Virginia Film Festival - Day Three

As cool as the first two days of the festival were, they would pale in comparison to the third. It started off with the second sesssion of Ebert's shot by shot analysis of The Birds but as I said in yesterday's write up, I'll spare you the details. Just because it was interesting to sit through doesn't mean it makes for good reading. Actually I can pretty much guarantee that.

The first movie of the day was The Lost World. I don't mean the sequel to Jurassic Park either, although the subject matter is the same. No, this is the 1925 silent film based on the novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The film festival played host to this restored print's first screening outside of the studio following it's completion on the previous Monday. David Shepard, who had also overseen the restoration of Nosferatu, was on hand to discuss the movie after it was shown.

The movie was pulled from release back in 1929 after a very successful run. The era of silent movies was ending and there were plans to remake the movie with sound. That remake would eventually become the original King Kong. In the 1940s the original negatives were destroyed. To restore the film would require the collection of eight different surviving prints of the movie. Kodak had a 55 minute version, Eastman Learning had a 10 minute version, Willis O'Brien had a short reel used for showing off his special effects and most importantly there was a very well preserved Czech copy clocking in at 60 minutes hiding in Prague. Each of these prints, plus four other, had differing footage used. All of them would be used to compile a complete print.

First all the footage was transferred to digital video. This allowed a process to clean up the dirt and scratches built up on the images. Then the film had to be edited back together. This was a little difficult as no one involved in making of the film was still alive. Plus, nobody has seen a full print in over fifty years.

When originally filmed, the special effects unit in Chicago and the live action unit in Burbank worked completely independently of one another. There were two cameras used for the special effects and another seven for the live action shots. Making the editing harder was the fact that the shooting script had been written to include extra scenes in the event the special effects didn't work as planned. There was no way to know which scenes belonged and which didn't. Finally a document was discovered that detailed the musical score as it connected to the movie. This allowed them to set the timing of the film and how the scenes patched together. When edited back together by the restoration crew, the film runs a total of 93 minutes. This doesn't include some outtakes they discovered. There were shots of dinosaurs toppling over and giant hands appearing onscreen.

Even still there are some holes in the film's continuity. For instance there is a man seen as part of the expedition who suddenly acquires a splint on his arm. The breaking of his arm is never shown or explained. New titles had to be created as the originals were missing. Overall the project required a lot of guesswork to reassemble the movie.

It would appear that the effort was well worth it. By today's standards the special effects might seem a bit cheesy but when you stop and consider that the movie is over seventy years old, suddenly they seem amazing. The movement of the dinosaurs is surprisingly fluid and lifelike. Shepard said that they were focused on editing the movie together so that it smoothly told an entertaining story. With only a couple glitches, which I doubt they could control, they succeeded admirably. The story and acting move along well all they don't hold a candle to those dinosaurs. Do you remember watching Jurassic Park for the first time and being amazed at how real the dinosaurs looked? This movie had the same impact in its time.

Joining Shepard for the post-film discussion was none other than special effects wizard Stan Winston. When the movie finished Winston said simply, "That's why I'm doing what I'm doing." As a kid, Winston saw King Kong which so it impressed him he went to see The Lost World which featured the same special effects man, Willis O'Brien. He said that the movie was also a huge inspiration for Ray Harryhausen who would go on to make classic movies like Jason and the Argonauts. He found that the image of the brontosaurus struggling in the mud would stay with him over the years.

Winston talked a bit about his own career and theories on movies. He actually started out to be an actor after graduating the University of Virginia. The fact that he moved into special effects should tell you a little bit about how good an actor he was. Interestingly, he really believes in story telling as far more important that the spectactular effects he strives to create. For instance he says that a movie like The Terminator wasn't great because of the terminator character that he created but because the story worked well.

He pointed out that many critics attacked Jurassic Park, saying that it had weak characters. Winston disagrees, pointing out that the movie was really about dinosaurs and that the human characters existed to lead us to the dinosaurs. As impressive as the dinosaurs were, they were only in the movie for about fifteen minutes. That means the bulk of the time was spent on people, so if the story worked they must have been pulling there weight. The type of movie dictates how things should happen. A horror movie has to scare you or it fails. A comedy has to make you laugh or it fails. Pointing out the importance of human characters he says, "No creature I ever made could come close to the performance given by Anthony Hopkins."

That makes a beautiful segue because next on the schedule was Silence of the Lambs, to be introduced by none other Anthony Hopkins. He was introduced to a standing ovation from the crowd. He didn't have a lot to say other than he was enjoying his time in Virginia (he just finished shooting Hannibal in Richmond and is currently shooting Hearts of Atlantis in Staunton) and he hoped we enjoyed the movie. With that the film started up. Now Silence has always been one of my favorites but this was the first time I had seen it on the big screen. Yes I know, the shame is immense, I didn't bother to see it until it hit video. The movie is as creepy as ever but it gets just a bit creepier when you're watching Hannibal Lecter do awful things to those two guards and your brain suddenly points out that this guy is here in the building with you. Instant goosebumps.

Up next was the presentation of the Virginia Film Award to Hopkins. The award was first presented at last year's festival to Stan Winston. He was back this year to help in the presentation. He said it was a great honor for him to be able to help present the award to Hopkins. They then showed a clip from the movie Instinct in which Hopkins plays a disturbed primatologist who spent time living with gorillas in the wild. The scene showed Hopkins interacting with an adult gorilla and a baby. When it was over Winston pointed out that there were no real gorillas in that footage. I wanted to call him a liar right there (he would have heard me too, I was in the front row right by the podium). The gorillas looked totally lifelike. Winston said that working with such an accomplished actor as Hopkins pushed him to do his best work ever. Following Winston was Gail Hale from the Virgina Film Office who introduced Hopkins and presented him with the award.

Following the presentation, Hopkins sat down onstage with Roger Ebert for an interview. Perhaps the best moment of that was when Ebert said that Titus (which was shown next) was one of his top ten movies of the year and he couldn't believe that audiences flocked to see "that awful movie Gladiator instead." The audience grumbled and Hopkins smiled and quietly said, "I enjoyed Gladiator." The audience roared with laughter.

Hopkins said that the role of Titus Andronicus was a great role but it was a difficult film to make. "It was a little bit of chaos." Still he said that director Julie Taymor had "a touch of genius and a great vision." He was suitably impressed with her work that he has since spoken with her about their working together again next year to make a movie of Shakespeare's The Tempest. She agreed.

Eventually the discussion was opened up for questions from the audience. Right off the bat he was asked to compare Silence of the Lambs with its sequel Hannibal. He says that Silence was a very contained film that gives it a very frightening tone. Hannibal, on the other hand, is a much bigger movie. It visits more areas of the world and has a real contrast between the ancient culture of Italy and the modern American style. He calls it "a big sprawling film." As far as the directors he says that Ridley Scott is very contained and quiet while Demme was more energetic. Finally, dropping into the Lecter role for a moment, he says, "I do some terrible things to people."

He was later asked how he prepares for roles. "I don't have any theories about acting. I don't have any theories on interpretation," he responded. What he does is learn the script. He feels that learning the script fanatically at the beginning allows him to simply be the part rather than act it. He believes in letting the audience do the work. For instance, in Silence Hannibal has been built up in the eyes of the audience before they ever see him. They hear all the rules in dealing with him and hear of his horrible acts. Before they ever see him they are scared of him. So when they finally see him, "he's an ordinary man ... who says 'Good morning.'" He doesn't try and frighten the audience which might lead to a hammy performance. Instead he concentrates on merely existing in the role and letting the viewer do the work. It sounds simple when he describes it but if it were, there would be more actors in his class and there certainly aren't.

Hopkins said, "I was socially inept as a child. I went into myself and became a very good mimic. It became part of my repertoire. My armor." He uses that mimicing ability extensively as an actor, calling himself a very physical actor. When portraying a real person like Nixon, he tries to watch a lot of film of them to "absorb them." For that role he worked on the voice and then the mannerisms but couldn't pull it all together until he got into costume. Dressed up as Richard Nixon he suddenly had it. Walking into a photo shoot before filming he hit the cast with the finished product and they knew he had it.

- John Shea