Nordling here.
The name Douglas Trumbull is synonymous with amazing film imagery. As the visual effects supervisor of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, and his involvement with BLADE RUNNER, he's created images that have burned into our collective brain. He even advised Terrence Malick on some of the imagery of THE TREE OF LIFE. He's also directed a number of shorts and two films, SILENT RUNNING and BRAINSTORM. He's been pushing the envelope since well before James Cameron and George Lucas.
So the news that he's going to be stepping back into the director's chair is news to rejoice over. According to Variety, he's almost finished two screenplays, and in his own words,"I'm going to be using some really extreme digital technologies." He developed ShowScan, a 60 frame-rate per second technology, but Hollywood didn't bite at the time. Now that frame-rate is the new buzz around Hollywood these days, he'll be shooting with ShowScan Digital, with a higher frame-rate for his new project, whatever it turns out to be. He'll be shooting live-action and green screen sets in 3D, and shoot as many as 100 shots a day, a formidable shooting schedule for anyone.
To quote the man himself, "Frankly I think people are kind of bored. They see the same-old same-old formula all the time... and so along comes AVATAR that does something new, and it's the biggest grossing film of all time. So there's a message."
I'm looking forward to what Trumbull makes. I hope the story is sufficiently great, and it's not just to show off the visual technology. Either way, I'm glad he's back.
Nordling, out.
