It’s
not everyday you get to meet one of your heroes. But thanks to a unique film event proposed by
Phoenix Theaters at the Mall on Monroe, Michigan, on December 7th of
2019, that’s precisely what happened when the opportunity arose to meet arguably
the greatest living visual effects artist and cutting-edge technical pioneer:
Mr. Douglas Trumbull. About five years
ago I had written a piece covering Mr. Trumbull’s career in film largely
focusing on his two brief stints at feature film directing seen here.
Presented
as an all-day exhibition of some of the effects wizard/filmmaker’s greatest
achievements including 2001: A Space
Odyssey, Silent Running, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Brainstorm and lastly Blade Runner, what became known as the Trumbull Film Forum prominently featured
the filmmaker in person hosting not one but two Master Class lectures
discussing his life’s work, his hopes for the future of cinema and a
demonstration of his long-gestating Magi
high-frame rate film process.
With
the hallways adorned with framed posters of his films and all of them running
simultaneously on various screens including the Phoenix Theater’s very own Encore 65-foot widescreen, the theater
also presented Trumbull’s first Magi film,
a short science fiction fantasy film entitled UFOTOG. Following the adventures
of a young ufologist spending his time attempting to capture the highest
quality photography of a UFO spacecraft possible, the 3D film shot and
presented at 120 frames-per-second is truly an out of body experience and a
peer into what the future holds for cinema and Mr. Trumbull.
In
the Master Class lecture which lasted about two hours, Mr. Trumbull stood on
the front stage by the movie screen armed with his laptop and went through everything
from the history of film as an immersive out-of-body experience to Cinerama, Todd
AO and Super Panavision 70mm. In
addition to going over his life’s work from beginning to end in immensely
thorough detail, Mr. Trumbull also dropped hints of upcoming projects he’s
working on including a proposed film about Nikola Tesla, the Wright Brothers, a
new Magi film under the working title Lightship. Further still, Mr. Trumbull hinted at an
upcoming 2001: A Space Odyssey retrospective
event to be held at New York’s Museum of the Moving Image sometime in 2020.
One
area touched on was the project which landed Mr. Trumbull the job of working
for Stanley Kubrick on 2001: A Space
Odyssey, a Cinerama film entitled To
the Moon and Beyond. Shown in 1964
at the World’s Fair, the audience was shown the fifteen-minute film on an 80-foot
giant dome screen which the audience would look up at much like a
planetarium. Unfortunately due to the circular
pictorial composition required for the unique theme-park theater event, Mr.
Trumbull confirmed upon being asked by myself that it will never see a
commercial home video release.
Following
the Master Class which was as educational of an experience as it was an enthralling
peer into the mind of a visual effects genius was a discussion panel moderated
by two Michigan University film professors as well as a Michigan documentary
filmmaker. Here, Trumbull discussed his
feelings on Ang Lee’s experimentation with high-frame-rate photography on Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk and Gemini Man and hopes by correcting the
shutter speed with his Magi process
to be able to solve the problems presented by Lee’s films.
Further
still, Mr. Trumbull mentioned his experiences working for Terrence Malick on The Tree of Life as well as acting as a
sort of mentor to the team behind The Man
Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot.
Though many of the actors over the years would complain about working
for Malick, Kubrick and Ridley Scott on Blade
Runner, Trumbull himself had nothing but good things to say about working
for the three visionary filmmakers who pushed the creative envelope which
Trumbull was only too happy to assist with.
With
ticket prices as low as $1 each per show and the Master Class lectures
themselves only costing around $5, the event attracted cinephiles from all over
Michigan as well as outside of the state.
A testament to the strength of Mr. Trumbull’s talents and lasting appeal
of his visual effects, at times during the Master Class lecture he would pause
and make sure the audience was still on the same page as him, which drew
widespread applause from the crowd. There
wasn’t one person in attendance who wasn’t a dedicated fan eager to shake hands
with one of the most brilliant visual effects visionaries the cinematic medium
has ever seen.
An
important chapter in this cinephile’s own life and an important moment in time
for Michigan filmgoers, the Trumbull Film
Forum was an overwhelming celebration of science-fiction fantasy film as
well as a hopeful yearning for continuing to innovate and expand the horizons
and possibilities of the medium itself. Still
an important figure in film to learn from and respect, Douglas Trumbull’s
imprint on film remains indelible and something to be cherished for generations
to come. As for myself, I feel extremely
lucky to have been able to shake hands with one of cinema’s most gifted contributors
in a film festival event serving as a testament to Mr. Trumbull’s life and work
in the movies.
-Andrew Kotwicki