MetaFilter posts tagged with jamescameron

The Weyland-Yutani Archives

Foci for Analysis — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 02:29:42 -0800

From The Weyland-Yutani Archives:

During Alien's pre-production, Ridley Scott drew up a story board presentation of Alien for 20th Century Fox. These storyboards are known as 'Ridleygrams'. This story board presentation contains scenes and FX shots that were later re-written or dropped due to budgetary reasons.

Take a look at the deleted, unfilmed and alternate Alien scenes from the production storyboards which are based on the June 1978 draft:

It was intended for Ridley to have the cast naked during the awakening sequence. Fox executives deemed this to pornographic and was rewritten. It is believed that some scenes were filmed with the actors fully nude which would have made the film banned in at least five countries, In the end the actors wore white shorts, and the women had surgical tape covering their nipples.

Alien 3: The Lesser Known Deleted Scenes

As prisoner Frank shines his light over the remains of Bishop and Hicks, he see's Newt dead inside a water-filled cryo-tube. A version of this scene appeared in the theatrical cut. However, an alternate shot was filmed and never featured in the assembly cut. The shot is also storyboarded.

Project Formerly Titled STARBEAST The Opening Sequence of Alien III: Just What the Hell Is Going On Here??? The Mythical Reebok Shoes Scene Alien Teaser Trailer Creator The Med-Lab Facehuggers Why was Ripley's nose bleeding? was it an accident after she grabbed Ash in the computer annex? The Dog Catcher Commandos of Alien 3 Hudson's Tool Kit

Battle Beyond the Stars: Seven Samurai... in spaaaaaaace!

filthy light thief — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 19:28:37 -0800

If you're sad that there's no Seven Samurai-inspired Star Wars movie in the foreseeable future, or if you want to view James Cameron's first feature film special effects, or early soundtrack work by James Horner, look no further than Battle Beyond the Stars (full film on YT; Wikipedia), Roger Corman's 1980 film that was inspired by Star Wars and Seven Samurai (by way of The Magnificent Seven). A month after the movie was released, People magazine published an article noted that the film was Corman's most expensive to date, and credited Corman with nurturing more 'A' talent than anyone else in Hollywood. Stomp Tokyo looked further into the cast and crew of BBTS, and summarized the movie, too. Beyond providing breaks for both Cameron and Horner in this film, Battle Beyond the Stars brought together Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd, who would go on to respectively write and produce Terminator and Aliens. The couple were married between movies, and though their marriage didn't last, they continued to work together on films. Corman was never one to waste resources, and reused some of the spacecraft in his 1983 film Space Raiders (YT playlist; Wikipedia) and a few other super-low budget films. But a more impressive "adaptive reuse credit" comes from some have said that Battle Beyond the Stars probably influenced the Star Control series of video games, noting the "themes and the matching of disparate races and ships are quite similar to those depicted in the film." Bonus timesink: Battle Beyond the Stars on TV Tropes

"It must be something we haven't seen yet..."

Artw — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 11:41:13 -0800

“When Jim first came to me with this idea of putting two guys inside a giant alien queen suit,” Winston admitted, “I thought, ‘This man is out of his mind.’ Nothing like that had been done before. But in the next moment, I realized that if he had imagined it, we could probably do it.” - How Stan Winston and Jim Cameron built the Alien Queen. Original creature creature H.R. Giger was disapointed not to be involved, leading to this letter from Cameron.

Zeppelin Vs Pterodactyl

Artw — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:21:37 -0800

100 Wonderful and Terrible Movies that never Existed

How “2001″ Became the Space Odyssey We Know

SpacemanStix — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 11:54:53 -0800

"James Cameron narrates this documentary on the classic film 2001. It includes archival footage of the late Arthur C. Clarke in the 1960s touring spacecraft manufacturing facilities, footage of designers putting together models, snippets of archival footage of Kubrick, interviews with various luminaries, and various other amazing stuff I’ve never seen. It also features interviews with Doug Trumbull and others who did special effects for the film. If you’re a 2001 fan, this is 43 minutes of candy. Skip to 7:00 to find out how they did the floating-pen trick — including an interview with the actress who played the “Space Hostess” who grabbed the pen seemingly from midair. Skip to around 11:00 to meet the guys who played the apes ... . Around 13:45, Clarke explains how the monolith originally was to have a movie screen on it ... ."

Yeah, I'm pro-cat-saving, too.

The Whelk — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 12:47:36 -0800

Alex Pappademas and Sean Witzke over at Grantland have a long, detailed, super geeky film-nerd discussion of the Alien franchise. "It's important to note here that this is a nuke-it-from-space kind of conversation in which just about every aspect of the original "Alien Quadrilogy" is spoiled, as are some fairly crucial plot points from Prometheus. The Alien vs. Predator movies are neither spoiled nor discussed, because that would mean acknowledging their existence. Some people will undoubtedly view this as curatorial negligence on our part, but we welcome their scorn. "

It's on the Internet; it must be true

Kirth Gerson — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 11:57:06 -0800

The Previous And Current Lives Of A World-Class Joke "At first, it was limited only to the Chinese-language Internet. More recently, it has appeared among foreign media. I just watched a clip of director James Cameron being interviewed on a talk show during which he said: "They were afraid that the Chinese men will reach out to touch the screen." When Cameron emphasized that "This is true," I knew that this is one of the most successful fake stories in recent years." Here is the Chinese blog post, including the Cameron video.

Titanic: The Original Twilight

reenum — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 10:17:48 -0800

The 3D re-release of James Cameron's Titanic prompted Lindy West of Jezebel and Will Leitch of Deadspin to re-assess the movie.

'I'm not in favour of potchkying with it, but if something's bothering you...'

rory — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 09:48:04 -0800

Is a ’director’s cut’ ever a good idea? The director's cut has been a feature of the home video landscape for years, getting a significant boost from multi-disk DVD and now Blu-Ray sets. There are some pretty bad ones around, but which are the best? Movie sites like Shortlist, IGN Movies, MoviesOnline.ca, FilmWad and Empire have all given us lists of the best (and worst), and online discussions have suggested others (Blade Runner tops most lists, but beyond that they diverge significantly). Where do you start when that two-hour epic isn't epic enough?

"By the way, it's not in the goddamed cat and it's not in Newt, either. I would never be that cruel."

Artw — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 20:55:02 -0800

James Cameron's responses to Aliens critics.

DeepSeaChallenge

memebake — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 14:24:29 -0800

Director James Cameron is currently 32,160 feet underwater and descending further, solo, to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The mission is called Deep Sea Challenge and the main web site is here: http://deepseachallenge.com/ However, twitter is where the news is coming from at the moment, from the @DeepChallenge account and also James' buddy @PaulGAllen (co-founder of Microsoft, hanging out near the descent point on his yacht). Cameron's craft has been constructed in secret for the last few years. The plan is for him to spend 6 hours at the bottom of the Mariana Trench filming and then return.

Not quite 20,000 leagues under the sea. Our apologies.

maudlin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 10:35:04 -0800

The BBC has produced a fabulous infographic showing the ocean zones: Sunlight, Twilight, Midnight, Lower Midnight, and The Trenches. The page also includes videos showing: what happens to material at 100, 1000, and 10,000 meters down; the animals living in the Abyssal Plains (described in a lovely Scottish accent); and the story of Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh going down to the Mariana Trench in 1960. No one has been back there since, but director James Cameron and Richard Branson are among the contenders who are going to make a go of it. (Rumour has it that Cameron intends to be the sole person in the sub, while Branson is just financing a team.) Meanwhile, the Doer team (backed by Eric Schmidt of Google), says it's all about the science and not just being first in this century's race. And there's even a yellow submarine for the rest of us, if by "rest of us" one means "has $250,000 to spare for a single trip". Don't forget to click the links at the top of the infographic page to see everything.

We're gonna need a bigger stage.

Neilopolis — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 21:06:41 -0800

"As part of the DGA's 75th Anniversary, DGA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and three-time DGA Award winner, Steven Spielberg, was celebrated on June 11, 2011..." "...Featuring a lively and engaging panel discussion with fellow visionary directors J.J. Abrams (Super 8) and James Cameron (Avatar), and moderated by 75th Anniversary Committee Chair Michael Apted, this "Game-Changer" event drew a maximum capacity crowd at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles and provided a deeply intimate, highly engaging reflection on one of the most influential and beloved filmmakers of all time." To watch the entire event, click on the top left video in the first link.

He can't be bargained with. He can't be reasoned with. He doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear.

Artw — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 14:56:55 -0800

Why the Entire World Doesn't Steal from Harlan Ellison

3D conversion, artistic integrity and Michael Bay

Artw — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 21:58:13 -0800

Will post-conversion done badly kill 3D movies? Jeffrey Katzenberg of DreamWorks thinks it might. Or as Michael Bay puts it "You can’t just shit out a 3D movie".

Fish Heads was only half the story

geckoinpdx — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:23:08 -0800

Although best known as an actor, Bill Paxton's extracurricular dabbling has been previously discussed on the blue, however... ...what you may not know is that during the mid-1980s, he was a member of a band called Martini Ranch. Members of DEVO, Cindy Wilson (of the B-52's), Bud Cort and Judge Reinhold also collaborated on their only album. They made two videos, the first of which had cameo appearances by Anthony Michael Hall and Michael Biehn, and the second was directed by longtime collaborator James Cameron (you may have heard of him). It remains the only video Cameron has ever directed.

Avatar is actually pretty good

philip-random — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:51:58 -0800

The most expensive movie ever made, is getting its first reviews ... and so far the thumbs are mostly up. Roger Ebert: "There is still at least one man in Hollywood who knows how to spend $250 million, or was it $300 million, wisely.". Previously.

“Watching him light is like watching two monkeys fuck a football.”

fearfulsymmetry — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:01:21 -0800

“I try to do my testosterone movie and it’s a chick flick. That’s how it is for me.” The New Yorker profiles James Cameron

AVATAR we have a problem

philip-random — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:53:28 -0800

Meanwhile in Hollywoodland, the trailer for James Cameron's much anticipated AVATAR debuted online yesterday and ... ooops! The 7 Eeriest Parallels Between Avatar and Delgo. 10 movies AVATAR unfortunately resembles ... James Cameron’s Avatar is supposed to be like nothing we’ve ever seen before. So why does it look so familiar? One of the most disappointing things about the film’s promotion so far is how derivative the film looks in the trailer that debuted online today. And much of what we’re reminded of wasn’t even that great to begin with. Previously on MeFi.

Proto-Aliens

Bobby Bittman — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:12:49 -0800

A warm up for Avatar: James Cameron's student film, Xenogenesis. Part one. Part two.

Watch the Skies! Science Fiction, the 1950s and Us

vronsky — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 18:05:25 -0800

Watch The Skies! Directors Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Ridley Scott and James Cameron discuss the science fiction movies of the 1950s that influenced them. 1::2::3::4::5::6:: 1 hour.

I'll be back... again and again

Drainage! — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:56:07 -0800

Wired.com is really pimping the Terminator franchise right now. With the success of the television series and the upcoming fourth installment hitting the big screens at the end of May, is the continuing appeal simply science fiction geekdom or is the concept really a deep philosophical metaphor? Also featured is creator James Cameron himself on the franchise's origins and a timeline of its existence up to this point. If this seems frivolous for a simple shoot-em-up piece of science fiction, consider the original movie is going into the National Archive as an example of progress in science fiction and also as a historical film, what with its star being the current governor of California.

revisionist history?

exlotuseater — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 15:37:35 -0800

"In a new documentary, Producer Cameron and his director, Simcha Jacobovici, make the starting claim that Jesus wasn't resurrected --the cornerstone of Christian faith-- and that his burial cave was discovered near Jerusalem. And, get this, Jesus sired a son with Mary Magdelene."

Dark Angel is a rip-off of Heinlein's Friday,

skallas — Thu, 19 Oct 2000 17:04:50 -0800

Dark Angel is a rip-off of Heinlein's Friday, which I completely agree with. Cameron has been successfully sued by Harlon Ellison before for blatantly ripping off his ideas. Then again the sci-fi word is a static world of either super-humans/machines/aliens/time-trave/alternate dimensions.