Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of its release, Stanley Kubrick's sci-fi classic "2001: A Space Odyssey" has been thrust into the spotlight since April. With a series of re-screenings and commemorative activities, the "black history" of this sci-fi film voted by the American Film Academy as the first in film history has also surfaced a few days ago.
2001 Space Odyssey poster
In Simon & Schuster's book Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece, released this month, author Michael Benson takes a meticulous look at the film's journey from conception to final completion. Although there is no shortage of praise for the cross-era blockbuster "2001: A Space Odyssey", it has also been able to avoid his dignity and realistically bring together the discordant sounds of the film's production process, including the solemn accusations of stuntman Bill Weston. The tall British stuntman entered the industry in 1966, and before his death in 2012 at the age of 70, he had participated in more than 100 film and television stunts and stand-ins, including the "Star Wars" series, the "Harry Potter" series, the "007" series, as well as "Saving Private Ryan", "The Da Vinci Code", "Son of Man" and other masterpieces.
Before his death, Weston was interviewed by benson, the author of the book, and recalled the process of filming "2001: A Space Odyssey", and still complained a lot.
Stills from 2001: A Space Odyssey
In the film, he was mainly responsible for the male protagonist Gary Lockwood, who played the astronaut Frank Poole, who was calculated by the supercomputer HAL to become a floating object in the vast expanse of space. The images he saw spinning in the air were all performed by Weston's stand-in.
During the shooting, Weston was hanging from a tightrope rope, across his body, hanging more than ten meters above the ground in mid-air to simulate the weightless state. Behind him, there is the "outer space" composed of multiple black velvet curtains. Today's special effects that can be easily completed by relying on computers can only be completed by humans fifty years ago.
Kubrick's various tyrannical behaviors on the set are not secrets inside and outside the circle, but what happened to Weston that year is still strange. According to him, for best results, Kubrick refused his request to pull an extra rope, and there were no cushions or safety nets on the ground. In addition, Weston has said that he hopes to drill several small air holes in the back of the astronaut helmet he wears to facilitate carbon dioxide emission. But this was also met with the director's relentless rejection— Kubrick feared that extra light would be absorbed into the frame.
On the back of the spacesuit, an airbag is installed that provides ten minutes of oxygen. In this regard, the author Benson wrote in the book: "Given the complexity of this set of shots, coupled with the preparation of sending him to mid-air, it takes a lot of time to go, and ten minutes is not enough." In addition, there is the problem that although the airbags provide oxygen for the spacesuit, the carbon dioxide that Weston exhales has nowhere to go. It only gradually accumulated, making Weston's heart beat faster and his breathing short. Eventually, he became sluggish, stiff, and even unconscious. ”
Decades later, Weston recalls the dangerous conditions of filming that scene, and he still can't help but be angry. At that time, gradually unconscious due to lack of oxygen and carbon dioxide poisoning, he used all his strength, stretched out his arms, and posed a big cross - it was a pre-agreed danger signal, and the ground staff knew that he was out of the situation when they saw him posing. Soon, Weston, who was hanging in mid-air, vaguely heard someone on the ground tell the director, "You have to stop, let him come down first." But he didn't expect that in the face of the request of his colleagues, Kubrick responded categorically: "Pull down, how long have we just started shooting." Don't let him down! Just let him stay on top! ”
After descending to the ground, Weston took a lot of effort to slowly recover. The first thing he wanted to do was to find Kubrick and have a good theory. It turned out that the other party had already slipped away, and, according to Weston, Kubrick did not come to the shooting scene for the next two or three days, "because he knew that I had been looking for him."
After a few days, Weston's mood finally eased. Kubrick gave him a raise and assigned him a rather luxurious lounge filled with beer. Weston told Benson: "Stanley had many virtues, including that he was always on his own and didn't compromise artistically. But in my opinion, if we talk about morality, he is a bit inferior. ”