2001: A Space Odyssey prelude

Well, that was an exhausting but throughly enjoyable weekend. To begin Inception was amazing, the various Douglas Trumbull events were fascinating and Toy Story 3D of course was a characteristically entertaining addition to the Pixar roster, it was certainly the best of the three and I should get a review up over the next few days. The screenings around Douglas Trumbull’s visit are a little less urgent and as you might imagine I have some grandiose plans for my 2001: A Space Odyssey review, a film I’ve been waiting to cover for almost four years.  There is some news that came out of the subsequent Q&A of last nights screening that can’t wait however, not wishing to sound too dramatic but we are talking about something of an exclusive that should have my fellow Kubrickophiles trembling with excitement….or horror.

Bear with me. Trumbull advised that for almost two years he and the film writer David Heyland have been putting together the ultimate documentary on the making of 2001, they had 45 people lined up to be interviewed, they’d acquired a wealth of background material from the estate and even had unpublished photographs to use as green screen backdrops that they could interact with for certain explanatory sequences, for some reverent SFX homages. Warner Brothers, who acquired the MGM catalogue when they bought them some years ago loved the sound of the project, hardly suprising since they have had a unique relationship to develop, finance and distribute every one of Kubrick’s films since A Clockwork Orange in 1971. Schedules were drawn up, budgets agreed, then the lawyers got involved…..and the project was cancelled. Stone dead.

The following revelation was only expressed by Trumbull in response to another direct question and he stresses that this rumour is unconfirmed, but he is certain of its validity and it is the only feasible explanation as to why the documentary that Warners were so enthusiastic about was terminated so abruptly. A questioner asked whatever happened to the additional 17 minutes of footage that was present during the premiere of the film back in 1968? Well, (gasp) it’s been found, in a salt mine in Kansas – no really – after a recent  impromptu audit of Warner assets was conducted, this material having remained hidden as the details on the spreadsheet were obscured on the right hand side of the screen when the exchange was made, no-one thinking to scroll across as see what else was archived. I’ll just let that sink in for a minute – 17 minutes of footage thought long-lost, from one of the greatest films of all time.

Of course we assume that Warners have some big plans for this, a restoration which will no doubt be marketed as a directors cut, there is apparently even some talk of going, yes, you guessed it – (dramatic drum roll pause) – of going for a full 3D conversion of the film. When Trumbull heard about the footage he immediately asked to see it, with his documentary-maker hat on it would of course be invaluable to use for his project, not to mention the fact that he was instrumental in its production. Ever since that request was made the dialogue has been guillotined and the documentary has died with no explanation, no reasoning, no comment.

I’m flabbergasted, I’d rather they didn’t bother if they are as it was removed for a reason and it is quite frankly pissing on the corpse of a dead artist, they can of course release the footage as extras – that would be fascinating – but a full restoration is pointless. Most of the footage by all accounts is mostly incidental material anyway of course – more ape footage, longer blue Danube ballet footage and more of the EVA activities just before the intermission, I won’t even honour the 3D claims with a response, I like 3D and everything when used properly – again wait for my Toy Story 3D review – but this scheme, if true, is fucking sacrilegious. Watch this space….