fishing off the coast of Peru to try to  find a fish worthy enough for the picture. In the end, the producers  used a rubber marlin and stock footage of marlin fishing in which  Hemingway didnt participate in. After seeing the film,  Ernest Hemingway (qv) expressed his disappointment and said that  Spencer Tracy (qv) looked less the Cuban peasant fisherman and  more the rich old actor that he was. Tracy won an Oscar nomination  for the role.