chuck the sail he needs to escape the island?
Part of a portable toilet
He waits for the annual shift in the prevailing wind before using the plastic panels to punch through the surf.
Q 15How does Chuck lose Wilson?
A storm knocks him off the raft
Devastated, Chuck discards his oars and gives up, before a container ship finds him.
Q 16Who is Dr. Jerry Lovett?
Chuck's dentist, now married to Kelly
He meets Chuck at the FedEx welcome to explain that Kelly is not emotionally able to come.
Q 17What does Kelly give back to Chuck when he visits her that night?
His Jeep Cherokee
He in turn returns the pocket watch so it can stay in her family; they kiss, but she cannot leave her daughter.
Q 18The final scene finds Chuck at a crossroads in which state?
Texas
The sculptor Bettina, whose pickup bears the same angel wings, tells him where each road leads.
Q 19The opening and closing scenes were shot at which Texas property?
Arrington Ranch, near Canadian
The Panhandle location bookends a film otherwise set in Memphis, Moscow and the South Pacific.
Q 20The island scenes were filmed on Monuriki, part of which country?
Fiji
The island in the Mamanuca group became a tourist attraction; in the film Kelly places it 600 miles south of the Cook Islands.
Q 24How long did filming last in total, including the breaks?
Sixteen months
Shooting ran from January to March 1999 and again from April to May 2000.
Q 25Whose original idea was Cast Away, sparked by an article about cargo 747s crossing the Pacific?
Tom Hanks's
Hanks said it took six years to assemble the alliance to make it, with Broyles and Zemeckis each supplying a third.
Q 26What washed up during William Broyles Jr.'s week on a beach, inspiring Chuck's companion?
A branded soccer ball
He had marooned himself in the Gulf of California to research the film; the ball became a volleyball on screen.
Q 27Why was Hanks happy to have his companion be a Wilson ball?
It shared his wife's surname
Rita Wilson's name on the ball was a memento during a long shoot far from home.
Q 28An original Wilson prop sold at Heritage Auctions in December 2024 for how much?
$162,500
A long-repeated story that a prop sold for $18,500 to a FedEx Office executive is not true.
Q 29Who composed the film's minimal score, and won a Grammy for it?
Alan Silvestri
There is no score at all while Chuck is on the island, and no bird or insect sounds either, to deepen the isolation.
Q 30The Russian choral piece heard near the start of the film, 'Polyushko Polye', is by which composer?
Lev Knipper
The Red Army song is not on the soundtrack album, which is otherwise a Zemeckis-Silvestri anthology.