ACADEMY Award-winning filmmaker Robert Zemeckis and two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks reunite to explore the blessings and cruelties of fate and the survival of the human spirit in the new film Cast Away.

Hanks stars as Chuck Noland, a FedEx systems engineer whose personal and professional life are ruled by the clock.

His fast-paced career takes him, often at a moment's notice, to far-flung locales - and away from his girlfriend Kelly, played by Helen Hunt.

Chuck's manic existence abruptly ends when, after a plane crash, he becomes isolated on a remote island - cast away into the most desolate environment imaginable.

Stripped of the conveniences of everyday life, he first must meet the basic needs of survival, including water, food and shelter.

Chuck, the consummate problem solver, eventually figures out how to sustain himself physically.

But then what? Chuck begins his true journey as he faces the emotional ordeal of isolation.

After four years, he returns to civilisation as a profoundly changed man, someone who realises that losing everything he ever had and thought important was the best thing that could ever have happened to him.

Hanks came up with the original idea for Cast Away, while Zemeckis - who helmed Forrest Gump - gave the film its dramatic and visual heart.

"For me, Cast Away celebrates the idea that no matter how many obstacles are thrown in our paths, we will find ways to accept them," says Zemeckis.

"Also, the story is not so much about the survival of the human being, but rather the survival of the human spirit and an illustration of the idea that surviving is easy, it's living that's difficult."

Hanks agrees with the vision of his director: "Cast Away offers high adventure, but at the same time a simple Zen-like understanding of what things in this world are truly important."

Surviving the global and gruelling production schedule for Cast Away proved a unique challenge for cast and crew alike.

Recognised as one of the more unusual production schedules in recent filmmaking history, Cast Away was shot in two parts over the course of 16 months with a one-year hiatus within that time.

Zemeckis found the extended timescale daunting initially, but eventually embraced the opportunities it afforded.

"The schedule turned out to be a liberating experience," he explains.

"For the first time in my career, I had the chance to come back and look at what I'd done with fresh eyes and a bit of objectivity, which is something you generally cannot do when you're in the midst of making a movie."

The break was necessary to give Hanks time to shed weight and effectively complete a physical transformation for his character which showed the ravages of his deprivation.

"It's actually just common sense, which movie production so rarely is," says Hanks.

"We began shooting the movie at the beginning of the story and ended production at the end of the story.

It put everything into a very realistic perspective for everyone working on the movie to recognise how far we've come and all the places we've been to."