Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing The Caped Crusader to the Screen (Part Two)

Gary Collinson traces the many screen incarnations of The Dark Knight in the second of a three-part feature... read part one here.

Just as Superman's comic-book debut had led to the creation of Batman almost forty years earlier, the success of Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie (1978) helped plant the seed that would ultimately bring The Dark Knight back to movie screens. Acquiring the Batman film rights in 1979, former comic-book writer Michael E. Uslan and his producing partner Benjamin Melniker hired uncredited Superman scribe Tom Mankiewicz to provide a script far removed from the campy 1960s TV series, which had by that time become synonymous with the character, in an attempt to take The Caped Crusader back to his roots.

Budgeted at $15m and initially set for release in 1981, the film languished in development hell for a number of years with the likes of Ivan Reitman, Joe Dante, Robert Zemeckis and the Coen brothers rumoured to be in the frame for the director's chair. The task eventually fell to up-and-coming filmmaker Tim Burton, who was brought on board following the popularity of his debut feature Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985). "The first treatment of Batman, the Mankiewicz script, was basically Superman, only the names had been changed," said Burton, who felt that the screenplay - an extended origin story of both Batman and the Joker, set in the near future and ending with the introduction of Robin - failed to capture the essence of the character. "The Mankiewicz script made it obvious that you couldn't treat Batman like Superman, or like the TV series, because it's a guy dressing up as a bat and no matter what anyone says, that's weird."

Although Warner Bros. had been reluctant for the film to adopt too serious a tone, they were buoyed by the popularity of Frank Miller's seminal limited series Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986), which had reinvigorated the character and paved the way for classic storylines such as Miller's Batman: Year One (1987) and Alan Moore's Batman: The Killing Joke (1988). This prompted the studio to give their support Burton's darker vision and after Julie Hickson and Steve Englehart had tried their hands at producing treatments, comic book fan Sam Hamm was brought in to mould the screenplay, which received approval from Batman co-creator Bob Kane and soon became a popular bootleg in comic book stores and conventions. However, Warner Bros. were still concerned that audiences would be turned off by such a dark, psychological take and stalled on giving the green light until Burton's second film Beetlejuice (1988) became a box-office hit.

Commencing pre-production in April 1988, one of the first moves was to secure Jack Nicholson as Batman's arch-nemesis The Joker. The Oscar-winning actor was given the most lucrative contract in movie history, nabbing $6m upfront along with a percentage of the box office gross and merchandising sales, a deal rumoured to have netted the star around $75m in total. Resisting pressure to cast a big-name movie star for the title role (with the likes of Pierce Brosnan, Charlie Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Bill Murray and Mel Gibson under consideration), Burton turned to Michael Keaton, his lead from Beetlejuice, in a move that led to unprecedented controversy with Warner Bros. receiving over 50,000 protest letters from angry fans. Rounding out the cast were Sean Young (replaced by Kim Basinger after suffering an accident while filming), Michael Gough, Billy Dee Williams, Jack Palance, Pat Hingle, Jerry Hall, Tracey Walter, Robert Wuhl and William Hootkins.

Hiring celebrated designer Anton Furst to bring Gotham City to life (a move that would see Furst share an Academy Award for Best Art Direction - Set Direction with Peter Young), the production shifted to Britain's Pinewood Studios where it occupied the majority of the studio's sound stages between October 1988 and January 1989. Filming in Britain, Burton was afforded a greater deal of independence and the highly secretive production was able to avoid the growing media interest in Hollywood, while a teaser trailer released at Christmas 1988 sent fan anticipation into overdrive and helped to quell the controversy over Keaton as Batman.

In the months prior to its release, "Batmania" reached unparalleled levels with over $750m of merchandise flying off the shelves, leading The New York Observer to describe it as "less movie than a corporate behemoth". Released on June 23rd, 1989, Batman shattered the record opening weekend set by Ghostbusters II (1989) just two weeks prior, banking $43.6m on its way to a worldwide gross of $411m. Critical reaction was mixed but the impact of Batman on the film industry was unquestionable, leading to an increased focus on opening weekends, a shortening of the time between theatre and home video releases and an even greater emphasis on the all-important merchandising tie-ins.

After the phenomenal success of Batman, Warner Bros. were eager to capitalise with a follow-up although Burton was cautious about his involvement, stating that he would only return "if the sequel offers something new and exciting". With Burton moving on to direct Edward Scissorhands (1990), Sam Hamm produced two drafts featuring Penguin and Catwoman as the villains only for his screenplay to be rejected by the director, who then commissioned Daniel Waters (Heathers) to work on a rewrite. After another five drafts, an uncredited Wesley Strick (Arachnophobia) was brought in to refine the plot, including the formation of Penguin's 'master plan' to kill the firstborn children of Gotham, a concept that pleased Burton and Warner Bros. but proved difficult for many toy manufacturers to stomach.

Having won over the majority of Bat-fans, Michael Keaton returned to the cowl alongside Danny DeVito as Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman (Annette Bening was the original choice but dropped out of the movie after falling pregnant). Also joining the cast was Christopher Walken as ruthless business mogul Max Shreck, while Michael Gough and Pat Hingle reprised their roles as Alfred and Commissioner Gordon. Robin - who was envisioned as a young gang leader who would become an ally of The Dark Knight - was written out of the script at a late stage, with Marlon Wayans having already attended costume fittings and contracted for the part.

Despite having spent $20,000 per week storing the Gotham City sets at Pinewood, the decision was made to transfer the production of the sequel to Hollywood. Filming began in June 1991 with a budget of $65m as opposed to the original's $48m, and Batman Returns made its debut in cinemas a year later on June 19th 1992. The film opened with $45.69m in North America (the highest opening weekend of the year) and went on to gross $266m world-wide, although Warner Bros. were disappointed that it hadn't managed to outperform the original. It was also criticised for its increased level of violence and sexual references, with McDonalds withdrawing their Happy Meal promotion in response to a 'parental backlash' against the film.

While Burton was busy making Batman Returns the producing team of Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Alan Burnett and Eric Radomski were hard at work developing an animated incarnation that was partly inspired by Fleischer Studios' classic Superman series. Drawing on the 'otherworldly timelessness' of Burton's Batman films the series opted for a unique look, mixing Art Deco and 1940s film noir influences to create a distinctive visual style, along with an adult-orientated approach that was sorely lacking in past superhero cartoons. Kevin Conroy was hired as the voice of Bruce Wayne / Batman, while a host of familiar names were brought in to portray members of the Rouge's Gallery including Mark Hamill (The Joker), Roddy McDowall (The Mad Hatter), Ron Perlman (Clayface), George Dzundza (The Ventriloquist) and David Warner (Ra's Al Ghul).

Batman: The Animated Series premiered on Fox on September 7th 1992 and was originally broadcast on weekday afternoons before being promoted to a prime-time Sunday evening slot that December. Struggling to maintain ratings against stiff competition, the series soon moved to an earlier timeslot and by the second season it had been renamed The Adventures of Batman & Robin. The show continued into a third season and entered syndication before concluding its initial run in 1995 after a total of 85 episodes, with much of the crew then going on to develop Superman: The Animated Series (1996 - 2000), with Conroy's Batman making a number of guest appearances. An additional 24 episodes went into production in 1997 under the title The New Batman Adventures, while a 1999 spin-off Batman Beyond continued the adventures with a younger Batman, Terry McGinnis, taking over from an aging Bruce Wayne.

Batman: TAS has left a lasting legacy on the superhero genre and is often described as one of the best animated television shows of all-time. It spawned a $6m feature-length theatrical release entitled Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), along with direct-to-video releases Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero (1998), Batman Beyond: Return of The Joker (2001) and Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman (2003), in addition to introducing characters such as Officer Renee Montoya and Harley Quinn into the Batman mythos. Kevin Conroy's Batman remained a fixture in the DC Animated Universe, guest starring in Static Shock (2000-2004) and as a lead in Justice League (2001-2004) and Justice League Unlimited (2004-2006), which serve as sequels to both the Batman and Superman animated series.

While Batman: TAS was proving popular on the small screen, Warner Bros. were keen to get the movie franchise moving once again. Concerned that the overly dark tone of Batman Returns had impacted on its box office performance, studio executives were looking to adopt a more family friendly approach for the third installment. As such Burton's role was restricted to that of producer with Joel Schumacher brought in to steer the project in a new direction. Lee Batchler and Janet Scott-Batchler were hired to produce a script, which would feature The Riddler and Two-Face as the primary villains (Schumacher initially wanted to adapt Frank Miller's Batman: Year One, an idea nixed by the studio), with Akiva Goldsman contributing to a second draft.

Michael Keaton was originally set to reprise his role as The Dark Knight for a third time but pulled out citing his disappointment at the new direction of the series. Actors under consideration as a replacement included Daniel Day-Lewis, William Baldwin and Johnny Depp before Val Kilmer secured the part, having impressed Schumacher with his performance in Tombstone (1993). Keaton wasn't the only actor to be replaced with Billy Dee Williams (Harvey Dent in the original movie) and Marlon Wayans (who had signed on to play Robin in Batman Returns and remained under contract) losing out to Tommy Lee Jones and Chris O'Donnell respectively. Completing the cast were Jim Carrey - who beat off competition from Robin Williams for the part of The Riddler - and Nicole Kidman as love interest Dr. Chase Meridian, along with Drew Barrymore, Ed Begley, Jr. and the returning Michael Gough and Pat Hingle.

To further distinguish the film from its predecessors, Schumacher then enlisted the talents of production designer Barbara Ling to devise a new-look Gotham City, blending 1930s New York City with modern Tokyo and more than a twist of neon, while the Batsuit, Batcave and Batmobile were also given makeovers. Filming commenced in September 1994 with Schumacher going on to encounter a host of problems with his star, claiming that Kilmer was confrontational with the crew and at times refused to speak to the director. He also found Tommy Lee Jones difficult, leading Schumacher to comment "I pray I don't work with them again."

Nevertheless, the $100m-budgeted sequel was completed to schedule and - after exorcising 40 minutes from the initial cut - Batman Forever was released in North America on June 16th, 1995, banking $52.78m to claim the biggest opening weekend of the year and the series to date. Despite mixed reviews (including criticism of the heightened commercialism) Batman Forever managed to outperform the second instalment and went on to amass a global box office haul of £336.5m.

Confident of a return to box office form after the 'disappointment' of Batman Returns, Warner Bros. greenlit a fourth instalment as soon as Batman Forever hit screens. With Joel Schumacher and Akiva Goldsman hired to continue their directing and scriptwriting duties once more, the duo began working on the project during production of Schumacher's A Time to Kill (1996). The pair drew on elements of the Emmy Award-winning Heart of Ice to conceive a plot that would see the Dynamic Duo battle to save Gotham from the deranged biologist Mr. Freeze, a role that was ultimately rewritten to accommodate the casting of action legend Arnold Schwarzenegger for a reported fee of $25m.

As for who would done the Batsuit for the fourth outing, there was no question whether Schumacher could continue his working relationship with Val Kilmer. "He sort of quit; we sort of fired him... it depends on who's telling the story", said the director on the decision to replace Kilmer with George Clooney, then best known for his work on the TV drama ER. Joining Clooney were the returning Chris O'Donnell (Robin), Michael Gough (Alfred) and Pat Hingle (Commissioner Gordon) - with the latter two having the distinction of being the only actors to appear in all four movies in the series - along with newcomers Alicia Silverstone (Batgirl), Uma Thurman (Poison Ivy), Elle Macpherson (love interest Julie Madison) and professional wrestler Jeep Swanson (Bane).

Wanting to pay homage to the 1960s television series, Schumacher went all out on the camp with costuming choices such as nipples and enlarged codpieces (which ultimately lead to homosexual interpretations), while production designer Barbara Ling described the neon-saturated Gotham as "like a World's Fair on ecstasy". Reportedly instructing the actors to treat each take as if they were making a cartoon, Schumacher's intentions were clear to Chris O'Donnell. "On Batman Forever, I felt like I was making a movie. The second time, I felt like I was making a kid's toy commercial".

Pushed through a tight production schedule to meet an ambitious release date on June 20th, 1997, Batman & Robin proved to be an unmitigated disaster. Universally panned by audiences and critics alike for its in-your-face toyetic approach and poor 'family-friendly' humour, the $140m budgeted sequel failed to recoup that figure at the North American box-office and, although it did go on to collect a worldwide gross of $238m, the damage had already been done. "I believe I actually killed it off," said George Clooney in the aftermath of the film's release, and he was almost right. Warner Bros. had released four films in the eight years since Tim Burton first brought The World's Greatest Detective to the screen in 1989, and after the catastrophe of Batman & Robin, it would take another eight to bring him back.

Continue to part three.

For more on the making of Batman and Batman Returns, check out Freakishly Clever, Trevor Hogg's in-depth profile on the career of director Tim Burton.

Related:

Short Film Showcase - Batman: Dead End (2003)
Short Film Showcase - Batman: City of Scars (2010)

Gary Collinson

Thor footage from Comic-Con makes its way online

As discussed in our round-up of the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con earlier this week, a large part of the Marvel Studios presentation was devoted to their next big-budget superhero offering Thor. Director Kenneth Branagh and stars Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg and Kat Dennings were on hand to deliver over five minutes of preview footage, which has now made its way online (originally via ComicBookMovie.com).

Check out an embed of the footage here while it lasts:

[Looks like the fellas at Marvel don't want you to see it anymore. Boo!]

There's some interesting stuff in the preview and I have to admit it looks a lot better than I'd anticipated based on the images that have been released these past few weeks. I think one of the concerns about Thor has been how they'd be able to merge the fantastical elements of his world into the more grounded universe laid down by Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, but by the looks of it that isn't going to be an issue.

One thing is for certain though... Clark Gregg must be a pretty happy chap as his role as Agent Coulson seems to keep growing by the film and should be a good way to tie the series together in the run up to The Avengers in 2012.

Thor is set for 3D release in May 2011.

For the Love of Trailers - The Slick-and-Smooth-Based-on-Previously-Released-Material Edition

Louise-Afzal Faerkel on What To Look Forward To... Or Not...

MACHETE

Aren't you just excited? Like just a tiny bit? Like when a package is sitting on your desk at work one morning. A package that you were not expecting or forgot was going to arrive.

Even though this movie contains a very corny Steven Seagal/Jean-Claude Van Damme-type plot (man wants revenge from company he used to work for who killed his family), it really does not matter. I’m still excited! Bear in mind, this was never meant to include consistency, intellectual mind-games and clever wit. That ain’t exactly the director’s style.

As the average movie-buff will know, the Machete (2010) movie was already in the making while Robert Rodriguez shot Planet Terror (2007). He simultaneously shot his Grindhouse tribute and a trailer for a movie that didn’t exist – yet.

Due to it background and similarities in style, there is a chance Machete could become another Planet Terror, minus the comedy and tribute elements. Machete looks like it could work solely on the basis of its style, its explosions and its sexed-up female ass-kickers. I.e. not so much content as coolness.

I don’t usually condone the latter-mentioned type of character and I think I have succumbed (a long time ago) to the concept of the vamp, sexy, masucline woman. I like the concept, despite it not being as thoroughly feminist as I wish it was. And with a cast including Michelle Rodriguez, Jessica Alba and Lindsay Lohan, I am not going to moan.

If you are not into explosions, half-naked women, Mexicans and guns – don’t bother. If you are going to mope about because a few women get sexualised, can it. If you are planning on watching it, then complaining about little continuity mistakes and historical accuracy, save yourself a tenner and don’t ruin the experience for the rest of us. This is a simple kick-ass-first-and-take-questions-later movie.

It is what it is.

UK release date: autumn /winter 2010/2011


HOWL

Howl (2010) is a biopic about author Allen Ginsberg, based on his poem of the same name, which caused outrage upon its publishing. There. Basic story. Sound familiar? Perhaps. This is yet another one of those celebratory biopics like I’m Not There (2007) and Milk (2008 – the producers of Milk are also behind this production). Sure the trend is annoying. Look at the disaster that was Factory Girl (2006). But there is something to this one.

My doubts about whether James Franco was enough of a heavy-weight to carry this movie have already been vaporised. He is an average model and a fairly decent sidekick in movies like Spiderman (2002) and Pineapple Express (2008). But from his first appearance in this trailer, I was immediately won over. His acting style is so different to what it usually is: firmer, more serious, natural and composed.

The whole trailer is surprising. It’s a sexy, slick, enjoyable, quick introduction to a movie that will surely be hailed by critics as movie of the year. (Yes, I have very high hopes). It announces the coming of a triumphant tale. It is very captivating – to the eye of the common beholder. In fact, this is the kind of plot that could easily be used as a bad excuse to churn out a slick piece of drama and for some editor to boast of his grading skills. There is definitely meat on this movie-bone. But is the presentation of the product being overshadowed by the style, not to mention the soundtrack?

Possibly. I hope not. Then again, it would be acceptable to surrender myself to an easy, dramatic and racy watch, I’m sure. It’s nice to see something new that is not based on a game, a sequel/prequel or adapted from a comic book or graphic novel.

And with Rob Epstein (The Life And Times Of Harvey Milk – 1984) and Jeffrey Friedman (the man behind the pending Lovelace film - 2011) behind the camera, it’s bound to be as accurate and entertaining as possible.

UK release date: hopefully soon


SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD

Edgar Wright! Michael Cera! Love! Comic book adaptation! Villains! Geeks! Girl with pink hair! Exclamation marks!

Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is the protagonist who happens to fall in love with a girl who has seven ex-lovers he needs to beat in physical battle in order to keep seeing her. Talk about messy love.

The trailer starts off with a typical (read: cheesy) rom-com plot: boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy and girl get together – BAM! Boy gets punched right in the face. Let the film begin.

The trailer’s structure is fairly straight-forward. But it’s not as slick as the other two others.
The graphics are poor (cf. Tank Girl fonts – 1995) and while they are a bit vintage, it doesn’t work to the film’s advantage. It took me right out of the plot.

It’s a funny, different premise, but I am scared it may be more tween- and teen-orientated because of its style and use of make-up and costumes (they look like Play-Dough characters, for crying out loud). I don’t think it’s a style that translates into all ages.

I am also still holding on to a thread of hope that Michael Cera will make a movie that doesn’t show him as a loser, geek, awkward lover or weirdo. What he did in Juno (2008) and Superbad (2007) was great. I would however kill to see him in a weird indie flick in a Michael Pitt/Brad Renfro/Patrick Fugit type of role. He almost did it in Paper Heart (2008), but it was still too lovey-dovey. Is he trying to be a geeky Russell Brand?

I still am a bit excited about what Edgar Wright has done here. Multitudes of questions flow in my head; all of which will be answered come August 25th.

One question that still remains unanswered after watching this trailer: where the hell did that flaming sword come from?

UK release date: August 25th 2010


Louise-Afzal Faerkel

Assembly Required: A Walter Murch Profile (Part 2)

Trevor Hogg profiles the career of three time Academy Award-winning sound designer and film editor Walter Murch in the second of a five part feature... read part one here.



“I try to choose projects that dovetail my own interests,” remarked New York-native Walter Murch. “That’s a significant part of the process – where you are really casting yourself, in much the same way actors cast themselves for a role. In an ideal situation, such as Vanessa Redgrave in Julia, an actor chooses a part that represents an emotional truth to her as an individual, which pushes her somewhere she has not gone before.” Sharing the same name as his painter father, the sound designer established himself as a film editor with the 1977 picture about a young woman (Jane Fonda) who risks her life aiding her childhood friend (Redgrave) help the French Resistance by smuggling money during WWII. Still considered a rookie at the time, Murch was not the only newbie involved in the production as an up-and-coming actress was making her feature film debut – Meryl Streep (The French Lieutenant’s Woman).



“Matthew Robbins phoned me and told me that Fred [Zinnenmann] was asking who had edited The Conversation [1974],” stated Walter Murch, referring to the conspiracy thriller which saw him co-nominated for Best Sound at the 1975 Academy Awards. “I was out of work at the time, so I wrote a letter to him saying I’d heard he was making Julia, coincidentally I had just read Pentimento [the fictional memoir the movie is based upon], Lillian Hellman’s book, and I’d love to edit it if he would like to meet. So I flew to New York, in the spring of ’76, and we hit it off. He was shooting Julia in England and France, so for the first time I would be working outside the country on a studio project with people I didn’t know beforehand.”



Working with a filmmaker from a different age group was a pleasant change for Walter Murch, who saw it as “a great privilege for a young person, as I was then, to link up professionally with someone as talented and experienced as Zinnemann (From Here to Eternity).” Murch added, “Zinnemann’s nickname among the English crew on Julia was “The Iron Butterfly”; he was courtly and polite, but he had a strong idea of who was in charge and from whom the ideas should come. There was a particular struggle between him and Jane Fonda [Barefoot in the Park], who was used to more give-and-take between the director and the star. On the other hand, he had the documentary side to him, that wild element, and he did set things up so that a rawness would occasionally happen.”



Concerned about the prow of the camera barge entering into view on a particular shot, Walter Murch approached his director in regards to fixing the image; to his dismay Fred Zinnemann decided to leave the picture unaltered. “That was very characteristic of Fred’s approach,” admitted Murch of the mistake which went unnoticed by preview audiences, “but for the life of me I couldn’t see what advantage there was in having this thing come into frame.” Murch remembers fondly the three-time Academy Award winning moviemaker; their working relationship resulted in him receiving a co-Oscar nomination for Best Editing with Marcel Durham (The Odessa File). “We remained friends after Julia, seeing each other when I was in London or he was in Los Angeles…Although there were parts of him that were mysterious to me, I feel a special kinship with Fred. I do love control. And I do love randomness.”



Heading back to America, Walter Murch was recruited to help out on another revived Zoetrope project to be produced and directed by his good friend Francis Ford Coppola (The Outsiders). “It seems strange now, in hindsight, but the spark of Francis’s desire to do Apocalypse [Now] was an understandable attraction for a big, formulaic action film with bankable stars,” recalled Murch who was a sound designer and one of four film editors on the project. “So Apocalypse rumbled down that unlikely road for about a month until Francis, to his regret but also his credit, must have realized, ‘I can’t pull of this distanced, formulaic type of filmmaking, I have to get intimately involved in it.’” A radical revamp of the production caused Coppola to replace his leading man Harvey Keitel (Bugsy) with Martin Sheen (Badlands); Walter Murch agreed with the casting decision. “Marty has an openness to his face, a depth to his eyes, that allowed the audience to accept him as the lens through which they were able to watch this incredible war. Keitel is perhaps more believable as an assassin, but you tend to watch him rather than watch things through him. And if he doesn’t do anything, it’s a frustrating experience.”



Loosely based on Heart of Darkness by novelist Joseph Conrad, Apocalypse Now (1979) unfolds during the Vietnam War when an American military assassin (Martin Sheen) travels down a river to Cambodia with orders to terminate a U.S. Colonel (Marlon Brando) believed to have gone insane. “He [Brando] arrived in the Philippines in September of 1976 and claimed to be dissatisfied with the script,” stated Walter Murch of the notoriously temperamental and idiosyncratic performer. “The discussions that followed were exacerbated by the fact he was heavier than he said he would be, and therefore couldn’t reasonably do what his part called for. When they reached an impasse in these discussions Francis would say, ‘Well, just read Heart of Darkness. That is where you can see what I’m talking about.’ And Brando would answer, ‘I’ve read Heart of Darkness and I hate it!’ And Francis would think, ‘Oh my God.’ The production shut down for a week or so while Marlon and Francis battled it out. Finally, by chance or design, a copy of Heart of Darkness was left on Brando’s houseboat. The next morning he appeared with his head shaved and said, ‘It’s all perfectly clear to me now.’ All along, he had thought that John Milius’s original script was Heart of Darkness.”



Originally intended to be completed by December 1977, the production troubles of the picture became so legendary they are chronicled in the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (1991). “I had the responsibility from the beginning of the film till the end of the sampan massacre,” explained Walter Murch, “with the notable exceptions of the whole helicopter/Valkyries attack, which was being edited by Jerry Greenberg (The French Connection), and the Playboy concert, which was edited by Lisa Fruchtmann (The Right Stuff). Richie Marks (Broadcast News), who was the supervising editor, had responsibility for everything after the sampan massacre. Jerry left the film in the spring of 1978, and then I took over I took over the helicopter sequence. I worked on that and everything else in the first half of the film for another six months. All told, I was editing the picture for a year and then working on the sound for another year. Two years – kind of like enlisting in the military!”



Oscar glory awaited Walter Murch as he co-received the Academy Award for Best Sound and was honoured with a co-nomination for Best Editing. At the BAFTAs, Murch was a co-contender for Best Sound and Best Editing, while the American Cinema Editors co-nominated him for Best Edited Feature Film.



“I’ve always collaborated on what I’ve written,” said Walter Murch. “THX [1970] with George Lucas [American Graffiti], and then the original Black Stallion [1979] screenplay with Carroll Ballard [Harvest] and Gill Dennis [Walk the Line]. Outside of helping to adapt the renowned children’s story about a boy and his horse by Walter Farrey, Murch re-recorded the sound for the fantasy tale Dragonslayer (1981) which features British acting legend Ralph Richardson (The Heiress).



Consulting an L.A. Times film critic, who compiled a list of people who were not directors but who could soon be, Disney approached Walter Murch who proposed the idea of doing a sequel to the Hollywood classic The Wizard of Oz (1939); collaborating again with Gill Dennis, he co-wrote the script built around the premise, “What if the first story, The Wizard of Oz, had really happened?”. Other questions emerged such as whether or not people would believe Dorothy’s story or would they dismiss her tale as being the fantastical ravings of a tornado survivor gone mad? Would Dorothy be prepared to deny what happened to her?



Sent away to a mental institution by her aunt and uncle, Dorothy (Fairuza Balk) is saved by a natural disaster that transports her back to the magical land of Oz. To develop his sole directorial effort Return to Oz (1985), Murch combined his love for the cult publication Wisconsin Death Trip (a collage of photographs and newspaper stories from 1890 Wisconsin) and his childhood fascination with the Oz series of books by L. Frank Baum. “There is a beautiful picture I have from Wisconsin Death Trip of a girl standing by a river, with her back to us. I always thought of her as the real Dorothy,” remarked Murch who also sought to examine the profound issues dealt with by Baum, like, “Where is the Self? Can the Self survive the dismemberment of the body?”. The dark philosophical undertone of the story backfired for Murch as audiences found the film to be disturbing. “Because Return to Oz was trying to explore these same issues head on, without the relief of songs and the more openly artificial, vaudevillian approach of the 1939 Wizard, I think it suffered at the box office. I was tapping into the same kind of opposition Baum himself encountered.”



Magazine film critic Richard Schickel of Time wrote, “Any movie in which the Midwestern prairie looks more attractive and more interesting than the enchanted land over the rainbow is in big trouble.” Schickel’s colleague at the Chicago Reader, Dave Kehr, was more conciliatory with his review, “In the vein of such underground classics as Invaders of Mars [1953] and The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T [1953], it’s bleak, creepy, and occasionally terrifying.” Walter Murch found his experience behind the camera to be enlightening. “I learned something during the process, which is that I’m not temperamentally interested in directing for the sake of directing,” confessed Murch. “It’s a completely unnaturally state of being, for me anyway. The closest is probably what a general goes through in organizing troops in the middle of combat. You as a writer and I as an editor are allowed, in fact obligated, to sometimes step away. It’s not an indulgence, it’s an absolute necessity. But a director cannot step away.”



Teaming up with Francis Ford Coppola (Peggy Sue Got Married) and George Lucas again, Walter Murch edited a seventeen minute long 3D science fiction musical Captain Eo (1986) starring Michael Jackson. The short film screened at Disneyland Park from 1986 to 1997 and was re-released in February of 2010 as Captain Eo Tribute after the death of the famous singer.



Filming a tale which follows the life of a sexually and emotionally carefree young Czech doctor (Daniel Day-Lewis) on the eve of the 1968 Soviet invasion of his homeland was not made easy due the narrative nature of the source material. “The struggle on that film,” began Walter Murch who served as the supervising editor for The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1987), “was that the novel has the structure of somebody cross-country skiing across a landscape. Milan Kundera takes the story a certain distance, from one’s character’s point of view, and then he switches to the other ski and goes backwards in time – not all the way, but maybe a third of the way – and then goes forward again with the story, from someone else’s point of view, taking it farther than the first character.” The task of distilling the essence of the book into a screenplay fell to Jean-Claude Carrière (The Obscure Object of Desire) and the director of the movie, Phil Kauffman (Rising Sun). “[They] created a very fine first draft that ironed out the time structure and told it continuously, from an omniscient point of view,” recalled Murch. “I anxiously awaited the next draft, which was going to be where they rediscover the episodic different-point-of-view structure in filmic terms but that never happened. It became clear that there was so much to deal with that the narrative line had to be continuous.”



Other complications arose as the Cold War was still alive and well in 1986, which made shooting on-location in Prague impossible. To address the problem, over forty hours worth of film, in various formats, capturing the Soviet invasion were collected from around the world. “I particularly like the invasion scene in Unbearable Lightness of Being – what we were able to achieve by integrating all kinds of documentary footage from 1968 with the new material shot with our actors, Daniel Day-Lewis [My Left Foot] and Juliette Binoche [Chocolat],” stated Walter Murch who had a major creative challenge in assembling the dramatic sequence. “How do you reduce the key moment in a nation’s history, for which you have so many hours of material, into fifteen minutes? It was a question of time, simply spending time with the material and selecting striking images. Not just visually striking, but striking in all the senses. Then finding ways to put those images together so they enhance one another, both by resonance and by contradiction.”



A technique Walter Murch has continued to use since working on the project involves taking and labeling printed representative stills (two to five) from each camera position for a designated sequence and placing them on their own separate foamcore board. “There may be several “iconic” frames within each shot. Essentially I am trying to answer the question, ‘Why did the director shoot this shot?” explained Murch. “As I’m assembling the film, I’ll be trying to find the exact moment each shot reaches its optical maturity. I want to hold each and every shot on screen long enough for it to deliver the goods, but cut it off at a moment when it also has the potential to lead to somewhere else.”



Returning to the genre of science fiction, Walter Murch cut together the twenty-nine minute long Call from Space (1989) which included Hollywood stars Charlton Heston (Ben-Hur) and James Coburn (The Magnificent Seven) as well as Bill Campbell (The Rocketeer).



“In the middle of a fight scene, you want to abuse the audience’s expectations,” instructed Walter Murch. “You want to send their eye off in one direction, then cut with something going in completely in the opposite direction. That induces in the audience the sense of visual disorientation you get when you’re really physically fighting with somebody.” Then there is the matter of portraying deeply-felt human emotions which Murch effectively accomplished when assembling a famous cinematic moment. “In a passionate love scene there’s actually an advantage to be gained by crossing the stage line as many times as possible. If you look at the dance scene in Ghost [1990], after Sam [Patrick Swayze] and Molly [Demi Moore] have been playing with clay and start to dance to the music on the jukebox…that’s full of cuts that cross the stage line. Each cut, once the dancing gets passionate, puts the characters on the “wrong” side of the frame. Visually, I’m taking care of the eye, it’s rhythmically and sensuously done but – wait a moment! Isn’t she supposed to be on the left and he’s supposed to be on the right?...What that does is put you in the state of mind of making passionate love to somebody – disorientation, spacelessness…By fracturing the grammar of film in that way, you induce in the audience a little of the same mentality.”



Rumours of a third installment of the Francis Ford Coppola’s landmark Italian gangster saga turned out to be true with the release of The Godfather: Part III (1990). Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) is on the verge of becoming a legitimate businessman only to be tragically drawn back to his mobster ways in order to survive. “I think there was a fundamental problem that surfaced during production,” revealed Walter Murch who was a co-film editor and a re-record mixer for the picture which is seen by many as being inferior to its two critically-revered predecessors. “Francis’ original intention was to make the story revolve around the death of the fourth Corleone brother, Tom Hagen [Robert Duvall]. He got the script to a certain stage and in this preliminary form sent it to Duvall with words to the effect, ‘I’m still working on it, but they’ve only given me six weeks to get to this point. I ask you to have faith in me and come along fro the ride.’ And Duvall agreed but he wanted financial parity with Al Pacino, who played Michael, but Paramount wouldn’t go along with [that request]. It became a real battleground, which Francis wasn’t able to solve so Duvall was not in the film. It knocked the legs from under what Francis wanted to accomplish, which was to make each of the three Godfather films about the death of a brother: Sonny in the first, Fredo in the second, and Tom in the third – a beautiful symmetry, like a fairy tale. Once upon a time there were four brothers…and the one who didn’t want to be part of the family at the beginning is the one who survives at the end. And yet at what cost.” Contemplating further, Murch reflected, “It was one of those missed opportunities and it meant that the balance Francis wanted to achieve for the trilogy could not be achieved…The character who would satisfy all the logical and emotional requirements lay outside the “room” of the film.” For his cinematic efforts on The Godfather: Part III and Ghost, Murch received two separate Oscar-nominations for Best Editing.



Subsequently, assembling the three pictures into one major opus titled The Godfather Trilogy: 1901 to 1980, Walter commented, “I prefer them as separate films myself, though there are many who prefer the story in chronological order.”



Next on the agenda for sound designer and film editor Walter Murch were a series of Hollywood movies – House of Cards (1993), Romeo is Bleeding (1994), I Love Trouble (1994), and First Knight (1995) as well as a documentary on the life of an infamous cartoonist called Crumb (1994).



Approached by British filmmaker Anthony Minghella (Truly Madly Deeply), Murch found himself entering into a creative partnership that rivaled the one he had established with Francis Ford Coppola.



Continue to part three.



For more on Walter Murch, be sure to visit FilmSound.org and NPR, while Michael Ondaatje's The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film provides a comprehensive analysis of Murch's career.



You can also show your appreciation and discuss his body of work on the Walter Murch Facebook page.



Walter Murch lecture - part one and part two.



Short Film Showcase - Captain EO (1986)



Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.

Toy Story 3 breaks records at the UK box office

UK box office top ten and analysis for the weekend of Friday 23rd - Sunday 25th July 2010.

With a four-day head-start on the usual Friday-to-Sunday weekend, Pixar's latest masterpiece Toy Story 3 enjoys a record-breaking UK release with an astonishing haul of £21,187,264. Those numbers give the film the biggest ever opening for an animated movie and place it in second in the UK's all-time list behind 2004's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Naturally this is also the biggest opening of 2010 and sets a huge benchmark that surely only Harry Potter can challenge when part one of The Deathly Hallows is released this November.

As a result, Christopher Nolan's mind-bending thriller Inception falls to second but adds another £4.1m for a strong second weekend while vampire romance The Twilight Saga: Eclipse holds onto third and pushes its three-week gross beyond the £25m mark. Less fortunate however is Dreamworks Animation's Shrek Forever After, which falls two places to fourth in the wake of Toy Story 3's dominance of 3D screens but remains the highest grossing film in the chart overall.

Along with Toy Story 3 three other newcomers make their debut this week but none can be said to have set the world alight. Best of the bunch was The Rebound with the Catherine Zeta Jones / Justin Bartha rom-com banking £360k to claim fifth, ahead of Bollywood satire Khatta Meetha (in seventh with £124k) and horror flick Splice, which pulls in just £110k to take ninth.

Elsewhere in the chart Splice star Adrien Brody turns up again in sixth with the sci-fi reboot Predators (falling two places from last week) while Russell Brand comedy Get Him to the Greek drops three spots to eighth after five weeks on screens. Finally at the foot of the chart is French drama Leaving, which hasn't quite left but slips one place although it does enjoy a slight increase in takings from last weekend.

Number one this time last year: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Pos.	Film	Weekend Gross	Week	Total UK Gross
1	Toy Story 3	£21,187,264	1	£21,187,264
2	Inception	£4,172, 568	2	£14,204,521
3	The Twilight Saga: Eclipse	£1,436,792	3	£25,636,305
4	Shrek Forever After	£1,223,759	4	£26,878,721
5	The Rebound	£360,015	1	£360,015
6	Predators	£305,424	3	£5,302,342
7	Khatta Meetha	£124,104	1	£124,104
8	Get Him to the Greek	£119,424	5	£6,809,659
9	Splice	£110,225	1	£110,225
10	Leaving	£39,409	3	£204,525

Incoming...

Two reboots of popular 80s properties arrive this week with cinemas hoping that a little nostalgia is enough to get parents and their children through the doors after an expensive first week to the school holidays...

On Wednesday Jackie Chan becomes mentor to Jaden Smith in The Karate Kid (cert. PG), while The A-Team (cert. 12A) make their big-screen debut on Friday in the shape of Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley and Quinton Jackson.

Fans of world cinema can also choose between French music biopic Gainsbourg (cert. 15) and Bollywood crime epic Once Upon A Time in Mumbai (cert. TBC), both of which are released on Friday.

U.K. Box Office Archive

Government to close UK Film Council

In what could prove to be a crushing blow to the British film industry, culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has today announced the government's intention to abolish the UK Film Council in a move first reported by Deadline London.

The decision - which according to John Woodward, CEO of the Film Council, "has been imposed with no notice and no consultation" - comes as part of the government's cost-cutting measures to tackle the current financial crisis. According to a press release issued today by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, the intention is to establish "a direct and less bureaucratic relationship with the British Film Institute", while continuing to support British film through government and Lottery funding. It intends to transfer all duties and fully close the organisation by April 2012.

The UK Film Council was set up by New Labour in 2000 to develop and promote the UK film industry. Its three main intiatives - The Development Fund, New Cinema Fund and Premiere Fund - have helped to finance a range of projects including Adulthood (2008, dir. Noel Clarke), Bright Star (2009 dir. Jane Campion), Dorian Gray (2009, dir. Oliver Parker), Fish Tank (2009, dir. Andrea Arnold), Happy-Go-Lucky (2008, dir. Mike Leigh), In The Loop (2009, dir. Armando Iannucci), London to Brighton (2006, dir. Paul Andrew Williams), Nowhere Boy (2009, dir. Sam Taylor Wood) and acclaimed documentaries Man on Wire (2008, dir. James Marsh) and Touching the Void (2003, dir. Kevin Macdonald).

In addition to financing productions, the Council also had the responsibility of funding Skillset (the Sector Skills Council for UK creative media industries), the First Light Movies digital filmmaking scheme and FILMCLUB, which aimed to promote the world of film within UK schools.

"Abolishing the most successful film support organisation the UK has ever had is a bad decision, imposed without any consultation or evaluation," said Tim Bevan, Chairman of the Film Council. "People will rightly look back on today's announcement and say it was a big mistake, driven by short-term thinking and political expediency. British film, which is one of the UK's more successful growth industries, deserves better."

Amen to that.

It's a Wrap - The 2010 San Diego Comic-Con

A round-up of the main cinematic happenings at Comic-Con...

The 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International wrapped up yesterday after four eventful days with a host of Hollywood big hitters descending on the convention to plug their upcoming projects and hopefully tap into the lucrative power of geekdom.

The big story coming out of this year's event is of course is the so-called "Stabbing in Hall H", with the shocking report that a punter had been stabbed in the eye prior to the Marvel Studios panel quickly spreading like social media wildfire (naturally once the dust settled and it came to light that the 'eye-stabbing' was in fact more of an 'eye-socket-scratching-with-a-pen', it has to be said that the story lost some of its appeal).

So then, what about the movie goodness? Well, for comic-book lovers there was plenty to get excited about, particularly fans of Marvel...

The Avengers Assemble

First up came confirmation on Thursday that Joss Whedon would be directing the superhero ensemble The Avengers (with Lost creator JJ Abrams also announcing a September start date for his Steven Spielberg collaboration Super 8), while the real juicy stuff was held back for Saturday's bumper Marvel Studios panel.

Things kicked off with Marvel president Kevin Feige introducing a teaser trailer for Captain America: The First Avenger, giving fans in attendance a brief look at Chris Evans in costume along with some Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) action. Evans, Weaving and director Joe Johnston then hosted a Q&A which, as the film has barely started shooting, understandably didn't really go into that much detail.

Not so for Marvel's next release Thor, with Kenneth Branagh and cast members Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson), Natalie Portman (Jane Foster) and Kat Dennings (Darcy) presenting some 3D footage from the film, which you can view right here. Scenes shown included Thor being cast from Asgard by his father Odin, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Agent Coulson encountering The Destroyer, Thor attempting to retrieve his hammer and glimpses of him battling it out with arch-nemesis Loki.

Fiege wrapped up that part of the panel by confirming that rights to The Punisher had reverted to Marvel and, after swerving a question about Ed Norton's dismissal as Bruce Banner / The Hulk, he opened The Avengers panel with a brief 30-second teaser before Samuel L. Jackson made his way onto the stage. An Avengers love-fest followed as all the main players assembled on stage including the aforementioned Evans, Helmsworth and Gregg along with Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), along with newcomers Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner) and writer-director Joss Whedon.

Other Marvel titbits from Comic-Con included suggestions of a standalone Hawkeye franchise and the likes of Doctor Strange, Black Panther and Iron Fist as possibilities for future features post-Avengers.

From The Hobbit to The Haunted Mansion

After causing quite a stir when he walked out as director of The Hobbit a few months back, Guillermo del Toro was on hand at Comic-Con to announce his next project, a 3D remake of the 2003 Eddie Murphy family comedy The Haunted Mansion for Marvel's parent company Walt Disney (Latino Review later clarified that the filmmaker was only currently involved as writer and producer and would be announcing his next directorial project in the coming weeks - now confirmed to be a 3D adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness with producer James Cameron).

As for The Hobbit, del Toro spoke briefly about his involvement and his hopes for the future of the struggling project. "I can just say as a fan -- because I have no more authority over the movie -- but as a fan, I hope that those movies get made. I hope they get made as soon as possible. And I hope to God Peter Jackson directs them, because they're beautiful and they're needed in the world."

Not content to dominate the convention with The Avengers and The Haunted Mansion, Disney also managed to debut a new trailer for their upcoming sci-fi sequel Tron Legacy along with a pre-recorded video message from Captain Jack Sparrow himself Johnny Depp to promote the fourth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise On Stranger Tides [watch it at Joblo].

This Ain't Marvel-Con

While Marvel grabbed their fair share of headlines with their Avengers-centric panel they were by no means the sole player in the comic-to-screen stakes. Rival publishers DC Comics and star Ryan Reynolds were on hand to promote the upcoming Green Lantern (2011), revealing quite a few details in the process. A new trailer was also released for action ensemble Red, based on the Warren Ellis / Cully Hamner mini-series from DC imprint Homage, while Bleeding Cool reported that Lord of the Rings and Star Trek actor Karl Urban's chin was about to be cast as Judge Dredd in the upcoming reboot of the 2000AD character from director Pete Travis and screenwriter Alex Garland.

Elsewhere Iron Man director Jon Favreau wowed the crowds with a look at his current project Cowboys & Aliens, adapted from Scott Mitchell Rosenberg's 2006 graphic novel. Accompanied by cast members Daniel Craig, Sam Rockwell, Olivia Wilde, Adam Beach and Harrison Ford (making his Comic-Con debut), Favreau showed off some early footage which was said to be very impressive despite being just three weeks into filming.

The Best of the Rest...

Robert Rodriguez was on hand to deliver an R-rated 'red band' preview of his Grindhouse spin-off Machete in addition to confirming Predators 2... Horror fans were treated to new trailers for Let Me In and Saw 3D - along with a promise that the seventh installment would be the last in the series (please, oh please!)... Len Wiseman teased the return of wife Kate Beckinsale for the fourth entry in the Underworld franchise... Frank Darabont's new mini-series The Walking Dead debuted new artwork and ramped up the anticipation for its premiere this October with a nice teaser... Paul W. S. Anderson and Milla Jovovich presented some impressive 3D footage from Resident Evil: Afterlife... Sci-fi fans look set to enjoy a couple of decent alien invasion flicks in of Skyline and Battle: Los Angeles... Teasers released for new animated series' Transformers Prime and The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes... Nicolas Cage blows things up with an extra dimension as Drive Angry 3D gets a teaser trailer... and finally, Star Wars video game enthusiasts were overjoyed with the news that fan favourite Boba Fett will make an appearance in LucasArt's upcoming sequel Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, which - judging by the trailer - looks to be one hell of a game.

Well, that just about wraps it up for the 2010 San Diego Comic Con International!

Short Film Showcase - Day of the Fight (1951)

Day of the Fight, 1951.

Directed by Stanley Kubrick.
Narrated by Douglas Edwards.

Working as a photographer for Look Magazine in 1949, Stanley Kubrick found inspiration for his debut film during a pictorial entitled Prizefigher. The resulting black-and-white documentary Day of the Fight provides a short history of the sport before following middleweight boxer Walter Cartier through a single day as he makes his preparations for a match with rival Bobby James, culminating with footage of the fight held on April 17th, 1950 in Newark, New Jersey.

The 23-year-old Kubrick financed the documentary himself to the tune of $3,900, making a $100 profit when he sold the completed film on to distributors RKO Radio Pictures. It features narration from veteran news anchor Douglas Edwards and music from Gerald Fried, who would later win an Emmy Award for composing the score of the 1977 miniseries Roots. Kubrick would make one further short documentary (The Flying Padre, 1949) before making his feature debut in 1953 with the action-adventure Fear and Desire. Meanwhile Cartier would go on to appear in a handful of television roles, most notably as Pvt. Claude Dillingham in The Phil Silvers Show (1955-1959).


Embed courtesy of Dailymotion.

Related:

Capturing Kubrick: A Stanley Kubrick Profile

Click here to view more short films and public domain features.

SDCC 2010 - Machete trailer goes red band

Director Robert Rodriguez threw a Comic Con party on Thursday night (head over to Joblo.com for some images from the event), debuting a new 'red band' trailer for Machete that features plenty of bloody violence, bad language, tits and ass. Sweet.

Machete is of course the expansion to Rodriguez's fake Grindhouse trailer featuring Danny Trejo as a double-crossed hitman out for revenge against a corrupt senator played by Robert De Niro. Joining the cast are Michelle Rodriguez, Jeff Fahey, Steven Seagal, Cheech Marin, Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Alba, Tom Savini and Don Johnson.

Check out the Machete red band trailer courtesy of IGN.com (age verification required)...


In addition to Machete, Rodriguez also has family action adventure Spy Kids 4: Armageddon in post-production, along with the previously announced Sin City 2, Red Sonja, Neveracker and Madman on his 'to-do' list.

Meanwhile the ever-busy filmmaker added to that slate when he confirmed to IGN that he will be producing a sequel to the recently released Predators. As to whether he'd be taking on the director's chair, Rodriguez was reluctant to commit. "I don't know... I think I have too many people wanting me to do Sin City 2 first!".

Machete will be released in North America on September 3rd, with a UK date still to be confirmed. You can also view the theatrical trailer here.

SDCC 2010 - Tron Legacy gets a new trailer

The 2010 San Diego Comic-Con got underway yesterday and, as has become customary these past couple of years, that means it's time for some Tron goodness! Two years ago at the 2008 Comic-Con director Joseph Kosinski debuted a preliminary teaser trailer for the then-titled TR2N, the long-anticipated sequel to Disney's cult sci-fi classic Tron, before announcing a name change to Tron Legacy and some early details about the project the following year.

Well, here we are twelve months down the line and, with a year of post-production under their belts, Kosinski, producers Steve Lisberger and Sean Baily, and stars Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Martin Sheen and Bruce Boxleitner set up shop on the Tron panel at Comic-Con, where they debuted 8 minutes of new footage along with a brand new trailer that has made its way online...


The panel also took part in a Q&A which brought up a few interesting points, specifically that Tron Legacy has been shot in native 3D (no shoddy conversion job here), while discussions have been held about a 3D release of the 1982 original. Read a full round-up of the Q&A at AICN.

Tron Legacy is set for release on December 17th 2010 in North America and Boxing Day here in the UK. Visit the official site, and check out the first theatrical trailer.

The Ten Best Sci-Fi Films Ever Made

Since the first film exhibition near the end of the 19th century, a countless number of science fiction films have been released. Here, Russell Hill selects the very best of the genre...

Outer space has always intrigued mankind. Is there life outside of Earth? And will this life form be friendly? Apparently based on the director’s own experiences as a child, Steven Spielberg’s E.T. (1982) has always been highly regarded as a family favourite and is home to some wonderful moments. Picture one of the first opening scenes of E.T. being chased, and you’ll see likenesses with the forest scenes in Disney’s Bambi (1942) due to the director's fondness for it. Throughout, there is always the possibility that the alien will be captured by government figures and he won’t be allowed to return to his planet. At no point does he pose a threat to his human friends and this cinematic trait acts as very much a child-like character for Spielberg.

Following this same narrative aspect is Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). It too features aliens but they, like E.T., are friendly and only wish to communicate with the humans. Towards the end of the film when we see the aliens lit remarkably well, which is reminiscent of the aforementioned E.T. scene, they possess technology far beyond our own as they are able to fly countless light years just to return the humans they took. This shows immense kindness when, like in the films which will be mentioned later, they could have killed them instead.

One further example of this is Starman (1984). Telling of a friendly alien who is invited to Earth by the Voyager space probe, it’s quite a strange morphing of technologies in this film as our own technology both entices Starman to our planet but at the same time forces him to stay until he can be rescued by his own kind. The juxtaposition in this film is odd at times when compared to what is happening on screen such as the brightly shot scenes of Starman cheating on a casino fruit machine or making love with the wife of the dead husband he takes the form of.

A secondary sub-genre of science fiction which can be related to many films is what could be called “Horror Sci-Fi”. This is where Earth is visited by aliens who want to destroy humans, or they retaliate when provoked. Remade many times since its initial release, The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) remains a classic. Telling of pod people who take over the bodies of small-town American citizens, thus killing them in the process, the film's anti-Communist tendencies struck a chord with audiences at the time largely due to the similarities with Senator McCarthy’s “Witch Hunts”. Unlike the “monster movies” released during this time, the evil creature could be anybody. Like Hitchcock did in Psycho (1960) four years later, the murderer could be a family member and it is scenes like this which make this film shocking over fifty years after its release. This occurs all throughout the white picket fenced town that this film is set in. Picture the scene in this particular film when Kevin McCarthy realises that the woman he loves has changed into this pod person with no physical change in her whatsoever.

Although mocked by many, Independence Day (1996) tells of how Earth is attacked by alien forces through no fault of their own. It is similar to the previous film as the humans see no reason why they are being attacked, and the special effects are spectacular fourteen years after its release. This film is merely popcorn material with no oblivious political message at all, but when you see the realistic scene of Will Smith’s character seeing the alien spaceship hovering over his backyard you see similarities with him and Kevin McCarthy shortly after he saw his loved one killed by the pod people.

It could be said that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s role in The Terminator (1984) uses the same character aspects of Starman and the pod people as he takes the form of a human but is more violent in doing so. This film features darker scenes, such as when The Terminator locates his target in a bar or at the films conclusion when Sarah is chased in a factory, and could be seen as an indication of the director's vision of how bleak the future will be if this machine is not stopped. What is interesting in this film is that the technology which is used to create The Terminator was originally designed by the humans after they allowed themselves to create machines which were that intelligent they could overpower us, and it was the humans’ fault that the machines could send such a machine back in time to destroy us.

Although not set on Earth, Alien (1979) seems to be the complete opposite of the previous films. Instead of Earth being attacked it is humans who seem to be the violent creatures especially when you consider that it is the AI life form Ash that was created and programmed by humans to invade a planet and take one of the alien life forms by force. But what seems remarkable about this film is its claustrophobic scenes. There seems to be no escape from the intensely packed spaceships and with the darkly lit scenes it creates an unfriendly situation that acts as the complete opposite of the serene surroundings lived in by Kevin McCarthy.

Apart from aliens, there is one other enthralling element to Sci-Fi and this is technology, particularly when it turns evil. Released as the first in a trilogy, The Matrix (1999) does not include aliens in its narrative but is the result of machines taking control over the world which humans once ruled and changing it so they can survive. This is best represented in the scene where the machines are seen harvesting humans. This is chilling to view, and seems to hark back to the artistic aspects used throughout Alien. Although this particular moment is created through CGI it has the potential to shock and make the audience believe that with the advent of one robot after another around the world this situation may become a reality.

Released in 1968, 2001: A Space Odyssey tells of a future where machines have been invented to such a degree that humans think of inter-galactic journeys as the norm. Astronaut Dave is on such a trip to Jupiter and is assisted by fellow astronauts along with the ship's onboard computer HAL. HAL has evolved in such a way that it undertakes human emotions and kills one astronaut with it nearly being successful in doing the same to Dave. What is astonishing in this film is how the humans have become robotic and it is the machines they invented which have become the humans. Take the juxtaposition scene of the space ships docking, and it seems like they are dancing whilst The Blue Danube plays. This film made space travel a possibility for the future of the human race and its special effects were that realistic that many of them created for this very film, such as the huge projectors for the opening ape scenes, are still being used to this day by filmmakers.

Some argue that Blade Runner (1982) is one of the best examples of sci-fi and in many ways those plaudits are right. Set in a dystopian Los Angeles in 2019, the human race is up against an enemy it created; the Replicants. Invented to be slaves on Earth’s off-world colonies, Blade Runner uses many of the elements of the aforementioned films discussed and brings them together in a cohesive structure that has the power to terrify. As in The Matrix, the non-human life form depends on their inventors for life especially when the Nexus-6 models invade Earth in order to increase their life span. This point is represented best when the leader of the Replicants, Roy Batty, tells Harrison Ford’s character how he wants to stay alive for he has seen marvellous events, with perfectly good human emotions on display. Blade Runner was made before the advent of CGI so, just like in 2001, many hands were responsible for some of the exquisite shots seen in the film such as the gloomy Los Angeles street scenes with flying cars hovering around the dirty streets.

Whatever the future holds for sci-fi films, the likelihood is that directors, producers and filmmakers alike will continue to invent a new way of bringing their terrifying entertainment to the silver screen. What must be taken into consideration is whether or not they will include in these narratives the same aspects which have been present in previous films and if they do, will they build or improve on them?

Russell Hill