The 40th Anniversary of 2001: A Space Odyssey
http://www.oscars.org/events-exhibitions/events/2008/2001.html
Written by Dennis Gonzales.
Photography by Richard Harbaugh / © A.M.P.A.S.
Additonal images provided by Active Observer, 2008. Permission to use for this article.

2001 in 2008: A Cinematic Odyssey, Part Four (Continued)

Another amazing image was that of the original aliens from the film. The novel had aliens pulling the strings to the monoliths, which are tools to observe mankind, but you can hear their laughter near the end of the movie in the hotel room. Daniel Richter had been painted in a polka-dot pattern from head to toe for test shots before Kubrick decided that it was better to never show the aliens (seee left image). (I asked Richter after the program how that felt and he said they actually painted dots in his eyelids!)


After the presentation, I joined the Friedbergs in the theatre lobby to see the displays and meet special guests of the event. One of the displays featured a modified Mitchell Camera that utilized anamorphic lenses to obtain the 2.75:1 aspect ratio of Ultra-Panavision 70, representative of the camera used during the production of 2001. Another display featured the point-of-view of HAL 9000, which was created with a Cinerama 160 degree Fairchild-Curtis wide-angle camera lens.


Mitchell Camera that utilized anamorphic taking lenses to obtain the 2.75:1 aspect ration of Ultra-Panavision 70, representative of the camera used during the production of the film.


Cinerama 160 degree Fairchild-Curtis wide-angle camera lens.

After a while, it seemed that all one-thousand people from the theater were in the lobby and trying to see the displays at the same time so we decided to leave. The next day, Friedberg and I went out for an early morning breakfast and then he dropped me off at the Bob Hope Airport for my flight back to San Jose. Lionel and Diane Friedberg's hospitality made my mini-2001-vacation a wonderful experience. It was great meeting people from the Web who are in support of the same cause to keep Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece alive.

	Special effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull.		Academy Governor Tom Hanks.		Stanley Kubrick's daughter, Anya Kubrick, right, and guest Pat McGann, at the reception preceding "2001 in 2008: A Cinematic Odyssey."		Pictured here: special effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull, left, who worked on the film as special photographic effects supervisor, greets actress Maggie D'Abo, who played the first elevator operator in the film. Note: long time 2001:exhibit supporter, Michelle Evans from Mach 25 Media.
	Pictured here at the reception: Richard Woods, left, who played the "One-Ear" ape in the film, and Daniel Richter, who choreographed the ape sequence and played the "Moonwatcher."		Pictured here at the reception, left to right: Giles Masters, son of production designer Anthony Masters; David Larson, "2001" historian; and Daniel Richter, who choreographed and played the "Moonwatcher" ape in the film.		Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 11, Buzz Aldrin, left, and Academy Governor Sid Ganis at the reception preceding "2001 in 2008: A Cinematic Odyssey." Note: you can see me behind Ganis.		Pictured here at the reception, left to right: special effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull, who worked on 2001 as special photographic effects supervisor; Academy Governor Sid Ganis; Lois Aldrin; and Buzz Aldrin, astronaut and pilot of Lunar Module for Apollo 11.

Around this time, I started working with Mark Charron, head of the Jules Verne Adventures Extraordinaire tribute to the 40th Anniversary of 2001: A Space Odyssey planned at The Edison nightclub in LA.
That was my next adventure.

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