INSPIRATION: INTERIORS
How could you not be inspired in this space…what a dream it would be to work here…
Showing posts with label space. Show all posts
Showing posts with label space. Show all posts
Saturday, 27 July 2019
Tuesday, 11 June 2019
INSPIRATION: AMAZING SPACES
Look at this amazing space! It’s the world’s Largest Monastery Library in Admont Abbey a Benedictine monastery in Austria. Reminds me of a library of my dreams or something out of Beauty and the Beast.
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Saturday, 18 May 2019
Sunday, 5 May 2019
Saturday, 16 February 2019
FILM 1941: MARS ATTACKS!
FILM 1941: MARS ATTACKS!
TRIVIA: The writers weren't sure what the Martians should sound like, so the script read "ack, ack, ack, ack" for all of their lines of dialogue. This became the actual words spoken by the Martians in the film.
The Martian Girl costume had no zipper or buttons (to make it as smooth as possible), so Lisa Marie had to be sewn into it every day.
Although supposedly taking place in the 1990s, the U.S. Army's uniforms, tanks, Jeeps, artillery, et cetera, all date from the 1950s, when the movies being spoofed were made.
When people had their flesh vaporized from their bones, the remaining skeletons were either red or green. Tim Burton explained this had been done because the movie had been scheduled for a Christmas release. Also, the red and green skeletons were first seen in Beetlejuice (1988). When Barbara and Adam were in Juno's office, you can see them with other ghouls looking at the screen.
Tim Burton pitched the idea of the film to Warner Brothers by showing them the Topps trading cards that inspired the screenplay.
The little dog owned by television hostess Nathalie Lake (Sarah Jessica Parker), is actually owned by Lisa Marie (Martian Girl).
Tim Burton had wanted the Martians brought to life via stop-motion animation, but finally went with CGI. The animators told Burton they could animate the Martians without motion blur to make them look more "stop-motiony," but Burton decided against that.
The Martians land in Pahrump, Nevada, home of radio talk-show host Art Bell. Bell is well known for featuring guests who are involved, in one way or another, with the subject of outer-space life forms. This ranges from scientists investigating the possibility of extraterrestrial life, to people who claim to have been contacted, kidnapped, examined, or impregnated (sometimes all at the same time) by space aliens.
Martin Amis worked on the script for this movie. He said, "I rather liked the film, though it contained not a word I wrote."
DIRECTOR TRADEMARK (Tim Burton): (cast): Features many actors and actresses who appeared in previous Burton films: Sylvia Sidney from Beetlejuice (1988), Jack Nicholsonfrom Batman (1989), O-Lan Jones from Edward Scissorhands (1990), Danny DeVito from Batman Returns (1992), Sarah Jessica Parker, and Lisa Marie Smith from Ed Wood(1994).
DIRECTOR TRADEMARK (Tim Burton): (music): Music by Danny Elfman.
Sunday, 6 January 2019
FILM 1919: FIRST MAN
FILM 1919: FIRST MAN
TRIVIA: Neil Armstrong's sons Mark and Eric say First Man is the most accurate portrayals of their father and mother Janet.
Some of the voices heard in the film are actual recordings from the space program. For example, when Apollo 11 lands on the moon, the reply from Houston is the original. It's the voice of astronaut Charles Duke, who had the job of communicating with Apollo 11 during the landing. Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) says "Houston, Tranquility Base here, the Eagle Has Landed", then Charlie Duke says "Roger, Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. You've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot."
Actor Ryan Gosling first discovered Armstrong's love of the theremin during his background research with Armstrong's family and friends. He brought it to Damien Chazelle and Justin Hurwitz's attention, who later chose to include the strange instrument in the score.
Ryan Gosling suffered an injury while filming one of the many shuttle sequences. His partner Eva Mendes told him to go to the hospital after noticing the bizarre behavior of his passionately ranting to her about national doughnut thieves. It was later discovered he had suffered a concussion and Mendes had unknowingly saved his life.
Damien Chazelle was particularly attached to making his film as authentic as possible. This care for detail was maintained, until it came to the reproduction of the space capsules. He and chief designer Nathan Crowley agreed that no ship would be enlarged by more than 10%, even if it sacrificed the comfort of the actors. This also caused complications for framing. The solution was to create a decor that fit in several detachable parts. In fact, the technicians had to break the seats in two to be able to integrate the cameras with the capsule.
Armstrong's famous quote as he stepped on the moon is the subject of historical controversy. The movie quotes accurately what was heard on Earth and in all recordings: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Armstrong later revealed that he intended to say "... one small step for [A] man ..." and that he thought he did, but all efforts to extract this from the recording, even with electronics, have been inconclusive.
Pablo Schreiber plays Jim Lovell, another pilot of the Gemini program and Apollo programs, a character that audiences have already met in Apollo 13 (1995) as played by Tom Hanks.
American flag controversy: On August 31, 2018, it was reported that the film would not include a scene of Armstrong and Aldrin planting the American flag on the Moon. Florida Senator Marco Rubio described the omission as "total lunacy". Chazelle responded with a statement, saying: "I show the American flag standing on the lunar surface, but the flag being physically planted into the surface is one of several moments (...) that I chose not to focus upon. To address the question of whether this was a political statement, the answer is no. My goal with this movie was to share with audiences the unseen, unknown aspects of America's mission to the Moon." Following the film's below-expectations opening of $16 million, some analysts speculated that the flag controversy was in part to blame.
Jon Bernthal was cast but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. He was replaced by Christopher Abbott.
Sunday, 16 December 2018
FILM 1896: AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
FILM 1896: AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
TRIVIA: Tom Holland was not allowed to read the script for this movie, since he revealed too many secrets for Spider-Man Homecoming (2017). In one of the promotional videos for the movie, several of its cast members are in an interrogation room refusing to reveal any spoilers, and Holland's mouth is conspicuously taped shut.
Mark Ruffalo revealed that he was given a fake script due to his habit of accidentally spoiling past Marvel movies. He jokingly claimed in an interview that the fake script was better than the real one.
Thor confirms that "Groot" is a language that can be learned and spoken, as he took it as an elective in school on Asgard. This explains why only Rocket was originally able to understand Groot, and the other Guardians had to learn over time. This also confirms that Groot understands English (and likely other languages) but is only able to speak "Groot".
This became the fourth movie to gross over two billion dollars worldwide, after Avatar(2009), Titanic (1997), and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).
Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) telling Peter Parker (Tom Holland) to cut it out with the pop culture references is quite hypocritical, as Stark often pokes fun at other characters by calling them by movie titles or character names. In Avengers Assemble (2012), Stark called Loki Reindeer Games (2000), Rock of Ages (2012), and Shakespeare in the Park(1995), he called Thor Point Break (1991), and he called Hawkeye "Legolas". In Captain America: Civil War (2016), he called Bucky The Manchurian Candidate (2004). In Spider-Man Homecoming (2017), he called Peter Parker "Crockett", as a reference to Miami Vice(1984). In this movie, he scorned Ebony Maw by calling him "Squidward", and he called Star Lord Flash Gordon (1980).
The French dub has Tony use "Voldemort" as an insult to Ebony Maw in place of "Squidward". This is likely because Squidward's French name, "Carlo", was too ordinary for audiences to get the joke, and for the joke to work. The same applies to Squidward's German name, "Thaddäus".
Rocket carrying around a stolen eye is a callback to a running gag in both Guardians of the Galaxy movies, as he has always been obsessed with prosthetic body parts.
At one point in the movie, Thanos (Josh Brolin) asks The Collector (Benicio del Toro), "Where is the stone?" The same line was said by Benicio del Toro in the opening scene of Snatch (2000).
On April 26, 2018, the day before it got a wide release, it received enough votes to take the number two spot on IMDb's Top 250 with a 9.2 out of 10, a record for a Marvel movie.
The cast features three Academy Award winners, Gwyneth Paltrow, Benicio Del Toro, and William Hurt, and seven nominees, Robert Downey, Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Don Cheadle, Benedict Cumberbatch, Bradley Cooper, Josh Brolin, and Samuel L. Jackson.
There is a deleted scene with an appearance by Happy Hogan in the park.
When Thor tells the Guardians of the Galaxy about The Avengers, Mantis mentions the actor Kevin Bacon, Peter Quill's hero, and Thor says "He might have joined". Kevin Bacon played the Marvel supervillain Sebastian Shaw, antagonist of the X-Men, in X-Men: First Class (2011).
CAMEO: Stan Lee: The comic book writer who co-created most of the characters featured in this movie is featured here as Peter Parker's school bus driver. In addition, this movie also contains remnants from Stan's past cameos: Tony Stark uses the flip phone that Stan delivered to him in Captain America: Civil War (2016), and Thor still sports the haircut that Stan gave him in Thor: Ragnarok (2017).
Wednesday, 28 November 2018
FILM 1880: APOLLO 13
FILM 1880: APOLLO 13
TRIVIA: In a commentary track, Marilyn Lovell comments that Tom Hanks exactly portrays Jim Lovell's mannerisms and style of movement.
The famous understatement was actually made twice by two astronauts. Jack Swigertsaid, "OK Houston, we've had a problem here." Mission Control said, "This is Houston. Say again, please." Then Jim Lovell said, "Ahh, Houston, we've had a problem." On the recording, Swigert is garbled at the beginning, while Lovell is clear, so the recording of Lovell is often heard, leading to the impression he said it, even though Swigert said it first. It's commonly misquoted as, "Houston, we've got a problem," or "Houston, we have a problem." Because "we've had" implies the problem has passed, Ron Howard chose to use "we have".
Jim Lovell wore his old Navy Captain's uniform in the scene where he greets the astronauts aboard the U.S.S. Iwo Jima. When Ron Howard asked Lovell if he'd like to be in the film as the ship's Admiral, Lovell agreed, but pointed out, "I retired as a Captain; a Captain I will be."
In some scenes where the Earth can be seen from the windows of Apollo 13, it is one of the photos taken by Jim Lovell and Bill Anders on the Apollo 8 mission.
Marilyn Lovell really did lose her ring down the drain, but eventually found it again.
Ron Howard's favorite of his own films.
John Cusack and Charlie Sheen were originally offered the role of Fred Haise (played by Bill Paxton), but turned it down.
The Mission Control set was nearly a carbon copy of the original one in Houston. The production crew originally wanted to film in the original Mission Control room in Houston, which is now a historic landmark. However, the original room was found to be too small to be used for a film production. The production crew took precise measurements of every part of the room and replicated it on a Hollywood set. One of the real Apollo 13 flight controllers, Jerry Bostick, left the Mission Control set one day looking for the elevator, convinced that it was the real thing (the original Mission Control is on the third floor of the building).
Many of the actors in Mission Control were being fed lines directly from technical advisers on set.
CAMEO:Jean Speegle Howard: Ron Howard's mother plays Blanche Lovell.
Sunday, 25 November 2018
FILM 1879: JUPITER ASCENDING
FILM 1879: JUPITER ASCENDING
TRIVIA: The crew created a rig of six cameras, called the Panocam, which was mounted on a helicopter and covered nearly 180 degrees of the action. During post production, the directors could combine the overlapped filmed footage, essentially creating a camera that could swing around the action independently of the helicopter's actual flying path.
The chase sequence in Chicago was codenamed "Fifty-Two Part" by the film's crew. It was the longest sequence in the script and involving some of the film's most difficult stunts. To complete it, Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum had to film every day for six months.
When arriving at the planet Ores, the Station V from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) can be seen in the distance amongst the space ships.
The beautiful interior of the Natural History Museum designed by Alfred Waterhouse in London was used in the filming of "intergalactic space palace" scenes, housing film and stunt crew numbering over 400 and 150 cast and extras
Natalie Portman was originally cast as Jupiter Jones, but dropped out. Rooney Mara was considered to replace her, before Mila Kunis was finally cast.
Sunday, 18 November 2018
FILM 1875: ALIENS
FILM 1875: ALIENS
TRIVIA: Like most films, the movie wasn't shot in sequence. But for added realism, James Cameron filmed the scene where we first meet the Colonial Marines (one of the earliest scenes) last. This was so that the camaraderie of the Marines was realistic because the actors had spent months filming together.
When filming the scene with Newt in the duct, Carrie Henn kept deliberately blowing her scene so she could slide down the vent, which she later called a slide three stories tall. James Cameron finally dissuaded her by saying that if she completed the shot, she could play on it as much as she wanted. She did, and he kept his promise.
In both the standard and special edition versions, the fifteen minute countdown at the end of the film is indeed fifteen minutes.
Sigourney Weaver's Best Actress Academy Award nomination for this movie was the first ever for an actress in a role in an action movie.
None of the models or the original designs of the Narcissus (the Nostromo's shuttle) from Alien (1979) could be found, so set designers and model-makers had to reconstruct the model of the ship and the interior set from watching Alien (1979).
Budget constraints meant that they could only afford to have six hypersleep capsules for the scenes set aboard the Sulaco. Clever placement of mirrors and camera angles made it look like there were 12. Each hypersleep chamber cost over $4,300 to build.
Ripley's miniature bathroom in her apartment is actually a British Airways toilet, purchased from the airline.
The film takes place in 2179.
Having hired James Cameron to write the screenplay, 20th Century Fox then did the unthinkable when he left the production to direct The Terminator (1984): they agreed to wait for Cameron to become available again and finish the screenplay. Cameron had only completed about 90 pages at that stage, but the studio had loved what he had written so far.
Hicks was originally played by James Remar, but Michael Biehn replaced him a few days after principal photography began. The often given reason for Remar being removed was due to "artistic differences" between Remar and director James Cameron. But in episode #128 of the 'Sidebar' podcast, Remar states that he was fired from the production because he was busted for possession of drugs. He said this was in a period of his life where he said he had developed a terrible drug problem. Remar still appears in the finished film - he is seen for one shot when the marines enter the alien nest. Because he is seen from behind wearing the same armor as Michael Biehn, it's impossible to tell the difference between the two actors.
The various screens and displays, seen mostly in the backgrounds, are actually TV screens with a video running. The film was shot in the UK where televisions run at 25 frames per second, however, film is normally shot and projected at 24 frames per second! Filming the TV monitors at that speed would cause the TV screens to run out of sync with the film, so they would have flickered terribly. Instead, the shots containing the monitors were taken at 25 frames per second to keep the monitors in sync, so when these are then projected at the standard rate of 24 fps, they now run a bit slower than real-life.
The button on the control panel Ripley presses to shut the air lock doors on the ship at the end of the film is actually a "Hold" Button from a UK style "Fruit Machine" or "Bandit"!
The video screen park background at Gateway Station hospital is actually a still photograph of the gardens at Pinewood Studios, where the movie was made.
Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.
Thursday, 23 August 2018
Wednesday, 15 August 2018
Sunday, 6 May 2018
FILM 1775: THE WRAITH
FILM 1775: THE WRAITH
TRIVIA: The black car featured in the movie was a real-life technological wonder, the Dodge M4S. A joint effort of the Dodge Division of Chrysler Motors and PPG Industries, one of the highly sophisticated PPG Pace Cars for the PPG-CART Indy Car World Series. The M4S was designed and constructed at an estimated cost of $1.1 million, and featured performance and technology to match that lofty figure. The innovative body design was developed in the Chrysler studios, while PPG developed the finish - a special bronze pearl paint job formulated just for this car. The M4S was powered by a Chrysler 2.4-liter four-cylinder one-of-a-kind engine that exceeded 194 mph. According to Gary Hellerstein, transportation coordinator for this film, a total of seven versions of the M4S were needed for filming. The original, on loan from Dodge, was used for close-ups and details. Two more "drivers", consisting of perfectly detailed bodies on dune buggy chassis, were used for stunt driving chores. There were four "shells", empty bodies on bare, towable frames, that were sacrificed in various crash scenes.
While filming a chase sequence shot on a mountainside outside of Tuscon, a crew member was killed and another was critically injured. According to supplementary material on the DVD a camera car was overloaded and overturned. This was the only serious accident during the filming.
Dedicated to the memory of Bruce Ingram, who worked on the film as an assistant cameraman. He was the single person killed when the camera car overturned.
Johnny Depp, who was then dating Sherilyn Fenn, was present during filming and was living in the film crew's hotel with Fenn.
No explanation is given for the unusual metal bar body attachments that disappear after a kill, though some fans believe these are similar to support braces given people who've gone through severe physical trauma.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 star Felicia Day has stated this is her favorite bad movie of all time, and would love to feature it on Mystery Science Theater 3000 someday.
When police are chasing Packard Walsh and The Wraith at the end of the movie, at background can be seen a rainbow. It was purely incidental.
Saturday, 24 February 2018
Wednesday, 7 February 2018
FILM 1747: THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX
FILM 1747: THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX
TRIVIA: The first trailer was
released during Super Bowl LII (2018) the same night the actual film was
released on Netflix.
A small figurine with the word
Slusho can be seen in the first half of the movie. Slusho is a brand subtly
featured in both of the earlier Cloverfield movies, as well as J.J. Abrams'
earlier TV series Alias (2001). The viral online campaign for the first Cloverfield
(2008), indicated that Slusho is a subsidiary of Tagruato Inc., the company
behind the deep ocean drilling (and potential explosion) that woke up the
monster in that movie.
John Krasinski was
in talks to join the cast, but dropped out to lead Jack Ryan (2018).
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