The man who took us to other worlds
Paul Franklin, Christopher Nolan’s frequent VFX collaborator, remembers the late DOUGLAS TRUMBULL
I WAS ABOUT nine, on holiday with my family somewhere in the US, when I stumbled across a mysterious sci-fi film, dubbed into Spanish for some reason, on the motel TV. I couldn’t understand the dialogue, but that didn’t matter — I was entranced by the images of a giant spaceship, containing the last dying forest, tended by a lone astronaut and his two-legged robot helpers. The film was beautiful, melancholy, and utterly compelling.
A couple of years later I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time — these were the days before home video, so we watched a battered 16mm print shown in the sports hall of a local school. Despite the terrible projection, and not really understanding much of the story,
I was dazzled — giant spaceships (again), alien worlds, a tunnel of shimmering light. In the credits I spotted a name I’d seen before, perhaps in a magazine like Starlog, or Fangoria: Douglas Trumbull. I discovered that not only was he the creator of 2001’s astonishing Star Gate (and much else in the film), but also the director of that strange movie I’d seen in the motel, Silent Running. I started looking for more of his work.
I didn’t have to wait long — Close Encounters Of The Third Kind was unleashed on the world in 1977, and while I wasn’t sure about a sci-fi film from the guy who’d made the shark movie, having Doug Trumbull in charge of the effects made it a must-see. The film was extraordinary, magical, bringing the majesty of those earlier films into a ‘real-world’ setting — it looked like the UFOS were really there, right in front of the cameras.
When we were making Interstellar, Doug’s work was a touchstone for us. Chris Nolan even asked me to give the black hole a little flicker, to give it the “Doug Trumbull 2001 optical look”. Doug was a rare combination of master technician and visionary filmmaker, making visual effects an essential part of cinema. Last year, I was lucky enough to interview him for a BBC radio documentary. I felt like a beginner compared to his understanding of storytelling and effects.
Even at the age of 79, he was still innovating, still moving forwards. An inspirational man.