2001:The Making of a Myth (Channel 4 UK Doco)
Rod Munday
Myth.” Much of the actual content is already pretty much known to
regular amkers so I won’t discuss it too much, (read the FAQ ha ha!). To
give a flavour, we had Arthur C Clarke talking about the genesis of the
story, Daniel Richter about how he became involved with the project and
his recreation of primate behaviour (plus never before seen footage of
screen tests for his mimes), Douglas Turnbull and Con Pederson
discussing the effects, Frank Ordway on his role as technical advisor to
the film and Ray Lovejoy on the choice of music and the editing of the
film. Kier Dullea talked about his starring role in what he considers
one of the greatest films ever made. Just from the names I have
mentioned you can see how much research was done just to assemble such
an impressive array of key players. The location shooting costs alone
must have been quite considerable. For lovers of detail they even had
Heather Downham and Ed Bishop who played the space shuttle hostess and
pilot, demonstrating how the floating pen effect was done, as well as
doing a cute re-enactment of retrieving Dr Floyd’s floating pen in a
mock up shuttle set for Joyce’s camera . The fastidiousness of the
research had probably something to do with the film’s co-producer, Piers
Bizony but the real credit I think must go to director Paul Joyce, for
making what would have been a very informative documentary into such an
extraordinary film. The various subjects the filmakers wanted to cover
seemed to flow so effortlessly into each other - anyone who has tried
compiling or editing anything knows this is a difficult thing to pull
off without contrivances - But the documentary flowed, both in the way
it imparting all the information it wanted to tell, and suggesting some
of the visual beauty and mystery of the film. Joyce even re-created the
Moon-Sun-Earth conjunction that heralds the opening of 2001 - not too
unsuccessfully either from a special effects point of view!
The members of AMK who reside in the UK and the lucky ones in the rest
of the world are already familiar with Joyce’s work know that he id
never one to shirk a bold visual trope, his approach has been has been
fairly hit and miss IMHO - I’m thinking of the corny computer
malfunction graphic at the end of Sara Maitland’s interview in the Last
Movie. But the visual motifs that harmonise all the different flavours
of his “2001 documentary seemed to be far better executed and
successful. One of his devices he used was to have Monoliths silently
surveying the locations for all the major interviews. Thus you have a
small one popping up in Arthur C Clarke’s Sri Lanka garden, a massive
one, taking the place of a New York Skyscraper, or a cliff face in a
seascape. The New York monolith introduced the American interviews as
well as archive footage of the 1963 (?) World Fair which inspired
Kubrick and Clarke’s anecdote of he and Kubrick witnessing an apparent
UFO flying overhead, just as they agreed to embark of the 2001 project.
The monolith effects shots were composited with great skill and
thematically emphasised just what an iconic object the monolith is. It
seems all you have to do is put a monolith into a scene and its silent
presence instantly conveys mystery as well as awe. But I don’t want to
be facetious, or to take away from Joyce’s brilliant idea. Also in one
particularly outstanding moment, Joyce had a still very youthful looking
sexagenarian Kier Dullea, re-enacting his role as Bowman in the alien
hotel scene from the end of 2001. The setting was in a present day
hotel, probably in New York. This footage was inter-cut with Dullea as
Bowman 33 years younger, yet made up to be about the same age as he
appears now. At one point the contemporary Dullea looks at his
reflection in a mirror. An event that echoes the scene in 2001 of
course, but also I would suggest, recalls an arresting scene in
Kubrick’s first film “Day of the Fight” where the Boxer checks himself
in the mirror. For these few brief seconds Joyce suggests something very
profound. I think it works, both as a homage to Kubrick, but also
conveys one of the really big themes of 2001. Finally - and rather
lyrically I admit - what this moments suggest to me is the theme of
longing that pervades every frame of 2001. It is expressed in the
styling of the alien room (modelled incidentally on the hotel room at
the Dorchester Kubrick stayed in when he was making Lolita). and
encompasses the sense of longing we feel when we look up at the stars,
and when we look at ourselves in the mirror and see the first signs of
ageing. It is a longing in the form of nostalgia of the loss of a golden
age and a hope for humanity and that it still lies ahead of us. It is
the hope a parent feels when he looks at the face of his sleeping child,
(something I had to do for my restless son as he got back to sleep). The
serenity of a sleeping child perhaps explains some of the awe the that
the Starchild’s appearance can instil in us. Its a feeling somewhere
between profound regret and hopeful elation almost cancelling each other
out.
Just riffing you understand...
Regards, Rod Munday
Mike Jackson
rmu...@alta.demon.co.uk wrote on 1/13/01 8:34 PM:
> I’ve just seen Paul Joyce’s quite wonderful film, "2001: The Making of a
> Myth."
<snip>
Thanks for the synopsis.
Refresh my memory, but isn't there an interview somewhere in your voluminous
Kubrick site with Joyce? Is there any way to get in touch with him or his
production company and find out how we in America can get our hands on
copies of this and "The Last Movie"? I have the latter in a really fuzzy
dub, but would like to be able to pay to have real copies of these.
Any ideas or info Rod?
-----------------
Mike Jackson
Mental Pictures Photography & Graphic Design
http://www.guide.net/~mental
(228) 696-2702 Phone/ Fax
(228) 918-4596 Cellular
Rod Munday
>
> in article 3A6110...@alta.demon.co.uk, Rod Munday at
> rmu...@alta.demon.co.uk wrote on 1/13/01 8:34 PM:
>
> > I’ve just seen Paul Joyce’s quite wonderful film, "2001: The Making of a
> > Myth."
>
> <snip>
> Thanks for the synopsis.
>
> Refresh my memory, but isn't there an interview somewhere in your voluminous
> Kubrick site with Joyce?
Minor quibble. It's not really >my< Kubrick site, I can't claim that
when the great majority of work was done by it's first editor Geoffrey
Alexander, I am just the caretaker there:) but yes there is and
interview with Joyce circa The Invisble Man time, by Faisal Qureshi. It
can be found in the interviews section.
http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk
> Is there any way to get in touch with him or his
> production company and find out how we in America can get our hands on
> copies of this and "The Last Movie"? I have the latter in a really fuzzy
> dub, but would like to be able to pay to have real copies of these.
>
> Any ideas or info Rod?
Don't know. Will try to find out, if I can.
Regards, Rod
Peter Woods
Mike Jackson wrote:
Sorry to jump in here, Rod (great to meet you after the 2001 screening at the
NFT on Jan 1, by the way !). I agree that Paul Joyce's work should be available
to a wider audience. His company is called Lucida Productions Ltd. and his email
address is pa...@lucida.ukf.net.
Peter Woods
Rod Munday
Sorry for the delay in repling I've been ill. Yes, it was great to meet
a fellow amker and his son. Thanks for the address.
Regards, Rod