Douglas Trumbull

Let's not overlook the amazing visual effects in this movie, which, by the way, earned the motion picture a well-deserved Oscar nomination.

Congratulations to Douglas Trumbull and his team, including Robert T. McCall and Sid Mead, for pulling off... a nearly impossible task, especially if you know the backstory of this movie and the challenge with the visual effects and creating those visual effects.

It's just an astonishing thing that it came out looking as good as it did.

And that's also hats off to director Robert Wise as well.

You should see

a Douglas Trumbull directing a movie.

And so everything in the movie looks awesome.

Also filmed in North Carolina.

so watching the motion picture, boy, the entire middle third of that movie, literally nothing happens.

Except, I mean, it looks great because Douglas Trumbull knows what he's doing.

It sounds great because Jerry Goldsmith knows what he's doing.

But story-wise, nothing happens.

And then you actually see the V'ger ship with a little tiny Enterprise next to it.

That's all you fucking need.

Now, the sad part is, of course, you do lose Douglas Trumbull's fantastic miniature work.

But story-wise, Jesus Christ, just get on that.

This is a 1983 picture that has Christopher Walken, Natalie Wood, and Cliff Robertson, Louise Flesher, a good cast.

And the reason that we picked this one, we had done Silent Running last time, and this time we wanted to see what the second film of Douglas Trumbull would look like.

His only other film.

It's only under film, and it was by his choice.

I think

you're exactly right.

The heavenly, and apparently, I mean, apparently he took the actors, Douglas Trumbull took the actors to an institute, kind of like a very new age, new agey type institute where people are exploring inner consciousness stuff.

Right.

Okay, children seeing all these things.

I know the author of the aerial school phenomena because he worked with me, not me, but with Douglas Trumbull when I worked with Doug for years.

He was there as well on times.

So that's a mass sighting event.

So, you know, they were really throwing the money at the screen, but I think...

Initially, the budget, if I'm right, that was a lot lower than $35 million and it was a case of, as the production ran on and you had the likes of John Dykstra and Douglas Trumbull having issues with the effects and wanting to basically put Robert Wise's epic vision up on screen, that the budget did kind of skyrocket.

Yeah, apparently they had eaten up so much of the Paramount backlot.

This is the first time...

And just tell you, look, this is bigger.

This is bold.

Again, Douglas Trumbull did incredible effects work on 2001.

This is a showcase of special effects.

MGM hoped that Brainstorm could be their new cash cow.

They got Douglas Trumbull to direct.

Although primarily a visual effects director, his sci-fi credits undeniable having worked on 2001 a space odyssey close encounters of the third kind and star trek the motion picture holy those are some proper credentials plus they signed oscar winners for the top roles christopher walken louise fletcher and cliff robertson natalie wood was thrilled to join the cast convinced that they had a hit on their hands i mean to be fair with a director like that and actors like those you have them and in a time when sci-fi is real hot Even though it sounds like a B-movie today.

Like, yeah, I mean, it seems like you got a potential hit on your hands for sure.

It's really interesting, Paul, because the film was first announced as it was going to be a film back in 1980.

And Douglas Trumbull-

Yes

...

the special effects artist, was due to direct the film.

Now, Douglas Trumbull, as I appreciate Ellen and Paul will know this, and, uh, I'm sure lots of folks out there will know, had directed Silent Running, the science fiction film from I think 1972.

And he then went on to work, which postdates his- Initial involvement with this film.

He went on to, to work on Blade Runner and then directed, uh, was it called Brainscan? And of course, he also supervised the visual effects for Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

You can obscure it.

but the thing ridley scott and douglas trumbull and sid mead and vangelis built that neon soaked rain-slicked philosophically vertiginous thing it was still in there visible through the narration the way a bruise is visible through make-up the film that was buried survived long enough to be excavated not all of them do when you watch the final cut now and if you haven't i'll just leave that there you're not watching a longer version of the nineteen eighty two film you're watching a different film that happens to use the same footage same performances same photography same score different edit no voiceover restored unicorn dream sequence that makes the replicant question not a question at all completely different experience completely different film that's the power of the cut that's what this room actually does it's not assembly it's not trimming it's not the last step before you add the music and send it out the editing room is where a film's soul gets negotiated scene by scene frame by frame in conversations between exhausted people who love the material and frightened people who are protecting an investment and the version that survives is the one that managed to hold onto enough of itself through that negotiation to still mean something when it finally reaches the dark of a theater Some films hold on, some films don't.

And some films hold on for a decade, sitting in a vault in a version that nobody released, waiting for someone to decide that what the director originally made was worth seeing after all.

The ones that got excavated, we've talked about tonight.